Remaining - Psalm 23
Readings for this week June 3 - 7
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Day 1 – The Lord is My Shepherd
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Psalm 23:1
The idea of God as a shepherd was not unusual in the ancient Middle East; other cultures also contained the idea of a king as a shepherd. Here in New Zealand we are familiar with farmers, the modern equivalent to shepherds, although our society’s opinion of farmers is markedly different to ancient Israel’s view of shepherds. But we understand the concept of the shepherd as the one who guides, nurtures and looks after the sheep, who tends them and cares for them at all times, in all circumstances.
God deigns to take care of us and guide us and protect us the way a shepherd does his flock. The image that the Psalmist has chosen here is not a distant one like ‘shield’, or ‘rock’ or even the impersonal ‘king’. Shepherd is intimate, it implies closeness, proximity, the shepherd living with the sheep, handling them, defending them and protecting them in the reality of their world and environment. The metaphor of shepherd involves presence, the shepherd with the sheep, personally caring for them and leading them. And, for the Psalmist, God is ‘my shepherd’. He knew the closeness and love of God his shepherd in a intimate, personal sense. A key theme bound up with the image of shepherd is one of care, concern, loving attention lavished on his charges and the provision of peace and security for their well-being. This the Psalmist knows deep in his being. “The Lord is my shepherd” – and we are his, something that we can come to know deeply when we spend time with God and allow him to tend to us.
Questions to Consider
What does the word shepherd mean to you? What does it mean to say you are one of God’s sheep?
Prayer
Holy Father, thank you for your love for me and your care for your people. May I come to know your tender shepherding love more and more. Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 2 – Hearing His Voice
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Psalm 23:2-3
In the Middle East, both in ancient times and now, recognizing and knowing the shepherd’s voice was the most important thing a sheep needed to do. The shepherd was responsible for leading his flock, for protecting them, feeding and watering them, caring for them and leading them from place to place. The sheep had to listen for their shepherd’s voice and follow that voice. This signifies the utter dependence the sheep have upon their master, and that we are to have on God, as the one who gives and sustains life, the Creator who breathed life into us. And as the one who gave us life in the first place, the one who knows us best and knows what is best for us, he is the one we are to look to ahead of all others. He is our leader. He will guide us along the right paths.
So we must listen for his voice and attend to it. Through scripture, through worship, through prayer, individually and corporately, we must discipline ourselves to listen, to put ourselves where we can hear God’s word to us and respond. We do not need to know where the green pastures and flowing streams are; that is not necessarily our focus. All we need to know is where the shepherd is. The shepherd is the one who will guide the sheep to what they need. All that the sheep need to do is trust the shepherd, stay close to him, and follow, in holy obedience, where he leads. Learning to know and recognise – and follow – the voice that calls us as his own, to spend time listening to his guidance and command, is vital to our walk with him.
Questions to Consider
What does it mean to follow the shepherd? How are we to tune ourselves in to the shepherd’s voice?
Prayer
Almighty God, keep me close. Guide me with your Word and through your Spirit so that I might know my Master’s loving voice more and more with each passing day. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 3 – Wherever We Go
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Psalm 23:4
The promise of God is not that there will be no dark times – that his sheep will always be safe and secure and will never find themselves in dangerous places – but that he is always with us in these dark times and dangerous places. Our reason for not fearing is that he is with us, he journeys with us every step of the way – the shepherd stays close by his sheep, even when the sheep make a misstep off the path the shepherd is leading them down. The shepherd’s rod and staff will guide and console, images from the shepherd metaphor designed to show the continuing care and love that the shepherd lavishes on his flock, that God lavishes on us. Notice that, at this crucial moment of panic and fear, the speaker turns to God and addresses him in the second person – you, your – a further sign of the deep intimacy and closeness that the speaker feels with God. My shepherd. This is a relationship of reciprocated love.
God is intimately close to us at all times, and here we are reminded that even in the most dire of circumstances, we are not to fear because he is with us. We can turn to him. Too often we can focus on the danger, the fear, the uncertainty, more than we focus on the one who loves us and will never leave us. Because God does not lead us anywhere he does not also travel himself – and has not also travelled. And if we wander off track (like a solitary lost sheep), there is nowhere he won’t go in order to get us back. His presence is always with us; are we learning to look for it and to see God already before us in the places we go and the people we meet?
Questions to Consider
When has God left the path in order to find you? What happened?
Prayer
Lord God, thank for never leaving nor forsaking me, even when I leave or forsake you. Thank you for seeking and finding. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 4 – In the Presence of My Enemies
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Psalm 23:5
The shepherd is a wonder-working shepherd, a mighty God who can do mighty things. He can defeat enemies, right terrible wrongs, and restore what was lost, bringing joy to his people. He can do all these things, but they don’t automatically happen when we might want them to. God does not promise that all our enemies will be immediately destroyed. God’s love and concern and care for us doesn’t automatically get rid of the ‘presence of [our] enemies’ – instead, shockingly, we are able to experience God’s goodness and provision and his bounty right in the midst of our enemies. In the same way, God does not promise that we will never experience times of danger or trouble but rather that he will always be with us. In the midst of our enemies, God is there too. We can experience his presence in times of danger, when surrounded by enemies or beset by hardship or pain.
How audacious is our God! How bold that he would, on our behalf, lay a table in the face of our enemies! (And even more so that Jesus calls us to love our enemies! Should we be inviting them to the table too? See tomorrow’s reading…) This verse lists some of the elements of a contented life and places them in the presence of our enemies to show God’s provision and rule at all times. He is with us in all times and places, offering his presence to us in all circumstances. The events of our lives, whatever they are, need never be an impediment to God’s presence with us and for us.
Questions to Consider
When has God miraculously provided for you in the face of your enemies? How did it give you a new appreciation for him?
Prayer
Heavenly Father, help me find you in the presence of my enemies. Help me seek the goodness you provide even in the face of threats and danger. Thank you for always being with us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 5 – All the Days of My Life
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Psalm 23:6
In the Old Testament to dine at someone’s table wasn’t the same as socially having someone over for a meal like we do. It was a formal occasion, with a lot of relational weight behind it. To eat together was to create a bond of mutual loyalty and devotion, to join in a close relationship of common cause – often a covenant relationship. It was common for alliances and treaties to culminate in a great feast to cement the newly forged relationship between the entreating parties (and former enemies…). To dwell in the house of the Lord is a similar thing here. It’s more than to be invited in for a meal, to stay the night before leaving again. It is to live with him, to be joined with him in relationship. That is what God offers us – he offers us his friendship and his care in a lasting, transformative relationship.
Staying close is the key. When we stray – going our own way, out of earshot of our master’s voice – we cut ourselves off from the source of life and power that gives us breath and sustains us. How much better for us if we stay close, within earshot, near his presence, eagerly listening for the call to carry on, spending time with him as he guides us and is intimately involved in our lives and our joys and our troubles. He does not shrink from getting involved in the messiness of our lives. He is our Master, the one we follow and obey. But he is also our friend, inviting us to enter his house and feast with him “forever more”.
Questions to Consider
What is the difference that having Jesus as a friend as well as a shepherd makes? How do the two images complement and reinforce each other?
Prayer
Lord God, you are the welcoming one, the one who calls us into your presence, always looking out for us and providing for us. You are our friend and our God. Thank you for being with us in all things. Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)