The Healing of Mind and Soul - Psalm 23

Ps. 23:1 "The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want" 

This Psalm does not begin with a request or asking God for something, but rather it is a calm statement - The Lord is my Shepherd. We do not have to beg God for things. Instinctively the sheep know that the shepherd will make provision for them today, and also tomorrow so it lies down in its fold with no worries. We also have to know that God made provision for our needs long before we even had the need. Before He put man on earth He knew we would be hungry, so God put fertility into the soil and life into the seed. In Matthew 6:8b "...for your Father knows what you have need of, before you ask." In Matthew 6:25, 34 Jesus asks us to think if God will do as much for a simple bird or a flower in the field, how much more will he do for us. "My God shall supply all your needs." Philippians 4:19 and "The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want" Psalms 23:1. With that faith we can work today without worrying about tomorrow.

Ps. 23:2a "He makes me lie down in green pastures" 

The shepherd starts the sheep grazing about 4 a.m. The sheep walk steadily as they graze; they are never still. By 10 a.m., the sun is beaming down and the sheep are hot, tired and thirsty. The wise shepherd knows that the sheep must not drink when it is hot, neither when its stomach is filled with undigested grass. So the shepherd makes the sheep lie down in green pastures, in a cool soft spot. The sheep will not eat lying down, so he chews his cud, which is nature's way of digestion.
When we study the lives of great people and you will find that every one of them drew apart from the hurry of life for rest and reflection. "Be still and know that I am God." Psalms 46:10 Elijah found God, not in an earthquake or the fire, but in "a still small voice." Moses saw the burning bush as he was out on the hillside. Saul of Tarsus was on a lonely, quiet road to Damascus when he saw the heavenly vision. Jesus took time to be alone and pray. Sometimes God puts us on our back in order to give us the chance to look up. "He makes me lie down." Many times we are forced, not be God, but by circumstances of one sort or another to lie down. That can always be a blessed experience.

Ps. 23:2b "He leads me beside the still waters," 

The sheep is a very timid creature. It is especially afraid of fast moving water, which it has good reason to fear. The sheep is a very poor swimmer because of its heavy coat of wool. The water soaks into the sheep's coat and pulls it down. The sheep will not drink from a moving stream. The sheep will only drink from still waters. The shepherd does not laugh at the sheep's fears nor does he try to force them, instead he is constantly on the lookout for still waters. If there are no still waters while the sheep rest he will gather up stones and make a dam across a small stream to form a pool from which the sheep will be able to drink from; even the tiniest one without fear.

God knows our limitations and He does not condemn us because we have weaknesses. He does not force us where we cannot safely and happily go. God never demands of us work which is beyond our strengths and abilities.
One of the best ways to relieve stress and tension from your life is to picture still water in your mind; a calm sea with gentle, rippling waves. This really does work, I have actually gone to the beach since I live in Florida and just sit there, close my eyes and just listen to the gentle, rippling waves. It literally feels like with every wave that goes back out it's taking away with it every tension and stress. Now picture that and as that becomes a clear image say these words "He leads me besides still waters."

Ps. 23:3a "...he restores my soul." 

David remembered that as the sheep start out in the morning to graze, each takes a definite place in line and hold that position all day. However, sometime during the day each sheep leaves its position and trots over to the shepherd. The shepherd gently rubs the nose and ears, lightly scratches the ears, and whispers in an ear of the sheep. Reassured and encouraged, the sheep takes its place in line again. (Isn't this so amazing?!) David lost his nearness to God. He did wrong. He became unhappy. His burden of guilt too heavy to bear. Then he repented. God hears, forgave, and restores. He became a new man. 

"He restores my soul" = He revives my life. Like squeezing juice from an orange and leaving just the pulp, life has a way of squeezing the spirit out of a person. A person can become "only a shell." 

The Bible tells that God made the first man "and He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." Genesis 2:7 And God has the power and the willingness to breathe a new breath of life into one who has lost.

Ps. 23:3b "He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake." 

We come to the forks of life's road and cannot decide which way to turn. There are decisions to be made and yet it is so hard to decide. We do get lost. We need guidance, and confidently David in Psalm 23 declares,  "He leads me in the paths of righteousness" (in the right paths).

Sheep have no sense of direction. A dog, cat or horse if lost can find its way back. They seem to have a compass within themselves. Not a sheep. A sheep also has very poor eyes. It cannot see ten or fifteen yards ahead. Palestinian fields were covered with narrow paths over which the shepherds led their sheep to pasture. Some of these paths let to a precipice over which the sheep might fall to its death. (The sheep are not the smartest)

Some paths lead up a blind alley. But some lead to green pastures and still waters. The sheep followed the shepherd, knowing it was walking in the right path. 

Perhaps David remembered his forefathers as they made their way across the trackless wilderness from Egypt to the Promised Land. God sent a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day. Following it, the Israelites did come to the land they longed for. Though God does not put a bed of roses on the battlefield or a carpet on the race track; though He does not promise us an easy, effortless life, He does promise us strength and He does promise to go with us. God doesn't drive. He is climbing the same hill we climb - man is not alone. 

As we take life one step at a time, we can walk with Him the right paths. "In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths." Proverbs 3:6 The person who sincerely seeks God's will, whatever His will may be, will know the leadership of Eternal Wisdom. He will lead you to the promise land.

Ps. 23:4a "Though I walk through the valley of shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for you are with me." 

Valley of Shadow of Death

The valley of shadow of death refers to more than the actual experiences of physical death. It might refer to every hard and terrifying experience of life. In Palestine, there is an actual Valley of the Shadow of Death. It leads from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea and is a very narrow and dangerous pathway through the mountain range. The path is rough, and there is danger that a sheep at any moment to its death. It is a forbidding journey that one dreads to take. But the sheep is not afraid. Why, because the shepherd is with it.
So when those dark places in life we are compelled to pass. Death, disappointment, loneliness, and many more....Just stop. Be still and quiet, and in the midst of all that you will feel a strange and marvelous presence more powerfully than you have ever felt before. "I will not be afraid." Why, because "for you are with me." There is a power in His presence.

Ps. 23:4b "Your rod and your staff comfort me"

The sheep is a helpless animal. It has no weapon with which to fight. It is easy prey to any wild beast of the field. It is afraid. But the shepherd carries a rod, which is a heavy, hard club two to three feet long. The shepherd also carries a staff, which was about eight feet long. The end of the staff was turned into a hook. Many paths in Palestine were along the steep sides of mountains. The sheep would lose its footing and slip down, hanging helplessly on some ledge below. With his staff the shepherd would reach down, place the crook over the small chest of the sheep and lift it back onto the pathway. The sheep is instinctively comforted by the shepherd's rod and staff. 

It is comfort of knowing that the shepherd will be able to meet an emergency. There are needs in my life that I cannot meet, and,  like St. Paul it comforts me to say "Now unto Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think."Ephesians 3:20

Ps. 23:5a "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies"

In the pastures of the Holy Land grew poisonous plants which were fatal to the sheep if eaten. Also, there were plants whose thorns would penetrate the soft noses and cause ugly sores. 

Each spring the shepherd would take his mattock and dig out these enemies of the sheep, pile them up and burn them. Thus the pastures were safe for the sheep to graze. The pasture became, as it were, a table prepared. The present enemies were destroyed.

"You anoint my head with oil"

Ps. 23:5b "You anoint my head with oil, my cup runs over."

In life, we expect to live it you must also except some bruises and hurt. And David thinking of that said "you anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over." Sometimes, as the sheeps grazed, its head would be cut by the sharp edge of a stone buried in the grass. There were briars to scratch and thorns to stick. Some days the sheep had to walk steep paths under a hot, merciless sun. At the end of the day it would be tired. So the shepherd would stand at the door of the fold and examine each sheep as it came in. If there were hurt places, the shepherd would apply soothing and healing oil. Instead of becoming infected, it would soon heal.

As young children we would get hurt and run to mom who would kiss the hurt away. As older children we still get hurt. A heart can be broken, feeling can be hurt, and the world can deal creully and harshly. One can become discouraged and tired. 

Sometimes the burden of life can become unbearable. But also there is the tender Shepherd who understands the hurt of His children and is ever ready and able to minister to that hurt.

Ps. 23:6a "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life"

David is not wistfully thinking. He says surely, surely, surely. David was an old man when he wrote Psalm 23. He had seen tragedies and disappointments, but he had also come to know God - a God that know the needs of His children and abundantly provide for those needs, a God who can restore life and take away fear. We hear a lot of the wickedness of men and the destruction of the world. We know bombs can destroy city with one awful blast. We tremble. But, somehow, as our minds are filled with the picture of the Loving Shepherd leading sheep we feel confident that He will lead us through the dark valleys. Begin the morning with hope. Plant this firmly in your mind, "surely goodness and mercy shall follow me," and they will. 

Ps. 23:6b "And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever"

David closes the Twenty Third Psalm with a mighty crescendo of the faith when he declares "I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

David did not have the insights that we have. He never heard the words: "I am the resurrection and the life: he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die." John 11:25-26

Just knowing intimately a God like he describes in the Twenty-Third Psalm gave David assurance that at the close of life's day he would go home. 

A little story:

"He knows the Shepherd"

There's a story, I don't know the source of it, of an old man and a young man on the same platform before an audience. A special program was being presented and as part of the program each one of them had been asked to say the Twenty-Third Psalm. The young man trained in his speech went up and eloquently said the Psalm. When he finished everyone was clapping and asking for an encore. Then the old man got up leaning on his cane and in a feeble, shaking voice said the Psalm. He sat down and everyone remained silent.  It seemed like the people were praying. The young man got back up and said the following: Friends, I wish to make an explanation. You asked me to come back and repeat the Psalm, but you remained silent when my friend seated. The difference? I shall tell you. I know the Psalm. He knows the Shepherd!!!

Maybe in the modern day the figure of shepherd and the sheep may mean little, but let me tell if there were people in this world that really resembled scared sheep that would be us. Government are afraid of each other. People are afraid of the government, of other people, and even of themselves. 

This Psalm of David has sung its way across the barriers of time, race and language. For centuries it has been treasured in the hearts of people. Today it is more loved than before.

Why it lives? Not because it's great literature. Because it tells that above all the strife and fears, the hungers and weaknesses of mankind, there is a Shepherd. A Shepherd who knows His sheep one by one, who is abundantly able to provide, who guides and protects and at the close of the day opens the door to the sheepfold - the house not made with hands. 

The Twenty-Third Psalm gives men that same assurance. That is why it lives in the hearts of men, regardless race or creed.

**My notes taken from the book I was reading "God's Psychiatry by Charles L. Allen 

The book also includes God's Rules for Living - The Ten Commandments; How to Talk to God - The Lord's Prayer and The Keys to the Kingdom - The Beatitudes