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Words of Rest Psalm 23 |
September 3, 2006 Pastor Tom Marcum |
So, what do you like to do to relax?
How do you like to unwind at the end of a tough day or a tough week at work?
When the simple pleasure we call, “rest,” is your uppermost desire, where do you look to find it?
It’s interesting to see the different routes that different people take to reach this one destination.
--I was talking about this with my buddy Reggie this week and for him the most direct route to rest and relaxation is found in the garden. He loves to tend to all of those things that I categorize as yard “work.” Key word—work! For me, yard work is one of the Saturday chores that I have to finish before I can think about resting. For him, it’s the path that leads to rest. And, by the way, his yard shows it. It’s absolutely beautiful.
--My wife finds rest in doing needlepoint. She’ll invest countless hours over weeks, even months, producing a small but beautiful canvas that ultimately becomes a pillow or a framed work of art that usually ends up as a gift for a dear friend or family member. While I appreciate both the craft and the finished product, the needlepoint process itself would be sheer torture to me.
--Now, conversely, after the most hectic week imaginable I can be thoroughly refreshed if I can have a couple of hours in the kitchen or at the grill to whip up either a favorite recipe or a brand new recipe that I’ve either discovered or created. And my wife does everything she can to encourage this love of mine…including letting me buy every cooking implement known to mankind…because cooking, for her, falls squarely into the category of “work”.
Well, it’s Labor Day Weekend and it seems to me that a few words about rest are in order. We are many and varied people and its not surprising that we would find rest in many and varied ways. At the same time, if we have bound ourselves to Christ by faith we are, all of us, children of God. And as God’s children it’s important for us to remember that God has not promised to satisfy some of our needs, but all of our needs. And that includes our need for rest. So, I want us to spend the rest of our time, this morning, resting in the Lord.
What restful word would God speak to us, today? As I thought about that, earlier this week, my mind was immediately drawn to the familiar words of the 23rd Psalm. Let’s read it together and see if God would offer us a fresh word of rest.
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he restores my soul.
He guides 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 love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
As we walk through this wonderful psalm, today, I want to take a more restful and relaxed approach than we would typically bring to the study of God’s word on Sunday morning. Instead of following a carefully crafted strategy of biblical exposition I want, instead, for us to take a leisurely stroll through this glorious psalm pausing to ponder and delight in the treasures that we stumble upon along the way.
That was the approach that I followed earlier this week as I began to read and re-read the psalm and, as I did so, I found one very familiar treasure; an old and familiar aspect of this psalm that I have loved and cherished for years. But I also ran across a treasure in this psalm that was, at least for me, brand new. I want to share both of those treasures with you, this morning, beginning with the familiar one.
The first treasure to capture my attention is, I believe, the very thing that gives this psalm its universal and timeless appeal, and that is that this is an intensely personal psalm. Did you notice that, from beginning to end there is a complete absence of words like “we,” “us,” “they,” or “them.” Instead, from beginning to end, the psalm is filled with words like “me,” “my,” “I,” “He,” “His,” and “you.” It feels almost like we’ve stumbled across a love letter. And, in fact, we have. That’s exactly what this is. This is David writing an intensely personal letter about the love his life. And, of course, the love of his life is God.
Do you want to know why this psalm has such a universal and timeless appeal? It is, in part, because deep in the heart of every one of us is a passionate desire to know God. To really and truly know Him. To connect with Him and relate to Him in a meaningful way.
And, how do I know that? I know it because God, our Creator, told us that He put that desire there. Not in some of us, but in all of us. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says it like this, “(God) has set eternity in the hearts of men…” Folks our Creator created each of us with a passionate desire for an intimate and personal relationship with the God in whose image we were created. And this psalm touches us because, as we read of David’s deeply personal relationship with God, it inspires us to hope for a similarly personal relationship with God for ourselves.
Folks, we live in a world that is constantly telling us either that God doesn’t exist at all or, that if He does exist, that He exists in a dimension that makes it impossible for us ever to know Him…that He exists somewhere far outside our reach. And, of course, if that’s true it means that we are doomed to live out our lives with a burning passion that has no hope of ever being fulfilled. What a thoroughly depressing and utterly wearying thought.
But against that futile and worldly message of unfulfilled hopes and dreams comes this wonderfully refreshing and restful word from David in Psalm 23. And that word, essentially, is this—“If I can have an authentic encounter with God then it can also happen for you.
The Lord is my shepherd and He guides and leads me to quiet, restful places that restore my soul. And He wants to be your shepherd, too.
Life’s not always easy for me. Sometimes I walk through really frightening places…valleys shadowed with death…but I never walk through those places alone. I sense God’s presence every step of the way comforting me and removing my fear. And He wants to walk with you through the scary times in your life as well.
If I can know God in such an real and personal way then so can you.”
That’s David’s word to us. Folks, linger in that thought for a while…soak up the treasure of that promise…wander, for a few moments through the wonder of God’s daily, sustaining, protecting, providing presence in your life…and you will find rest.
Now, I told you earlier that I discovered a brand new treasure in this psalm as I wandered through it earlier this week—something that I don’t remember ever noticing, certainly never pondering, before. Yet, as I began to soak on it I quickly realized that I had stumbled onto yet another golden nugget in this truly amazing psalm. And here’s what struck me—in the middle of this psalm David makes a subtle, but profound change in the way that He refers to God. Again, it’s a small change…a change so subtle that it had never really captured my attention before…yet, as I began to soak on it I realized that this small, subtle change produces a profound shift in the form of the psalm and a profound lesson for us.
Let me read a portion of the Psalm to you emphasizing the words that signal this significant shift. The following phrases are found in verses 1-3:
The Lord is my shepherd…
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness…
Now, watch what happens in verses 4-5:
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
Your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me…
You anoint my head with oil…
Did you catch the difference? In the first half of the psalm David is talking about God. “I will dwell in the house of the Lord, forever.” “The Lord.” “He.” “He.” “He.” “He.”
Then, in the second half of the psalm, he suddenly shifts gears and begins to talk to God. “You.” “Your.” “Your.” “You.” “You.”
Is there a lesson there. I think there is. And I think this new lesson is grows out of the old lesson that we just talked about. I think this new lesson is related to the very personal nature of this psalm and to God’s desire for a personal relationship with us. The new lesson, it seems to me, is this: Talking about God must always be accompanied by talking to God.
In other words, talking about God is never an end in and of itself. Study is fine. Study is important. But, folks, study that does not lead to a closer relationship with God is ultimately vanity. Who cares if you can talk about a God that you don’t really know? Certainly not God. In fact, in 1 Corinthians 8 we’re warned to stay away from the kind of knowledge that only “puffs up.” God’s desire is that we would truly know Him and we get to know Him as we talk to Him. And that’s why all of our talking about God must always be accompanied by talking to God.
So, for instance, we come to the 23rd Psalm and we begin by learning about God: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.” And we ponder that verse and roll it around in our minds and try to discern what it’s telling us about God. And as we begin to understand what it tells us about God, it moves us to talk to God. “Father, thank you, for providing all of my needs. What a joy it is just to rest in the certainty of Your provision.”
Then, we move deeper into the psalm and we read,“He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.” And, again, we begin to meditate on the verse and try to discern what it’s telling us about God. And as begin to understand what it tells us about God, it moves us to talk to God, “Father, what a joy it is to rest with You in green pastures beside quiet waters. And, Lord, on those occasions when life beats me down and wears me out, remind that in You my soul can always be restored.”
Then, we move a little further into the psalm and we read,“He guides me in paths of righteous for his name’s sake.” And, again, we begin to meditate on the verse and try to discern what it’s telling us about God. And as begin to understand what it tells us about God, it moves us to talk to God, “Father, my heart’s in the right place but, as You know, I’m prone to wander. Teach me Your ways, Lord. Secure me in the center of the path of righteousness for the sake of Your holy name.”
So, those are my words of rest for you this Labor Day Weekend.
At this very moment there is in your heart a desire to know and experience God and that desire was put there by God Himself because He genuinely wants you to know Him. Your desire and God’s desire are one and the same.
What’s more, to encourage your to desire to know God, He’s given you some personal testimonies of people who have succeeded; one of whom was David who knew him very, very well. And the Good News is that if David could know and experience God personally, you can, too.
What’s more, He invites us to learn about Him by studying the Bible and He invites us to talk directly to Him in prayer. And as we combine learning about God with talking to God, He satisfies our hearts desire to truly know Him.
And when that happens then we will say as David said in Psalm 62, “My soul finds rest in God alone…he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.”
© Copyright 2006 Pastor Tom Marcum