Well, friends, we’ve reached the conclusion of our 2nd
study. This study of Psalm 23 will
conclude today with verse 6.
“Surely goodness and
love (mercy) will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the
house of the Lord forever.” (Psalm 23:6)
I think we’ll break this verse down into three parts so we
can take a closer look at each section.
First we’ll talk about “goodness
and love”, then we’ll consider the promise of “will follow me all the days of my life” and then we’ll finish up
with “I will dwell in the house of the
Lord forever.” So let’s get started,
shall we?
“Surely goodness and love”
For starters, let’s talk about these two words. This pair of words have been labelled “celestial
escorts” by F.B. Meyer in his book, The
Shepherd Psalm. The idea of this is
that these two things, goodness and love, will be constant companions in every Christian’s
life. They are referring to God’s
goodness and love, not our own. We have
the assurance that God will be with us always and we will always have His
goodness and love with us. In his book The Good Shepherd H.W. Robinson calls
these two words “God's sheepdogs”. I
kind of like that label because it makes me think of God’s leading as sheepdogs
nipping at our heels in order to get us to keep moving in the right
direction. Actually, I my previous
church that was the way some of the parishioners thought of my role as their pastor. They said that the title of sheepdog
described my job pretty well. I was
supposed to keep moving them closer to God where they could find the peace,
love, safety and hope that He provides, just like the shepherds role as we have
been studying it in Psalm 23. I really
liked that idea that I should be nipping at their heels (figuratively, of
course) and barking (more like saying, I would hope) “Look out!” or “Don’t go
there” or “Come this way” or “He’s over here”.
So we can be assured that God’s goodness and continually guides us
through this life on our journey toward eternity.
The Greek word translated as ‘goodness’ in many Bibles has
also been translated ‘kindness’ and even ‘beauty’ in other English
translations. The English word
‘goodness’ deals with a quality or virtue.
It’s defined variously as “the state or quality of being good”, “having
moral excellence or virtue”, “feeling kindly”, “demonstrating kindness or
generosity”. These are certainly some of
the qualities we see in our heavenly Father.
If we recall that this Psalm is an allegory using the relationship
between the shepherd and his sheep then we can see that in this instance as
well the character of the shepherd reassures the sheep that they are in good
hands. They have learned through
personal experiences that the shepherd can be trusted to provide for them, to
care for their needs, to keep them from harm and help them out of trouble if
they wander from his care. I don’t think
it’s really much of a stretch to say that the sheep learn that the shepherd
loves them in the way he cares for them.
In just typing these words I am reminded, I’m comforted, I’m reassured
of my own relationship with my Shepherd.
Sometimes we just need to get back to basics, so to speak, and in
writing these blogs I find that my mind does just that. As I write to you about God’s love, care,
protection and encouragement I feel that same sense of peace in my own heart being
renewed as well. It’s a great
feeling. I hope you sense it too in your
own life even now as you read.
The second word of this pair is translated as ‘love’, ‘mercy’,
‘lovingkindness’, ‘faithful love’ and ‘grace’ among others. It is a love that doesn’t give up on
you. It is love that forgives and cares for
you no matter what. In the case of this
Psalm it is the love of a shepherd totally committed to the protection, provision
and watch care of his sheep. In reality,
this is an example of the love of God for the “sheep” of His flock. It is a love we can count on, that we can
know is always there for us. This is a
love which we do not deserve nor a love which we can ever earn. As
Ephesians 2:8 reminds us “For it is by
grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God”.
This love came first from God.
When we turn our hearts and minds toward God and offer our love to Him
it’s a reaction or reflection of the love He has already shown us. John says, “We love [him] because he first
loved us.” (1 John 4:19) That
love is a constant companion as we walk through this life. It is what fills us with hope for our future
both here on earth and throughout eternity.
Read through the scriptures below and see if they don’t encourage you
and bring you that peace which is beyond understanding.
“Because
of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions
never fail. They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness. I say to
myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” (Lamentations 3:22-24)
“Whatever you have learned or
received or heard from me, or seen
in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” (Philippians 4:9)
“Praise be to the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his
great mercy (love) he has given
us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from
the dead.” (1 Peter 1:3)
“But because of his great love for us, God, who is
rich in mercy, made us alive
with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have
been saved.” (Ephesians 2:4, 5)
“But God demonstrates
his own love for us in this: While
we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
This last verse, Romans 5:8, always amazes and humbles
me. God showed how much He loved me by
sending His son to die in my place even though I was still a sinner! This is the kind of love and goodness which
follows everyone who have become sheep in His flock throughout the journey here
on earth. What amazing love!
As promised, here is the second part of today’s final
blog.
“will follow me all the days of my life”
This passage reminds us that it’s a done deal. It doesn’t say “might” or “could” it says “will”. When you come into God’s family His goodness
and love, or mercy if you prefer, will be with you for the rest of your
life. Even if you step away or wander
from Him that love is still there for you.
It’s like a parent whose child has stepped away from the family, or like
the Biblical story of the Prodigal Son.
The father waited and watched, longing for his son to return and one day
it happened. That’s another great
image. If you want to read it once again
you can find it in Luke 15:11-32. If you
have given your heart to Jesus Christ, if you have invited him into your life
as your Savior, if you have asked him to forgive you for the sins in your life
then you are a member of his family or as we’ll say in the context of this blog,
you are one of His sheep! Jesus died on
the cross for that very reason. God
showed His love for us in sending Jesus here to die for us. I’m sure you know the verse but just in case
you don’t turn to John 3:16-18.
“Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
(Hebrews 13:5)
“And surely I am with you always, to the
very end of the age.” (Matthew
28:20)
That brings us to the final portion of today’s text.
“and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
This is where I must leave the allegory of the sheep. While the shepherd tended and cared for every
need of his flock the time came when they would die. Their lives were temporary. You and I have the assurance of living
forever with our Good Shepherd in an eternal pasture and that is amazing. It is the promise of Psalm 23. We, unlike the earthly sheep, have the opportunity
to become part of God’s flock. The
Psalmist puts it pretty well in Psalm 100, verse 3:
“Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep
of his pasture.”
“Very truly I tell
you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life
and will not be judged but has
crossed over from death to life.” (John 5:24)
I began this blog on Psalm 23 by saying that verse 1 is
really the Psalm in a nutshell. “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not be in
want.” That’s an amazing promise isn’t
it? I’m reminded, once again, of the old
hymn, God Will Take Care of You. Remember that this opening verse is an “if-then”
statement. If the Lord is your shepherd then
you shall not be in want. I pray that He
is your shepherd as you read this sentence.
If you are, then all of the promises of this 23rd Psalm are
there for you every day. Don’t forget
that God’s goodness and mercy (love) will follow you throughout your life here
on earth and when your time here is ended you will be with Him in paradise!
I want to thank you for taking the time to work through the
posts in this Psalm 23 blog and I sure
hope I’ll see you back soon when we
begin our next study. As I told a friend
just today I don’t know where we’ll go next but God will show me and then we’ll
get started. I truly appreciate each of
you and thank you for studying along with me.
I would love to hear from you and know how these posts have been helpful
to you. If you post on Facebook I will
get it there or you can comment at the end of this post and it will come my way
as well. Thanks once again and “keep
your nose in the Book”. God bless y’all
and thanks once again.
Bob
Keep on bloggin'.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Say "Hi" to Fran for us.