Psalm 23 Part Two

"He restores my soul.  He guides me in paths of righteousness for His name 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."  Psalm 23:3-6

Do you ever feel emotionally or spiritually drained?  Psalm 23 tells us that at times like these our Good Shepherd, Jesus, restores our souls.  He revives and refreshes our souls.  He renews and encourages us even when we have sinned or are discouraged.  Psalm 23:3 tells us that our good Shepherd also guides is "in paths of righteousness for His name's sake."

Sheep tend to stray.  The shepherd must lead them back to the right path, as it is dangerous to stray from the path.  Our Shepherd, Jesus, seeks to lead us on the "paths or righteousness" in this life that are for our protection and well-being.  The "paths of righteousness"  that our Shepherd leads us on are always pleasing to His will, and they are always for our ultimate good.  If we stray off the path, the Shepherd may have to send painful circumstances in our lives to teach us not to stray and to lead us back to the "paths of righteousness."  Our Shepherd, Jesus, does this all "for His name's sake."  The well-being of His sheep brings honor to the Good Shepherd's name!

Psalm 23:4 says, " 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."  Sheep are defenseless animals.  Left to themselves they have reason to be afraid.  They desperately need a shepherd, So we also desperately need our Shepherd, Jesus.

Even though we walk through dark and bitter experiences, however, we need to "fear no evil," because Jesus, our Shepherd, is with us all the way!  He will walk us through the deep and dark valleys of our lives.  He doesn't always take us around the valleys, but He will take us successfully through the valleys of life.  He will comfort us, guide us, protect us, reassure us, and rescue us in the deep and dark valleys of life!

Psalm 23:5 says, "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies."  Keeping sheep in abundant grass is a full time job for the shepherd.  While the sheep are grazing the shepherd is is already thinking about where he will graze his sheep the next day.  A shepherd is also always aware of the need to protect His sheep from enemies.  The Lord, our Good Shepherd, has our future in His hands.  He is always protecting us from anything which will bring us harm. He controls everything in our lives.

Psalm 23:5 goes on to say, " You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows."  In the summer sheep become frantic in their attempts to cope with flies.  At the first sign of this the shepherd applies an oil to the heads of the sheep  to combat the problem.  With the aggravation gone the sheep become quiet, content, and peaceful.  Our Good Shepherd provides peace, comfort, and protection to us, His sheep!  "My cup overflows."  Our Good Shepherd not only cares for us, but He cares abundantly.  Our blessings from Him are abundant and overflowing!

In light of all these blessings we can say with the Psalmist in Psalm 23:6, " Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."  We can count on God's goodness, love, and faithfulness all throughout our lives and throughout eternity! "The Lord is my Shepherd!"  You and I need absolutely nothing else for life and for eternity!