Read Psalm 23
anyone want to recite?
Recap from verse 5
- You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Table suggests bounty Prepare suggests foresight and care Before me suggest a personal connection Presence of my enemy suggests protection
Anoint my head is a commission from God for a job – God anoints with oil to place his seal on David/Us. He protects them. God anoints us is Christ, God anoints us with the Holy Spirit. He marks us for his work..
My cup overflows – continuous – Not only does God provide what we need. He always gives more. Because our cup overflows, we can be generous like our Father and use what he has given us to be his blessing upon other people.
Verse 6 Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Surely – David looks back over the first five verses summarizes that God was with him and led him thru sustinance, rest, keeping him on the path, fear, valley, attack from enemies, a job, and resources for that job. …thru good and bad God is always leading us.
Goodness – God provides the goodness
Psalm 16:2 – I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.”
Psalm 104:28. When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things.
Psalm 107:8-9 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.
James 1:17. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
Mercy (steadfast love) –
what is mercy?
Not giving us what we deserve.
Ephesians 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.
Titus 3:5. he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,
Who gets this mercy?
Romans 9:15. For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
Luke 1:50. His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.
So what does “fear” him mean?
Acknowledge that he is God. He is powerful. He is wise. He is in charge, I am not.
1 Peter 3. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
So who gets mercy? Those who fear God, thru Jesus
Will follow me all the days of my life
what does that mean “follow?”
I took it to mean that I will keep sining and God will keep providing mercy.
I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever
What is the house of the Lord? Heaven
How can we be sure it is forever?
1 Peter 4. and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you,
Read: for summary – keep these verses
Romans 8:38-39 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
John 14:3. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
Rev 7:16-17 ‘Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them,’ nor any scorching heat. 17 For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; ‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’ ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’ ”
-read this with the last 3 verses-
David expresses his conviction in this verse that the Lord’s goodness will be with him throughout his life. Whether green pastures and still waters lay ahead, or David was required to walk through the valley of the shadow of death, the Lord’s goodness would accompany him.
Over the years of his long life David had found that God is good all the time. Further, the Lord’s unfailing love would be present with him every step of life’s journey. Paul encourages us in Romans 8:38–39 to count on God’s love in all of life’s circumstances. Nothing can separate us from His unfailing love. We can use trials to make us more aware of God’s love so that we grow, rather than become bitter. David anticipated that at the end of his life he would enter heaven—the house of the LORD —and live there forever.
Having the Lord as our shepherd makes life worthwhile and blessed, and when our journey on earth ends we will enter heaven to live with our Shepherd forever (John 14:3). Revelation 7:16–17 promises that in heaven believers will never hunger or thirst or suffer again, “For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”