Be encouraged in the Word: Reflections on Psalm 23

[Unlike some psalms, no specific circumstance or occasion is given; it applies to any time. A psalm for our pilgrimage as believers]

[1] The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want

—The Yahweh is the best shepherd I could have; my wants are all wrapped up in Him, not material things. He is all I need. He is the Great I Am. He is “my” Shepherd, but that does not mean the sheep “own” the Shepherd. The Shepherd owns the sheep. They are His. He is not “mine” in the sense of ownership, “my house, or my car,” but more in terms of showing the relationship we have with Him. Our identity is found in Him. David continues to flesh out what it means to have Yahweh as his Shepherd.

[2] He makes me lie down in green pastures

—He, the Creator of the universe, provides for my rest and sustenance, and has set me amidst the beauty of His creation. The Good Shepherd anticipates the needs of the sheep.

He leads me beside still waters

—He refreshes me and guides me to a place of rest. This rest is not only for recuperation, but to prepare them for what lies ahead.

[3] He restores my soul.

—My spirit is renewed [the idea of being returned] in His presence. However, the purpose of His rest is not to sit back and do nothing. He prepares us through His rest so we can follow Him.

He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake.

—His way is a path that reflects His nature and character, and He does so in a way that honors Who He is. He is leading me, ahead of me, and I must continually choose to follow Him wherever He leads. Notice the progression toward knowing God more intimately as the psalm continues.

[4] Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death [darkest valley]

—He leads us through places that are dangerous, where death may be all around us. But He is ahead of us, and as long as we follow Him, we will be following the One who has conquered death. So far, getting to know God has not been very challenging, but the more we get to know Him, the more we begin to identify with Paul, when he said in Philippians 3:10 “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death.” God does not minimize the depth of danger or hardship, – it is the valley of the darkest shadows, but He does promise to be with us “through” these times. 

I will fear no evil, for You are with me [Notice the shift from “He” to “You” – The tone is more intimate.]

— Because He has conquered death, and we are following Him, our focus is not on the circumstances that would make us fearful, but on the power and authority of the One who is leading us and is with us. As real as the valley of the shadow of death, so real is the fact that Jesus is with us, and His Spirit lives in us. We are never alone. Following Christ does not mean that we will not face danger or difficulty; but just like Job, these problems must first pass through God’s hand and permission. 

The longer we follow Christ through these difficult situations, the deeper our relationship and trust grows and the deeper we get to Him. As Paul said in Romans 5:3-5 “ 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”

Your rod and staff comfort me

— Your rod of correction and your staff of protection are there to help keep me close to You and to express God’s love for us. We can take comfort in God’s “rod and staff” because they express His love and remind us that are His children. Our fear of the circumstances is overcome by our faith, – our fear/reverence for God, that is, confiding in His nature and character. We must stay close to the Shepherd.

[5] You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. [Notice the shift from Shepherd to Host]

— Instead of hiding from those who would harm me, You provide for me in the midst of those who would harm me, as a testimony to Your greatness. We are in the world, but we are not of the world, so the way we live becomes a testimony to what a relationship with God looks like. God “prepared” the table: what is given and where it is located. This was no accident.

Why would God do that? It reflects that [1] He is in control and is a testimony of His greatness. [2] It demonstrates what a relationship with God is: His provision and presence in the midst of difficulty. [3] He places us so we can learn to love our enemies as He has commanded. He prepares us for this with His rod and staff.

You anoint my head with oil

— You treat me like an honored guest, and You fill my mind with Who You are. Pouring a little olive oil on the head of your guest would not be what we would do, but in dry, arid areas, it was soothing and expected. God sees us through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus, we are His children. We do not define who we are by what the world sees, but by what God declares us to be. 

My cup overflows.

— The reality of Your presence and Your Spirit overflows in my life. [The idea is “abundance,” like God’s grace.]

[6] Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life 

— Even though we are walking through the valley of the shadow of death, even though we are  surrounded by those who want to harm us, as we follow You, we have the assurance of Your Spirit and Your presence through it all. We can see Your “goodness and mercy” following us, meaning that we can now see some of the difficulties of the past from Your point of view and see how You showed grace, how they were for our ultimate good, and how You showed us mercy through it all. We must always remember that our worth is not based on what we can do or not do, but on what Christ has done. The word for “follow” is “pursue”; that is, God is actively reminding us of what He has done to this point.

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. [Yahweh: The Great I AM begins and ends this psalm.]

— We will have the joy and assurance of being with You now and forever. As long as we live here, we will live in a fallen world, but we will never be alone, because God is with us. What’s more, for all eternity we will be with Him, not in a fallen world, but in heaven. As Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:8, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. He will lead us home to be with Him. He is always the Great I AM. 

Application:

Pray the psalm back to the Lord as a prayer of thanks:

Father, I thank You that You are my Shepherd, the Creator of the universe, the Great I AM, and that in You I have all I need.

You provide for my rest, the food I eat, the water I drink, and I am refreshed in my spirit because of who You are and all You have done in my life.

As I follow You, You develop Your nature and character in my life for Your honor and glory. 

You lead me and are with me even when I am going through difficult times and circumstances, – when my greatest fears would overtake me. Yet, You are always there, near. As I follow and trust You, my fears melt away, because You are greater than my fears, and I am growing in knowing who You are.

Your rod of correction and staff of protection and guidance comfort me because they remind me of how much You love me. 

You place me in situations that stretch my faith and help me learn to trust You more. In trusting You, I become like a special guest, and You give out of the abundance of Your love, mercy, and grace.

Regardless of my circumstances, Your presence sustains me, and I can trace how You have been with me all of my life. In that assurance, I know I will delight in the joy of Your presence throughout eternity. 

Thoughts on the Wrath of God

 When we think of the wrath of God some picture an angry God hurling lighting bolts at hated targets. Confusion can occur as we attempt to reconcile the biblical references that God is love and those about the wrath of God. Our omnipotent God is beyond our understanding, and our explanations are clouded and weak at best. Recently, I had been working through the God of love and the wrath of God, and tried to think of them in a different way. I do not claim any great revelations, but here are some thoughts.

Something that did help me was to remember that God’s nature and character is unchanging, so God is always love. His actions are always consistent with His character and nature. We also know that the wrath of God is a biblical reality and is consistent with His nature. Any illustration can never be without issues, but this analogy is what has helped me. Imagine God’s love as a river, flowing freely to the sea. Suppose that several large trees fall into the river and block the free flow. Immediately there is pressure on the trees from the pressure of the moving water.

The goal of God’s love is redemption so that we might get to know Him and develop a deep relationship with Him in worship and obedience. The love of God is like the river in that it continues to flow, pouring out expressions of His nature and character, and will move against anything [like the trees] that would hinder the knowing of who God is and the development of the intimate relationship that God desires. The wrath of God is God’s love response to remove that which hinders His purpose in our lives. Because our sinful desires were the reason for God’s response, our perception of God’s response is wrath. However, God’s response is like the parent disciplining a child that had run across a busy street; it is not a response of hating the child, but love and protection to avoid future danger. Discipline, correction, and even punishment can be misinterpreted.

[The wrath of God is also used to how God deals with the wicked. As Romans 1 states, God revealed His greatness through His creation that all would seek Him out. God extended His love and mercy to all, but instead, the human race rejected God and chose to follow their own sinful desires. God allowed those who rejected Him to suffer the consequences of living a life of emptiness that only He can fill, and ending in eternal separation from Him. Eternal judgement against that which is contrary to God’s will is a reality. As part of the process, God sometimes uses outside forces, natural disasters, and other calamities as evidenced in Scripture, but not all calamities should be classified as punishment from God. Diseases such as cancer, and similar things may be just a part of being human and in a class that is beyond our ability to grasp this side of eternity. Certainly, though God does not “cause” these, He can and does use them for His purposes and glory. ]

It is important to remember that God’s ultimate purpose will be accomplished. The issue is whether or not we will have the joy of being part of allowing God to work through us or missing the blessing when God works around us because of sin. This is not an attempt to have an all-encompassing illustration, but to provide just another way to view the issue.

Present with the Lord

 

A Pathway to Failure

1. David was a man after God’s own heart, sought and worshiped God, composer of worship music, valiant, a courageous leader, willing to wait on God’s timing to make him king and not take matters into in own hands. Yet, he was not cautious in his relationship with women.  

2. During the time while Saul was king, he had at least 3 wives, and after Saul’s death and becoming king, he took another 5, the last of which was Bathsheba. While some of these might have been political alliances and multiple wives was common at that time, the practice reflected a lack of self control that eventually led to adultery and murder.

3. How could someone with a heart for God get involved in such tragedy? David, now king had led his army to fight many times, but the writer of 1 Chronicles highlights a slight shift in his practice in I Chronicles 19:8, “When David heard about [an army coming to fight Israel] he sent Joab.” Later, he lead the army to defeat the enemy. But notice how the chronicler begins in chapter 20: “In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, Joab led out the armed forces.”

An innocent pattern of staying home created the opportunity for a temptation that David did not resist. Even though he had 7 other wives, he chose to follow his lustful desires which led to adultery, murder, and established a model the led to the downfall of his son, Solomon.

4. While we may be aware of those things which are great temptations or weaknesses in our lives, we may pass over the innocent looking steps that create an opportunity for Satan to work. David remained king, but the consequences of his sin produced shame, disgrace, civil war, and lead to the failure of Solomon, even though he was the “wisest man” of his time. Accomplishing great things for God, leading others to worship, and being greatly blessed of God was not a vaccine against temptation.

5. We need to as God to make us sensitive to follow His leadership in temptation, and not allow us to create opportunities for failure by our own making.

As worship leaders, is it our responsibility to lead people into the presence of the Holy Spirit?

This is a great question, and on the surface, it seems as if the answer should be a simple, “yes.” However, since what God’s Word teaches is greater than our opinion, let’s review some issues as we develop an answer. 

The assumption for the above statement is a desire to worship. There are numerous passages and examples in Scripture, like the commands to praise in the Psalms. If we look at the word for worship in both the Old and New Testaments, the basic idea is bowing down in reverence. [I would encourage all to do a word study, but that is beyond the purpose of this.] Perhaps the most well-known example is that of Isaiah [chapter 6], in which God reveals Himself as holy [literally three-times holy, which was saying “holiest,” or most holy]. God has taken the initiative in that He was already in the temple before Isaiah had the vision. Immediately, the prophet sees himself as God sees him, and he confesses his sin, [individually and corporately], and is forgiven. The coal touching his lips was not only symbolic of God’s forgiveness, but preparation for his speaking for God. Verse 8 begins with the phrase, “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying...” It wasn’t until He had seen God and His character, confessed his sins, and received forgiveness that he was able to hear God’s voice. Upon hearing God, “Who will go, whom shall I send?” Isaiah responds in obedience: “Here am I, send me!”  Worship has in its components God revealing Himself, a recognition of His nature and character, a recognition of sinful self, confession and forgiveness, listening to God, and responding in obedience. 

Another important passage about worship comes from the lips of Jesus Himself, when talking to the woman at the well.  In the conversation, she focuses on Jews worshiping in Jerusalem, but Samaritans worshiping on this mountain. Jesus’ response was clear: 

  “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

Much has been written about this passage, and I would encourage study of it. I will just summarize in this way: Jesus was teaching that worshiping God is not about a place, but a person. God is Spirit, and to worship Him rightly must be done in spirit and truth, that is, His nature and character. Not only this, but God actually seeks those kinds of worshipers. 

When we surrendered our lives to Christ and His redemption, Scripture teaches that the Holy Spirit began to indwell our lives; we are “filled with the Spirit.” We do not get “more of the Spirit” as we grow in Christ, but the Spirit gets more control and direction of our decisions as we daily surrender to His leadership. Perhaps another aspect of worshiping in Spirit and truth is surrendering our desires and the leadership of our lives to the Holy Spirit. As Jesus said, “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth.” [John 16:13] Truth, here is God’s will and direction. Truth is always consistent with the nature and character of God, purity, love, kindness, and holiness. So in worship, God takes the initiative to reveal Himself through His Word and His Spirit, giving us a glimpse of His nature and character.  

Let’s pull this together to apply to the original question:  As worship leaders, is it our responsibility to lead people into the presence of the Holy Spirit?  First, since God’s Holy Spirit is already present in each believer, this is a misunderstanding of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. In a similar vein, we do not “ask the Spirit to come to our worship," because He already there. Second, it is the role of the Holy Spirit to convict of sin. Believers who come to worship with unconfessed sin in their lives must open their hearts to confess their sins and thank God for the forgiveness He offers. Third, since the Holy Spirit is already in the lives of each believer, and the Holy Spirit is convicting of sin, we must not confuse the role of the worship leader with the role of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit convicts of sin and guides in all truth and glorifies Jesus.

The responsibility of the worship leader is to be a clean vessel that is able to be used by the Holy Spirit. Paul gives us direction in Colossians 3:16: “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.” All the music we use should be putting the Word of God and its truth in our hearts and on our lips, leading to praise and thanks to God. Manipulation is when we attempt to take on the role of the Holy Spirit, rather than allow the Spirit to work as He desires. We must first deal with any sin in our own lives and allow the Holy Spirit to lead us to prepare to share the music in the best way we can. The measure of the depth of our worship is not by the depth of emotional response, but obedience to God’s will and Word.