Psalm 23: David's Greatest Accomplishment - Psalms: The Heartbeat of God

Hey, I'm Steve Holt, the senior pastor of the Red at Chapel Hills.

This is the Red Podcast.

Thanks for joining us.

My heart is to empower you to change the world.

I hope this message impacts you here now as our guest speaker.

All right.

If you have your Bibles, I want you to turn to the 23rd Psalm.

I know we just quoted it.

But I'm really, really super pumped to be able to share on this Psalm.

In our Worship Academy, I actually speak quite a bit on the Psalms, and I have the teaching that I do that's way too long for us to get into this morning, but the Lord just kind of dropped some things in my heart about Psalm 23 that I want to share with you this morning.

First off, this is David's masterpiece, I believe.

I know that there are a lot of psalms.

In fact, I the Lord has uh prompted me to try to memorize Psalms, and I'm about a hundred in.

Uh and not not the whole Psalm, but uh especially 119.

I'm not gonna be memorizing that one.

But I just felt like as a songwriter that he wanted me to really dive into the Psalms, and I've been memorizing for about five years now, and this is one that I memorized, and it really means a great deal to me.

And having dug into the Psalms so much, I just have to say this psalm is second to none.

This really is David's masterpiece, I believe.

I love David.

You know he was a man after God's own heart, right?

Do you know that he was the only man in Scripture that was called that?

He had a special place in the heart of God.

He was a man after God's own heart.

And the thing about I love about David is I love the fact that he doesn't, you don't have to question what he's thinking.

Have you noticed that in the book of Psalms?

I mean, he literally involves whatever he was going through in life in his worship.

Imagine if we did that.

Instead of playing games in church.

Imagine if we came in and were like, God, you're my provider.

You're the gas in my car that's almost five dollars.

And I love you for it.

But that's exactly what David did.

David is looking at a mountain, and he was he was a warrior, and he he was a strategist, and he looks at the mountain and he said, Man, if I'm on that mountain, I have the upper hand.

Then all of a sudden he starts worshiping, he's like, I lift my eyes to the hills.

Where does my help come from?

My help comes from the Lord, the maker, the maker of that mountain, that that shields me.

And there's another one where he said this: he said, the wicked are like a lion in their pursuit of the godly.

Well, guess what David fought at one point?

He fought a lion.

He fought a bear.

And then he's like, Thank you, Lord, for sparing me from the lion.

Thank you that you are my shield and my protector.

He was always involving his everyday world in his everyday worship.

Then one day he's playing his harp, and he's thinking back to when he was a shepherd, and all the sheep and how dumb they were, and how they always got into problems.

And then all of a sudden, he's like, Well, I'm pretty dumb too.

And I get myself into problems.

In fact, I'm just like one of those dumb sheep.

And he said, He's like, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

I don't know what the melody was, but I can guess.

He basically said, Lord, why don't you be my shepherd?

In fact, all of us can pray that.

Lord, why don't you be my guide?

Why don't you help me be like a shepherd to me in this life?

So here's the question.

How many of you would say, the Lord is your shepherd?

He's your guide.

So what does that make you?

The Lord is my shepherd.

I shall not want.

The Lord is my shepherd.

The Lord is my shepherd.

Everybody just say that and point to yourself.

The Lord is my shepherd.

Isn't it amazing how the Lord is so wonderful that He can interact with each of us personally?

He's not a distant God.

He's not far off from a distance.

No, he's right here.

He's close.

The Lord is my shepherd.

And because he's my shepherd, what promise do we have?

I shall not want.

I shall not want.

Here's the thing about sheep: sheep don't strive.

Sheep rely.

Sheep don't strive.

They rely.

Sheep are completely reliant upon the shepherd.

Sheep are utterly defenseless.

You realize they have no fangs, they have no claws, they have no horns.

They are utterly defenseless without the shepherd.

In fact, that's why David had to intervene when the bear, when the lion came, when the wolves came.

He had to defend the sheep, which is what God does for us as our shepherd.

Sheep are dumb and prone to getting into trouble.

Here's what John says.

Isn't this so beautiful that Jesus actually likens us?

Like he probably read 23rd Psalm and he made the connection.

He said, My sheep listen to my voice.

I know them and they follow me.

Here's what it says in John 10, 11.

I am the good shepherd.

The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Here's what I found in that word.

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

That word want actually is a kind of a peculiar word.

It's coser.

But it means to lack, need, be lacking, or decrease.

So here's what he's saying: the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not lack.

How many think that's a pretty good promise?

I shall not be in need.

I shall not be lacking, or I will not decrease, I will advance.

It's beautiful.

Verse 2, he maketh me to lie down in green pastures.

He leadeth me beside the still waters.

Isn't that beautiful imagery?

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.

He leadeth me beside the still waters.

How many of you have ever been in a season where God made you lie down?

Anyone relate to that?

Hold, wait, stay.

You ever been in a holding pattern from God?

You ever had Him try to slow you down?

You know that not one single time have I ever woke up and thought, you know what I feel like doing today?

I feel like waiting.

In fact, I'm gonna go find me the longest line I can find.

And I'm just gonna wait all day.

Has anybody ever gone to a doctor's room, uh office just to wait?

No appointment, just sitting there talking?

No.

We don't like to wait.

As Americans, we want things now.

We want things quick, right?

But I can tell you that sometimes God will say, slow down and just lie for a bit.

Just because nothing is happening doesn't mean nothing is happening.

I remember being in a kind of a holding pattern for a long time.

It was about nine, ten years.

Had a desire to do a worship conference and have a worship school and produce a bunch of music, and for the longest time the Lord was just like, not now.

Not now.

I remember being in a season where I was like, God, I don't understand why you put all this stuff inside of me.

And you want me to, you you you you've got this, you put this dream in me, and why does it not seem to be happening?

And all I kept getting was, lie down.

You notice that he doesn't put the sheep next to swift waters, and he doesn't ask you to lie down in the valley of the shadow of death.

You notice that when he says lie down, it's a place that's full of life.

Where you have the food that you need to eat, you have quiet, still waters so that you can get a drink.

And what I found during that holding pattern is when I wrote a bunch of these books.

I remember him telling me, I want you to start writing worship curriculum for a school that doesn't exist.

I'm like, really?

He said, just start writing, just start developing teaching, just start memorizing the Psalms.

Fill yourself with fill yourself full during this lying down season.

Can I encourage somebody here today?

If you're in a lying down season, make the most of it.

Eat a bunch of grass.

Don't smelt the grass.

Just eat a bunch, okay?

Fill up.

Fill up.

Fill yourself up with the good things of God.

Because He has you there for a reason and it's preparation.

Then I remember last year, January, God said, it's time.

Why don't you hold that conference that you've been dreaming about?

Why don't you produce some of that music?

Why don't you start that worship school?

And my my season of waiting was done.

But I was ready for it.

Are you ready?

Or do we want to just hurry?

Just help God out a little bit.

Do it on our own.

Isn't that what we we tend to do?

I'm gonna make it happen.

We're gonna do it.

Because I've got a strategy.

And sometimes God's just saying, lie down.

Lie down in green pastures, drink some water, rest, prepare.

Write.

Right.

A lot of the songs that we've been recording, songs that I wrote in that 10-year season.

Here's what it says in verse 3.

He restoreth my soul.

So let me ask you this question.

What is the purpose of lying down?

What is the purpose of that season of waiting?

It goes right on and it says, after the season of waiting, he will restore my what?

Soul.

He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

I looked up that word restore.

You know what it means?

It's from a word shoop.

It means to turn back or to return.

How many of you are hoping that God will return some things that were lost?

To restore some things.

Well, just know this.

That season of waiting, that season of lying and resting and allowing God to love on you and show you some things, he'll begin to return what the enemy stole.

He'll begin to return and restore some things in your life.

And then all of a sudden he'll be like, okay, now it's time to move out.

Now it's time to move out.

He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his namesake.

Now here's what I notice on this psalm.

I noticed that the that the first few verses are so serene.

Did you notice that as well?

So beautiful.

I shall not want.

I have no needs.

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me to this beautiful brook where I can get drinks of water as I need.

And then he restores some things.

And then he says, okay, now it's time to move out.

But here's the misnomer.

We're still thinking that everything's serene.

We're still thinking that we're moving out in the paths of righteousness, and it's this beautiful scene.

I want to change the narrative here.

I want to tell you that the path of righteousness doesn't always mean it's a path of no danger.

You know that last January when God said, Hold a conference, oh, and by the way, it's still COVID.

And I was like, well, it's going to take a lot of money.

I don't know if anybody anybody's going to come.

And I was like, he's like, no, this is the path of righteousness I have for you, so start planning it.

Planning it by faith.

You know what faith is spelled, right?

R-I-S-K.

And we took the risk.

And we planned it.

And about two weeks out, I only had 100 and some registered, and we needed like 500.

And then all of a sudden, my good shepherd showed up.

And people from states away flew in, and people from this church and people from this community.

And we ended up with 725 people registered last year.

And people were blessed.

But I'm going to tell you, it wasn't easy.

It's not going to be easy when everybody else is cheating the time clock at work for you to take a stand and say, I'm not doing it.

And all your coworkers are like, come on, everybody does it.

Or cheating on our taxes or standing up for righteousness.

It takes courage.

It takes courage.

It's not a path of no danger.

The path of righteousness, you go into the voting station, and you're at the ballot, you've got your ballot in front of you, like, who in the world am I going to vote for?

Like, I don't like any of these people.

But you pray about it and you do the best you can and you vote with confidence.

Anything that we do in life, anything that is righteous takes courage.

You remember when God led the children of Israel out of Egypt?

And there were several paths they could have taken to the promised land, but he happened to take them to the edge of the Red Sea.

And he pins them up at the Red Sea.

I mean, there's nowhere for them to go to the right or the left.

And then all of a sudden, the army of Egypt is coming on their tails.

And God did that.

God led them in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake, not for their comfortability, but for his name's sake.

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.

You notice that it doesn't say, yea, though I run through the valley of the shadow of death, walking takes one step at a time.

And he's right there with us.

You know what I've noticed about when God takes you in the paths of righteousness, even if it leads you into a valley of the shadow of death?

If I was gonna get to that keyboard over there, well, I could try it.

I'm gonna try it.

Okay.

I almost made it.

Did you know that that's not how God works?

I remember I had a uh uh a Marine at my church in San Diego.

He was in his, I think, 16th month.

He said, Pastor Brian, Pastor Brian, I really need to talk to you.

I need some counsel, I need some wisdom.

Can we meet after service?

I met with him, and his name was Jordan, and he was a uh French horn player.

He was in the he was in the marching band.

Yeah, for the I think it was the Marines.

I actually had him play French horn on stage one time, and I kept trying to get him to play, but he wouldn't play it for me.

But he was a really good French horn player.

And he was like, Pastor Brian, in fact, I hear this all the time as a pastor.

I just I just don't know what God wants me to do.

You ever thought this?

I'm willing to do it.

I just have no idea what God wants me to do.

If he would just show me, I would do it.

So I told him, I said, Jordan, I said, you got what, four years in the army, right?

He said, yeah.

He said, how how long are you in?

He said, I've been in 16 months.

I said, well, here's what I'd do.

I'd probably finish up your second year and then maybe focus on your third year.

And then after that, after you finish the third year, why don't you focus on your fourth year?

And then probably as you're walking it out, somewhere along the way, God will start to show you the next step.

But we want to know it all now, don't we?

We want to see way in the future.

Not realizing that God said, even if it's in the valley of the shadow of death, you need to walk it out.

Just walk it out.

Knowing that I'm with you.

Can I ask you a question?

Do you believe that God would lead you into a valley?

Let me just give you a few examples.

Jesus goes to John the Baptist, the heavens open up.

This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.

Which, by the way, he hadn't done anything to deserve that yet.

He hadn't, he'd performed one miracle for his mom.

He was completely, without doing any miracles besides that one, the Lord said, I'm already well pleased with you.

Isn't that encouraging?

That we don't have to perform to be loved.

That we literally just by being his child were accepted.

So he, the skies open up, the dove descends.

This is my beloved son, and whom I am well pleased.

Now, Jesus, go into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

God did that.

The Holy Spirit led Jesus into a wilderness.

Paul was led by many into many dangerous and harmful situations.

Remember when Agabas prophesied over him and took his belt and bound his hands and said, This is your future?

And Paul said, I'm ready.

I'm ready, not just to go through suffering, but even to the point of death for my Lord.

How about Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego?

Remember their journey?

And there's literally too many examples to mention.

You can read about them in Hebrews chapter 11.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

You notice that it doesn't say this.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of death.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of death.

It's not what it says.

It says, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

Did you know that there are different kinds of death?

It could be an actual death, a sickness of some sort that our doctors report.

But the imagery here is not just death, it's a shadow of death.

You know there are other kinds of death than just physical death.

How about death of a marriage?

How about death of a career?

Or death of a business?

Or death of a dream, or death of a child.

But here's the thing: no matter what kind of death or situation that we find ourselves, he promises, Thou art with me.

Michael Bublet just came down my mind.

You are not alone.

I am there with you.

You are not alone in the valley of the shadow of death.

But there's a difference between when God leads you into a valley and when you lead yourself.

You ever found yourself in a situation and the shepherd's nowhere to be found?

You're walking through the valley and you're like, I think I did this to myself.

It's one thing when God leads you in a difficult path and in a difficult season, we just have to be careful to follow closely with our shepherd.

Remember the transfiguration?

Remember the transfiguration?

Peter, James, and John, they went up the mountain with Jesus.

And then, you know, Moses, Elijah, bright clothes.

Again, this is my beloved son, and whom I am well pleased.

You remember what Peter's response was?

Let's build a house.

Let's build a shelter.

One for Moses and one for Elijah, one for Jesus, and then some for me.

There's a tendency sometimes in different seasons to camp instead of walk.

We want to.

He didn't say, ye though I camp in the shadow of the shadow of death, valley of shadow of death.

He said, Yea though I walk.

He also said that thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.

Children of Israel, Pharaoh's coming.

The army's coming.

We're all gonna die.

And God says, What do you have in your hand?

Interesting imagery, right?

Just like the valley of the shadow of death.

He stuck the rod out over the water, and the water's part in two.

And there's two purposes for staffs, for a shepherd's staff.

One has one end has the curly thing.

That's used for direction.

Grabbing the sheep by the neck or you know, directing them with the pulling them here and there.

That's that's the direction part.

But you know what the other part is for?

He turned it around.

Correction.

Have you allowed the good shepherd to correct you?

Really to correct you.

In fact, I read even in my study that sometimes a shepherd would even break the leg of a lamb with the rod.

Because it was ending up somewhere that was probably gonna get it killed.

So they'd break the leg, and that way the sheep would stay very close to the shepherd after it was hurt.

I wonder how many things that God has kept us from that we were upset about.

That job, that relationship, closed doors, where the the rod of correction, where the Lord is literally intervening in your life.

The good shepherd, is he a good shepherd?

He's a good shepherd.

He does nothing by chance.

There's always a purpose.

If it's uncomfortable at the time, it's because he's a good shepherd and he wants what's best for us.

I'll never forget early on in my ministry, I was probably mid-twenties, or maybe I think I'd only been a pastor at that point about a year or two.

And I got the call.

I worked for my my dad for 10 years in California at his church before he passed.

And uh Jim, Stephanie were close friends of ours.

And I got the call.

Their um new little newborn baby.

Uh they went in and uh she wasn't moving, Victoria.

And they went and shook her, and they found out that she had passed in her sleep.

They were calling it Crib Death.

And uh so I my wife and I actually were some of the first to get there to their house, and of course they were distraught and um weeping, and we stayed with them, I think we went and saw them every day for the first several weeks.

And then they had the funeral, and um and then, if you know anything about the grieving process, you know, everybody's around at the funeral and everybody's supportive, and then kind of everybody goes away.

And that's when it's actually most important to visit and to follow up and just walk them through those months and even the first year of mourning and grieving.

And I'll never forget, it was about two months uh from her passing that um all of a sudden, I mean, like every time we visited, I I I never tried to answer difficult questions.

I just, we literally just sat with them sometimes and just cried.

About two months in, all of a sudden, something something shifted, something changed in both Jim and Stephanie.

And they both just seemed to come alive and were happy and smiling.

And so I said, Hey guys, what what's going on?

And Jim said, Oh, she he said, Um, I gotta tell you about what something that happened.

He said, You know how sad we've been.

We've a lot of times every day, at least at one point, I'll go into Victoria's room and just sit on the bed and stare at the crib and just cry.

And he said, Um, he said, I told the Lord the other day, I said, Lord, I I just need to know that Victoria is in your arms right now.

He said, I just need to know that she's safe and she's loved.

And he said, I cried some more.

And he said, I got up and I went, and as I went to turn off the light, as soon as my finger touched the light switch, all of a sudden, on its own, the little mobile that was above her crib that she used to love to play with came on by itself and played the whole song one time.

And he said, I just looked, my jaw fell open, and he said, I knew that Victoria was in Jesus' arms and she was safe.

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 will comfort me.

Isn't that a beautiful promise?

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.

Thou anointest my head with oil.

Literally, the oil that a shepherd would put on the on the sheep's face would keep the pet parasites out.

Because the parasites would go up their nose and through their ears and stuff, and they'd go crazy, actually.

The shepherd was so good, just even with meticulous details.

Aren't you glad that God keeps us from going crazy?

I mean, literally, he does.

I mean, some of you thought you were in COVID.

Alright, you're like, I think I am going crazy.

But isn't it beautiful that the Lord is meticulous even on the smallest details?

My cup runneth over.

I love the imagery of being in the presence of enemies and feasting.

I don't have to be afraid.

Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Here's what it says in John 4.

But the time is coming, and now is when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth.

Listen to this line.

For the Father seeketh such as these to worship him.

Have you ever tried hard to get in God's presence?

Like it just, I just need his presence right now.

What if we worshiped in spirit and in truth, and he actually started chasing us?

Surely goodness and mercy will follow you.

And I'll dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.

And you know, that's part of what we do here at The Road, and this is what I do in having this road podcast is to empower people to change their world.

My passion and desire is then that you would take God's word through the power of the Holy Spirit and make that relevant for your life.

You know, the reality is that God has placed your life here on this earth to make a difference.

And if you'd like more information about how to grow in Christ, if you need prayer, if you want more equipping in different areas of your life, go to the Reberdum org.

God bless you.