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 leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
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 goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
forever. (ESV)
Throughout the course of your life, you will probably hear this psalm countless times. You may find yourself tempted to write them off as mere “clichés.” Resist this temptation, friends. Such “clichés” are truths so often repeated that our sin nature—which hates truth—finds so intolerable that it reduces to irrelevance. But it is an illusion of the soul. There are no biblical “clichés.” Instead of allowing the repetition of this psalm fade into the dull hum of white noise, I pray that it instead swells over the years into a blaring crescendo. I can tell you with confidence that this psalm means more to me now than ever before in my life, and I wholeheartedly expect that its exceeding sweetness will reach its height when this pilgrim is on his deathbed.
This psalm is the song that arises from the grateful hearts of Christ’s sheep. The Lord Jesus, our Good Shepherd, said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27). He has promised that when he calls his sheep, his sheep will delight to hear him. So, when he says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 12:28), his sheep respond, singing out, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want” (v. 1). To heed the call of the Good Shepherd—to enter through the Door into the sheep-pin—is to be want of nothing; to come to Christ is to enter into peace and vitality and life-enriching beatitude (v. 1–2; cf., John 10:7–10). To heed the call of the Good Shepherd is to bring your wounded and wearied soul to the Great Physician who restores (v. 3; cf., Matt. 9:12). To heed the call of the Good Shepherd is to follow the paths of righteousness (v. 4). Do you know what that means? It means that the choice between living a life of joy, blissful fellowship, restoration of soul, and happiness in God on the one hand, and living a life of righteousness, obedience to holy commands, and Godward ambitions that seek the glory of Christ on the other hand, is a choice that does not exist. To choose the one is to choose the other. To seek first the kingdom of God is to have all these things added unto you (cf., Matt. 6:33). John Piper is right when he says that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him, and for this, we should praise our Savior!
All that I have said above, of course, does not imply that our lives will be easy or without suffering or difficulty. We will still have to “walk through the valley of the shadow of death.” The invitation of our Good Shepherd does not make that valley disappear, nor does it mean we are exempt from walking through it, but even as we do, we need not fear. Why? Because Christ, our Good Shepherd, is with us; his rod and his staff comfort us (v. 5)! He goes so far as to prepare a table for us in the presence of our enemies (v. 5). When and how does he do this? Is it not as he nourishes us on our pilgrimage day by day as we march on toward our heavenly homeland? Does he not set a table before us as he strengthens our faith little by little (often enough just to get by to the next day, as he sustained our forefathers in the wilderness with mana from heaven)? Is our life here in this rugged and threatening wilderness, though filled with hardship and heartbreak, not often punctuated with sweet graces of family and friends and joy and wonder and beauty? What is this, if not our Good Shepherd preparing a table for us in the presence of our enemies?
But oh, never forget or minimize the breathtaking truth, that Christ prepares a table for us in the presence of our enemies when we come on the Lord’s Day to commune with him and his people with broken bread and poured out wine. He sets that table for us! And as we come to that table through faith in him alone, he nourishes us with those elements. The Spirit of God momentarily lifts us to heaven, as it were, to commune with Christ in a partial and anticipatory way. How marvelous it is that our Good Shepherd has not merely given us the promise of a heavenly banquet; he grants us glimpses of it here and now, during our pilgrimage, in anticipation of when we shall “dwell in the house of the LORD forever” (v. 6)! Oh, what precious promises! Oh, what precious realities are ours right now for we who have heeded the call of our Good Shepherd! Reflecting on this glorious psalm, while writing this for you today, has enlarged my heart with a love for Christ, and a delight in his beauty and excellency, and I pray your reading of this psalm will do the same, increasingly, forever. Amen.
Other resources by Samuel G. Parkison
The Beauty of Christ and the Formation of the Soul
Thinking Christianly: Bringing Sundry Thoughts Captive to Christ
