The Lord is My Shepherd

Sermon Notes from Sunday 8 June 2014

PSALM 23

This is one Psalm that gives the illustration of life itself.  The Psalmist talks of the various stages of life.  Imagine the Psalmist sitting on the hillside watching the sheep grazing.  They are so content and as the Psalmist looked he could think of the goodness of God bringing him to that very hour.  The sheep had food to sustain them.  The shepherd himself was looking away to the splendours of heaven and saying “the Lord is my shepherd”.

Verse 1 – the decision of the Psalmist – “my”.  Can you say the Lord is my shepherd today?  For the Psalmist he put the Lord first in his life.  Have you trusted the Lord as Saviour?  Has he forgave you of all your sin and do you know that experience of the Lord taking away your sin?

Verse 2 – the direction of the Psalmist.  The moment he put his trust in the Lord, the Lord was leading him.  Are you still going on with the Lord?  Maybe you made that decision some years ago but is the Lord as real to you today as then?  Are you still being guided and led by the Lord?

Verse 3 – the delight of the Psalmist.  Every step the Psalmist took the Lord was with him – “he restoreth my soul.”  The Lord is feeding us all the time.

Verse 4 – the despair of the Psalmist.  Now the Psalmist is in the valley.

Verse 5 – the defence of the Psalmist.  Once we put the Lord first in our lives, have made that decision to take him as Saviour and he is leading us so we know the delights moment by moment but there will be despair in the midst.

Verse 6 – the destiny of the Psalmist.  We have 2 destinies.  One is the awful place called hell for those who are not saved but the Psalmist sees the splendours of heaven waiting for him on that day when he steps from this scene of time.

In verse 4 we want to look at the valley experience of the Psalmist.  In that low place he hears every sound and it frightens him.  The sun seems far away, he is right at the deepest part of the valley.  He is looking for some glimmer of light but there is none there.  In verse 2 the Psalmist says “he leadeth me”.  The shepherd is so certain of this.  In the shepherd’s leading the Psalmist has to pass through many dark valleys just to get where God wants us to be in life.  In Psalm 40 the Psalmist was in an awful pit.  There was nothing solid in that miry clay.  There was nothing he could do for himself.  All he could do was lift his voice and cry to the God of heaven.  What a place to be in, on the run from Saul the King of Israel.  Saul did not like David, the crowd was on his side.  “Saul has killed his thousands and David has killed his tens of thousands” the people shouted.  Saul chased him out into the forests and dens.  His own son Absalom turned against his father.  David the shepherd boy became the King of Israel.  2 Samuel 22 “as for God his way his perfect.”  On all occasions David could say “the Lord knows best.”  Job was also in a valley.  Remember one morning he arose, washed and dressed and went out to make sacrifice for his family.  News came later in the day that his flocks, herds and family were all wiped out and sickness then prevailed against him.  Right down in the valley he could say “he knoweth the way that I take” (Job 23).  This is what the Psalmist is saying.  He knows the way I take yet he had to go through the valley of the shadow of death.  Maybe it is hard to see a glimmer of light.

The valley’s pace – “yea thou I walk”.  He is walking through it.  The Lord doesn’t run him through it.  It strikes me as slow process, taking time to get right through that valley.  It is not a fleeting thing.  The commentators would say Job’s sorrow lasted 2/3 years.  The heartbreak of his family no longer around him.  He had to go through it before there was a glimmer of light.  Sometimes we want to rush through things.  Life can be a real plod, a slow pace.  Maybe in this valley time you feel yourself not going anywhere, you are really trying but you are going nowhere.  That problem exists.  Maybe you have prayed about it for 20 years day in and day out but the situation has not changed.  Jairus was a leader of the synagogue, an upright man, a bible teacher, a man of prayer.  In his own home he had a daughter of 12 years of age.  He loved her with all his heart.  One day she fell sick and became worse as the days went on.  Do you think he prayed about it?  I think he did.  Imagine his prayers “please heal my daughter, have mercy on her.”  We don’t know how long that situation prevailed, how long she was ill or how long Jairus prayed.  He contacted Jesus and poured out his heart to the Lord asking him to come and lay his hand on his daughter.  The Lord followed after him.  Another woman with an issue of blood was also healed.  Jairus I am sure was impatient with all that was happening.  The pace in the valley is slow.  You would love something to happen but you must wait on the Lord.

The valley’s presence – “for thou art with me.”  The Psalmist will enjoy something in this valley he had never experienced before.  David’s proved the presence of the Lord in the midst of this.  John Wesley was on his deathbed in 1791 with his followers gathered around his bedside.  They sang hymns and prayed with him and then started to say farewell as the dark clouds closed around him.  Wesley said “best of all God is with us.”  He knew the presence of God.  Are we enjoying the presence of God today?  Even in the depths of sorrow we can enjoy God’s presence.  Daniel was in the lions den, not there because of anything he had done wrong.  Others were jealous of him but even in the den fear could not even annoy him there.  Why?  Because God had closed the mouth of the lions.  He felt God’s presence in his midst.  Paul talked about his “thorn in the flesh” and how it prevailed on him for some considerable time.  Imagine his prayers asking the Lord to take it away.  The Lord told him “no I will not take it away, my grace is sufficient for you.”  Every day Paul you will have the grace on you.  Even though Paul was in the prison house, had been beaten and was tied in stocks and he wrote letters to the churches to encourage them but he never once asked for any of them to pray for him.  The Lord promised Paul his presence instead.  You will never enjoy the grace of God until you are in that situation, until you are going through that time of sickness.

The valley’s peace.  The hymn writer could say “there is peace in the valley for me”.  One night after D L Moody preached someone spoke to him.  That person was going through a difficult time but he said he rested on this promise “what time I am afraid I will trust in thee.”  D L Moody asked him if he could give him something better – “God is my salvation I will trust and not be afraid.” (Isaiah 12 verse 2)  There is a peace we can get – Hebrews 13 verse 5 “The Lord will never leave you nor forsake you.”  The people the writer was speaking to were afraid.  They were going through a difficult time, afraid of losing their homes, their finances, their families and even their lives.  The verse goes on to say “so that you might boldly say the Lord is my helper I will not fear what the enemy will do to me.”  David went out to fight Goliath.  He didn’t have the support of his brothers who thought he was just an upstart and seeking his own glory.  When he went down into the valley to meet that man with all his cursing and swearing he was able to say “you have come to me with all your armour, your military ability, great stature and history behind you but I am come in the name of the Lord of Israel.”  He had a peace even standing with just a slingshot and 5 stones in his pouch.  You can have that peace in the valley today.

The valley’s prize – “yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death”.  Whatever problem you have today the Lord will go through it with you walking beside it.  As we go back to the first line of the Psalm is he your shepherd?  No matter how dark the valley he will take us through it.  The Psalmist had his eye on the glories of heaven as he walked through the valley.