December 24, 2022 - Psalm 23

Who knows, I might have commented on Psalm 23 numerous times. But it’s one of those texts we find ourselves coming back to over and over again. We just can’t help ourselves, the psalm is so rich in assurances! Charles Spurgeon remarked, “This is the pearl of Psalms whose soft and pure radiance delights every eye.” Spurgeon also notes, “The position of this Psalm is worthy of notice. It follows the twenty-second, which is peculiarly the Psalm of the Cross. There are no green pastures, no still waters on the other side of the twenty-second Psalm. It is only after we have read, ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me’ that we come to ‘The Lord is my Shepherd.’”

It is because we have seen the cross and understood the great sacrifice on our behalf that we can truly understand and appreciate the ministry of the Good Shepherd who restores our souls and assures us that we shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Spurgeon adds, “What condescension is this, that the Infinite Lord assumes towards his people the office and character of a Shepherd!” But he has! “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). In all the Christmas hustle and bustle, we are most grateful for our great and kind Shepherd!

The King of love my shepherd is,

whose goodness faileth never.

I nothing lack if I am his,

and he is mine forever.

Where streams of living water flow,

my ransomed soul he leadeth;

and where the verdant pastures grow,

with food celestial feedeth.

Perverse and foolish, oft I strayed,

but yet in love he sought me;

and on his shoulder gently laid,

and home, rejoicing, brought me. --H. W. Baker (1868)