Daily Java: The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.- Psalm 23:1-3.
This passage is so familiar that it can lose its power. We have said it and quoted it and thought about it so much that after a while it becomes part of the theological background. Like other verse we are fond of – John 3:16, for instance – it becomes something that is more comforting and nostalgic than anything else.
In the hospital, it is one of the most read verses and many times, the Bible in the little chapel is turned to it. It has been looked at so many times in the hospital chapels that the page is stained and worn. The rest of the Bible will be in pristine condition, but Psalm 23 will be almost worn out.
The reason is because we are looking for meaning in our lives. We do not want to be alone.
No matter what atheists say, no one wants to be alone in life. Someone once said, there are no atheists in foxholes. That is because when the need comes, and it will in everybody’s life, we are desperate to know that someone cares for us.
The chapter is one of the most comforting in the Bible. It was never intended to be a theological treatise on the nature of God. Instead, it was written to tell us God loves us,and even in the worst of difficulties, he will lead us if we will let him.
He will not drag us by force, though. We have to let him. And that is hard, to give yourself over to him. That is why it is called faith. As Hebrews 11 says, the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. We cannot see God except obliquely. We see him in nature, in others’ love, in a lot of things, but only as a reflective quality.
Jesus said that no one could see God, but that those who saw him would see the Father. And if we are imitators of God, as the apostle Paul said in Ephesians 5:1, we reflect him and his glory. If we reflect him, we also reflect the knowledge that he is with us and will guide us if we allow.
That is part of what people should see in us – the comfort in the knowledge that someone greater than we are is in control.
Under his guidance, we are at peace. The world rages, but the storm in us is quieted. Worry is checked and anxiety is rendered unnecessary. God is in control.
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