The Top 3 Things You’ve Never Thought About the 23rd Psalm

Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd;

  I shall not be in want.

 The Lord makes me lie down in green pastures

  and leads me beside still waters.

 You restore my soul, O Lord,

  and guide me along right pathways for your name’s sake.

 Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil;

  for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 

 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

  you anoint my head with oil, and my cup is running over.

 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,

  and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. 

Sometimes it’s the things we’re most familiar with that we take the least time to examine closely.  The Psalm for today is one of those things.  Almost everyone knows something about the 23rd Psalm.  Even people who have never been in a church have probably heard it in a movie scene or something.  Most folks, regardless of their level of churchiness, probably even know that first line… “The Lord is my shepherd.”  But have you ever taken the time to really dive into it?  To really notice what’s happening in this thing?  Yeah, me neither!  So, with a click-bait title… here are “The Top 3 Things You’ve Never Thought about the 23rd Psalm.”  

The first thing you’ve likely never thought about comes from your 8th grade English class.  Don’t worry, there won’t be a test.  The Psalm starts out with “The Lord is my Shepherd” and “The Lord makes me lie down.”  THEN, it changes to… “YOU restore my soul, O Lord.”  Did you catch that grammatical shift?  It starts out talking about God in the third person… like you were telling someone ABOUT God at the grocery store.  But then suddenly, it shifts to speaking TO God in the second person!  Oh, there you are, God!  

This is really a great reminder of how much power there is in telling and hearing the story.  When the Psalm says, “I shall not be in want” and then paints the picture of green pastures and still waters, the Jewish folks hearing that would have been immediately put in mind of the Exodus… when the people of Israel were freed from slavery in Egypt and led across the wilderness to the Promised Land.  The Hebrew verb for “not being in want” used in THIS Psalm, is the same one used in THAT story when God provided manna to feed the people, just like shepherds provide green pastures to feed sheep.  And that same verb is the one used in THAT story, when water flowed from the rock to give them something to drink, just like sheep led to still waters to get a drink.

The power in remembering that ancient story isn’t that it magically forces God to suddenly show up.  No.  The power of this story is that it changes US… in the re-telling of this story we remember, no matter what’s going on around us, that God’s never left God’s people and we’re ALL God’s people!  God’s not somewhere, out there in the third person!  God’s right here… God with us… always!  

The second thing you might not have thought about is the part about the Valley of the Shadow of Death.  Because this Psalm is used at funerals… A LOT… I think we often assume “Death” is the exclusive sort of darkness this Psalm is allowed to cover.  Some less poetic, but more accurate translations, translate this instead as the “darkest valley” or the valley of the “deepest darkness.”  Those end up being more accurate because in truth, this Psalm covers EVERY sort of life’s darknesses.  The death of someone we love is for sure one of life’s deep darknesses, but life doesn’t limit dark times to just that one situation.  Life, in my experience anyway, seems to be wildly creative, dealing out ALL SORTS of deep darknesses with the generosity of Oprah giving out cars… You get some darkness and you get some darkness and you get some darkness!  This Psalm insists that God is PRESENT with us, caring for us, and walking with us through ALL of life’s darkest times.  

This part of the Psalm also reminds us that God’s M.O. is presence rather than magic.  God doesn't magic dark times away, swoop down with angels to fly us off, or numb us into a narcotic-like haze until it’s all over (all of which I’ve asked God for over the years, by the way).  God’s M.O. is to walk with us, be present with us, THROUGH those times.  Once again, reciting this Psalm, telling each other about the bad old days, doesn’t “magic” the latest darkness away… but it does remind me that in spite of how this current darkness feels… God will see me through this latest dark time too.  

The third thing you might not have ever thought about this Psalm is that bit where God prepares a table for me in the presence of my enemies, anoints my head with oil, and pours a cup to overflowing.  This DOESN’T say, “God prepared me a fabulous dinner, locks my enemies outside where they’ll be cold, hungry and finally get what they deserve!”  That may be what I WANT it to say… but it doesn’t say that.  

What this says is that this finally-able-to-let-your-guard-down, overly abundant, feast happens in the PRESENCE of my enemies.  That goodness and mercy only happens when we’ve been reconciled with our enemies… when our enemies sit down and join us at the table and become our friends.  Goodness and mercy is God’s desire for us and all of creation and God isn’t just “following us” with it.  God's "Pursuing us” with it!  Pursuing is actually a much better translation!  And God PURSUES us with enough goodness and mercy for EVERYONE… so that we can ALL finally sit down, be reconciled to one another and finally, finally, FINALLY be at peace. 

So, there you are!  “The Top 3 Things You’ve Never Thought about the 23rd Psalm.”  A grammatical reminder that God’s not far off, out there, somewhere, but always right here with us.  An honest acknowledgement that life has more than just one particular deep darkness, but that God sees us through them all.  And finally, a promise that God is not just following us, but is pursuing us, dogging us, chasing all of creation down with goodness and mercy.  So that all of creation might experience the genuine, lasting sort of peace that comes through reconciliation.  

It turns out, the Lord really IS your shepherd.  You really don’t need to worry and you’re never alone, even walking through the worst of life’s many darknesses.  And God will pursue you and me and all of creation with an abundance of goodness and mercy until we all finally accept God’s unconditional gift of real and lasting peace.  Amen.

The photo above is by Peter Ralston, a wise, good, friend. You can visit his gallery in Rockport, Maine or shop for his work at www.ralstongallery.com