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Psalm 23

A song of David.

Psalm 23 is the best known and most beloved psalm in the collection. Surprisingly, it casts humanity as sheep—stupid, helpless sheep. But the long-lasting appeal of Psalm 23 is a direct result of that casting because the imagery is both soothing and accessible.

When he was a boy, King David was a shepherd watching his father’s flocks in the hills around Bethlehem. In those days, too, it was common to refer to kings in the Near East as shepherds; but not all shepherd-kings cared for their sheep. Though David tried to shepherd his people well, he knew the truth: the Eternal is the true Shepherd.

In John 10:11 Jesus makes a bold claim. He declares that He is the good shepherd. Immediately His disciples detected the resonance of Psalm 23 in His words. Those of us who follow Jesus today come to know Him as that gentle but strong shepherd who guides us through life if we will follow Him.

The Eternal is my shepherd, He cares for me always.
He provides me rest in rich, green fields
    beside streams of refreshing water.
    He soothes my fears;
He makes me whole again,
    steering me off worn, hard paths
    to roads where truth and righteousness echo His name.

Even in the unending shadows of death’s darkness,
    I am not overcome by fear.
Because You are with me in those dark moments,
    near with Your protection and guidance,
    I am comforted.

You spread out a table before me,
    provisions in the midst of attack from my enemies;
You care for all my needs, anointing my head with soothing, fragrant oil,
    filling my cup again and again with Your grace.
Certainly Your faithful protection and loving provision will pursue me
    where I go, always, everywhere.
I will always be with the Eternal,
    in Your house forever.

But God simply did away with Judah’s defenses.
    In that day you put your trust in weapons stored in the armory.
You began to fix the many breaks in the walls of the city of David.
    You stocked up on water from the lower pool.
10 You took stock of the houses in Jerusalem,
    and began to dismantle them stone-by-stone to shore up the city wall.
11 You built a reservoir between two walls to hold the water of the old pool.
    But in all this you neglected the One who could really save you;
You failed to consider the One who actually made this place
    and established it so long ago.

12 Consequently, the Lord, the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies,
    determined that day would be a time of weeping and regret,
A time of shaved heads and donning sackcloth
    and a time for mourning.
13 Yet you missed the point and made merry,
    slaughtering cattle and sheep for a giant celebration,
Eating and drinking your fill of wine!

People (to each other): Eat up, drink up, for tomorrow we die.[a]

14 Eternal One (to Isaiah): This sin will not be forgiven.
        It will stay with you until your dying day.

That’s what the Lord, the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, said.

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You are adulterers. Don’t you know that making friends with this corrupt world order is open aggression toward God? So anyone who aligns with this bogus world system is declaring war against the one true God. Do you think it is empty rhetoric when the Scriptures say, “The spirit that lives in us is addicted to envy and jealousy”?[a] You may think that the situation is hopeless, but God gives us more grace when we turn away from our own interests. That’s why Scripture says,

God opposes the proud,
    but He pours out grace on the humble.[b]

So submit yourselves to the one true God and fight against the devil and his schemes. If you do, he will run away in failure. Come close to the one true God, and He will draw close to you. Wash your hands; you have dirtied them in sin. Cleanse your heart, because your mind is split down the middle, your love for God on one side and selfish pursuits on the other.

Since the beginning, our loving Creator has been pursuing us, drawing us closer to Him. He invites us to move closer to Him so we can be fully His.

Now is the time to lament, to grieve, and to cry. Dissolve your laughter into sobbing, and exchange your joy for depression. 10 Lay yourself bare, facedown to the ground, in humility before the Lord; and He will lift your head so you can stand tall.

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