An Exposition of Psalm 23 - Olaoluwa Okunnuwa

On a general note, Psalm 23 is perhaps the most often quoted scripture. Apart from John 3:16, this Psalm 23 and the "Lord's Prayer" in Mathew 6 and Luke 11 rank as the most quoted scriptures. But it does not necessarily mean that they are well understood.

David was a lover of God, His name even means "beloved". This Psalm 23 was a song of a lover to His Lover. It was not just one of those songs, but it was an expression of David's CONFIDENT Trust in God. Psalm 23 was a song of a LOVER of God and of one who was loved by God.

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

One could literally sense the tone of ASSURANCE in those words of David. When the Lord is our Shepherd, we can be sure to have all we need. One translation says, NOTHING SHALL I LACK. Another version says, I AM NEVER IN NEED. Yet another one beautifully puts it this way, I DON'T NEED A THING.

Here he watched them all day, taking care that none of the sheep strayed, and if any for a time eluded his watch and wandered away from the rest, seeking diligently till he found and brought it back. In those lands sheep require to be supplied regularly with water, and the shepherd for this purpose has to guide them either to some running stream or to wells dug in the wilderness and furnished with troughs.

At night he brought the flock home to the fold, counting them as they passed under the rod at the door to assure himself that none were missing. Nor did his labors always end with sunset. Often he had to guard the fold through the dark hours from the attack of wild beasts, or the wily attempts of the prowling thief

The Lord is the SLEEPLESS One and so, we are certain that He watches over us! Human shepherd may sleep, but the One Who is our Shepherd does not sleep or slumber. This should help us to appreciate the Lord's Shepherding Dimension over our lives.

The journey for the shepherd begins EARLY IN THE MORNING. He is not thinking of breakfast, or some undone task or some leftover chores. He is thinking about you. The Bible asks rhetorically, WHAT IS MAN THAT THOU ART MINDFUL OF HIM? Indeed, His MIND is FULL of US! Before we were formed in our mother's womb, the Lord had a PLAN and a PURPOSE, and a WORD awaiting us!

In both old and new testaments, MAN is referred to as "sheep". In Isaiah 53:6, it was said that "All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way..." and in Matthew 9:36, the people were described as sheep without a shepherd. To hear and not heed the Voice of the Shepherd is to go own way.

And this usually brings a lot of loss and damage, even physical death at times. We can be said to FAINT and SCATTERED if we are without the Shepherd; because ONLY HIM can FEED and SATISFY our hunger and ONLY HIM can GATHER our broken pieces in the warm embrace of His goodness and mercy!

The Lord is our Shepherd. And He is ever in relentless pursuit of the lost sheep. He is so full of compassion that He would LEAVE "Ninety-Nine" Obedient sheep to go after the ONE (what? just one? yes, just ONE) lost, disobedient or ignorant or "sheepish" sheep. Permit my vocabulary, please.

I hear the Lord saying: I AM your Shepherd. I care about you. Your welfare is priority to Me. I care what you eat and feed on. I care where you go. I care even where you lie to rest. I care how you feel. I care. My compassion is welling up on My Inside towards you.

My bowel of compassion is flowing in your direction. You will see My care for you in a greater dimension day after day. And you will acknowledge Me as your Shepherd. Amen. Glory to God!

Verse 2: He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters.

Note the two Verbs: the Shepherd MAKES us rest in the place of His Choice. He does not need our counsel. He knows where exactly the "green pasture" is for us. This brings to mind the vital place of hearing His Voice to know His Heart (His Will, Desire, Stand) concerning EVERY situation of our lives.

And the second verb: He LEADS us... It is My delight to lead you, says the Lord. I take pleasure in giving you direction. I want you to also delight in obeying My Voice and following in My Footsteps.

Verse 3: He RESTORS my soul. He LEADS me in the paths of righteousness for His Name's sake.

See those words! In one word, Our Shepherd is doing a glorious work of reversing the cycle of death. As we yield to the Shepherding-dimension of the Lord, we will experience a work of RESTORATION back to the Original Intention of His Heart before He fashioned us in our mother's womb.

If we stray away from the path that the Lord has laid out for us by following our fleshly lusts or the opinions of men or ungodly counsel, then we lose the provisions He has made ready for us. But if we REPENT and RETURN to the Bishop and Great Shepherd of our soul (1Pe 2:25 For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls), then we will be RESTORED.

Verse 4. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.

Wow! Have we such consciousness of the abiding Presence of God that casts out all fear? I have seen believers today who are living in fear, thinking they are living in faith; oh, we are not to be as such! Our boldness is rooted in our awareness of the Indwelling Presence of God.

There are real life situations that can only be captured as "the valley of the shadow of death", but more real is the Lord who is with us as our Shepherd. He will never leave us, whether we are going through the "dark and deadly valleys" of life or enjoying its "green pastures".

Glory to God!

It seems to me that while the ROD is used by the Shepherd to ADJUST, Discipline, Correct, Rebuke the sheep; the STAFF is perhaps used to INSTRUCT, Guide, Educate, Teach the sheep. Note that both the rod and the staff have ONE PURPOSE: to bring COMFORT to the sheep.

Oh, there are many times that the chastening of the Lord may seem too great for us to bear, but in the end, it turns out for our comfort. And out of the comfort that the Lord has comforted us, we can comfort others who He brings our way! The Lord chastens the son whom He loves. Yes, the Shepherd does the same to the sheep He loves.

Verse 5: You prepare a table before me, in the presence of mine enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.

The natural sheep don't worry about where to graze tomorrow, as long as they remain in the fold of the human shepherd. It is the shepherd that is responsible to discern a good pasture with nutritious plants for the sheep. He avoids fields with thorns and thistles and poisonous weeds.

Same with the Lord, our Shepherd. He has PREPARED before we came on board. He has made ready a feast of Fat Things for us. Indeed, all things are ready! Or do you think that God would lead us as His sheep to a pasture without good grass and then say He is sorry for bringing us to such a place? And that we should "manage the available dry grasses."? No!  The Lord has brought us to a wealthy place that will shut the mouth of the enemy.

Someone's going through a tough time at work and the situation back at home is not helping matters, and your heart is asking: Lord, are You still there? Can You furnish a table in the wilderness? Yes, the Lord can furnish a table in the wilderness. Yes, over and over, He can make rivers to flow again in the dry places of our lives.

Final verse...

Verse 6. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord.

As long as we are following the Lord our Shepherd, we can be sure that His Goodness and Mercy will follow us. Not just for a moment, or an hour or a day or a week or a month or a year...but for our LIFE TIME.

May we desire to not just be a sheep that only loves to graze in the FIELD of the Lord, but that presses on to BECOME A dweller in God's House. Or if we can also say, to become the very Dwelling Place of God. That is why in WaterGate church, we say verse 6 this way: surely, goodness and mercy are following me all the days of my life and I have become the dwelling place of God.

In summary, it is the Lord's desire that we rise up in His Fullness, both in Nature and Stature, in Purity and Power, in Authority and Audacity. Practically, we all are shepherds one way or the other: whether as a pastor, or a parent, or a boss, or employer of labor, or as an elderly sibling...etc. Therefore we must seek to express what the Lord has embodied and exemplified for us in this most precious psalm of David.

Let us remember that it was a song that David wrote probably while meditating on God's goodness to him. Write yours too... Maybe we need to touch a certain depth of God's Love before we can really do this, because John the Beloved, like David "beloved" wrote about the Lord Jesus as the Good Shepherd in John 10. Selah.

Amen.

We are praying that the Lord will indeed be our Shepherd, as individuals, families, as a corporate people in a local church and a nation. Lord, help us to stand as true shepherds after Your Nature and in Your Stature to feed Your people...that we may be all You have written concerning us!

Lord, help us to touch the depth of your love that unveils the dynamics of YOU as our GOOD, GREAT, AND CHIEF SHEPHERD. AMEN.

Balanced Truth of the New Creation Reality - Ebele UzoPeters

I used to think the great need of the church was for theologians to be filled with the Spirit; now it is evident that the need for the Spirit filled teachers to be well grounded in theology is just as great.

Theology, though a misnomer, is strong in hermeneutics. A lot of what is called hermeneutics in pentecostal circles is just amplified private interpretation. One person starts teaching his own interpretation of a thing, say righteousness for instance, and keeps saying it until it spreads.

That's not how biblical interpretation works. Righteousness is the ability to stand before God without the feeling of inferiority or guilt. Fine. That's a good definition, but Righteousness is also the ability to deny one's self, lose one's rights, and live for God and for God alone. How about that?

It is not only right standing. It is standing right. This means that it is not just the Father saying (1) I am pleased with you; it also is (2) You do only the things that please me. It is not only Christ's finished works. It is His workmanship.

This means that it is not just that (1) God has worked some things in me with pleasure; but that (1) I am working those things out with fear, and with trembling.

So righteousness is not only what God has made me in Christ; righteousness is also how I walk with God in Christ. God did not only create me in Christ, He prepared a path for me beforehand, that I should walk in it.

If I teach people how to walk with God in Christ, and I have not taught them who they are in Him, I have not taught righteousness. If I teach people who they are in Christ, and stop; I have not taught righteousness. If I say "don't teach dos and don'ts, just teach them who they are in Christ"...I am not talking about righteousness, I am only presenting my own ideas.

I've heard people say this and then turn around and say "the Bible has instructions for right living, we teach right living BUT....

BUT WHAT?

If a believer does not live right, it does not affect His salvation?
If a believer is not living right, it does not affect what he has been made in Christ?

My brother, that is a lie. It is a subtle lie. I urge you to stop believing it. I know many have preached and taught it. I do; but it is not true.

The Bible says in 2 Peter 1:9. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

Does that sound like an unaffected righteousness?

The Bible says in Romans 8:13. FOR IF YOU LIVE ACCORDING TO THE FLESH YOU WILL DIE; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

It does NOT say...guys you cannot die, but just don't live according to the flesh. It warns....living like this leads to death.

Or can an unaffected righteousness die?

Say your righteouness is Christ from today till tomorrow, and nothing is wrong with your scriptural fact, but something is wrong with your hermeneutics

So let's do away with the poor one-sided misrepresentation of God's truth and say what the Bible says, the whole of what the Bible says, and nothing more or less.

We know there are some who think one sin has destroyed everything God did for us in Christ and who teach that a believer is righteous until his next sin

That is NOT true

Must we therefore now take the opposite extreme and say a believer is righteous no matter what he does, because he has been made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus?

Because that is also NOT true. The Bible says in 1 John 3:7. Little children, let no one deceive you. HE WHO PRACTICES RIGHTEOUSNESS IS RIGHTEOUS, just as He is righteous.

So I used to think the great need of the church was for theologians to be filled with the Spirit; now it is evident that the need for the Spirit filled teachers to be well grounded in theology, is just as great.

Your education in theology is complete when you know everything the Bible says about any one thing, and you speak of that reality in the context of the whole truth. These are the teachers we need today. To this all the apostles gave witness

Talk about Pauline revelation from now till tomorrow. This is what Paul taught. He taught righteousness as right standing and standing right. He said "You are seated with Christ... Walk in Him...Put away lying... Speak the truth". He said "Don't live like the unsaved. (You have not so learned Christ... Ephesians 4:20)

John said (Not tomorrow, or after living right but right...) NOW are we the sons of God.....EVERYONE that has this hope PURIFIES HIMSELF (1 John 3:1-3)"

Someone comes along and says "Sir, try hard as I want to, I cannot live right"

The church does not need the one who says "If you can't live right, you are not saved. You are not righteous" filling me with guilt and preparing me to try harder and end in despair. The church does not need the one who says 'Don't worry, you are righteous no matter what you do" filling me with impunity and unrepentance, and preparing me for apostasy.

We need the one who says "you are righteous so you live right". "But I have tried to and I'm failing", "Sister, are you righteous?". "Yes brother, I am", "Does a dog try to bark?" (I mean..no one should say a dog isn't a dog until it barks. Neither should one say concerning a dog making cat and chicken sounds...don't worry, that does not affect its dog-ness)

"No brother. It barks because it's a dog", "Have you been made righteous, sister?", "Yes, I have!", "Then hallelujah, praise the Lord! You live right!" The one who keeps saying that until the day dawns and the Daystar rises in the heart of the listener...

That is the Lord's faithful workman in these last days, who rightly divides the word of truth. So invite me to word conferences and camp meetings to laugh in the Spirit and rejoice in the word....but I tell you, I also am badly in need of a historical and exegetical seminary education.

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