Psalm 23
Is there any passage of scripture more familiar than this one? It's the one my grandmother was reciting as she passed on to the Church Triumphant. When I decided to write a musical version of the 23rd Psalm, I chose to repeat one of the phrases at each of the stanzas, "I shall not want." David was a shepherd boy himself and it's interesting that he compares himself to one of the sheep. Sheep are some of the dumbest animals on the planet, driven totally by their appetites and vulnerable to just about everything. This is love for God based upon our dependence, both our desperate need for God and his utter dependability.
The first theme of the Psalm is restoration. The Psalms builds from the comfort of green pastures to lie in, the provision of waters that are calm enough to drink from, to "he restoreth my soul." This part of the Psalm reminds me of the words of Jesus where in Matthew 11 he invites us to "Come, all you who are burdened down and I will give you rest. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." When I am with people I truly love, I find myself finally able to relax and be comfortable with them, the situation I'm in, and with myself. When we express our love to God, that sense of comfort and rest often occurs. The biblical concept of Sabbath invites this same kind of relationship with God, where one day a week is to be work-free as a time of expressing our love to God (worship) and rest. We no longer have "blue laws" that enforce a Sabbath, but that doesn't mean we don't desperately need it. The
Methodists used to ask each other, "How is it with your soul?" Is your sense of yourself, your life and your relationship with God and others anxious, broken, fragemented, frustrated or just bored? Then restoration of soul is just what you need and it comes when you just get quiet and share the emotional love you have for God and open yourself to God who is already reaching out in love to you.
The next section of the Psalm is all about God's protection. The shepherd's crook is designed so that it can take hold of sheep from a distance, from a step or two away in the field or even over a cliff. The picture is of sheep that have their heads down devouring food,never seeing that they are getting ready to go into a ravine or something even more dangerous. Sound familiar to our experience? I encourage you to read Keller's A Shepherd Looks at the 23rd Psalm for more insight. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me." The life of a sheep is always in peril from thieves, predators, and self-imposed accidents. As humans, we are in peril from enemies. It's always good to remember that there are many forms of death - physical, relational, spiritual, etc. In those times we count on the love of God and because of His faithfulness our emotional love for God deepens and grows.
The next theme is healing. "You anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows." The wandering sheep were always getting into bushes and brambles or falling and becoming scraped or injured. In our imaginary ears, we can almost hear the bleating and see the bleeding. The shepherd would pour healing oil on the wounds and the sheep would experience relief from pain and healing from the wound.
The last theme is hope. "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever." Hope is always related in the bible to eschatology (the study of last things), in other words how you see things turning out in the end. Will our lives be shaped by disappointment, loss and distress or will it be shaped by the goodness and mercy of God? Hope always looks to that which is not yet and it gives energy and staying power in the present. David sees himself having a life that is characterized by God's goodness and mercy. Some translations do not use "forever," but instead us "my whole life long." That's because the concept of heaven does not belong to the Old Testament, but rather to the intertestamental period and the New Testament.
In light of Jesus Christ who gives us eternal life (both quality of life and length of life) we can use the word "forever" with absolute confidence.
With such peace and rest, protection, healing and hope, what more could we ask for? That's why I repeat, "Because of the grace of God expressed in my daily life, I shall not want." When you think of this Psalm and how God reaches out to you, don't you just want to tell God you love Him?
Psalm 139:1-18
If I were to name the most intimate passage in the Bible, this would be it. The New Revised Standard Version of the Bible entitles this Psalm, "The Inescapable God." It begins with the reality that God really knows us and cares about us. I remember a song that was on my first record album (I know, a CD for old people!) had Ed Ames singing a song entitled, "Who Will Answer?" The philosophers of the 19th century would say "no one, so deal with it." But the song suggests the answer as it finishes with Alleluia. You can pull up the song on www.youtube.com. Warning, it definitely has a 60s sound to it. Part of the secret to shared emotional love is that you know each other and care for each other. So it is with God. God who knows us best, loves us most and loves us first. We then return that love and intimacy becomes part of our walk with God.
In verses 7-12, we find that God keeps pursuing us no matter where we run to. As United Methodists we believe in "prevenient grace" that grace that comes before we put faith in Christ and that grace that keeps us from falling into total doubt (what John Wesley also called "preventing grace"). In the heights and the depths, in the light and the darkness, God just will not let us go. Adam and Eve thought they could hide from God among the figs in the garden and camoflogue themselves but they failed. There is no running or hiding from God. His love is too persistent for that. That's why one great sermon calls God the "Hound of Heaven."
Verses 13-18 are powerful words for our life-destroying and life-depreciating time. God is there at conception and his life has significance and value because God was there from before he could remember. Jeremiah similarly says, "Before you were born, I knew you." The language of Psalm 139 is strange because it has a pre-scientific understanding of the way the life is created ("in the depths of the earth"), but the point is well made. This passage is used strongly in the abortion debate, but it should be even more strongly used in our daily treatment of each other. In dealing with each other, we are dealing with the sacred. This passage is one we need to teach our children in helping them develop a healthy self-concept as well as a healthy concept of those around you.
Psalm 139 invites us to express our love as truly loved creatures who were loved before we ever recognized it. For those who may have not been raised in that kind of atmosphere this passage can become redemptive. Your true roots are not in being unwanted, or being abused or neglected. Your true roots are in the love of a heavenly Father who anticipated your birth and the person you could become, who will never abandon you or forsake you, and who still rejoices to call you his child. Our love for God is a natural response to a supernatural love. Have a great day loved child of God.
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