Greetings on this Thursday. It’s good to be with you as we head towards the end of another week in the Workshop!
What a blessing it has been to be together in Psalm 23. This poem-prayer has such spiritual depth and power. To open ourselves to its witness “restores our soul”.
As you know, Thursday is a “moment of truth” in the creation of a message. It’s a day when we review all our notes and mediations, pray, and “put it all together” on paper (or in our case on screen.)
So, as you have listened and learned, mused and meditated, what message has the Spirit given you from Psalm 23?
Here are my “talking points” as I get ready for Sunday:
Psalm 23 is a most beloved Scripture. It has been the inspiration for many hymns, books, poems, paintings and other expressions of faith through the ages.
It finds its power in the pictures it paints of ‘green pastures’ and ‘still waters’ and in the trails it travels from mountain meadows to valley shadows to a king’s table. Above all it endears itself to all believers in the faith it proclaims: “The Lord is my Shepherd”.
The Psalm is a poem and a prayer. As a prayer it teaches us three prayers – three prayers we can pray as we travel the trails of our lives.
As the psalm begins it reminds me of one of the most beautiful moments of my life. I was on a hike with my family in the Rockies. We ascended to the top of a ridge where the view was “breath taking”. In that moment, as I beheld that beauty, there came an awareness that we were being held by a “bigger beauty”. This experience of majesty renewed and restored my soul. Maybe you have had one of those “majesty moments”. The psalm awakens us to how the Lord leads us into these times and invites us into this prayer of wonder and worship: “Lord, thank you for beauty bigger than myself and glory greater than my own that restores my soul.”
It’s important to treasure those majestic moments. The trails of life can quickly change. In this psalm the shift happens in three words. We go from “green pastures and still waters” to the “valley of shadows”.
Our Sunday message shares of one experience of my walking through that valley. You have had those experiences as well. Those are the times in life when the bottom seemed to “drop out” of your life and you know, “I am in the valley of the shadow”.
What’s important to know in that valley, what our faith reminds us of, “in the shadow we have a shepherd”. That faith makes all the difference!
There is an episode from King David’s life, the namesake of this Psalm, which highlights this difference of deliverance. Knowing “the Good Shepherd is with us” offers strength to stand and sustaining support to keep going. The prayer the Psalm teaches for this valley is succinct: “Lord, In the Shadow you are my Shepherd.”
Psalm 23 is one of 39 psalms that are called “Psalms of David”. Some think that’s because David wrote them. In his youth, as a shepherd, he was an accomplished minstrel. Others think these psalms received this designation because they were commissioned by David when he was king.
Whatever view you hold, Psalm 23 reflects both the faith of a shepherd and a king. In verses 1-4 we find a shepherd who knows he has a Good Shepherd. In verses 5 and 6 we find a king who knows what it means to be hosted at a royal banquet.
I don’t have the experience of feasting at a “kings table”. But I do know what it means to be hosted royally with utmost hospitality. The finery of a holiday gathering with my family is a “meal fit for a king” for sure.
The truth is, you don’t need “finery” to feast lavishly. Anytime, anywhere anyone opens up their home and heart and invites you to “pull up a chair” and make yourself to home, there a goodness and mercy that witnesses to the “goodness and mercy of God”. This “goodness and mercy” follows us in the days of our lives. More than that, acts of gracious hospitality remind us of God’s great graciousness. The Lord opens his heart to be our home forever. This leads to the third prayer of Psalm 23 – “Lord, your heart is my forever home!”
As we travel the trails of life we are invited to pray the Psalm and to pray the prayers the Psalm teaches us. As we do that we will be blessed with this great gift of faith: “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall the want. The Lord is my Host, my soul shall be satisfied.”
These are talking points for this Sunday. As always the points will be expanded upon providing fuller clarity.
That’s the message I received. What did you hear? What will you write? I was greatly blessed by Shea’s Children’s Message this week. She rephrased the Psalm in her own words and then drew pictures that “preached” this great prayer. You’ll want to see that!
Again, it has been a blessing to be with you in this wonderful witness of God’s word this week. I look forward to Saturday, when we can “pray together” and then Sunday, when we can join in worship.
In that anticipation, I’ll be with you again soon in the Pastor’s Workshop.
Prayer: Gracious God, thank you for Psalm 23. Thank you for its inspiring witness that awakens us to Your truth, You are our Good Shepherd. Thank You for how this Psalm leads us on the trails of our lives in ways we know “You are with us”. Help us to pray this Psalm and to pray the prayers the Psalm teaches in ways our souls will be restored each and every day. In the name of our Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord, we pray. Amen