Psalms 23:1 - Meaning and Application

David draws three very comforting conclusions from three very comforting truths, and he teaches us to do the same. We are saved by hope, and that hope will not disappoint us, because it rests on a firm foundation. It is the duty of Christians to encourage themselves in the Lord their God. Here we are told to take that encouragement from both God’s relationship to us and the good we have already seen from him in that relationship.

First, because God is his shepherd, David concludes that he will not lack anything that is truly good for him (Psalm 23:1). Notice here the great care God takes of believers. He is their shepherd, and they may call him that. David had once been a shepherd himself. He was taken from following the sheep and lambs, and so he knew from experience how careful and tender a good shepherd is with his flock (Psalm 78:70, 71). He remembered how much sheep need a shepherd, and how kind it is to have one who is skilled and faithful. He had even risked his life to rescue a lamb. He uses that experience to describe God’s care for his people, and our Savior seems to refer to the same image when he says, “I am the shepherd of the sheep, the good shepherd” (John 10:11).

The Shepherd of Israel, the shepherd of the whole church in general (Psalm 80:1), is also the shepherd of every individual believer. Even the least important believer is not beyond his notice (Isaiah 40:11). He takes his people into his fold, then protects them and provides for them with more care and steadiness than any human shepherd can. If God is our shepherd, then we must be like sheep, gentle, quiet, harmless, and useful. We must know the shepherd’s voice and follow him.

Believers also have strong confidence in God. “If the Lord is my shepherd, my provider, then I may conclude that I will not lack anything that is really necessary and good for me.” If David wrote this psalm before he became king, even though he was promised the throne, he had every reason to fear lack. At one time he had to send his men to ask Nabal for help, and at another he went himself to Ahimelech for help. Yet when he thinks of God as his shepherd, he can boldly say, “I shall not want.” Those should not fear starvation who are at God’s care and have him as their provider. More is meant than is said. It means not only, “I shall not lack,” but also, “I will be supplied with everything I need. If I do not have everything I desire, it is because it is not fit for me, not good for me, or I will receive it at the right time.”

Second, because God has acted as a good shepherd toward him, David concludes that he need not fear evil, even in the greatest dangers and hardest troubles he could face (Psalm 23:2-4). He has already experienced the comfort of God’s presence and care, and so he expects that same help when he most needs it. God is his shepherd and his God, all-sufficient for every need. David found him to be so, and so have we.

See the happiness of God’s people as the sheep of his pasture. They are well placed and well cared for: “He makes me lie down in green pastures.” We receive the supports and comforts of this life from God’s good hand, and our daily bread comes from him as our Father. A great deal of wealth is still only a dry pasture to a wicked person, because he enjoys only the part that pleases his senses. But to a godly person, who tastes God’s goodness in all things and by faith enjoys that goodness, even a little becomes a green pasture (Psalm 37:16; Proverbs 15:16-17). God’s ordinances are the green pastures where food is provided for all believers. The word of life nourishes the new nature. It is milk for babies and pasture for sheep. It is never barren, never worn out, never burned dry, but always a green pasture where faith can feed.

God makes his saints lie down. He gives them peace and contentment in their own minds, whatever their outward condition may be. Their souls find rest in him, and that makes every pasture green. Are we blessed with the green pastures of God’s ordinances? Then let us not think it is enough just to pass through them. Let us lie down in them, stay in them. “This is my rest forever.” The soul is fed by steady use of the means of grace.

They are also well guided and well led: “He leads me beside the still waters.” The Shepherd of Israel guides Joseph like a flock, and every believer is under the same guidance. Those who feed on God’s goodness must follow his direction. He leads them by his providence, by his word, and by his Spirit. He arranges their affairs for their good, according to his wise plan, and he orders their desires and actions according to his command. He directs their eyes, their path, and their hearts into his love.

The still waters by which he leads them give not only a pleasant view, but many cooling drinks and many refreshing comforts when they are thirsty and weary. God provides his people not only with food and rest, but also with refreshment and delight. The comforts God gives, the joys of the Holy Spirit, are these still waters, streams flowing from the fountain of living waters and making glad the city of our God. God does not lead his people to standing water that grows foul and collects filth, or to a stormy sea, or to rushing floods. He leads them to quiet, flowing waters. Those still but moving waters fit best with spirits that move toward God, yet do so quietly.

This divine guidance is stated plainly in Psalm 23:3: “He leads me in the paths of righteousness,” meaning in the way of duty. He does this by teaching us through his word and by directing us through conscience and providence. These are the paths in which all the saints want to be led and kept, and from which they never want to turn aside. Only those who walk in the paths of righteousness are led beside the still waters of comfort. The way of duty is truly the pleasant way. The work of righteousness brings peace. We cannot walk in these paths unless God both leads us into them and keeps leading us in them.

They are also helped when anything is wrong: “He restores my soul.” He restores me when I wander. No creature gets lost sooner than a sheep, since it is so quick to stray and so slow to find its way back. Even the best saints know how easily they can go astray like lost sheep (Psalm 119:176). They miss their way and turn into side paths. But when God shows them their sin, gives them repentance, and brings them back to their duty, he restores their soul. If he did not do this, they would keep wandering and be ruined.

When David’s heart struck him after one sin, and when Nathan was sent to say to him, “You are the man,” God restored his soul. Though God may allow his people to fall into sin, he will not allow them to remain there.

He recovers me when I am sick, and revives me when I am weak, so he restores the soul that was ready to leave. He is the Lord our God who heals us (Exodus 15:26). Many times we would have given up if we had not believed, and the good shepherd kept us from fainting.

David also shows the courage of a believer who is near death (Psalm 23:4). After so much experience of God’s kindness all his life, even in many troubles, he says he will not distrust God in his last danger. God has done all this, not because David earned it, but for his own name’s sake, in keeping with his word, his promise, and the glory of his own character and his care for his people. That name is still David’s strong tower, and it assures him that the One who led and fed him all his life will not abandon him at the end.

He faces real danger: “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.” That means he is in danger of death, surrounded by troubles as deep as a valley, dark as a shadow, and frightening as death itself. It can also mean he has been sentenced to die and sees himself as a dying man. Sick people and older people have good reason to think of themselves as walking in that valley.

Yet four things reduce the fear. First, it is only the shadow of death, not death in its full force. A shadow of a serpent cannot sting, and a shadow of a sword cannot kill. Second, it is the valley of the shadow, which is deep and dark, but valleys are also fruitful, and even death can be full of comfort for God’s people. Third, it is only a walk through the valley. The wicked are driven out of the world, but the saints go toward another world in peace. Fourth, they are going through it, not staying in it. They will not be lost there, but will reach the mountain of spices on the other side.

So David can meet death calmly. Death is the great terror, but not for Christ’s sheep. They tremble at it no more than sheep set apart for slaughter. “Even in the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil.” A child of God may receive death’s summons with quiet trust and peace. The nursing child may play near the asp’s hole, and the weaned child, turned away from this world by grace, may put a hand on the viper’s den and still defy death with holy confidence, as Paul did: “O death, where is your sting?”

There is good reason for this confidence. Death brings no real harm to a child of God, because it cannot separate us from God’s love. It kills the body, but it cannot touch the soul. It is also a comfort that God is with his people in their dying moments. He is then at their side, so they need not be shaken. The good shepherd not only leads his sheep through the valley, he guards them there from danger. He comforts them when they need comfort most.

His presence comforts them: “You are with me.” His word and Spirit comfort them too, as do his rod and staff. These refer to the shepherd’s crook, or to the rod under which the sheep passed when they were counted (Leviticus 27:32), or to the staff with which shepherds drove away dogs that would scatter or trouble the sheep. It is a comfort to believers when they die that God knows them, that he will rebuke the enemy, guide them with his rod, and support them with his staff. The gospel is called the rod of Christ’s strength (Psalm 110:2), and that is enough to comfort saints at death. Underneath them are the everlasting arms.

From God’s good gifts to him now, David draws a confidence that God’s mercy will continue (Psalm 23:5, Psalm 23:6). He first praises God’s gracious care. “You prepare a table before me” means God has provided all things needed for life and godliness, for body and soul, for time and eternity. God is a generous giver to all his people, and they should gladly speak of his great goodness.

David notes four things. First, he has enough food and drink, a table set and a cup filled. Second, it is carefully and readily provided, not thrown together from whatever happened to be nearby. Third, he is not limited or shorted, but has abundance, so much that his cup runs over and is enough for others too. Fourth, he has not only what is needed, but also what brings honor and joy: “You anoint my head with oil.” Samuel anointed David as king, which was a pledge of more favor to come, but this line may also point to the generous way God blessed him, or to the special welcome given to honored guests (Luke 7:46). Some think David is still thinking of himself as a sheep, like the poor man’s ewe lamb (2 Samuel 12:3), who ate his food, drank from his cup, and lay in his bosom. In that same tender way, God cares for his children.

Plentiful provision is made for their bodies and their souls, for this life and the life to come. If God’s providence does not give us abundance in earthly things, that lack is made up in spiritual blessings. David then speaks with growing confidence about God’s lasting favor. He had already said, “I shall not want,” but now he says more fully, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” As his faith is exercised, it grows stronger.

What he expects is goodness and mercy, all the streams that flow from God’s kindness, including pardoning mercy, protecting mercy, sustaining mercy, and supplying mercy. He says they will follow him, like the water from the rock followed Israel through the wilderness. They will go with him into every place and every condition, always ready when needed. They will continue all his life, even to the end, because whom God loves, he loves to the end.

The constancy of this goodness is part of David’s comfort. It will be with him all the days of his life, as sure and steady as the day itself. It will be new every morning, like the mercy God gave Israel each day in the manna (Lamentations 3:22, 23).

Its certainty is just as strong. “Surely” it shall be so. This promise is as firm as the God of truth can make it, and we know whom we have believed.

There is also here a glimpse of future joy in its fullness. Some understand the last part this way: after goodness and mercy have followed me through all the days of my life on earth, when this life ends I will move to a better world. Then I will dwell in the Lord’s house forever, in our Father’s house above, where there are many rooms. “With what I have now, I am pleased; with what I hope for, I am even more pleased.” All this, and heaven too. Truly, then we serve a good Master.

David also shows how firmly he means to hold fast to God and his duty. We can read the last words as his covenant with God: “I will live in the house of the Lord forever, as long as I live, and I will praise him as long as I exist.” We must dwell in his house as servants who want to belong to him forever, like those who had their ears bored to the doorpost so they could serve their master for life.

If God’s goodness to us is like the morning light, growing brighter until full day, then our goodness to him should not be like the morning cloud or the early dew that soon disappears. Those who want to be satisfied with the rich goodness of God’s house must stay close to the duties of that house.