Title Psalm 23 (June 19, 2010)
Contents
Title: To the water where you can rest
Text: (Psalm 23:1-6)
Hymn: 570. You are the shepherd who feeds me.
Date: June 19, 2010 (Sat) 5 am
Venue: Jeonju Yebut Church Small Worship Room
pearl of all psalms
Through this psalm today, I pray in the name of the Lord that your weary and weary life will be filled with comfort and hope, and that you will receive new life.
Jehovah is my shepherd
The first thing we need to realize and remember in today's Word is that God is our shepherd.
Let's read (Section 1 of the text) together again.
“The Lord is my shepherd; I lack nothing” (verse 1).
The word “shepherd” comes from the word “feeder” and means “one who feeds”. (Psalm 78:52) confesses, "He led the people like flocks, and like flocks of cattle into the wilderness." 10:11) “I am the good shepherd, and the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”
problems in life
Even though we confess that the Lord is our shepherd, why is our life always unsatisfactory, restless, and anxious and anxious? Because we have problems to solve within us. What the hell is the problem with life?
The first problem in life is “fear” (verse 4).
Sheep are one of the most fearsome of all animals. And sheep are animals that don't have much self-restraint. Some animals protect themselves with a protective color similar to the color of the surrounding nature, while others use a part of their body as a weapon to protect themselves. However, sheep do not have such a means of self-rescue or self-protection and live their lives. So I am always afraid and anxious. The Bible says, “We are all like sheep.” The biggest problem in life is this fear. Because we all have to go through the “valley of the shadow of death” in life. We live our lives with an existential fear of death that will never come to us. However, on the path of life there are not only death itself, but also “shadows of death” that signal the coming death. These are accidents, disasters, and physical diseases that come without notice. In the original text, ‘the valley of the shadow of death’ is ‘the valley of deep darkness’.
If you go to Palestine, where this Bible was first written, it is said that, especially in places like the Judean Wilderness that goes down from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea, steep valleys that cannot be seen are waiting everywhere. One valley in this area is about 7 km long, and the height of both canyons is over 450 m, and the bottom is often eroded by rain to form a bog. If a sheep slips on its wrong foot, it will fall into this terrifying canyon and fight the fear of death.
Isn't this the picture of life? Everywhere in life, such valleys and such canyons are waiting for us. But David, who wrote this psalm today, confesses, “With your rod and your staff, you look after me; I have no fear” (verse 4).
Beloved, all-powerful Jehovah God, who creates and provides for all things, what would you fear if He became your shepherd and protects and guides us and us? So, trust that Jehovah God alone is the perfect answer to life's fears.
The second problem in life is ‘defilement’ (verse 5).
In the past, I have been to a 'sheep ranch' in Daegwallyeong. When I went there, the sheep looked like a very clean animal from a distance. However, if you actually get close to a sheep, the animal gets dirty easily and unexpectedly emits a terrible odor. But the Bible says that all humans are like sheep. Human beings are said to be easily changed and polluted by the influence of the environment. From a distance, everything looks good and clean, but when you get closer, doesn't it smell like a human and sometimes stink?
Sheep in Palestine, in particular, have to be concerned about this terrible pollution in the hot summer months. This is because summer is the season when flies and bugs are at their peak. Also, summer is the season for skin diseases and wounds. As they pass through mountains and valleys, the sheep suffer wounds from their arduous journeys, and their entire bodies become polluted with infections of skin diseases. However, it is said that the only treatment for such skin diseases or wounds at the time was ‘oil’. In particular, there is ‘Copari’ as the most dreadful Paris among Parisians. These nose flies burrow into the nose and cause diseases throughout the body, laying eggs in the nose, and the larvae crawl into the heads of sheep, sometimes killing them. Therefore, the shepherd anoints the sheep to drive out nose flies and to heal the sheep already wounded by skin diseases. Severely wounded sheep may even have their entire body submerged in an oil sump. That is why (text verse 5) David confesses that the Lord, my shepherd, has anointed my head with oil.
The complete revival of our souls is possible only when our sin problem is resolved. Because our sins defile our souls. Why did God send His Son, Jesus Christ, to this earth 2000 years ago? It was for the solution of this sin problem.
(1 John 1:7) declares, “The blood of his Son Jesus will cleanse us from all sin.” How was that possible? Jesus, the Son of God, paid the penalty for our sins and shed His blood in our place. That is why we confess that the blood He shed is precious blood. Our sins are cleansed by the power of the blood when we have the spiritual anointing.
Defilement of life - Please believe that the only and perfect answer to the problem of sin is Jesus Christ, who came to this earth in the flesh and gave his life as a ransom sacrifice.
The third problem in life is ‘loss of sense of direction’ (verse 3).
The sheep problem is never laziness. Sheep are quite industrious animals. However, a fatal flaw in sheep is disorientation. It's that you don't know where you're going. Dogs, cows, and cats all leave the house and come back. But sheep are not. The sheep wanders, not knowing where they are headed. But the Bible says humans are like sheep.
Our era has become faster than any other era. The era has come when you can get all the information in the world with a single click and go anywhere in the world. But the problem is direction, not speed. Modern people are still busy moving without knowing where they are going. Koreans especially. We are a representative nation that moves quickly. But are we really heading in the right direction?
Dear all! Do you have any hope for this heaven? Is God your shepherd? Do you believe in Jesus, who died on the cross for me, who was defiled, and who was resurrected as the shepherd of my life? When we believe in Jesus Christ as our shepherd, please believe that I will live in eternal heaven.