Larry Trotter

This material was originally offered in a North Wake Church Adult Discipleship Course. The transcript has been lightly edited to be used in this format.

The Ubiquity of Psalm 23 in Culture

Psalm 23 is the most familiar psalm, without question, even in contemporary culture. Cultural references to it abound. It is omnipresent at funerals, as it should be, offering wonderful comfort. It was recited at Whitney Houston’s funeral and at Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s funeral. President George W. Bush referenced Psalm 23 when he addressed the nation on 9-11. It appears in one of Clint Eastwood’s films and in Titanic. It shapes lyrics, and performers as diverse as Coolio, Tupac, Kanye, Jay-Z, Dolly Parton, Charlotte Church, and the Benedictines of Mary have sung versions of it. Not to mention Megadeth and Grateful Dead. All of these have either performed Psalm 23 or incorporated it into their music. It is everywhere, in the air we breathe, even today.

Therein lies a bit of the problem for truly grasping Psalm 23, because it is so familiar. Many translations have sought to honor the King James version that is so pervasive in culture. They have stayed close to it, in part because it is a good translation of this psalm.

The Danger of Familiarity

The danger is that old proverb from Proverbs: familiarity breeds contempt. The temptation is to think, Psalm 23, I know that one. Teach something new. Teach something different.

Think of it this way. There is often a big hubbub over a solar eclipse. People drive to the Midwest to see and experience it. They go to places like Ohio, Kentucky, or Texas to watch this thing where, for a moment, the world turns dark. It is phenomenal. But every night, about eight o’clock, the world goes dark. It happens, and then unbelievably, 10-12 hours later, it turns light again. Science bears it out. It happens every day for the rest of life. We call it sunset and sunrise.

To pull this off, the orbits and rotations hurtle through space at 67,000 miles per hour. In North Carolina, the spin is roughly 900 miles per hour to achieve this phenomenal thing called sunset and then sunrise. But who pays attention, unless it is a glorious one on water or somewhere to watch it happen? Nobody pays attention. Friends do not say, get up early and come over to watch the sunrise together. It is not a thing. But it is a thing. The goal is to move Psalm 23 from the category of sunset wonder to the category of eclipse wonder and help treasure it. It is not a very complicated psalm. There is not a lot of novelty to it, but to embrace it, to welcome it, to wonder at what it says and to walk it out in life is an extraordinary thing. It is wonderful if slowed down to appreciate it more as eclipse than sunset.

A Personal Encounter with Psalm 23

Personally, a journal entry on Psalm 23 was made last June, about 10 months ago as I taught this. Since then, commentaries and devotional works on Psalm 23 have been read. Psalm 23 has been used every day as part of devotional practices for 300 days now. It was thought to be done, but the Lord kept it present. The day typically ends either listening to Psalm 23 or reciting it from memory. That has been the practice, and it has been incredibly good. There is a story in 2 Kings 7 about lepers during a siege. They were going to die in the city or out of it, so they went to the enemies to see if they could find sustenance. They went out, and God had routed the enemy. The camp was empty with plunder galore. The lepers stuffed their pockets and dined in ways they never dreamed. They realized this was not right and needed to go back to tell friends in the city about this treasure. That is the feeling: wanting friends to understand and welcome this treasure that is Psalm 23.

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will 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. My cup overflows.

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

This is God’s good word.

Treasures from Psalm 23

Psalm 23 is not horribly complicated, and there are not a lot of secret deep Hebrew meanings hidden behind the English translation that cannot be grasped. But it is elusive to carry along. People are forgetful, so to memorize it, review it, and meditate on it takes Psalm 23 into that deeper place where it shapes life. Things that have been treasures in Psalm 23 include a friendship from student ministry as a 17-year-old junior. The principal human agent was Dick Hartman, a recent college graduate teaching Sunday school in a liberal church that had lost the gospel, in a musty room in the church basement in the Midwest.

Nothing taught in that high school youth group is remembered, but how he cared is unforgettable. He took drives in his convertible 1968 Camaro, flights in his airplane, out to dinner, and visits in college. The friendship endures to this day largely because of Dick. He was a groomsman in the wedding, and his wedding was performed at age 50 when he at last found someone to wed. He embodies the steadfast love of God. It could be called sticky love because for almost 50 years, Dick has befriended, loved, and cared. Steadfast love is the language Bibles often use to describe the love of God. The apostle John says it is a love that must be experienced before it can be shared. In 1 John 4, we love because he first loved us. The extent to which the shepherding care and love of the Father is embraced is the extent to which it can be passed on. Psalm 23 is one of the great Old Testament descriptions of how God loves and cares for his people.

It is interesting that in most English Bibles, love is not mentioned in Psalm 23. It is not found, but it is there. The word mercy is actually chesed from the Old Testament. It is translated over 250 times as things like loving. The King James did not know what to do with this word, so they made up loving kindness, steadfast love. It is translated perhaps a hundred different ways but occurs 250 times in the Old Testament. It is the love of God for his people: faithful, loyal love, steadfast love, covenant love, all these ways to describe it. Psalm 23 is a description of the way God loves and cares for his people. It is a pointer toward the greatest shape that love has ever taken.

There are five shapes of the love of God in Psalm 23 that have been wonderful.

Background on the Psalm

The sheep in Psalm 23 is in distress. Chip McDaniel, a North Wake Member and Southeastern Professor, wrote his doctoral dissertation on Psalm 23. His contention is in part that this sheep is in distress, so it is a psalm for people in troubled places. Psalm 23 is connected to King David. It has that subscript. Perhaps he wrote it. It might have been written for him, but perhaps he wrote it himself. He was a shepherd boy in his youth, uniquely qualified to write about shepherds. As a king, he likely knew a thing or two about a lavish banquet. This is David’s sweet spot.

He suffered greatly. He was pursued by assassins, rejected by his son, lost another son in childbirth. The list goes on. David was a man who knew sorrow, uniquely positioning him to write this. A couple of pages later in Psalm 25, David says the troubles of his heart are multiplied. People face hardships, not skating through life fat and happy. This psalm is for those places, specifically for them. It bears the hope and love of God.

Notice that the shepherd is Yahweh himself, by name. That is why in Bibles it is capitalized LORD. Whenever LORD is capitalized in the Old Testament, it represents God’s intimate name to his covenant people, Yahweh. What is it like when Yahweh is the shepherd? Psalm 23 flavors a number of crucial passages throughout the rest of the Bible. One is Ezekiel 34, which talks about good and bad shepherds, especially the bad ones in Israel, and how God will come and be their shepherd, the one they long for. In Ezekiel 34, having Yahweh as shepherd is, in contrast with bad shepherds, unselfish, sacrificial, feeding the hungry, strengthening the weak, healing the sick, binding up the injured, bringing back strays, searching for and seeking the lost, gently ruling, protecting, rescuing in dark times, gathering the wayward, providing good pasture, making them lie down. Echoes of Psalm 23 are heard. For a follow-up read, see Ezekiel 34. According to Ezekiel, this is what it is like when Yahweh is the shepherd.

In light of that, here are five shapes of the love of God.

The Five Shapes of God’s Love

He Satisfies

The first is that God satisfies. The language of satisfaction in Psalm 23 is loved. It starts in the first verse: I shall not want. Some Bibles render it I lack nothing. If that was the entirety of the psalm—The Lord is my shepherd—it would still be top 10. That is a beautiful statement, but there is more. I shall not want is the language of satisfaction. The whole psalm is enveloped in satisfaction language and imagery: green pastures, still waters, righteous paths, restoration, comfort, anointing with oil, an overflowing cup, goodness, mercy, dwelling with the Lord in his house. That is all satisfaction language and imagery. This is the place to dwell. These are soul- or life-satisfying images. He is all that is needed. David writes elsewhere in Psalm 34: Fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack. The young lions suffer want and hunger, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. This is a theme of his life and writing. Because the Lord is my shepherd, I am good, I shall be satisfied, even in times of distress, the psalm says. His care is what is truly needed. That is where satisfaction lies.

Another phrase about his satisfaction is loved: He restores my soul. Those in graduate school might find that beautiful. He restores my soul. There is a certain time in the semester approaching when this is like water to a thirsty man. He restores my soul. The soul language is perhaps best seen as whole life. He restores it all, and the soul is an integral part. Literally, the language is he brings my soul or life back. Even when wandered into sin, he restores the soul, the life. Even when least deserving, he restores and brings back into his righteous paths, or simply his right paths. God restores life, all of it. When tempted to look elsewhere for satisfaction, remember Yahweh is the shepherd, and in love, the shepherd satisfies.

Jeremiah writes about it in 31:25: For I will satisfy the weary soul and every languishing soul I will replenish. That is the shepherd of God, the shepherding of God. In his care, the life always wanted is truly experienced. First shape: his love satisfies.

He Leads

Second shape: he leads in love. The psalm uses this image several times. He makes me lie down in green pastures—his leadership. He leads beside still waters. In green pastures, beside still waters, this is sheep heaven. This is where sheep want to be, a five-star sheep resort. It is where to be if a sheep, especially if weary or wandered to hard places. Literally, the rendering of still waters is waters of rest. Of course, that echoes the language of Jesus, the good shepherd, the great fulfillment of Psalm 23. In Matthew 11, he says: Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. The good shepherd leads to places of soul rest.

Verse 3 talks about his leadership again: he leads in paths of righteousness or the right paths. Those overlap in meaning. He leads that way for his name’s sake, which is a puzzle. One writer said he acts out of his own integrity, which he will not violate. To keep his reputation, his word as a God of integrity, he leads in the right paths. It is as though his integrity and love bind him to lead his sheep in these good ways. When there are decisions and unsure which way to go, know that the shepherd leads to sheep heaven, to the best places, the very best for the soul. But where the psalm goes next shows this does not rule out the darkest valleys, even the valley of death’s shadow. There is no pass on these places, even the presence of enemies.

He Comforts

When in that valley, the third shape of his love appears: he comforts. He satisfies, leads, comforts. The implication is he may have led into these hard places. He is there to comfort by his own presence: for you are with me. Yahweh is in the dark valleys, and his rod and staff comfort. It is imagery of protection and care, a shepherd guiding and protecting a sheep with those implements. But the main emphasis is not what the rod and staff are, as much as who wields them. A good shepherd wields them for comfort, for protection. Yahweh, the shepherd who loves, wields them for good. The valley of the shadow of death is a flexible rendering. It could be the valley of dark shadows or deep darkness. Surely death is the center, but it is bigger, with broader application for life.

When in the darkest valleys, know the shepherd is there to comfort, rod and staff in hand, protecting, directing, providing, such that there is no need to fear any evil. That is incredible. Evil is bad, scary. There is no need to fear it because of the comfort God brings. How powerfully comforting the shepherd’s presence must be to banish the fear of evil. This is the shape of his steadfast love.

A book found tremendously helpful is The Sheep Remembers by David Calhoun, a history professor at a seminary. He had a terminal cancer diagnosis fought for 30 years. It is unheard of that anyone lived beyond five years with that diagnosis: non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. This was the last book he wrote before the cancer took him home to the Lord. It is an odd little book, a bit of commentary, a lot of quotes, songs, poems, and personal testimony after each phrase of the psalm. It is like panning for gold, looking for nuggets. Many were found. He writes: In the valley, I learned the importance of joy, peace, and patience. How can I be joyful, writing of his cancer, when my body was slowly, perhaps not so slowly, dying. I have lost sight in one eye and the other eye is failing as is my hearing. I have been hospitalized seven or eight times in the last three years with pneumonia. I can no longer swallow food or talk very well. And most disturbing, my mind is letting me down. How could I be joyful when all this is happening to me? In the valley, I learned that joy comes not from my feelings nor from my daily experiences, but from the inner conviction that my life is going according to God’s plan, the shepherd’s plan. Joy is a gift from God. Then he quotes a Puritan: “I have cast my anchor in the port of peace, knowing that the present and future are in nail-pierced hands.” It is full of that perspective only gained by walking through that valley.

He Provides Lavishly

The image in verse 5 shifts from feeding and watering sheep to feeding and watering people. The scene changes, and the shepherd hosts a banquet and provides lavishly. That is the fourth shape of his love: a table before me in the presence of my enemies, anointing my head with oil, my cup overflows. It is feasting imagery: a table prepared, an anointed guest, a cup that overflows. It is like having to tell the host to stop—that is enough. It is spilling over. Some ancient translations put it: Your cup cheers me like the best wine. Another puts it more boldly: Your cup inebriates me. That is Jerome. This is a picture of human heaven, the banquet to be invited to. In his presence, he provides lavishly, even where enemies lurk, maybe especially there.

There are always enemies. The only enemy identified in the psalm is death, but it has much broader application. There is no removing that. There is always evil. There are terribly dark days. But in the middle of all that, he sets a table in his company. When enemies encircle, the Lord welcomes at his table as honored guest and provides lavishly for the soul, even there.

His Love Is Steadfast

The last shape is his love is steadfast. Love that word. A church plant in Asheville is called Steadfast Church—what a great name. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, every day. And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord—the peak imagery of the company and presence of God—forever. Goodness and mercy are heavyweight Hebrew terms. The first is tov, meaning good, the very goodness of God himself. When God made the world, at the end of every day, he said it is tov. The goodness of God in all creation. Psalm 100 says the Lord himself is tov; he is good. The goodness of God demonstrated in the creation of the world follows every day. Tov in the Old Testament is direct contrast to ra, evil. They are polar opposites. The Old Testament talks about knowing the difference between good and evil. It does not surprise that the goodness of God banishes the fear of evil. This opposing force to evil follows all the days of life when Yahweh is the shepherd.

The second word is chesed, that undefinable word in the Old Testament. Michael Card’s definition: when the person from whom I have a right to expect nothing gives me everything in love. That is chesed. It is always after. Professor Calhoun in his book points out that to say it follows is not strong enough. It pursues, haunts. The Hebrew word translated follow can be rendered more forcefully. Goodness and mercy pursue, haunt steps. They will not let out of sight. We are chased, not by enemies, but by the goodness and mercy of God.

The Fulfillment in Christ

A follow-up read is John 10, where Jesus claims to be the good shepherd. It has echoes of Psalm 23, like Ezekiel 34. Jesus is the good shepherd, the shepherd of Psalm 23, fulfilled in him in an extraordinary way.

Prayer for Learners

Lord, Yahweh, I ask now for these sitting before me that you would be their shepherd and that they would trust that in your care they lack nothing.

Lord, I pray that you would take them to a place where they lie down in green pastures and the waters are still, restful even, in the midst of all the busy crazy that is their world.

Green pastures, still waters. Lord, restore their soul there in your company. Restore their soul and lead them in the right path for them, the place and the way you have for them.

It’s what shepherds do. Lord, do that for them for your name’s sake. And even though they walk through the darkest of valleys, Lord, banish fear of evil.

Let them know that you are with them even there. That your guiding and protecting would be their comfort. Lord, prepare for them a table, though they be surrounded by enemies.

And there, that lavish feast, anoint their head with oil as as your treasured guest. May their cup overflow with the lavishness of your love and care for them. May your goodness and mercy follow them every day, all the days of their life.

May they dwell in your company forever. Lord, we pray this in your name. Amen.