I’m sure most of you have heard Psalm 23 before. Some of you have heard it lots of times before. It’s the most popular psalm there is, and one of the most popular scriptures there is.
But you know, not too long ago, something occurred to me. And that is the number of times the first person pronoun is used. In other words, the word “me” appears seven times, “my” appears five times, and “I” appears four times. That’s a total of sixteen times that “I”, “me”, or “my” is in the twenty-third psalm. That’s more than one-tenth of all the words in the psalm.
Listen to it again, and think about how much the psalm emphasizes those words:
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 along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will 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 your goodness and mercy will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
See, I’ve always thought of this psalm as being about the greatness of God. And it is, of course, but that’s not all it’s about. It’s also about me. Yes, God is great, but God uses God’s greatness to help me. And to help you. To help all of us.
When I think of it that way, it gives the psalm a whole new meaning for m. To think that God, the almighty, all-powerful God, the God who is greater than anything we can ever imagine, wants to be my shepherd. God’s going to keep watch over me while I lie down in a peaceful place, a green pasture. God’s going to lead me beside the quiet, still water where I can get all I want to drink and have my soul be refreshed. God is willing to do that, God wants to do that, God is eager to do that, for me. For each of us.
God wants to be my guide, leading me on the right path, the path I should take. Even when things look bad, even when I’m walking through the darkest valley and I cannot see where I’m going, God will be there, guiding me along, using God’s rod and God’s staff to keep me on that right path. God’s going to take care of me even when my enemies are all around me. This is not anything I deserve. God does not owe it to me to do any of this. And yet, the almighty, all-powerful God is willing to do this, wants to do this, is eager to do this, for me. For each of us.
I have so many blessings from God that no container could hold them all. My cup oveflows. And because of all this I know that God’s goodness and God’s mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and when the this life is over, I will go to dwell in the house of the Lord forever. And so, by your faith in Jesus Christ, will you. So will all of us.
All of these things that God does for us. God does not do it because we deserve it. God does not do it because God owes it to us. God does not do it because God has to do it. The almighty, all-powerful God, the God who is bigger and greater than the biggest and greatest thing we can ever imagine, comes to me, and comes to you, and says, in effect, “Let me take care of you. Let me watch over you. Let me refresh you, body and soul. Let me guide you through life and protect you from your enemies. Let me do this for you. I’ll do it for you all your life. I’ll do it in the next life, too. You don’t have to repay me for it. I want to do this for you. I’d love to do this for you. All you have to do is let me. All you have to do is say yes.”
So let’s say yes. Let’s say yes to God. Let’s let God take care of us. God will do it. God will take care of us, all through this life and all through the next one.
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