Psalm 23

Psalm 23 (NRSV)

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside still waters;
he restores my soul.
He leads me in right paths
for his name's sake.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I fear no evil;
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff --
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
my whole life long. 

How does our walk of faith go Monday through Saturday? Recently David Lose blogged that one of the reasons he goes to church on Sundays is that by Sunday he needs a dose of that Good News.  The week gets long.  It pushes us. It stretches us.  Sometimes it punches us in the gut.  Like David Lose, by Sunday, oftentimes coming to church is like healing balm.  I need to be reminded again that God is with me.

Yet, Monday through Friday, if we really were in dire straights - if Sunday couldn't come soon enough and we were at the end of our rope - I'll bet that at least a good portion of you would know where to turn for comfort and it would be here, with Psalm 23.

Even though the pastoral language of the Psalm sometimes seems incongruous with our urban and suburban realities, there is something we seem to instinctually get about God's rod and staff comforting us.

We might be tempted to balk at the metaphor of the shepherd and sheep.  And yet, are there times it feels as if life is herding you here and there?  As if any moment a fox or wolf might just jump out and surprise you in the form of an illness, car accident, angry neighbor, etc?

Have you ever felt as if you were sitting at a table with your enemies?  Alone, lonely, wishing you were anywhere else?  Or in the darkest valley, perhaps of depression, grief, anger, or anxiety, and you just needed to know there was a way out?

Over and over again, people return to this Psalm for its comforting promise of hope:  God is with us.  Psalm 23 moves us to trust that promise.  It gets us through those times when it feels as if nothing else is working in our lives.  It makes us long for those still waters and green pastures and know that they are indeed possible.

This Psalm though is only the beginning.  Words of comfort abound in God's Book of Faith.  It can be your gateway to an even fuller, richer, and deeper trust of that promise of hope.  Let it lead you in to conversation with God and to new connections to God's promise.

Lord you are with me.  Always.  Help me never to forget and always know where to turn when I am in need.  Amen.