guess. All right, Psalm 23, and we'll start in with verse four and five this evening. It's my intent to finish them, those two verses, but I'll watch the clock and just see how far things go with us this evening. And just reviewing what we've looked at so far, we've looked at point number one, which is the Good Shepherd's provision. And there were three main points in that from those three verses. Verse one, he provides for our good, And in that we looked at a couple of different sub points in that phrase or that first verse, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. We saw God's sovereignty. We saw the picture of the shepherd and we talked about that. And the very fact that he said, the Lord is my shepherd indicated submission because the sheep had a shepherd. And then he said, I shall not want. And that gave us the fourth word, satisfaction. And so that was the first week that we looked at this. And then last week we looked at two points and that is, First of all, or letter B in your outline there, he provides for our growth, and that's in verse two, he maketh me to lie down in green pastures, and that signified his supply. And then he leadeth me beside the still waters, and there we saw the word serenity or calmness and peace. The third thing that we looked at in this first part of the Good Shepherd's provision is that he provides, he has a goal for us. In verse three, he restoreth my soul, he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. And three different words that were a part of that, there's sanctification, he restoreth my soul, supervision, he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness, and then his sovereignty again was noticed for his name's sake. That's because of who he is, that phrase means an answer to his name. This evening we'll pick up in verse four. And this section, number two, in the main outline there is the Good Shepherd's Protection, okay? The Good Shepherd's Protection, verses four and five. And I'll read those and then we'll come back. I know that's a rather lengthy section. It actually would be longer than verses one through three, and of course longer than verse six. So that's why I'm saying I'm not sure I'll finish it this evening, but we'll see. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies, thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over." And we'll then call this second part of this the good shepherd's protection. First of all, in verse four, and this is just the way that we're looking at this, he protects with comfort. And I'll explain that as we go through it a little bit. But in verse four, yea, though I walk, and I'm going to stop there and just look at those first two words there when we say that yea, though, okay? The psalm takes what I would consider to be an interesting turn midpoint. Previously, the life given to the sheep by the shepherd was completely desirable. Look at verses 1 through 3 again, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness. Those are all good things. And now things change. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. That's a whole lot different than I shall not want. or that I don't have need of anything. Everything to this point has been very desirable. Now the picture turns what I would consider to be bleak. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, it's not a very encouraging statement just by itself to think of this. The word yea, by the way, is a conjunction which serves to make the sentence emphatic, it can also be translated indeed or truly, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. We've talked about the emphasis by the causality, it's a grammatical word that I've used. In other words, the shepherd is the one behind everything that's happening in the first three verses, the shepherd is causing this. And what this conjunction does is, yea, okay, that word is carrying through the causal idea. So understand this, when you're walking through the valley of the shadow of death, the shepherd's the one who's put you there. Okay, he's the one who's caused that to happen. Again, that may sound bad to begin with, but it's not. And we'll, I think, see that as we go through. So truly, or even though, or as I'm walking through this, or indeed, I'm walking through this, would accurately describe the The usage of this conjunction of these two words, yea, though, okay, and truly, the difficult part for a finite mind to understand is that the shepherd would allow or cause his sheep to go through this. The reality is the nature of God is to allow or even instigate trials to prove and to strengthen his people. Remember in James chapter one, whenever James is writing, he said, God doesn't tempt any man with sin. Okay. And we recognize that, but we also have to understand that God does things to prove us. Okay. By the way, prove and test and try, they all have the same root idea. You remember, and I know we've talked about Job a lot, but what was God's purpose in allowing, permitting Satan to do everything to Job? The conversation started out with a phrase, God said to Job, hast thou considered my servant Job? Okay, that there's none like him in all the earth, he's perfect, he's upright, he's one that fears God and eschews evil. And Job says, or Satan says, nah, he says the only reason he serves you is because you take care of him. And God allowed Satan to do what he did to prove to Satan that Job was a man of integrity, that Job was a man of faith. And what that is then is that God was allowing that to happen, God permitted it to happen as a demonstration of the reality of Job's faith. And so even when God permits or allows or even instigates trials, the reality is to test, if you will, our faith. You remember there's a very famous character in the Old Testament that God tested with his son. Abraham, okay, go and sacrifice, literally a human sacrifice, your son Isaac to me, thine only son. And when Abraham was right ready to do it, God stopped him by his angel and said, no, now I know that you love me, okay. He was testing or he was proving his faith, he was proving his relationship with him. It's impossible to determine every circumstance in which the shepherd would allow his sheep to walk through the valley of the shadow of death but the nature of God is to allow it to prove and to strengthen his people that you understand in life. You know we'll look back at some circumstances and say you know what if I wouldn't have gone through that circumstance I wouldn't have learned this lesson or I wouldn't have grown in this particular way. How do we build strength? by resistance, by exercise, by working. That's how strength is built and God knows that about our faith. Romans chapter 5 demonstrates this, that it produces patience in us when God allows trials, it grows us to go through some of these things. I've mentioned Job already but he maintained his integrity verbally and spiritually though he didn't know the dialogue that was going on between God and Satan and I don't think he ever did. At least on this earth I don't think Job ever knew what had happened between God and Satan, there's no indication that he revealed it to him. Job was in the valley and even in the shadow of death yet by his admission God was right and Job knew that he would be proven righteous. Remember he said, when I am tried I shall come forth as gold. That was Job's statement, we have it in a song but Job's the one who said it. James wrote to these believers to count it all joy when they fall into trials or divers temptations of different kinds, the joy of those scattered believers was to be founded in the fact that they knew that the trying of their faith worked patience, that's James chapter one. And so those two phrases there, those two words to begin with, yea, though, okay, it's turning a corner, if you will, in what's happening in Psalm 23 so far, that everything up to this point has been good, but now David is recognizing that there are also some bad things that happen in the life with the shepherd, or there are things that seem to be bad, but really they also emphasize the authority, the control, the power of the shepherd, and we'll see that here as we go through these words. The next phrase gives us this thought, and this is in your outline, this is that you give me confidence, yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. And so you give me confidence, or you have given me confidence. Just notice this, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, walking is the normal way of life for people and sheep, by the way. We don't fly. We're not tigger. We don't bounce or hop. Walking is just who we are. There are people who run, but typically that's for exercise. It fascinates me to see little children run. Little Jack, whenever we got a video of him or have gotten a few videos, and he walks as fast as he can. And if he could run at this point, I think he would be doing that. All that to say, walking is the normal way of life. However, neither sheep nor people relish the idea of the shadowed or death-shadowed valley. It's not as though we look forward to that. This is something that is happening. The comfort, though, in this situation comes in the fact that the shepherd is with the sheep. David states that, and by the way, he calls himself or infers himself as a sheep by his own admission, that he would not fear evil, which, by the way, this is the idea of bad. David says, yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will not fear evil. I will fear no evil. He's stating that. His confidence was well founded on the fact that his shepherd was with him. The picture is of the valley that is a shadow of death. It's possible that David was being pursued by his enemy. I don't view this, by the way, as death. David is talking about the valley that has a death shadow in it. But at the end of this chapter, he makes it clear that he's not expecting to die yet. As far as that whole thing, he says that surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. He's not anticipating death yet. But he says, I'm in a valley that has death shadows in it. By the way, there's a valley, I believe it's to the north and east of Jerusalem. It's on the Jericho Road or on the way to Jericho that I remember when we were there that you could look down in that. And the tour guide told us that there's only a little bit of time each day when the sun makes it to the bottom of the valley because the walls are so steep. We happened to see a car that had gone over a cliff years before it was just left down there. I mean, it's not a pleasant valley. You know, when we talk about a beautiful valley, you know, the little brown church in the Vale, okay, that kind of valley is not what's in view here. We're talking about that deep gorge that has shadows and bad things happen there. David recognized in this whole thing that this was a dangerous place and yet because he had his shepherd with him or the presence of the shepherd was there he said, I will fear no evil. And so here in this you've given me confidence and the Lord has provided him and is protecting him here and has assured David of his protection. And so David is living with confidence in this whole picture. David had complete confidence in the presence of his shepherd and therefore consciously he would not fear evil. You understand that when we consider this whole picture in life, okay, choosing not to fear evil. Fear can be an emotion. It is certainly an act of the will whenever I choose to live in the fear of God. And that is recognizing His awesomeness, recognizing who He is and His attributes and so forth. That's a conscientious and an intentional fear. But there are other fears that are emotional, that overwhelm a person. And David is here saying, I will not fear evil. I'm not going to be controlled by an emotion. Because of the presence of my shepherd, I will live in confidence. I have no fear of the evil that is around me. And the next phrase describes why that is, for thou art with me. You notice the word for. That's again the idea because thou art with me, that's the immediate context. In this whole picture we can't say why the shepherd is causing this to happen, we don't know all of that. It could be related to verse 3 as far as the whole picture here, he restores my soul, he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake, that God has a purpose and a plan. because he has a direction that he wants David to go. And in that, part of that may be through the valley of the shadow of death to teach David some lessons, to teach David confidence, to teach David faith and trust. It's all for his namesake, he leadeth me for his namesake. And so every path which the good shepherd chooses to lead his sheep is the path of righteousness because it's the design of the shepherd and because the shepherd is with him. Think of this then, okay? The valley of the shadow of death can also be, from verse three, the path of righteousness. Okay, because the shepherd is the one who is leading. When David says the valley of the shadow of death, okay, he's not referring to that as just an innate evil place. There are bad things that could happen in that valley. But the shepherd is with him, and the shepherd chose to take him through that valley. And so therefore that is the path that he leads me in or that he is leading in. The thing that is scary here, if you want to use that phrase, is the shadow, the shadow that is there. There doesn't seem to be any substance when David says this, there's this shadow. My brain stopped working for a minute. Okay, through the valley of the shadow of death. The shadow of death is what is the substance that is here and a shadow has no substance. I read the story of Alexander the Great when he was a young boy, I mean, 16, 18 years old, he began as a young warrior and he made great strides and so forth. By the way, he died at the age of 33 as a drunkard. having conquered pretty much the known world. But there was a man one time who offered his horse to Alexander's father, Philip, to give to Alexander. And nobody could ride a majestic, huge horse that could be used or could have been used for just about anything, but he was seemingly always out of control. And Alexander watched him for a while, and he noticed that he seemed to be afraid of his shadow. And so Alexander turned the horse and faced him into the sun. Okay, and as long as the sun, you know, was behind him, he's not going to see his shadow. And Alexander, of course, had to train him, but as long as he couldn't see his own shadow, he wasn't living in fear, and he was able to be controlled. All that to say that shadows are often not realistic. I've told my kids, and it's not a genuine phrase, but I've said this, most hypothetical situations are antithetical. You know what I mean by that? Hypothetical means it might happen. Antithetical means it's not likely to, that it's probably not a true thing. And most of the time the things that we fear don't come upon us. And here as we're considering this, David is able to go through this with confidence because the shepherd's with him. Fear no evil for thou art with me. And so that is the point here to begin with, this first thought that you've given me confidence. Notice the next part of this. thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me." And so the next part of this would be then, you've given me comfort. This is fascinating when you look at all the different contexts of this, we're not going to, I'm just going to mention a few of them, but we're not going to look at different verses. The staff that the ancient shepherd carried was for the protection of himself and his sheep. Obviously, since the Lord was the shepherd to whom David was referring, did this shepherd need, I'm speaking of the good shepherd, the great shepherd, did he need to protect himself with a rod? God's not in danger of being defeated by any kind of animal or any kind of person or any kind of being. There's no danger of that happening. And so since the Lord was this shepherd, he didn't need the protection for himself. Therefore, the rod and the staff of God are for the benefit of the sheep. Primarily, the staff was used for either protection or correction of the sheep. And we'll talk about several different nuances of the word. The word rod comes from the idea that is typically translated as a shepherd's rod. Here's several different nuances. The scepter of a king for a tribe or a family. By the way, a person can be referred to as the rod or the prince. A measuring rod, a spear, those are all different ways that this word is translated throughout the Old Testament. All of them, though, when you think of them, the shepherd's rod, the scepter, the leader of a family, the measuring rod or a spear, they're all in some way authoritative or they recognize power or authority, something like that. The rod of the shepherd demonstrated his authority over the sheep. The scepter of the king was a symbol of his authority and power over his kingdom, those people over whom he ruled. The tribes were called scepters because the leader was considered a prince. A measuring rod was the authority in determining the length of something, okay? Have you ever heard of different men who they say, that tape measure's not right? Have you ever heard someone say that? I read of a man who had worked with someone who couldn't cut things straight, and he'd say, that tape measure's not right. That's just not likely, OK, as far as those things being the case. But a measuring rod would be authoritative, OK? When you're talking about, say, oh, that thing looks like it's about that long. I'll say, well, let's measure it and see, OK? That makes it an authority. A spear obviously demonstrated authority through the capability of its lethal force. Striking an object, it demonstrated the usage for correction. Solomon, in his wisdom, bluntly stated that a man that spareth his rod hateth his son, but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes." Job used the same word to indicate that it seemed as though the wicked were not punished by God. Job said, their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them. Job said that. Job's young, I don't know if I'd call him friend, acquaintance, Elihu, spoke of the weather as being under the direction of God and he said he causeth it to come whether for correction or for his land or for mercy. And so that word has many, many different nuances but they all in some sense come back to the idea of authority, whichever one it is for, whether the king, the shepherd, the soldier using it, whatever it would be. David said that the rod of his shepherd was what comforted him. The aspect of the rod as an instrument of authority, correction, and protection was said by David to comfort him. The fact that God had that rod, okay, and I'm going to give you another nuance in just a moment here, David said was a comfort to him. By the way, just saying that that is something I think that is important for us to understand as parents or even grandparents, but understanding that firm authority, okay, is actually a boundary for kids or young people, okay? Boundaries give them comfort, it gives them assurance that even they're being watched. It doesn't appear though as in this context of the song that David is indicating that the rod was being used for correction, David doesn't seem to have done anything wrong, he's not speaking of it in that manner. It's also likely that David recognized that God had at times used the rod to chasten him but not in this context, there's no indication that that's happening here. However, when God would use the rod of correction on David he still recognized the love of God in this correction By the way, here's what the author of Hebrews said, and quoting from Proverbs, if you remember this, "'Ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children. My son despised not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons.'" And then he says in the next phrase, "'For what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?' In other words, God chastens us or God may use the rod because he loves us. The submitted sheep recognized the correction was from the heart of a loving shepherd and that this correction would be profitable to its life. This was comfort for David and I'll give you another nuance in just a moment. There seems to be this other nuance then that is used for the rod in relationship to the shepherd. And this would be signified by the measuring rod, okay, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Turn with me to Leviticus chapter 27 and verse 32, I could read it to you but I just want you to see it. Leviticus chapter 27 and verse 32, there's only a couple of verses left in the book of Leviticus when we read this, Leviticus 27, 32. In the context, of course, is concerning the tithe, verse 32, and concerning the tithe of the herd or of the flock, even whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord. Have you ever given thought to what that phrase means, that which passes under the rod? When Moses was recording the giving of tithes here, he made reference to the sheep that passed under the rod. Moses seems to be indicating that the shepherd had a practice of counting the sheep with his rod as a pointer. As they're going under, the shepherd would touch the sheep with the rod as he counted them. For the sheep then entering the fold each evening, this would have been a comfort by a personal touch from the shepherd to make sure it was accounted for. No sheep was left behind. What did Jesus tell about the 99? If there was one that was missing, he was going to go through and do it, or he was going to go back and find it. How many of you have ever counted a bunch of kids at once? Okay, you can start going like this, okay? It's gonna get confusing, okay? When we've done Bible school, we did Bible school for five years in Illinois. Or even, I will tell you the stories of leaving one or two of my kids at various places before. But there is a reality of touching what you're counting. And that seems to be what Moses is referring to in Leviticus chapter 27 when he says, that which passes under the rod, the one that the shepherd counts as he goes through, and there have been other instances where shepherds have indicated that. And so here we have this idea, thy rod and thy staff comfort me, and those sheep are just animals, they don't have a soul. Sheep find comfort in the personal touch of the shepherd, that's just the way they are, we even recognize that in the story of David. whenever Nathan told him the story of the one that had been robbed or had been stolen to be used as a meal for the neighbor. So thinking of this, first of all David says thy rod and thy staff then they comfort me and so the word rod is used in conjunction with the staff. It's significant that both words were used here in the context of the shepherd. This second word that we're talking about, thy rod and thy staff, is not quite as broad. The word rod we could look at from a king to a scepter to a a spear to the shepherd's rod, all of those together. This one is very concise in meaning the staff. It's simply a staff to lean upon for support. Both words in this verse are words of comfort. The rod signifies authority. The shepherd, it also signifies correction where necessary. The rod would be even a protection from animals or thieves. The staff though is a rod for support. The word, again, is not typically used for shepherding, but David understood that shepherding a man with a soul was different than shepherding a sheep. Remember, in this whole context, it's not just about sheep. It started out that way, but then David starts speaking about the way that the Lord is turning his soul. The soul of man needs the staff of God for support. meaning that there is something upon which a man is leaning or a person is leaning. I'll just ask you this, do you know the word paraclete? That's the word for the Holy Spirit. Okay, para literally means to come alongside or right next to, he is there as far as for me to lean on or he is there for support. And I don't think that it's far out of the possibility or the likelihood that the application could be very easily made to the Holy Spirit as far as that thy rod is there for my protection. It's there for correction if necessary, it's there for my comfort, but thy staff, that thing upon which I need to lean." Okay, and obviously we're talking about a man there, not a shepherd. But David is saying that this is here for my comfort. He is the internal strength and energy that enables and energizes us to fight in the face or to live with faith in the face of adversity. The activity of the rod and the staff are personified, it's as though David's referring to them as a being. As inanimate objects though they are prone to the guidance of the master, they're under his control, of course this would be the great shepherd. David said of the rod and the staff, they comfort me. By the way, the comfort that is here is one that comes from the idea of intensity. You might say, how does comfort come in intense levels? It's very simple to put it this way. You know, whenever a spouse may pass away, okay? Whenever someone has that, I remember both my grandparents, or both my grandmothers lost their husbands, of course, first, and then my other, my one grandmother has already passed away. But you might think of someone losing a spouse, okay? The kind of comfort that a child would give to them, okay? a hug or sitting on the couch and weeping or crying. That kind of comfort is different from someone that may be distant and you send a card two or three hundred miles away. You may send a card of comfort to someone that you don't know well, but when you're talking about someone who you have been intimately closely connected with for years or that's a part of your family that you have lived with, that you have shared a home with, that kind of comfort is going to be more intense than someone who is just a distant acquaintance. And so when we start talking about this, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Here David is using an intensity that is a part of his comfort. He's saying this is how the shepherd has comforted him. We'll go on with this, he also protects with control. This is in verse five, would be letter B in your outline there, he protects with control. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. And this is essentially you are in command of the situation. And the word command there is for you to outline. The phrase could be one of the most confusing at our initial glance. The enemies of sheep are numerous. OK. And so thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Think of some of the enemies of sheep. OK. We would obviously understand bears and lions. David talked about fighting them. Wolves, thieves, hirelings, even extreme weather, lack of food, lack of water, desertion. Those could all be the enemies of the sheep. The shepherd had to have control over a situation to ensure that a sheep can eat among his enemies. I mentioned this to you a couple of weeks ago, that if a sheep is anxious, if he's living in anxiety, he's not going to eat well, he's not going to ruminate well, his system is not going to be functioning well. They get very nervous. The sheep has to have complete confidence in the protection of the shepherd to be able to eat in the presence of its enemies. It all, though, depends on the shepherd. Sheep have very, very little ability to protect themselves. I have seen a few videos of a sheep that is headbutting something. But that doesn't do much other than knock down another sheep. He's not going to headbutt a bear or a wolf. He's not able to do that. He can't defend himself against that kind of an enemy. And so it all depends on the shepherd, his protection. This whole picture though, and I'm just going to give you a literal translation of this, would be you are arranging in order, and I'm skipping over some of the words that are there as far as their literal sense, but this is just you are arranging or setting in order before the face of me, okay, or to the face of me, right in front of me, a table. in front of the ones who are my enemies or in front of the ones who are opposing me. You can envision the whole thing, okay? If you want to use sheep and personify them, if you want to imagine sheep sitting at a table with wolves and bears all around them, that's essentially what David is trying to get us to see. But going on into the spiritual sense, okay, or into the human sense, when David refers to himself as a man or a soul, which a sheep doesn't have, in front of all of his enemies, David said, God provides for me. And to do that, to make that happen so that David could sit there in confidence and in peace and eat, meant that the shepherd had to be in control. In other words the enemies could have no possibility of coming against him and right before them it's as though they could be right there but they were prohibited from doing anything to the sheep as long as the shepherd was there. And so God here is in complete control of this and so David is acknowledging that he's protecting me with his control. Nothing can come against David as long as God is there. It signifies the confidence on the part of the shepherd, trust on the part of the sheep, and subordination from the adversaries, okay? The shepherd is confident, the sheep is trusting, and the enemies are restrained. And God is the one doing all of that, he's in absolute control of everything. David certainly had people who opposed him, we know of some, even some relatives, his son Absalom or even thinking of Saul, his father-in-law, he had these enemies who at various times would do anything they could to kill him or would have tried to. David had people who opposed him. The evidence of his life though proves that often those adversaries that were unable to do anything against David because David's shepherd was in control. And so David was protected by this. The fact is that the great shepherd is an absolute command of every situation in which this sheep is led. Think of the reality of this as it relates to our lives. We can look, usually it's going to be in a civil sense, we can look at all those that we might think are the enemies of righteousness as the Apostle Paul said. or the enemies of the cross. We can look at all of them and we can, in a sense, be anxious because of what the enemies might do. As much as I hate to admit it, you know, leading up to elections, we have a tendency, I have a tendency to think, oh no, if so and so is elected, this is going to happen and this is going to happen and this is going to happen. And I have to constantly remind myself that God's in control. He is in charge of what's happening, and if he allows something that seems to be contrary to my beliefs and to my faith and to my life and so forth, he did it on purpose. It might be one of those valleys of the shadow of death that he's permitting, but he's still in absolute control. For David to be able to eat in the presence of his enemies indicates that the shepherd was in absolute control, and he's not afraid of the enemies. If it was me I might say, look sheep, I want to get you to a safe place but the best way to do that is to get away from the enemies. But this shepherd is saying I can fix you a meal right here, they're not going to bother you, there's confidence that is a part of that. And so the point is that we see in this that he is in control. Next notice the phrase, thou anointest my head with oil. and here I'll give you the idea that you've consecrated me. Many commentaries refer to this as being the custom of anointing the head of a guest with some sort of anointment or perfume. However, other places the word is translated in the scripture with a similar context literally give the idea of being made fat. Thou makest my head fat, I can use that word. David is saying, you made fat with oil or fat the head of me. By the way, to make fat in the Old Testament is the essence of being made prosperous, as far as eating the fat and so forth. David recognized the blessing of God on his life, that God has set him apart for blessing. It's interesting to note that this verb, is in this context a completed action, okay? It's, by the way, the main one in the whole chapter that's like that. But what it is, is it's inferring that this was not just a one-time action, but it was done and had permanent effects. okay, that you have blessed me, you have sanctified me or you've set me apart and you continue to have your blessing upon me, it won't leave. The emphasis of the last two verses have indicated that David is not just thinking about material prosperity, David realized God's blessing and he's learned to see blessing as that which comes from the hand of God. And speaking of this, thou anointest my head with oil, that blessing comes from God. Even if the shepherd was leading through the valley of the shadow of death, it was also the path of righteousness for his name's sake. And he has learned to look at that as blessing. Thou anointest my head with oil. The Lord had prospered him in and by green pastures, by still waters. He had guided his soul by his presence in the valley, by the rod and the staff in the shepherd's hand. To David, it was all prosperity, which would be indicated by this head anointed with oil. You've made my head literally fat. with this. And then he says, and I'm hurrying through this, my cup runneth over. And here I'm going to point out this particular aspect is that he's consistent. Speaking of the shepherd, you're consistent. There is nothing in this that indicates that the shepherd has lacked or has backed off anywhere. The shepherd continues to provide and so, by the way, an interesting sentence here, it's considered a noun sentence because there's no verb in it. We have this, that my cup runneth over, the literal translation would indicate a verbal idea but it's basically David saying this, the cup of me, and then he gives it this emphasis, abundance. Think of that the cup of me and David's speaking of the reservoir what God is providing for him I just have abundance. And from verse 1 all the way through verse 5, we see that even with the valley of the shadow of death, the presence of the shepherd is there continually. He's consistent. He's not backing off. And as David is going through this, I think of the words of Job. When Job was going through his darkest times, he says, I look before me and you're not there. Or it seems as though you're not there. I look behind me. You're not on the right or you're not on the left. You know, that was all Job's perception. The reality is God was right there all the time. And when we go through this, as David is describing this entire chapter, understand the consistency of the shepherd. That he, from the very beginning to the very end, he's right there all the time. Even if we don't perceive him, he's there. The sheep does not have 360 degree vision, right? Okay, flies do, but sheep don't. They don't have 360 degree vision. And sometimes the sheep may not see the shepherd. But it doesn't mean the shepherd's not there. And this whole thing, and I'm using this last phrase as far as my cup runneth over, there's a consistency that is there, that the provision of the shepherd is not sporadic, it runs over. Have you ever accidentally left a glass in the kitchen sink? with the water running. Maybe you're going to fill it up and you leave it going. And it just starts to run over. It doesn't automatically shut off the faucet. The faucet just keeps running over. The faucet just keeps pouring water in there. And as David is speaking of this idea of running over, he's essentially saying that the provision that my shepherd has given me, there's never any lack. But even more than that, there's more than I need. He keeps filling me and he keeps filling me. It runs over and there's a consistency in the shepherd where he is always providing the needs whether it is the protection which is needed or the provision which are the first two points in these first five verses. He is the provider and he is a protector and both of those are seen in this and the shepherd is consistent. There will never be any lack of that. Because he is the good shepherd, as I mentioned the first week, if there is anything that he is not providing, that means he's not the good shepherd. And by the way, he knows our needs better than we do. And so these two thoughts to begin with, the shepherd is our provider and the shepherd is our protector. Next week, we'll look at Lord willing, unless the rapture happens, we'll look at verse six, which is, "'Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.'" Father, thank you for this passage of Scripture, for this 23rd Psalm, and these two verses that we could look at this evening. I pray, Father, that you would help us to see the comfort that comes through you as our great shepherd. I pray that you would help us to see these different parts of your character which we've seen this evening, even your consistency, your confidence in the face of our enemies. And Lord, I pray that you would help us to remember that you're always in control. And help us not to be put off by the idea that we are sheep but Lord that we would look at the reality that you are the great shepherd. I pray that you'd help us to yield and submit to what you have for us and that we would be faithful to what you've called us to and we ask this in Jesus name. Amen. All right you can take your prayer list.