The Lord is my Shepherd (Part II)

                                                               PSALMS 23:4-6 [Continued]

4. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

Yes. The idea of path and walking flows from the previous verse. The Bible talks about people who walked with God: “Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters”.   “Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.” The three Hebrew young men in the book of Daniel walked through fire accompanied by God. St. Paul exhorts new believers to walk worthy of God.

Death is called the ultimate enemy. Death is frightening because we are helpless before it. For a man who lives without God, death is the end of all things. We can struggle through a number of adversities in life and even learn to handle them, but in the case of death, we are helpless before its hard reality, its absolute certainty. Christ alone can guard us against the horror of death. I think David (who lived 1000 years before Christ) prophetically saw in this verse the lonely walk Jesus would be walking along the darkened valley of death -- in order to rescue his sheep from death’s grip. Satan held sway over mankind through his control over death, and it is this control Jesus neutralized through His vicarious death and resurrection. God does not save us from “the valley of the shadow of death”; some times our path might go right through  it. The verse is applicable not merely to death itself - though it embraces that - but to any or all the dark, the dangerous, and the gloomy paths which we tread in life: to ways of sadness, solitude, and sorrow. All along those paths God will be a safe and certain guide. (See also John 17:15 --   “I do not pray for You to take them out of the world, but for You to keep them from the evil”).

The rod and staff are the means the shepherd uses to keep his sheep together and to keep them from getting lost. They are not necessarily tools that symbolize kind treatment, but of discipline. Rods are used for spankings and beatings, and this will come handy if the shepherd has to defend the sheep from a wild animal or thief. A staff is used to control the sheep and keep them from straying. These seem to be the shepherd’s standard equipment in Palestine. It sounds strange that David draws comfort from the fact that his Shepherd has these tools of discipline. But a closer look reveals David’s deep insight into the Lord’s intentions when He chastens. David is comforted by the fact that the tools for the discipline of his life are in the hands of God and not in his own. If he surrenders in obedience to the Lord, He will watch over him and keep him from going astray. If we understand our own character, this truth will be a comfort to us also. The person who thinks he is in control of himself is a fool. The fact that God is willing to discipline us is an indication of the concern He has for us (Proverbs 3:11, 12) and that He treats us as intelligent human beings, not as dumb animals. We are blessed with self-will; we are ultimately responsible for our acts.

When we are led by the Lord, we walk without fear of evil. Fear is a great hindrance to faith. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17). Conversely, fear comes by hearing the word of Devil. What we hear will produce either faith or fear. And when fear is sown, it produces a harvest of torment in our lives. 1John 4:18 says “No fear exists where His love is. Rather, perfect love gets rid of fear, because fear involves punishment. The person who lives in fear doesn’t have perfect love”. Fear destroys co-ordination, riddles personality, blocks logical thinking and makes creative solutions to problems impossible. If God is for me, who can be against me? (Romans  8.31). God didn’t give us a cowardly spirit but a spirit of power, love, and good judgment (2Tim. 1:7).

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

This is another interesting analogy. During his lifetime David had a number of enemies – personal enemies, political enemies, spiritual enemies. What concerns us here is the last. Satan is our enemy. 1Peter 5:8 says “Be sensible and vigilant, because your adversary the Devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking someone he may devour”. Material prosperity and the simple joys of life God’s children enjoy come as a blessing from our Lord. Satan is jealous of our abundance and seeks to destroy them.

The patriarch Job is a case in point. With his enormous wealth and happy family, the righteous Job lived a peaceful life as a servant of God. God, according to His holy will permitted Satan to take away everything he had.  Eventually, it is Satan who lost in this celestial bet, before Job’s aggressive faith. Job’s later blessing was greater than his earlier one.  Yes, He enables us to live a God-oriented, joyous life right in this demon-possessed world.  We can sit at God’s table and celebrate with Him. (Refer also to Jesus’ profound discourse in the Gospel of John where the Lord claims He is the Bread of Life – 6:35, 48).

Anointing in the Old Testament had a special meaning as preparation for a specific task. Aaron was the first person we read about being anointed. Saul and David were anointed as kings. Patients who had been cured of leprosy had to undergo a form anointing. Honouring a distinguished guest by applying fragrant oil on his head was apparently considered to be the right thing to during Jesus’ days. This was generally accompanied by washing the guest’s feet and kissing him. Simon, a Pharisee who had invited Jesus for a meal had ignored these niceties

( see Luke 7) and was chastened by the Lord for this: “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet.” (7:44-46). When David says God anoints our head with oil, he wants us to know that God bestows upon us the greatest honour a host can bestow upon his guest.  God once told Eli, the High Priest that He would honour those who honoured Him.  See

1 Samuel 2:30.

My cup overflows. This delightful phrase, as the last part of the penultimate verse of this great Psalm, sets the tone for a happy ending! The overflowing wine is evidence of abundance. When Jesus fed 5000 plus people out of five loaves and two fish, and 4000 with seven loafs and a few small fish, He made sure the left-over was measured and a record kept, as evidence of how bountiful God is in His blessings. God does not want us to taste only teaspoons full of His joy. Both the oil and the wine are symbols of the fullness of the Holy Spirit. This fullness is the essence of a feast at God’s table.  It is not merely full, it runs over. This indicates abundance, and from the abundance of the favours thus bestowed, the psalmist is assured that God would always provide for him, and that He would never leave him to want.

Our Lord Jesus uses the term “cup” a few times in a quite different ways:  In Matthew 20:22 He asks the disciples who wanted to sit at His either sides on the throne in Heaven: “ You don't know what you are asking, … can you drink the cup I am going to drink?” . Here the cup was the terrible suffering He was to undergo soon. During the Last Supper, we read: “Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.’ “. And in Gethsemane He prayed: “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.” On the basis of Jesus’ drinking the cup of bitterness and extreme suffering, we enjoy the other cup of fullness of joy.

6 Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

“Goodness and love”   are variously rendered in different translations as, “goodness and mercy” (KJV), “goodness and lovingkindness” (NAS), “goodness and unfailing kindness” (TLB). Indian languages have their own peculiar renditions. But why do goodness and love ‘follow’ us? Should they not be accompanying us? This is so, because the surplus of the goodness and love we were filled with as we sat at the Lord’s table, overflow and benefit those who follow us -- a living testimony to our salvation experience. As a result of the intense and intimate fellowship with God, we are able to leave a trail of blessing behind us. Not ours, but God’s goodness and love stream through us and profit the rest.

Finally, David expresses the hope that He will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. Only the priests dwell in the house of the LORD forever. We have the examples of Samuel who was raised in the temple, to become one of the greatest priests to walk the pages of the Bible. Eli apparently lived in the Temple. Anna -- the prophetess who spent in the Temple about eight decades of her widowhood fasting and praying – was rewarded for her dedication with the privilege of meeting the Lord as a baby and recognizing Him. David knew the joys of dwelling in the house of God. He confesses  “the one thing I ask of the Lord – the thing I seek the most – is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, delighting in the Lord’s perfections and mediating in His Temple” (Psalms 27:4 NLT). Out of his experience comes the declaration -- “Blessed are they who dwell in Your house;  they will still praise You.  For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than dwell in the tents of wickedness (Psalms 84:4, 10)”.

Every Christian is a priest. See 1Peter 2:9. Our task is to perform the duties of our priesthood. Fellowship with God is hard work. We constantly carry the burdens of the world in which we live before God. On the basis of Christ’s sacrifice, we have to intercede with constantly for those with whom we come in contact. Aaron carried the names of the twelve tribes of Israel upon his shoulders and on his heart, and so he appeared before the Lord. We cannot have fellowship with God without a prayer list on which we write the names of those for whom we pray regularly. This is the secret of the goodness, love, and blessing that trails our lives. Dwelling in the house of the Lord also involves living a life of praising God. As we read in the psalm already quoted above, people who live in God’s house, constantly praise Him. If we can really praise and worship God, we have discovered the secret of a life of blessing, a life of witness and we have opened the source of blessing for others.

To express the desire to live in the Temple of God, is both  the expression of a heart overflowing with joy and gratitude in the experience of the past, and  a heart full of joyous anticipation in regard to the future.

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