Grapevine Ministries
Messages from the bible to uplift and encourage those that need a word from the Lord, to strengthen their faith. Ps Phillip Barker is an itinerant pastor in Perth, Western Australia.
Grapevine Ministries
Finding Peace in Psalm 23
Psalm 23 offers powerful messages of trust and security in God as our shepherd, guiding believers through all life circumstances with the promise of eternal presence even in dark valleys.
• The Lord as shepherd signifies His ownership, provision, guidance, and protection
• God leads us on the right path, though not always the easy path
• Sheep don't know their limits—God makes us rest in green pastures when needed
• Prayer is like going to still waters—finding our bearings in a chaotic world
• God prepares the table lands ahead of us, removing dangers before we arrive
• We must focus on the Healer, not just the healing
• Every decision point offers choices—seeking God's guidance keeps us on His path
• Even in our valley experiences, God never leaves nor forsakes us
• Living with gratitude despite difficulties reflects true faith
I encourage everyone to read Psalm 23 carefully, breaking it down to understand its full meaning. It's a beautiful, comforting psalm worth memorizing that you can embrace and return to whenever you need reassurance.
Good morning, good afternoon, wherever you are in the world - Welcome to Grapevine Ministries.
Now I'm starting today in one of the Psalms. This is leading on from what I did last week and I think people need to hear this, and I may not have enough time to go through it all today, but if I need to do a part two, I'll do that. I just see how far I get. I'll do that. I just see how far I get. So turn with me to Psalm 23, and I'm reading this from the New King James Version, but it is important. I will relate sometimes to the Amplified, but at the moment I just want to do this. It's not a very big one, it's a good one to learn. I encourage everybody if you've read this, read it again and try and put it into the right context and break it down so you get a better understanding of what it really is. This is all about the Psalm of David and it's basically this is how it goes. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want he makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in the path of righteousness. For his name's sake, yea, though I walk through the valley of the path of righteousness. For his name's sake, yea, 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 cups run over Surely goodness and mercy. Now it's a powerful message of trust and security in God as a living and providing shepherd, guiding believers through all life circumstances, from rest and nourishment to the presence of God, even in dark valleys, with the ultimate promise of eternal life with him. See, when I read this psalm, I'm reminded that it explores the themes of God's ownership, provision, guidance, protection and unwavering goodness and mercy. Now, like I said before, I probably will not have enough time to go right through this, so I'm just going to pick out a few golden nuggets from this and we'll take it from there and we'll see where it leads us. All right, so, in relation to his unwavering goodness and his mercy, but the other thing about it is that he leads us down the right path, which is not always easy. Even though here it goes, even though I walk through the valley of shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me is just a small part of Psalm 23. But it's a section I refer to on many of my messages. But I'm getting ahead of myself here, as I usually do. Let's start at the beginning, all right. Psalm 23 is the best-known passage out of all. All the Psalms is this one, and it begins this way the Lord is my shepherd, god is our shepherd and we are his sheep. One of the jobs of a shepherd is to lead his sheep. Now I'm going to get in trouble for this. I know I am.
Speaker 1:My dad used to always have arguments with my mum about how to get to places, and this is well before GPS. So those that are in my age bracket, they'll understand what a road map book is. But this is before GPS come around. She claimed to know how to get to certain places, but she often ended up being wrong or totally misreading the map. And sometimes the thing with the map is you've got to orientate the map to the direction that you're traveling. Okay, so if those that have ever looked at a map know that there is north, south, east and west, now the first thing you have to do is you orientate the map in the direction that you're going. And if you don't know north, south, east and west, at least try and understand east and west, because the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. That's my little bit of you know, orienteering words of wisdom. All right, but now I know I'm going to get a lot of emails about this, so please, please, don't send me any nasty emails. Right? It's a well-known fact, and I was going to look this up in Wikipedia, but I thought I'd better not tread too heavily in this area, so I'm just going to gleam over it just a little bit, in case I do get spammed with heaps and heaps of email messages.
Speaker 1:It's a well-known fact that women lack the basic knowledge of direction. A classic example of this is when I go shopping to any shopping center where women go more frequently than men do. It's a known fact, right? Just ask your wife or your spouse, girlfriend, fiance, whatever. You just ask them which way you need to go to get to a particular shop and go in the opposite direction. Now, I know it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission. So forgive me, my darling wife, because you are a beautiful woman, but you can get lost just coming out of the bathroom.
Speaker 1:It's a known fact, and it is. It is the way that God created men and women, because we're supposed to complement each other. And map reading or directions is not something that comes naturally to women. I'm not saying they can't do it you know many, many, many cases of people doing that but I'm just saying naturally, it's not a natural gifting that they have. So once again, I disagree. This is not about our many flaws, it's about the Lord, our Savior. See now, god always leads his sheep in the right direction, but sometimes the path he leads us it's a difficult one, but it's always the right path, even if we can't see it.
Speaker 1:Now I'd like my listeners to make a point of reading Psalm 23 in its entirety, in saying that many of you have already done this, but have you studied it to its fullest potential and understanding? And if you break it down and I'm only picking little golden nuggets out of it, but if you break it down and study each section of it, I literally could spend probably a month on Psalm 23 in teaching and helping people understand it. But that's not what this is about. It's just trying to help you get an understanding that he is going to take ownership of you and he's going to give you guidance, he's going to give you protection and he's going to give you unwavering godly mercy, and you need to be aware of that. I mean, it's just the way that he does things. So God's sheep shall not want Our shepherd makes us lie down in green pastures, he leads us beside the still waters.
Speaker 1:In his letter to the Philippians, apostle Paul writes this my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Jesus Christ. Now, that's Philippians 4.19, but it is relevant to Psalm 23. So we are never in need, right? Well, not exactly. See earlier, paul wrote this in any and every circumstance. I have learned that the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need, that's in Philippians 4.12. See, paul says that there are times when he was in need. Does this contradict Philippians 4.19 and Psalm 23.1? No, it doesn't. Sometimes we need to be in need, but, as Paul says, we can do all things. We can face any circumstances through him who strengthens us Philippians 4.13. We won't get everything we want, but we will never lack what God knows is good for us.
Speaker 1:Even though we will on many occasions disagree with him, staying on the right path is not always as simple as it sounds and to us the right path may look difficult, but there's a reason that God wants us on that path If we choose the path ourselves. See, every time we come across circumstances in our life, you always have two options you can go to the left or you go to the right. Which path do you take? Now we can pray about this and say okay, lord, what direction do you want me to take? Or we can just make our decision ourselves, and then, irrespective of what happens further down the track, we'll come to another branch in the road which will give us that option again either left or right. So every decision that we make, every change in direction, is based upon us taking the right path that God wants us on.
Speaker 1:See, sometimes we stray from our shepherd and we find ourselves on that wrong path, and the path is difficult because it's been our own sinful and foolishness. God leaves us in a path of righteousness, and a path of righteousness just because they're the right path, it doesn't mean it's an easy path, but God leads us to both, and you can't always know our limits. We push the boundaries all the time, it says. He make me lie down in green pastures. Now, sheep do not know their limits, they will stay in the field all day, never resting. The shepherd makes them lie down. The principles of this passage is that God will never put us down. The principles of this passage is that God will never put more on us than what we can actually bear. He says my grace is sufficient for you.
Speaker 1:Now, lou Holt he was a football coach at the University of Minnesota. He said after a bitter loss God may not give us more than we can bear, but sometimes I think that he overestimates our abilities. And that's not true. See, when you play sports, okay, if you're a Christian or a believer, you pray before the game and you ask God to be with you during that game. But like I remember, this little boy was talking to his dad one day it's a joke, but it makes my point all right and he said Dad, every time we go out to play baseball, we always lose. They're bigger, they're stronger, we can't beat them. And he goes well, have you prayed about it? And he goes. Dad, we're playing against 12 other Catholic school baseball teams, so the point he was making was that they're all praying to win too. So who's God going to have favour with? And the only answer I could think of this is said well, you know, it depends on what you put in there. Faith without works is dead. So if you pray to win and you put in the practice and you work hard and all that sort of stuff, then you'll have godly favour. But then again he could decide that every week a different team is going to win because he wants to share his love with his people. But that's getting off the track anyway. It's just the way it is, you know.
Speaker 1:But what about it when our lives seem to be? You know, everything that we encounter we fail at. David knew the struggle of the soul to understand the suffering of life. Why, god? Where are you, god? The psalmist found his answer where he always finds it. His answer where he always finds it, not in an explanation of suffering, but in a presence of God who sustains us.
Speaker 1:Three years ago we're a little over that now when I was diagnosed with FND, that's, functional neurological disorder, our family was thrust into the valley. And this is why I say this Yea, though I walk through the valley of shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. But I remember the words of that old hymn that took on a fresh meaning. Simply trusting every day, trusting through the stormy way, even when my faith is small. Trust in Jesus? That is all Too simple. Or for our sophisticated society, I don't believe so. Simply trusting in his presence. Who knows what our limits are?
Speaker 1:But I was also reminded of a more modern song written by Pastor Rob Scott, which goes like this keep your eyes on the healer, not the healing. It's called Believe in the Healer and the theme of the song is basically stop looking at our circumstances but look at him always. You know it says believe in the healer, not in the healing. So you're believing in God and you're believing in God's promise. You see, our focus sometimes are in line with things of which the world has put in place, not of those things that are unseen. You know we live in this world, but we're not of it. We've got to look at things from a spiritual perspective, a biblical perspective, not the way the world sees it. I know it's too simple for our sophisticated society. I don't believe so.
Speaker 1:You know, simply trusting in the presence of God, who knows our limits? He leads us beside the still waters. What a great statement of faith. A lot of people may not know this, but sheep will not drink from rushing currents. So there's advantages of growing up on a farm, which I did, just like us. They trust the shepherd to lead them to still waters, and we know our shepherd is Jesus.
Speaker 1:So through prayer that's right. Prayer is going to the still waters. It's getting our bearings. In a world where we are beckoned in a thousand wrong directions. Prayer is realizing again that God is in control and that brings peace to our lives. So I ask the same question again who controls you today? Who leads you and what are you following that brings you a sense of peace in a troubled and tense time? We can have peace, but it must be his presence, my peace I give you. The question is will you and are you willing to receive the gift? See, we have to learn to live with gratitude.
Speaker 1:It says in Psalm 23, 5,. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine, enemies, a table before me in the presence of mine, enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil. My cup runneth over. The psalmist says my cup runneth over. Why not complain? After all, he did go through the valley. David had failed, and he had failed miserably. Why not blame God for making Bathsheba so beautiful and him so vulnerable.
Speaker 1:But at the end of the road the psalmist gathers up all of the pieces of his life and sings the analogy. How can you live with a sense of gratitude for life? How can we sing the doxology and say with Paul, and we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God and those who are called according to his purpose, and that's Romans 8, 28. See the psalmist pictures God's work of preparation. Psalmist pictures God's work of preparation. See it says he prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Does the psalmist mix his metaphors? How can you do this?
Speaker 1:Some say that the image of God shifts from shepherd to a host in verse 5. Perhaps, but King Keller in his book A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23,. He says that the high summer range where the sheep grazed were referred to as the table lands. The shepherd would go ahead to the sheep to remove any toxic weeds and other things that might harm his sheep on the table lands. Regardless of which image we use to depict God, the portrait is still the same. The psalmist expresses his thanksgiving that God prepares the way in his pilgrimage of life.
Speaker 1:And that raises the other question of how we see God. God, most of us think of God as up or in us or far away from us, but the Hebrews thought of God primarily as the one out ahead of us. God calls us to an adventure of not yet anticipated a future, not seen by us but prepared by God. Let me put it this way God is smarter than us, he knows what is good for us. But we are from a very young age, we are programmed that's the easiest way of saying it to think and act the way that the world does.
Speaker 1:So we look at worldly things. And when we're looking at worldly things, you know, is it shiny, is it pretty? Does it make me feel good? Do I desire that, even when I know that I can't have it? But I want it. And this is where David here is, one acknowledging his weaknesses, but he's also acknowledging that the path that he should be on is the path that God has laid before him. And how do you know that? Well, that's where prayer comes into play. See, we all go through our valley periods. We all go through difficult times, you know. And that's why, when David starts with the psalm, you know he said the Lord is my shepherd. So in other words, the Lord is looking after me.
Speaker 1:We shall not want. He wants us not to want for anything, you know, and that is, we don't need to want for finances, we don't need to want for family, we don't need to want for happiness, we don't need to want for joy, we don't need to want for sickness and illness in our lives, because God has already promised us everything. But sometimes we want to do things on our own, and when we're doing things on our own we go off on our own little tangent. It says that God will never leave us nor forsake us, but we on many occasions leave him or we just assume that he's not with us. He's somewhere out there in the clouds and all we need to do is trust in him, lean not on your own understanding, but everything in prayer and supplication, make your requests known to him. We need to make sure that our life and our decision-making is fundamentally based upon Jesus. He is the cornerstone right.
Speaker 1:Anytime you have to make a big decision about something, whether it's to do with finances or getting married, buying a new car, things like this, take it to the Lord. It may sound a little bit silly. Oh, why can't I just make decisions for myself? Well, you can, but somewhere down the track there's always that possibility that you're going to get a little tap on the shoulder from a heavenly father and go Phil, why did you do that? That was not what I had planned for you and you'll go. Well, why didn't you tell me? Well, it's not his place to tell us, it's our place to ask him.
Speaker 1:All right, I hope this helps. And it is a beautiful psalm by David and it is reassuring, it's comforting, it's one of those sort of things that you can embrace and go to all the time. What part of this do I need? He is my fortress, he's my rock, he's my shield, he makes me lay down in green pastures, he leads me beside still waters, but even though I walk through the valley of shadow and death, I fear no evil because I know he is with me. Just reflect upon that, and it is a good psalm to memorize. Alright, take care, we'll talk to you next week, god bless. For now,
