Psalms Twenty-Three: Verse-By-Verse

Study Guide Into the Scripture - Verse By Verse

"Note: The Following Is The Opinion Of The Writer And Is Not Intended To Be A Replacement For The Reading And Study Of The Bible"

I find sometimes, if a break Bible Scripture down, verse-by-verse, its inner meaning stands out more. Not that the meanings of God’s Word is not clear, but that other relationships and meanings stand out and clarify. I would like to do this with the 23^rd Psalms and ask the reader to give me feedback on their take of things. I find that input from many people become more correct that that from a single person alone.

The Lord is my Shepherd: Is the Lord not our Father? He is the ultimate Shepherd that tends to our every need. Remember, He will leave the other ninety-nine to retrieve the one lost sheep:

¹² "What do you think? If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying? ¹³ "If it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray. ¹⁴ "So it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.

He supplies to us all that we need. He furnishes us with food and water. Most of all, He keeps us in a safe place. He guards us from all evil and protects us from harm.

³ He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.

When we accept the Lord as our personal Savior, He places a new heart inside of you. He gives you a softer heart with His Living Word written on it. He changes your old nature with the new nature, brought from the New Covenant and becoming a New Creature:

¹⁶ Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer.¹⁷ Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. ¹⁸ Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, ¹⁹ namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

⁴ Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

We no longer have to fear the things that can cause us death of the body because only one can cause death of the body and death of the spirit. Referring to my previous dissertation on Fearing God, we fear God because without God, there is no hope. We are not literally afraid of God, we fear losing our connection and communication to God.

⁵ You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows.

God gives us all knowledge and support in the full view of all who oppose us. I’m sure you have noticed that all the truth of the Holy Word is, by all means, unknown to the enemies. They are veiled against the truth as we all were before we accepted Jesus as our Savior:

¹² Therefore having such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech,¹³ and are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the end of what was fading away. ¹⁴ But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. ¹⁵ But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart; ¹⁶ but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. ¹⁷ Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.¹⁸ But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.

When Jesus told His first parable in Matthew 13 (about the seed), the disciples asked Him why he told His truths in parable. He simply answered that the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven were meant for them (and all His children), not for those who have of yet, accepted Him as their personal Savior. These mysteries are meant for you, not the enemy.

⁶ Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

This ending is pretty much self-explaining. The ultimate reward is knowing God’s Love will be ours for the rest of eternity and that we will forever have a home in His house.

We will spend all of eternity with the Lord and with each other. This is the greatest reward that can be given. It is greater than all the treasures of earthly origin.

Reassure each other with these words and invite everyone you meet to claim his own reward with the Lord.

I hope this has been a spirit-lifting writing. If you have any comments or questions, please write me and I would love to discuss this further.