Rest for Weary Souls: Psalm 23

but today we start a new series my wife louise had a supper with some close friends we had when we lived in columbia south carolina these are folks who attended church with us she got together with six ladies who were part of our group when we lived in columbia got together for supper it had been years since they had gotten together and louise came home from that supper and of the women present, half had either, one had been divorced and was a single mom trying to struggle through with three children. Two or three others had had straying husbands at some point in the marriage. Another was dealing with a dying mother and every day was going to care for her mother. Another was caring for an injured husband. He had fallen off the roof of the house recently, arms. And when you don't have the use of both arms, not only can you not wash yourself, but there are many other things you can't do that somebody must do for you. And she was struggling with having to do all of those sorts of things. Another had a child in drugs that had been into drugs. Fortunately, now was out of it, but had struggled for a long period of time with a child in drugs. There was a lot of fatigue and emotional distress in the group.

And this is just a group of six or seven ladies. And so much fatigue and so much hurt.

[Personal prayer concern omitted.]

And as I was in the hospital, I talked to a number of people. And so many people dealing with difficult illnesses. Family members near death. It's a difficult life, isn't it?

So we start a series today entitled, It's titled, Rest in Comfort for Tired and Wounded Souls. And it is my hope over the next four weeks to take a look at how God provides and cares for those of us who are tired and who are wounded. My guess is, if I didn't mention the particular difficulty you have faced in the past or are facing presently in my little review of problems some of Louise's friends were facing, my guess is all of us at some point have been tired and wounded and we need to hear the comfort, the message of comfort that comes from the scriptures. had a lot of debate about what passages we should talk about over the next four weeks. There's so many great passages.

And we had particular debate about the first one. But when all was said and done, I don't see how we can avoid doing this one first. It's so familiar, maybe we've almost taken it for granted.

But it's the 23rd Psalm. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.

He guides me in paths of righteousness for his namesake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for you are with me. your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil.

My cup overflows. Surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Let's pray. Lord this day I pray for tired and wounded souls and it is my prayer Lord that as we go through this study that you will give comfort to the hurting peace to those who are in distress hope for the hopeless

I pray that we will be a community

carries and helps the tired and wounded. For as in Christ's name we pray. Amen.

There are two images in this passage about God. And the first is the image of God as the shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. I need to say a word about nearly every word in that first introductory clause. This is the Lord who is the shepherd.

This is not any Lord. This is the Lord. And if you look in your English Bibles, if you have them open to Psalm 23, which would be good to do, you will see that in your English Bibles the word Lord is in all capital letters. Capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D.

English translator's way of telling us that there's a particular Hebrew word behind the word Lord. Sometimes you will see the Lord without all capital letters. Sometimes it's capital L, little O, little R, little D. That's the Hebrew word Adonai that is being translated. But when you see capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D in your English translations, that's the English that the Lord we're talking about is the Lord who has a name.

And His name is Yahweh.

Yahweh is my shepherd. This is the God of the burning bush. The God who told Moses when Moses asked, What shall I tell them your name is? He said, Tell them my name is Yahweh. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

He is the covenant Lord of His people. The name itself implies He is a God who cares for His people. Not only is He the Lord, He is a shepherd. He is a shepherd. There are many images for the Lord in Scripture.

Sometimes He's described as a king. described as a rock. Sometimes he's described as a deliverer. But the most intimate, the most personal description of God in scripture, I would submit to you, is the image of God as a shepherd. He is not an aloof king. He is not an impersonal rock. He is not some distant deliverer.

This is a king who cares intimately about his people. And the image of care is expressed by calling him the shepherd. Those of us who are on this side of the incarnation cannot help but remember in the New Testament how many times this description shepherd is applied to Jesus Christ. John says He's the good shepherd. Peter says He is the chief shepherd.

The writer of Hebrews says He is the great shepherd. But the psalmist affirms not just that this is the Lord, that He is a shepherd, but he affirms that He is my shepherd. If you write in your Bibles, you ought to underline the word my. It is so important. It's a little word.

But by using that word my, the psalmist tells us that he has a relationship with this shepherd. By using the word my, he tells us that he has committed to this shepherd. He's my shepherd.

I've committed myself to him. By using the word my, he tells us he is dependent.

The psalmist is admitting he needs a shepherd.

Sheep are notoriously stupid.

They can't find their own food. They can't find their own water. They can't care for themselves. they need someone to guide them and help them along. I don't want to insult us as human beings, folks.

But the psalmist is saying, I'm a sheep. I need help. I can't do it myself. I need someone who will wrap me in his arms. Who will carry me when I fall.

who will love me when I'm hurting, who will show me what I need to do and the direction that I should go.

The best and brightest of us, folks, and human beings display that image of God and show creativity in so many, in our view, brilliant actions. But even the best and bright of us, Rightest of us. Are often very stupid.

In other words. But for God. We wouldn't have. A clue. And the only way we can find.

The right path. Is by admitting. We need help. How many times. Have you looked at someone.

Who's gotten themselves. Into just deep deep. Do do.

and said, how stupid can you be?

Huh?

And sometimes when we look at others, we see that we as sheep sometimes don't act in very smart ways. By our actions, we show we need a shepherd. What we need to do, folks, to do is not to look at others today, but to look at ourselves. We all are dependent. We all are sheep. We all need help of this shepherd. I press this point. I press this point because in our culture, this American culture, we pride ourselves on being independent.

we have the frontier mentality don't we we are all John Wayans

and that's why we're often wounded and tired because we try to go it alone the scriptures press us to acknowledge our need of the shepherd and to acknowledge our dependence so don't be insulted by what I've said about our need Instead, be encouraged that the answer is found by admitting we're sheep and we need a shepherd. Lastly, this word my acknowledges exclusivity. He is my shepherd and there is a sense in which the psalmist is saying not only is he my shepherd, but he's the one and only shepherd for me. There is no other that can provide for me like He can.

Let me press you about the importance of this initial phrase in the psalm, the Lord is my shepherd. The rest of the psalm flows from this initial statement. All of the benefits about which the psalmist will write depend on the fact that he has the Lord as his shepherd. Until we can say, the Lord is my shepherd, we cannot expect and we will not experience the benefits. about which the psalmist is about to write.

So if you are tired and wounded, if you need comfort, let me press you. You start right here by bending the knee and saying, the Lord is my shepherd. Until you do that,

don't expect the benefits is about to write. Well, this shepherd, who is my shepherd, says the psalmist, does what shepherds do for sheep. And the first thing he does is he provides. He provides us all that we need. He provides us all that we need.

I shall not be in want, says the psalmist. statement, I shall not be in want, is a statement first of certainty. He says, I shall not be in want. It's not just a future statement, but it is the psalmist affirming that because the Lord is his shepherd, he is certain that he will not ever want for anything that he truly needs. a powerful statement.

The statement, I shall not be in want, is also a statement of trust. How can the psalmist say, I shall not be in want? He can say it because he trusts unequivocally the shepherd. And he knows that come what may, the shepherd will care for him. It is a statement of commitment.

It is a statement of commitment to the shepherd. And put one other here. It is a statement of contentment. A statement of contentment. In other words, when the sheep says, I shall not be in want, it's a statement saying that whatever the shepherd provides to me, I will be content with that.

And I will not always be searching for other things. But what comes from the hand of the shepherd, I will learn to cherish and be content with. We in our American culture are not content. Our whole advertising system is built on discontentment. You should not be happy with the home you're in, the car you drive, the way you look, the color of your hair, the amount of money you have.

You should be discontented.

But I shall not be in want says I'm going to reject this notion that I should always be discontented and instead begin to cherish and be content with what the shepherd provides to me. He provides to us all that we need. As the text says, he makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. What are our needs?

I've listed them for you there in your outline. We all need a safe haven, don't we? We might use the term home. The sheep will not eat or rest if there's danger nearby. But it is only the shepherd that knows where the safe green pastures are.

So this shepherd can lead us to those safe havens. where we can have safety. Doesn't mean we won't experience trouble, but it means no matter what trouble comes, we're safe in an ultimate sense. We have needs for nourishment, and it is the shepherd that takes the sheep to green pastures, lush pastures, good food for the sheep. And it is the shepherd that finds the waters to quench the thirst.

So this shepherd provides for our basic physical human needs. He alone is the one that can do that. We are dependent upon him for our needs. Yes, we work with our hands and we toil. But at foundation, who is it that makes the seed in the ground grow?

Who is it that sends the sunshine so that we will have the crop? Who is it that gives you strength to even work each day? Being in a hospital reminds us of how weak and vaporous we are. We are dependent on the shepherd. This shepherd provides us not only with a safe haven and physical nourishment, he provides us with rest.

He makes the sheep lie down. He makes them lie down and He leads them beside, the King James says, still waters. It's literally waters of resting. And the imagery is that the tired and wounded soul that is frazzled and ragged can finally find rest if that soul will but follow the shepherd. It's interesting that the text says he makes the sheep lie down in green pastures.

There's a sense that we get frantic when we're in the dark valley. Things prey on our minds. Things make us worry. We can't seem to find that rest. And it is the shepherd that in a sense has to make us rest by bringing his presence very clearly to our minds and to our hearts.

and He restores our soul. The fourth thing we need. We need our souls to be restored. He brings us renewal. He brings us not just the kind of physical renewal that comes from rest.

And don't we get physical renewal when we rest? Louise and I love to go up to Sapphire Valley in North Carolina where we went on our honeymoon. And we love to go sit by this lake that looks up on this huge rock. and just to sit by that still, calm lake. Restful.

Peaceful. And there's something about that that affects us physically.

We leave feeling refreshed physically.

But this restoring my soul also has the sense of He restores our soul spiritually. the heart of our being. This is the shepherd that can calm the storm and give us that peace that we want deep in our soul. So like a good shepherd, he provides for us. But like a good shepherd, he also guides us in right paths. He guides us in right paths. How do we know right paths from wrong paths?

How do we know right paths from wrong paths? Which path is the right path? Which path is the wrong path? The right path is the path that the shepherd tells us to follow. You want to know the right path?

Ask. Where does the shepherd lead? what path does the shepherd want me to follow? That is most clearly revealed for us in our day and time, I think, in the scriptures. That's where we see what the shepherd wants.

I do not know how many people I have counseled in my legal career and since I've sort of stepped out of that how many people I've talked to in difficult situations who are in deep, difficult situations because they did not take the path the shepherd directed. It's that simple. And many of them got right to the crossroads. They knew the right path was to the right and the wrong path was to the left. They stood there.

The shepherd said, take the right path. Trust me. It may look narrow. It may look difficult. But I'm going to tell you, at the end of it is life.

Don't go left.

The people didn't listen.

They got caught by the allure of the broad path. It looked sweet, tantalizing. And it was poison. And it destroyed them. It destroyed their spouses sometimes.

Sometimes it destroyed children.

until the Christian church realizes that it is the right path that the shepherd directs that we should take,

our lives are going to be very difficult. There are consequences for choosing the wrong path. The right path is the path of safety, folks. It's the safe path. takes the sheep on the safe path.

In our human experience, it may be difficult, folks, but in the end, it is the safe path.

It is the path of morality.

Many translations translate this as paths of righteousness. Literally, right paths. And the right path that the shepherd wants us to take is a path that is a moral path. that lives in obedience to His moral commands.

You want freedom?

Obey.

You want to be trapped and enslaved? Disobey. You may think you're free when you're disobeying. Oh, I'm free because I'm doing whatever I want to do. Let me tell you, it is the lie from the pit of hell that if you just do whatever you want, you're free.

to so many people who have done just that, particularly in my legal career. They are so tied up in so many knots because they've done whatever they want to do. They're so enslaved, they sometimes don't even see their own slavery.

The right path is the path of God's glory. Why does He lead us in right paths?

for His name's sake, the text says. Listen to me. The reason God guides us in the right path is that when we walk in the right path, He ultimately is going to get the glory. He's going to get the glory in two ways, I submit. When people look at the Christian life, someone who's living the Christian life, who is walking the right path, they see those people avoiding all sorts of pitfalls and difficulties that people bring on themselves.

So that God's going to get the glory because He's shown us the right path and when we live it, our lives are better. He's going to also get the glory when we live moral lives and our upright lives. People hopefully are going to ask, what is it about that person that's different? We're to let our lights shine before men in such a way that they glorify God. So when we go in right paths, It's a path of God's glory.

Lastly, in this section, the shepherd protects. The shepherd provides, he guides, and then he protects us even in and through the darkest of valleys. There's a reality here, isn't there? Life is full of dark valleys. You can translate this the valley of the shadow of death, which is probably the ultimate darkest valley in our human experience, typically.

probably some, that at least approach, if not exceed, death as being a valley of darkness.

I've seen families who've been through betrayal, where one spouse betrayed another. Sometimes it would have been easier if the spouse had died.

But there are many dark valleys in life. Are there not? Are there not? If you're a 35-year-old or older, you probably recognize that. 18, 19, or 20 in this class, trust us, they're dark valleys.

If you haven't experienced them, you will. It's just part of human experience. I didn't believe it until my son Joshua's died. I mean, I knew it intellectually that they're dark valleys, but nothing bad had ever happened to me until my son Joshua died. And then I went to the valley of the shadow of death.

And I was deep in the valley of the shadow of death. And I was looking for the shepherd.

And I wasn't sure I was going to find him. because I wasn't walking the way I should have been at the time of that death. But then I found him. And I'll tell you, he leaves out of the dark valley. But there are dark valleys.

The psalmist is not painting some rose-pictured view of life. It is tough. It is tough. But the antidote for fear in the dark valley is what?

even though I walk to the valley of the shadows, I fear no evil, for you are with me.

The antidote for fear is that He is with us. It is the antidote that has carried believers through all sorts of difficulties. John Wesley, on his deathbed, about to die, says, the best of all is this,

God is with us. What a great statement right before you cross from this life to the next. Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the Russian writer, thrown into the gulag of Siberia, on his last psychological and emotional leg in that environment, sitting one day contemplating if he could even go another day in that difficult circumstance. When a fellow prisoner came and sat beside him, And the prisoner picked up a stick. Didn't say a word to Alexander.

But went down in the dirt. And drew a cross. In the dirt. Alexander sold the necks and said, That was the moment. I knew.

I could make it. Because the shepherd was with me.

Don't miss the big point here, folks. of this first section of this psalm. Here's the big point. It's not where we are that matters. Whether it's the green pasture, beside the still waters, or in the darkest valley.

It's not our geographic location that is important. What the psalmist is trying to help us understand what is important is the who. it is who we follow

if we have the who right we will get through even the darkest of valleys but if we think if we can just find the right location if I can just get where life is always easy where it's always green pastures or always quiet waters everything's going to be okay you're wrong, it's not geographic location it's who we follow that brings safety and provision comfort. Well, let me close here. The second big image is the host of the great celebration.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies?

This great celebration is a celebration of victory. Because this celebration takes place in the presence of enemies. And there's a sense here in which those people who've tried to trip you up and make you fall and make you stumble throughout life, one day one day, one day, you're going to get to the great banquet and there's going to be a great celebration. And because you took the right path and you followed the shepherd, they're going to have to somehow be aware that you're getting to celebrate.

And it's a picture of overcoming. It's a picture that one day everything will be set right. that one day good will win over evil. One day, one day right will prevail over wrong. One day, one day we will overcome if we follow the shepherd.

As I was working on this this morning, I got up about 6.15, went to my office, and I was working on the outline. As I was sitting there, I was thinking about this great celebration victory. You know what song kept coming to my mind?

One day we're going to worship the way God meant for us to worship. We're going to celebrate. And we're going to dance to the music. I wish we could do it more now, personally.

It's time to celebrate the victory. And the psalmist says the victories are coming. And we're going to be celebrating. It's a celebration not only of victory, it's a celebration of blessing. And the picture of blessing is an overflowing table.

The head is anointed with oil. The sweet fragrance and the perfume, the cup is overflowing. Imagine the greatest banquet you've ever been to. The best of food. The best of company.

And multiply it one gazillion times. and you may taste a glimpse of what this banquet will be like. It will be a celebration of hope because goodness and mercy will follow you all the days of your life. And it is a celebration of motivation. In other words, the promise is that if we follow the shepherd, we will one day experience this great banquet.

So that ought to motivate us right now To follow the right path on which the shepherd is leading. No matter how difficult. Because we look forward to the day when we get to celebrate. Celebrate. And dance to the music.

Who wrote that song?

Three Dog Night. I don't think Three Dog Night from my knowledge knew the shepherd. Huh? KC and the Sunshine Band? Okay.

But I think in a Christian perspective one day we'll get to sing that. with lessons for life. Here we go. Lesson number one. Stop searching and waiting and doubting.

The answer is here.

Keith Green, great musician who died at a very young age, Christian musician, talked about how he was searching for the answer in his life. And he finally found it. And when he found the answer in Jesus Christ, he went to tell his friends who were searching. And they were angry that he came claiming to have found the answer to the search on which they were on. There are some people who just want to search forever.

They don't like it when we say, here's the answer. But the purpose of searching, is it not, is to find the answer.

And when we find the answer, to embrace it. Some of us, maybe in this room, are still searching. and maybe having those doubts and that waiting to embrace the shepherd. Quit waiting. Quit waiting.

It's time to embrace the shepherd. Number two, let's admit it. We're all dependent on God. Let's live like it. Life's simpler when we finally admit that.

Thirdly, write down your biggest fears then give them to God.

about articulating the fear and giving to God that's helpful. Sometimes I felt just overwhelmed by circumstances and I have to stop and say why am I feeling overwhelmed? What is it particularly? And I'm suggesting you need to articulate specifically what it is that's weighing on your soul and then hand it to God.

Practice trusting God until you get it.

Do you hear me? God we have to work at. When you face a difficult situation, you do what God's called you to do in that situation, but give it to Him. Ask Him to guide and to lead and then do not fear whatever may come. And when you do, say forgive me God for doubting and the next time you face a situation, try again to let God be your shepherd and trust in Him.

You've got to keep practicing this. I have to keep practicing this Until it becomes a habit of life that we trust. Fifthly, be part of a flock that is following the shepherd. It helps when there are a lot of other sheep in the fold. Who are going through what you're going through.

They can help but we can all get through together. Sixthly, thank God specifically for His gracious provision to you. Thank God specifically. How many of you in your prayers stop to thank God? for Louise, for Caleb, for Kate, for my home, for health, for my job.

And I think if we begin to list specifically those things He has given to us, we will begin to see what a great shepherd He is. And lastly, let's celebrate.

Celebrate! Celebrate! Dance to the music! Celebrate! Celebrate! Dance to the music!

Celebrate! And if you Christians aren't at least celebrating in your heart with that, I hope you meet the shepherd. Because when you do, you'll celebrate. Celebrate. Lord, we praise you for who you are.

Help us to trust you, Good Shepherd. For it is in Christ's name we pray. Amen.