Psalm 23 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. --KJV
What exactly do we recognize here? That we are sheep, docile, dense, helpless sheep whose existence depends entirely upon the Shepherd.
He feeds me, he leads me, he shields me from fear.
In this most recent reading, too, I recognized something I had not thought about before. "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death" may not necessarily refer to my own impending death, though I had always thought of it in that way. He will drive from us the fear of evil as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death with a loved one who is preceding us in that walk.
He is faithful in our want; He is faithful in our pain and sorrow.
4 comments:
Beautiful, comforting Psalm.
So much in that short poem. Guess I've got nothing to add to that.
I've never viewed it as pertaining to imminent death but rather to life in it's totality...We live our entire life in the shadow of death, do we not?
Vee, beautifully stated.
Sharkey, it does state it all.
Grace, yours is an astute observation. I believe that is a valid interpretation.
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