Discipleship

ALL THE DAYS OF MY LIFE

By Robert G. Hobson

The Twenty-third Psalm is one of the most widely known passages in the Bible, familiar to much of the non-Christian as well as to the Christian world. Its beauty and content cannot be surpassed by the work of any man of this century or any other. As one reads and rereads the Psalm, its statements lift the mind to tremendous heights! Yet because David’s quiet declarations seem to be far away from our hectic daily lives, we have a tendency to consider this Psalm as the expression of an ideal to be sought after, without daring to hope that David’s confiding trust could become real in our own experience.

The Twenty-third Psalm is not simply an ideal but a practical pattern; it reveals a Great Shepherd and describes the relationship that a human, finite being, can have with that Infinite Person. God has not given us this Psalm or any other part of the Bible simply to show us an unattainable goal, something for us to strive after with the knowledge that our effort is in vain. No, we have been given the Word of God in order that it might break forth from the written page and become a daily, living reality in shaping our lives to His will.

There is a phrase in verse six that I would call to your attention: “all the days of my life.” This statement makes the entire Psalm relevant to us; it brings it from several centuries before Christ to the present day. It also indicates that God has a desire to do something in our lives as well as for our lives, not simply in one great crisis, but continuing on a day-by-day basis.

“THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD . . . ALL THE DAYS OF MY LIFE!”

David possessed a relationship with God which could be defined in the same terms, as the relationship a sheep has with its shepherd. This, of course, is the foundation on which the entire Psalm rests. The reality of the Psalm in your life and mine also has to rest upon such a relationship established initially in our lives and our thorough understanding of its implications.

If I am a Christian, a relationship has been established with God on the basis, first, that I have discovered that I am a sinner, condemned to eternal damnation because of Adam’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden, and the complicity of my own rebellious nature. Then I made a further discovery that Jesus Christ “made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:7-8). These discoveries I have not only made with my mind but have taken action by my will in receiving Jesus Christ’s atonement for me on the cross as God’s gift to me, personally.

I am not referring to casual lip service or even intellectual assent; I am talking about the full depth of the word “believe. “ Because I have discovered that I am a sinner, I deliberately take my life out of my own hands and place it at the complete disposal of the One who died for me; I am His to command. I am not simply a person with heavenly “fire-insurance” who will now begin the long struggle of attempting to do my best for God, but rather a transformed creature whom Jesus Christ has redeemed by His blood and in whom He now lives by the Holy Spirit. He established the initial relationship between us. Now, because He is alive IN me, I am to live in complete and utter dependence upon Him. The two principles are opposite: we cannot “do our best” and allow Him to work through us at the same time.

In this Twenty-third Psalm, we are referred to as sheep in our relationship to God. A sheep is perhaps the most awkward and the most dependent of all animals. Because we are sheep, we can only be “sheep-ish” – and yet how we strive to live like lions! We expect power and victory, a life of effectiveness and energy “for God,” and yet wonder why so much of our effort has the earmarks of weakness and failure. So many times, after conversion, we proceed to attempt the impossible (of course, using the right terminology: “with the help of God”). When failure comes, we wonder what has gone wrong. Jeremiah writes, “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9). Isaiah writes, ”Our righteousnesses are as filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). The best that we have been, that we are now, that we ever can be of ourselves, is in God’s sight as filthy rags. We read in Psalm 39:5, “Verily every man at his BEST state is altogether vanity.”

Praise the Lord, however, that we are his sheep, His beloved ones in whom He has taken up His residency by the Holy Spirit. This is the other side of the principle. On the one hand, we recognize what we are, NOTHING; on the other hand, we recognize what He is, EVERYTHING! Have you ever thanked the Lord Jesus for saving you? Of course you have! Have you ever thanked the Lord Jesus for the fact that He now lives IN you? Perhaps not.

The experience of most of us is that we cannot reconcile the fact of being so busy “for” God with the obvious barrenness and emptiness in our lives. Frequently it seems as if the more we engage in church activity the more barren we become. The usual prescription given a person suffering from defeat is that he should be more active in the church and thus forget his problems.

Indeed, we need to be active in our churches, but our activity should be based on the fact that we are living in His victory rather than in the hope of thus securing victory and peace.

Church activity is no substitute for a relationship with Jesus Christ. The only way that a person can have an intimate and effective relationship with the Lord Jesus is by “knowing Him and the power of His resurrection” (Philippians 3:10), in other words, by having Him enthroned as King in their life. Simply because He “resides” in our lives does not mean that He “presides” there. And just as He does not force His way into our lives initially. He will not force His way into command there. To be sure, the Holy Spirit will convict us and woo us to our initial conversion experience, and also lead us to make the Lord Jesus king in our lives. But in the final analysis, the Lord Jesus will take His place upon the throne of our hearts only as a result of our yielding to His Lordship!
Assuming that you have come to a knowledge of Jesus Christ, and know what it is to have that inner relationship with God through Him, are you prepared to admit that you are utterly helpless against the world, the flesh, and the devil? Are you prepared to yield your life completely to Him, to enthrone Him as the Lord of all your being and affairs? If so, you are ready to launch out into the realities of this Psalm?

“I SHALL NOT WANT . . . ALL THE DAYS OF MY LIFE!”

Is the psalmist daydreaming, thinking out loud about desires which can never be a possibility? We must keep in mind that through this Psalm God the Holy Spirit is speaking to you and me about God’s provision for our lives. He is not simply talking about our financial needs, but primarily about our spiritual needs. The spiritual quality of our lives largely determines the condition of all other areas of our lives, regardless of what they may be.

Today people seem to search desperately for happiness, victory, and peace. The psalmist is speaking of an inward peace that exists in spite of what may be happening around us, the “peace that passeth” understanding. This is not just the peace WITH God which comes at our conversion experience, the peace of knowing that our sins have been forgiven and our eternal destiny settled by the Lord Jesus. Thank God for such peace, but the peace I am referring to now is the peace OF God which can be ours in the midst of conflict, without the use of tranquilizers. God has given us this promise through David, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, in order that it might become a reality in our lives, that it might prove workable in our everyday circumstances. The Holy Spirit can cause it to become real in your life and mine only as we are ready to give to Jesus Christ His rightful position as Absolute Shepherd of our lives.

We know what the verse says: “I shall not want.” But, how does this begin to operate in my life? Our usual procedure is to beg God to do this or that, but such an attitude will get us nowhere; begging God is NOT the answer! The evidence in our lives proves this over and over.

Let me illustrate: in the Book of, Ruth, the young widow, a Moabitess, declared to her mother-in-law, “whither thou goest, I will go; … thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.” In the weeks that followed, she met Boaz and received permission to follow the reapers in his fields and pick up the leftovers. But after she was married to Boaz. Do you think that she continued to follow the reapers after she was married to the man who owned the fields? No, all the wealth of her husband became available to her. She no longer had to live in poverty; she could live off the resources of her husband.

Do you remember the day that you were married to the Lord Jesus Christ? That is precisely what happened; we are called the Bride of Christ, and that makes Him the Bridegroom. At that moment, all the wealth of the Throne of God became available to each member of the Bride! This heavenly treasure is not simply to look at and wish for, but rather it is yours to use and enjoy as one of His sheep!

After her marriage to Boaz, did Ruth go into him and begin to beg for permission to use what was rightfully hers because of her new position? We can immediately see that this would be ridiculous, and yet in principle that is exactly what many Christians do. Their prayer life is one continual attitude of begging God, although all the resources of heaven are available to them. What a tragedy! Again I say, begging God to do what He said He would do is not the way to experience the Word of God as a living reality in one’s life!

Then the question arises, “What is the answer?” Again I must assume that you are prepared to submit totally to Jesus Christ as ruler over every detail of your life. And on this basis, knowing that God is a “Man of His Word,” I look at this phrase, “I shall not want” as His promise and gift to His sheep. What do you say to someone who has just given you a gift? Do you ignore him? Of course not; in the most gracious way that you know, you express your gratitude for the gift and reach out to take it. Is God any different? Does He demand any more or less from you and me than that we should express our grateful thanks to Him for the provision of this verse (as well as countless others)? Only the Holy Spirit can make REAL to us the Word of God. Shall we not thank Him for the way that He is going to make this promise real to us?

My challenge to you right now is that first of all you make sure of your complete commitment to Christ – all that you are and have and ever hope to be – and then launch out by faith, thanking the Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ, for the fact that he is going to make this passage live in your own experience.

“HE MAKETH ME TO LIE DOWN IN GREEN PASTURES . . . ALL THE DAYS OF MY LIFE!”

Let us not be deceived by the very common idea that the moment Jesus Christ gains His rightful place in our lives He is going to snatch from us everything that we hold dear. I have known some people who refused to allow Jesus Christ to be King of their lives because they thought that. Nothing could be further from the truth; to allow Him to be King is to enter into a completely new realm of living as the “sheep of His pasture.”

The first thing He does is to “make” us to lie down in green pastures. Notice that He does not say, “Now that you have discovered that I am the Shepherd and you are simply one of My sheep (tremendous as that discovery is), now get busy and begin to do something for Me.” No, rather, “He maketh me to LIE DOWN.” Strange, is it not, that He immediately demands that we cease from all previous activity? This is very difficult for us to understand; right away our minds rebel and say, “Because of what He has done for me, I want to do all that I can for Him.” But remember that we have discovered that we can do nothing, because of what we are – just sheep. But also keep in mind that He can do everything, because of who He is!

It does not say, “He maketh me to lie down, period,” but “to lie down in green pastures!” Therefore, you see, it is not only the position (lying down) that He is talking about but also the place (green pastures). Do you get the picture of what God has in store for you and me if we will take the position of a sheep totally dependent upon its Shepherd? The position? Prone, prostrate, in absolute dedication. The place? Green pastures, where God can feed your inner life, that place where His words are fresh and real. Indeed, that place can only be realized because I am in that position. And the position and place are not simply for the moment, but should be a daily attitude, a daily process – “all the days of my life.” The position: absolute submission! The place: the green pastures of His Word!

“HE LEADETH ME BESIDE THE STILL WATERS . . . ALL THE DAYS OF MY LIFE!”

This is a promise for our Christian life which we desire with great intensity: the leadership of God. We must be quick to acknowledge that the leadership of God in our lives cannot be acquired, but it must be received. A promise of God is a gift in the greatest sense of the word, and a gift can never be earned, but it must simply be accepted. As we thank Him for His leadership, we can also thank Him for that place to which He is going to lead us: “beside the still waters.”

There are two types of “still waters”: one is stagnant, because it has no intake of freshwater and no outlet, and the other is a body of water which has freshwater resources and a continual outlet. The tragedy is that too many Christian lives seem to be stagnant pools. We know all the language, but there is very little LIFE to our Christian lives! “Still waters” run very quietly, not demanding attention, but possessing a tremendous amount of power. The river that is widest and deepest runs quietly down its course, but if harnessed, it possesses enough power to produce electricity for a vast area of land. I believe that this is what God is trying to impress upon us: if we will let the Lord Jesus Christ be Shepherd of our lives, the controller of all that we are, His promise is that we will be led to the place of power and victory! Again, this is not to be acquired but to be received from the One who promised it! It does not come as a result of our begging Him to do what He has already said He would do, but rather as one yields to the absolute Lordship of Jesus Christ, moment by moment, He promises, “I will lead you beside the still waters,” to that place of breadth and depth and power.

Now let us consider our own individual lives, and be absolutely honest with ourselves and with God, for this is the basic requirement of having Jesus Christ made real in our lives. Have you discovered in your inner life the kind of victory and peace which is described by still waters? Or could it possibly be true that “stagnant water” is more descriptive of your life? It is so easy to put on a “front” of spirituality, even when we know deep in our hearts that our personal relationship with Jesus Christ is nothing but a “fire insurance” policy. There is no point in evading the issue. If our lives are barren and empty, the sooner we face up to that fact and present it to the Lord, the more quickly will He begin to show Himself to us in terms of reality.

“HE RESTORETH MY SOUL . . . ALL THE DAYS OF MY LIFE”

In the life of the believer, sin often creeps in unnoticed, and sin cuts off fellowship with the Lord Jesus. But God has made a provision for that; 1 John 1:9 says that “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” We have here a divine equation which contains our responsibility. If we confess, He will forgive! This is His promise to us -not on the basis of our much begging for Him to forgive us, but on the basis of our confession.

Confession, of course, is not simply repeating words so that we may be able to say that we have confessed. Included in the principle of confession is our turning away from the sin that we have committed. All too often we fall into the stereotyped prayer: “Lord, forgive us of all our sins, Amen.” Then we wonder why there isn’t a real sense of His forgiveness! Forgiveness is not received as a result of begging God for it, but on the basis of calling that thing sin which God points out as sin in my life, He has stated that He will forgive. This is part of God’s love gift to us, for which we can thank Him from the depths of our hearts. He restores my soul in terms of fellowship -”all the days of my life.”

Secondly -and I feel this is just as important in your life and mine – as difficult circumstances develop He alone refreshes (Amplified Old Testament) my life. When the external pressures of life would tend to snuff out all Christlikeness in my life, the Shepherd Himself, by His Holy Spirit, gives me His promise that He will refresh my innermost being-all the days of my life! This is what we are looking for: relief under pressure, release from tension. Not that He is going to take away or change the circumstances, but that from within He produces, as only He is able, the peace which passes understanding “all the days of my life!”

“HE LEADETH ME IN THE PATHS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS FOR HIS NAME’S SAKE . . . ALL THE DAYS OF MY LIFE!”

We have already mentioned that the leadership of God in our lives cannot be acquired but must be received. On the principle of receiving, God again has given us a divine equation in Proverbs 3:6, “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” As long as we acknowledge Him and keep on acknowledging Him, He has promised to direct and to keep on directing our paths. This is His gift to you as one of His sheep.

But someone says, “How, then, may I step into the reality of receiving His leadership in my everyday life?” On the basis of the fact that you are some children of God, one of His sheep, step out by faith and acknowledge Him as Shepherd and Lord (if you haven’t already) and thank Him for the gift of His direction and leadership. Thank Him for the way in which He is GOING to lead you in the affairs of your life! Rather than beg Him, “Lord, we pray that you will lead, guide, and direct us today,” as we generally do, thank Him in advance for His leadership, for it is His gift to you all the days of your life!

Be very careful not to embark on this principle presumptuously, without having come by way of verses one and two. Your attempt will end in utter failure if you do!

“YEA, THOUGH I WALK THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH, I WILL FEAR NO EVIL: FOR THOU ART WITH ME . . . ALL THE DAYS OF MY LIFE!”

There are those who would have us believe that the moment we give our lives unreservedly to Jesus Christ as the shepherd, life automatically becomes abed of roses and all problems dissolve. That is not true; you know it and I know it, so we might as well face it. As a matter of fact, God promises us a “walk through the valley of the shadow of death.”

This passage is most often used concerning death and indeed is a great comfort at such a time. But if that were the only time for which it is meant, the phrase, “all the days of my life,” would not apply here.

Life itself is a daily walking through the valley of the shadow of death. We do not know the exact hour death will come to us, but we do know that it could come at any moment. As we drive on the highways, the oncoming cars miss us but by a very few inches. And when we retire for the night we have no assurance that we will awaken the next morning. But even though this life is the “valley of the shadow of death,” the psalmist hurries on to complete the promise: “I will fear no evil . . . all the days of my life.” Fear shatters our peace; we are afraid of what might happen, afraid of what people might think. This principle of fear, allowed to get out of control in our lives, will lead to a nervous breakdown.

David, who had been hounded for years by Saul and had been in many a precarious position, writes under the inspiration of the Spirit of God: “I will fear no evil . . . all the days of my life. “ Having been through the valley so many times, he has confidence in his Shepherd, based on experience, and he can say with reality, “I will fear no evil.” His security was not in his own strength, but rather in God, “for Thou art with me!” David knew something of the very real presence of God with him.

However, you and I have a privilege that David did not have. When we were saved, the Lord Jesus, by His Holy Spirit, came to take up His abode IN us. David could only know that the Lord was WITH him, and He indeed is with us. But since the cross, the believer possesses a more personal relationship with the Great Shepherd, for He comes to live and dwell IN our lives. Paul states it: “Christ IN you the hope of glory. “

Have you ever recognized this most tremendous fact that Jesus Christ does live IN you? Or are you content to simply recognize that He is with you and stands beside you, and you hope that He will go with you wherever you go? We often pray after a worship service or Sunday School class, “Lord, now go with us as we go to our homes.” If the Lord Jesus is living in our lives, how can He help but go with us to our homes? Shall we not take our Saviour at His word when He says, “At that day (the coming of the Holy Spirit) ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you” (John 14:20)?
Isn’t it rather ridiculous to beg the Lord Jesus to do something that He has already said He would do? We would never think of treating our friends that way. For instance, one of our acquaintances might say to us, “I am going down town and would be delighted to have you ride along with me.” Would we answer, “I do need to go to town. Would you mind giving me a lift? I don’t have a way to get there, so would you please, somehow, find it in your heart to allow me space in your automobile to ride with you?” Of course not! We would instead look into his face and say, “Thank you very much. I appreciate it!”

But for some reason or other, we seem to think we have to get complicated with God. He gives us His promises, and then we have the audacity to think that He expects us to get on our knees and beg for that which He has already given us. No, what He promises, He promises out of His heart of love, and lie only waits for us to step into these promises by faith and simply thank Him for them.

The most tremendous promise ever given is that the Lord Jesus, in the Person of the Holy Spirit, would take up His abode and life within the life of the believer – ”all the days of my life!”

“THY ROD AND THY STAFF THEY COMFORT ME . . . ALL THE DAYS OF MY LIFE!”

We usually think of the rod and the staff as instruments used for protecting and guiding the sheep. Some have said that it would be erroneous to think of the rod as an instrument of correction, because what comfort is the rod of correction to the sheep? However, the writer to the Hebrews tells us, “no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby” (12:11). There is a tremendous need for correction in our lives, and we get it by the rod of the Lord Jesus. Who else has the capacity to correct us? Who else has the right, the authority to correct the child of God but the Lord Jesus, by His Spirit?

It is true that there is no immediate comfort while the rod of correction is being used. But the comfort that comes in a man’s heart while thinking of the past periods of correction cannot be measured. For instance, without the correction given by a godly mother and father when needed, a child has all the potential of becoming one of the world’s worst reprobates. Praise God for correction! His correction especially gives us reason to be thankful, because it brings us to that point of unquestioning obedience to Him. The principle is not that He beats His sheep into submission, but rather that He creates in the heart of every believer the desire for the Lord Jesus to teach us concerning Himself and His own utter devotion and obedience to His Father. He does this with the rod – “all the days of my life!”

The staff is the protective instrument used by the Lord Jesus in the hour of carelessness when we act on our own impulses and desires and appetites and stray away from His will. Praise the Lord, His faithfulness is not affected by our obedience or disobedience! Regardless of how we behave, He is unchanging in His character and nature.

“THOU PREPAREST A TABLE BEFORE ME IN THE PRESENCE OF MINE ENEMIES . . . ALL THE DAYS OF MY LIFE!”

In effect, in spite of my enemies, regardless of who they may be or how great they may be, He has prepared for me a table at which I can feed my inner life with all the resources of heaven. The difficulty which arises is, HOW does one feed from that table which He has prepared? It is so much easier to run to other people for help when great calamities arise than it is to take time to sit at His table and be fed by God. The table has been spread with the living Bread of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. To feed at the table prepared for us is to feed upon Him through the written Word of God, the Bible.

Often we hear the statement, “I don’t really care about reading or studying the Bible. I don’t get much from it.” Yet the same person goes to the Word of God in a crisis hour, desperately saying, “Now God must give me guidance, He must answer my prayer.” That is simply the attitude of the pauper, the one without any resources from which to draw. When we take that attitude, who would guess that we are children of the King of kings and Lord of lords? Who would ever know that the risen Lord Jesus Christ has actually taken up His abode in our lives?

What can be done about this tragic misconception of the function of His Word? In John 16:13 Jesus says, “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come. He will guide you into all truth.” What a profound fact! When He, the Spirit of truth is come-but has He come? Yes, He has come! He came initially on that marvelous day of Pentecost. Then on the day that you, believed and received Jesus Christ into your life, the Holy Spirit of God came and took up His residence in your life for the purpose of living the Christ-life through you. He has come to indwell you and me, even in this 20th century. What for? “When He is come, He will guide you into all truth.” Why then should we beg God to do something that He has already said that He would do?

Have you ever dared to step into the reality of this experience and thank the Lord Jesus for the coming of the Holy Spirit into your life for the specific purpose of guiding you into all truth? Thank Him for the way that He is going to lead you to the passage of the Word you need for the dark hour. By this I do not mean that you can blindly open your Bible and just let your finger fall on any passage. But as you open your Bible to your daily Bible reading and study, thank Him for the way that He is going to direct you to the truth that you need to discover.

Someone might say, “Isn’t that being presumptuous with God?” But is it presumptuous to take a gift from anyone? As I take a gift from one of my friends, I am, in effect, saying to him as I take the gift: “I take you to be a man of your word; thank you very much!” How long have we ignored these promises of God? Yet these are gifts from His heart to yours and mine. What would you do if after you gave a very fine gift to one of your friends, he just ignored both you and the gift? To say the least, you would consider it very rude of him!

Have you ever, in the midst of pressing times, sat at God’s table and been fed by the spirit of God from his Word? What blessing! But let me again warn you: do not expect to enter into the reality of this principle without having first come through the portals of the previous verses of this Psalm. Remember. He is the shepherd; we are simply His sheep, but He has spread His table before us, for us to feed on to our benefit and delight. As Psalm 1:2 says of the righteous man, “his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.”

“THOU ANOINTEST MY HEAD WITH OIL… ALL THE DAYS OF MY LIFE!”

The anointing of the body with oil was a very common practice in David’s day. The pouring of oil on the head and body was a very comfortable sensation in that hot and dry climate. The athletes of that day would pour oil over their heads and bodies before running a race because it limbered and refreshed them so. As David speaks of anointing, he speaks of the man who is refreshed in the spirit, in the inner man, ready to be of service to the Shepherd that indwells him. “But as for you, (the sacred appointment, the unction) the anointing which you received from Him, abides(permanently) in you;. . . But just as His anointing teaches you concerning everything, and is true, and is no falsehood, so you must abide -live, never to depart (rooted in Him, knit to Him) just as (your anointing) has taught you (to do).“ (1 John 2:27, Amplified). The anointing of our lives by the Lord Jesus is directly linked to the principle of abiding IN Christ.

In the Gospel of John, the Lord Jesus speaks of His relationship with His Father: “What I am telling you I do not say on my own authority and of my own accord, but the Father who lives continually in me does the works -His miracles, His own deeds of power” (14:10b, Amplified). Notice carefully that He says, “What I do, I do not of My own self, but He that dwells IN Me, He doeth the works.” This relationship cannot be explained in human terms, but we do know that the Lord Jesus lived in submission to the Father who indwelt Him and He, the Father, demonstrated His divine purpose through the life of the Son. Jesus Christ, as the Son of Man, was the human channel through whom God the Father’s purpose was implemented.

The amazing fact is that we, as the sheep of His pasture, possess an identical relationship with the Lord Jesus. We live and abide IN Him and He lives and abides IN us. For what? In order that His eternal purpose might be demonstrated through a human channel! We are anointed for that, not that we in our own strength produce the works, but that He who indwells us, reigning in our lives as King and Lord, produces through us God Is eternal purpose through the Holy Spirit, the agent by whom the Son operates.

I said earlier that church activity was no substitute for a relationship with Jesus Christ. But when we have discovered that we are the human channels through which He is going to demonstrate His eternal purpose, He immediately directs our attention to our function in the local church. Indeed, He wants to live His life through us as the various component parts of the local church. Because I have realized my relationship with Him, I yield to His life flowing through me in the activities of my local church.

Think of it for a moment! Your life and mine are human instruments of the divine purpose, motivated by a divine Person, the Lord Jesus Christ! Can we give to Jesus Christ anything less than His rightful place in order that His eternal purpose might be experienced through us? However, as long as we are trying to do the best that we can, He will not, under any circumstances, begin His own wonderful work through us.

“MY CUP RUNNETH OVER… ALL THE DAYS OF MY LIFE!”

No wonder David could say with certainty and reality, “My cup runneth over.” If we knew the Lord Jesus, the Shepherds in terms of such intimacy, we too could know the reality of a life that is literally running over with the characteristics and qualities of the very life of Jesus Christ! How sad, when we must recognize what stuff our lives are filled with so much of the time: greediness, envy, hatred, worry, and tension. It is not uncommon to talk with people who seem to be completely dominated by the spirit of defeat and frustration.

Is this all that we can expect when we become a Christian? No, indeed not! For in the Lord Jesus, all heaven and its resources become available to us!

“SURELY GOODNESS AND MERCY SHALL FOLLOW ME ALL THE DAYS OF MY LIFE!”

Certainly, absolutely, most assuredly, goodness and mercy shall follow me! How could one possibly miss the confidence with which David speaks? Paul speaks with the same assurance in Philippians 1:6, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” This is a confidence which is related to our everyday life as well as to our eternal destiny. This confidence is not haughty and presumptuous or based upon theory or myth, but it is a confidence which is real and lasting because it has as its foundation the Person of the Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ.

I challenge you this day to give Jesus Christ His rightful place as King and Shepherd and allow Him, by the Holy Spirit, to produce through you the quality of life which is defined in this Twenty-third Psalm.

For five and a half verses God has been speaking to us through David concerning our everyday lives and the possibilities that are ours in knowing Him as the Shepherd! He will not force His authority upon us; He waits patiently for us to give Him the right-of-way!

Then the Psalmist whisks us away into the final culmination of time: “and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever!” Oh, so many people today are longing for the time when they will die so that they can be with their Lord because life on the present plane is just unbearable. But that should not be our only hope. He has made every provision necessary that our lives should be full of triumph and blessing here, not just on Sunday but every day of the week… ALL THE DAYS OF MY LIFE!

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