Risen & Rooted

The LORD IS my Shepherd.

David begins Psalm 23 with a comforting fact….And everything else he says after this, hinges upon that fact. Is the LORD leading you today? Who is your shepherd?

I shall not want. David believes that because he is led by God Himself, he will not lack anything he needs. Do you believe you lack something? What is it? Is it a need or a want? Have you asked God to show you your truest, deepest needs….that He so graciously wants to meet?

He makes me to lie down in green pastures. Because God is leading and his every need is met, David has the freedom to rest. God’s leadership & provision puts his mind at ease. Are you resting in the LORD? Do you know how to rest? What does rest look like for you? Is your spirit at ease?

He leads me beside still waters. After rest, David is up and moving…next to waters that are still. The provision of these still waters trickled down from the mountaintops and into the valley. They quenched his thirst and refresh him. The line of a song comes to mind “ Come Thou Fount of every blessing. Tune my heart to sing Thy grace. STREAMS OF MERCY NEVER CEASING, call for songs of loudest praise.”

– (Robert Robinson)

God is not only giving David rest, but He is providing him with water…and not just any water… calm, still water. Internally, are you being continually refreshed in your time with the LORD? Is there calm and stillness as you follow His lead…or are you panicking from lack of trust? Remember, if God is leading, there is no lack. He is well known for providing water where there is not a drop in sight. Have you asked Him to supply your need for calm and stillness?

He restores my soul. Here’s another reason David said he had no lack. He, at one point or another, required restoration and God was faithful to restore him. Not with surface healing, but with a soul-deep restoration. Are you in need of restoration that a self care day cannot remedy? What is your soul yearning for, that cannot be met with anything you can see with your physical eyes?

He leads me in paths of righteousness for His namesake. God was not just leading David anywhere. He was leading him in paths of righteousness. Why? Because when we allow the LORD to lead, He takes on the full obligation of not only keeping us safe, but will also cause us to walk in a way that reveals His divine leadership and constant faithfulness. A righteous path reveals God’s supreme control, sovereignty and wonder working power! It is impossible for man to walk a righteous path of his own accord.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death….David was honest about what he was facing. He did not deny the fact that he was in the valley. He didn’t live in denial, pretending he was on a mountaintop and that everything around him was “fine”. The word “though” that David put into this line gives a glimpse of hope before he even finishes the statement….Sometimes we think that a treacherous path means that God has abandoned us…or deep down (if we’re honest) we think He just doesn’t understand where we are and that He doesn’t know what He’s doing. David recognized that THOUGH he WAS walking THROUGH the valley, God was STILL leading him. And he wasn’t sitting there. He was MOVING through it. Then David says “the valley of the SHADOW of death” not “the valley OF death”. This is an important distinction. On a mountaintop, there are very little shadows, and the light bathes just about everything. Down in the valley, shadows abound, yet the fact about shadows remains true…shadows cannot exist without the presence of light. David is telling us that although death is casting a shadow, the Light of the world is with him…and death can ONLY cast a shadow because it has been defeated by the One who walks beside him. Do you ever feel like the deep spiritual or physical pain and heartache you are experiencing or the scary things around you will lead to the death of something…..an opportunity? A relationship? A person?

I will fear no evil….for Thou art with me. There it is. David, in the face of the shadow of death, says he fears no evil…because God is with him. A second, more pronounced, declaration that evil has been conquered, as he implied in his previous statement…this time, he just digs his heels in and says it very bluntly. He understands that just as he has no lack because God is his Provider, he has no reason to fear, because God is His Protector. What are you afraid of? Despite the fear, can you sense the nearness of God? Are you running to Him, drawing near to Him with your fears and anxieties?

Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me. God meeting another one of David’s needs – comfort. The word comfort here, in Hebrew, means to breathe strongly, to be sorry, in a favorable sense, or to pity. It invokes a scene of David experiencing the mercy of God after correction, hence the rod and the staff. The sheep are kept in the paths of righteousness by correction and discipline. Correction reveals that we are His….and God does not let His own get away with sin. He corrects, then comforts us in order to let us know that He loves us, even as we suffer the consequences of our actions. How has God corrected you lately? How comforting is it to know that, in spite of our sin, he still loves us?

Thou preparest a table before me…What a sight! God Himself, preparing a table for David…while he’s in the valley! David didn’t have to lift a finger! God was laying it all out… preparing something wonderful, just for him! And not only was David seeing it…

…in the presence of mine enemy…David’s enemies were seeing it too! No wonder God was not always quick to eliminate the people in David’s life that caused him great trouble…God wanted those that had positioned themselves against David, to SEE that no weapon formed against an obedient child of God would prosper! God wanted the enemy to SEE that David was divinely protected. What do you believe God is preparing for you? Can you see it? Or can you sense that something great is just around the corner as you wait upon the LORD and trust Him with you future?

Thou anointest my head with oil. David knew that he was chosen. Called. Set apart. He had no shame in telling it. It’s almost a glimpse into the mind of David as he is on the run from Saul, and living in and out of caves. Despite being relentless pursued by a man who was determined to destroy him, David knew that he would live. Death would not come by the hand of Saul. God had anointed him to be king. When David was anointed as king, Saul was still PHYSICALLY on the throne, yet, David knew the truth, by faith – that he would not be living in caves and valleys forever. He was going to come out of that dark valley of shadows to sit as king upon the throne. I Peter 2:9 “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” Do you determine God’s will for your life based on what things look like when you are in the valley? Are you walking by obedience in light of a truth not yet seen, or by what you CAN see, taste, touch, hear and feel? Is there a courage that you have that you just can’t explain, that is leading you to more confidence in God?

My cup runneth over. David was experiencing the truth of John 10:10 – life more abundantly! The blessings of God were apparent to him. It was just spilling over! Have you seen the goodness of God in the midst of your valley? What is the one thing that God just keeps doing over and over again for you, that reassures you of His presence and faithfulness?

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me ALL THE DAYS OF MY LIFE…All these beautiful truths that David learned while walking THROUGH the valley, persuaded him of one thing – that the goodness and mercy of God was going to follow him the rest of his life. And it’s interesting to note that as David followed God, goodness and mercy are what followed behind him. Just another sign of walking on that path of righteousness. Is it accurate to say that who or what we follow will have a definite impact on what will follow behind us? What follows you as you move through life? Can you look back and see the merciful hand of God and His goodness that followed, even when things were difficult and the road through the valley was steep?

And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. David ends this Psalm with his mind where? On the valley he’s in? NO!! His eyes of faith are fixed on the very presence of Almighty God. Colossians 3:2-3 “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God.” David’s mind was not stuck, dwelling upon where he was in the circumstances of his physical life, but on where he was positioned in Christ – in the house of the LORD, the presence of God. He understood what Paul said to the church in Ephesians 2:6 – that we are seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus! Where is your mind? Is it set on your circumstances? Does worry fill you when you look around? How often do you stop, close your eyes and meditate on the fact that YOU are already seated in the presence of God? That no circumstance, or shadow, or valley, can change where God securely placed you at the moment He saved your soul?

Let’s take comfort in the fact that whatever valley we are walking through, no matter how dark or deep, God is with us….and it is not forever. I pray that this glimpse into Psalm 23 brings as much comfort to you, as it has to me.

Rejoice in the Lord always: again I will say, Rejoice. Philippians 4:4

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed: perplexed but not driven to despair;

Persecuted but not forsaken; struck down but not destroyed;

Always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be made manifested in our bodies.

For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’s sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

2 Corinthians 4:8-11

“LORD, lift me up, and let me stand,

by faith, on Heaven’s table land.

A higher plain than I have found…

Lord plant my feet on higher ground.” –

Johnson Oatman, Jr.