📖Psalm 23:6

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: And I will dwell in the house of the #LORD for ever.

📍Meaning: The first person to be helped by this #Psalm was David himself. Picture what it was like for David to write this Psalm under the inspiration of the Holy #Spirit. His life was plagued with trouble. Aggravation from Saul, opposition from the Philistines, the pressures of leading a divided nation, trouble in his own family, not to mention the sins that plagued his own heart.

As David thinks about all that he is facing, his mind goes back to the early years of his life when his work had been keeping the sheep. As he remembers what he did for the sheep, some words come to him The Lord is my #shepherd.

He begins to think about what that means. ‘When I cared for the sheep, they lacked nothing, and the Lord is a better shepherd than I was so the same will be true for me. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

Words continue to come to David as he thinks about what it means for the Lord to be His Shepherd The Lord leads me. He leads me into rest and He leads me into #righteousness.

The Lord restores me. My heart wanders and my spirit falters. But the Lord picks me up. The Lord brings me back. The Lord will never let me go.

The Lord guards me. I have walked through some dark valleys and more lie ahead of me. But even when I walk through the darkest valley, my Shepherd will be with me.

The Lord sustains me. The Philistines hate me. Trusted colleagues betray me. Members of my own family rise up against me, but the Lord stands with me and gives me strength. He prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

The whole of this Psalm is a #meditation on what the Good Shepherd does for His sheep. And David’s #faith is strengthened as he takes in what the Lord does for him. His first thought is “I shall not want” but by the end, he is able to say something even better: ‘Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Psalm 23 is an exercise in faith. It brings to mind all that is true of you in #Christ.