The One Spiritual Experience Every Human Shares
I suppose, if people today had a favorite Psalm in the Bible, they would identify Psalm 23 as their favorite . . . or at least the one they've heard about.
The first three verses describe an idyllic reaity in which everything is peaceful and abundant and right. It is a life that God offers and provides but it is not the life that every person in the world will experience.
Verse four describes the reality we all face. Every single one of us, from the beginning of time to now and until the end of time will "walk through the valley fo the shadow of death." We will face our own mortiality and we will, at tomse point in time, die. Death will come for us. We can fight it, we can resist it, we can medicate and exercise and add barley green to our carrot juice to our heart's content but one day you, me, all of us, will die.
The questions for us is not, "Will I die?" but what will be my experience of God while I live? Can the reality in this described in this Psalm be my life experience? The asnwer to that question is, "It depends." It depends on the fourth word of the first verse, the first person singular possessive pronoun: "my."
Whether or not you fully participate in a real and vital relationship with God in which you can say, truthfully, "The LORD is my shepherd," makes all the difference. It is only when we live in a faith relationship with God, a relationship where we put aboslute trust in Who God is and what He says about Himself and us, that we have a life context and a heart condition in which the blessings and proimises of htis Psalm can be ours.
Whether or not we will face want depends on whether or not "the Lord is MY shepherd."
Whether or not we face death without fear depends on whether or not "the LORD is MY shepherd."
Whether or not goodness andmercy will pursue us like greyhounds after a rabbit; whether nor not we will dwell in the house of the LORD forever, secure His glory life without end depends on whether in this life, right now, the LORD is YOUR shepherd.
We make the LORD our shepherd when we put our faith in Jesus Christ and follow Him as our Savoir and Lord of our life. We will all face death. How we live up to death and what happens to us following our death depend entirely on whether we make the LORD our shepherd. Don't wait. Trust Christ now.
Psalm 23:1-6 (KJV)
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul:
he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
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.
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies:
thou anointest my head with oil;
my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
The first three verses describe an idyllic reaity in which everything is peaceful and abundant and right. It is a life that God offers and provides but it is not the life that every person in the world will experience.
Verse four describes the reality we all face. Every single one of us, from the beginning of time to now and until the end of time will "walk through the valley fo the shadow of death." We will face our own mortiality and we will, at tomse point in time, die. Death will come for us. We can fight it, we can resist it, we can medicate and exercise and add barley green to our carrot juice to our heart's content but one day you, me, all of us, will die.
The questions for us is not, "Will I die?" but what will be my experience of God while I live? Can the reality in this described in this Psalm be my life experience? The asnwer to that question is, "It depends." It depends on the fourth word of the first verse, the first person singular possessive pronoun: "my."
Whether or not you fully participate in a real and vital relationship with God in which you can say, truthfully, "The LORD is my shepherd," makes all the difference. It is only when we live in a faith relationship with God, a relationship where we put aboslute trust in Who God is and what He says about Himself and us, that we have a life context and a heart condition in which the blessings and proimises of htis Psalm can be ours.
Whether or not we will face want depends on whether or not "the Lord is MY shepherd."
Whether or not we face death without fear depends on whether or not "the LORD is MY shepherd."
Whether or not goodness andmercy will pursue us like greyhounds after a rabbit; whether nor not we will dwell in the house of the LORD forever, secure His glory life without end depends on whether in this life, right now, the LORD is YOUR shepherd.
We make the LORD our shepherd when we put our faith in Jesus Christ and follow Him as our Savoir and Lord of our life. We will all face death. How we live up to death and what happens to us following our death depend entirely on whether we make the LORD our shepherd. Don't wait. Trust Christ now.
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