Psalm 23:1-6 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.… I. THE DEEP CONSCIOUSNESS OF GOD THAT PERVADES THE PSALM. Its great outstanding thought is God. And God, too, present to the mind and heart of the writer: a living, personal agent, who touches his life at every point, and with whom he holds conscious and happy intercourse. Here we have a man evidently walking not by sight but by faith. This consciousness of God manifested itself in two ways. 1. He found in his own humble employment as a shepherd a representation of God, and a means of fellowship with Him. By the thoughtfulness, tenderness, sympathy, and care he exercised in his shepherd calling he learned and realised the heart and character of God. 2. His daily employment was to him a symbol of God, and of God's relation to him. II. THE RELATION OF GOD TO THE INDIVIDUAL LIFE. Nowhere is God presented in such close relations with individual life and experience as in the Psalms of David. We have here the precious scriptural doctrine of a special providence. It is objected to this doctrine, that it is derogatory to the greatness of God that He should be thought of as concerning Himself with the minutiae of life. But "great" and "little" are only relative terms. It enhances His greatness that He can comprehend at once the vast and the minute. III. THE HAPPINESS OF THE MAN WHOSE GOD IS THE LORD. One characteristic of the Psalm is its repose, its serene enjoyment. IV. THE MAN WHOSE GOD IS THE LORD CAN LOOK HOPEFULLY INTO THE FUTURE. In order to do this he must be reconciled to God, and regenerated and renewed in the spirit of His mind. (Alexander Field.) Parallel Verses KJV: {A Psalm of David.} The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. |
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