I believe that many of you are conversant with Psalm 23, which is one of the most popular Psalms in the Bible. I have always said this psalm (yes, said and not prayed) right from my earliest years without taking time to sieve the heavy declarations David made when he composed and sang this psalm.
Over a decade ago, a friend of mine encouraged me to meditate on this Psalm and pray it daily, religiously. To be candid, I didn’t really know what to expect or know how I was to meditate, but I made it a point of duty to say it as often as possible. And did I experience anything new? Well, yes, I did, but I later neglected this beautiful Psalm and became engrossed with other psalms in the bible.
I am not in anyway trying to praise Psalm 23 over any other Psalm, but I want us to take time to meditate on the beautiful prayer we have in the Pslam tagged: “The Lord is My Shepherd!”
We would begin by reading the Psalm (below is the Good News Translation)
1 The Lord is my shepherd;
I have everything I need.
2 He lets me rest in fields of green grass
and leads me to quiet pools of fresh water.
3 He gives me new strength.
He guides me in the right paths,
as he has promised.
4 Even if I go through the deepest darkness,
I will not be afraid, Lord,
for you are with me.
Your shepherd’s rod and staff protect me.
5 You prepare a banquet for me,
where all my enemies can see me;
you welcome me as an honored guest
and fill my cup to the brim.
6 I know that your goodness and love will be with me all my life;
and your house will be my home as long as I live.
This is a Psalm by David boasting about his confidence in the Lord, or do we say, boasting about God’s faithfulness in his life. In summary, the Psalm says, the Lord is my sufficiency and all! In other words, Davids talks about his provision, power, guide, stability, confidence, guard, security, protection, insurance, assurance, elevation, visibility, hope, and destination.
What more can I say, that God is his “I AM”!
All these are packed in one prayer and dished out to us. Now you have an idea why I am thrilled by this psalm. It is simply loaded!
As a shepherd boy, David knows the relationship the Shepherd has with his sheep. David understands how helpless and hapless, directionless, and vulnerable the sheep are without the Shepherd. David uses this metaphor aptly, because in God we live, we move, and have our being!
After this preamble, next, we would dive into the verses and take a look at the meditation line we can apply for each verse. Follow this link for the Part 2 of this reflection