"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever." Psalm 23:1-6
Psalm 23 is not only a beautiful Psalm, but the words of this Psalm are probably the most widely known by believers and nonbelievers alike. The words of this Psalm are read at many funerals. One day as I was meditating on this Psalm, I was amazed at what the Lord put on my heart. I believe this Psalm is a picture of a believer's walk with the Lord. Let's walk through this Psalm together.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
The moment you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, He becomes your Lord. Your Lord is your Shepherd who will lead you, guide you, take care of you, comfort you, and protect you, so you shall have no lack.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.
One of the first things our Lord tells us is to lie down in green pastures, in other words, rest. He wants us to enter into His rest.
He leadeth me beside the still waters.
He then leads us beside still waters where we can freely drink of Him.
He restoreth my soul.
He will heal all of our soul's diseases.
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
He will lead us down paths He has just for us and all that happens on those paths are for our good and for His glory.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me.
And it doesn't matter what is on our path, we never have to fear because our Lord is with us forever.
Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
His rod will beat down our enemies and His staff will comfort us.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.
Our Lord will provide all we need and more in the presence of our enemies, and it will be a testimony for all to see how good our Lord is to us.
Thou anointest my head with oil.
Kings and priests are anointed with oil. Our Lord will anoint our head with oil, so we will be kings and priests reigning with Him forever.
My cup runneth over.
Our Lord doesn't just give us what we need, He gives us more than we need.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.
Our Lord's goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our life.
And I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
And we will dwell with our Lord forever!
