Please stand for the reading of Scripture. This evening, for our New Testament reading, we'll be looking at John 10. John 10, beginning in verse 11. This is the Word of the Lord. I am the Good Shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees. And the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd. And I know my sheep, and am known by my own. As the Father knows me, even so I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock and one shepherd. Therefore my Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down. I have power to take it again. This command I have received from my Father. Now turning to our Old Testament reading, which will also be our text in time of preaching, Psalm 23. Psalm 23, the Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will 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 runs over. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. As the grass withers, the flower fades, the word of our God shall stand forever. Before we turn to this passage, let us approach the Lord our God in prayer. O God, we pray Confessing that it is not by might, nor by power, but by Your Holy Spirit. And we do ask that You would cause Your Word to run and be glorified. That You would help us, O God, to feed upon Jesus in this text. For He is our Shepherd. But He is also the rich pasture land upon which we are nourished. Nourish us by Jesus, through Jesus, and for Jesus. In whose name we pray, amen. When I was in college, I was part of a nursing home ministry. If you've ever been involved in a ministry like that, honestly, it can be rather discouraging at times. You go and people's bodies are breaking down. Their minds are fading, their memories are almost gone, and you read with them, and you talk with them, and sometimes they can't remember your name, what they had for breakfast, their spouse's name, or maybe even their own identity. It can sometimes be rather discouraging. But one Sunday, during this ministry, something remarkable happened. A friend of mine got up to read the passage of Scripture that day, And when he did, usually when this would happen, people would take their walkers and leave the room or get their wheelchairs and have someone escort them out because the singing was over. Or often they would sit back and begin to fall asleep or their eyes would start to glaze over. But this day was different. This day, something electrifying happened. My friend began to read Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. In that moment, every single person in that nursing home room, unprompted, without equivocation, without hesitation, broke out reciting Psalm 23 word for word from the opening verse through the sixth. My friend was reading from the ESV, but they knew it in the King James. They had memorized it when they were young children, probably in that translation. They just sort of took over the whole service. And they dominated it. They knew it. Their bodies were breaking down. Their minds were beginning to fail. But they remembered Psalm 23. Why is it that when you can't remember, your spouse's name, when you can't even remember your own name, why could you still remember, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. Why is it that when all the lights in your world have started to go out, why is it that this light was still on like an ember smoldering in the consciousness? The Lord. Well, we could ask the question, why did George W. Bush refer to this psalm in his 9-11 address? Why is it that when you're in trouble, or you've done something wrong, that you often turn to this passage? One of your kids wakes up in the middle of the night, he's had a nightmare, he can't sleep. Maybe you'll sing a setting of the psalm, or recite it to him, or pray it with him. Why? on hospital beds, death beds, funerals. Psalm 23. Is it maybe nostalgia? Maybe it's sentimentalism? This is just chicken noodle soup for the soul? No. Something much more profound is at work in this text because In perhaps a unique way, Psalm 23 directs us to the Lord Himself as the source of all our confidence, all of our joy, all of our comfort in this life and that which is to come. Psalm 23, in a very personal way, shows us something of the Lord's goodness, something of His greatness, and God's people have been nourished by it throughout the centuries. As we turn to this psalm, we need to keep it in the flow of the Psalter. All the way back in Psalm 2, you have this emphasis on, on the one hand, the kingship of Yahweh, and then the kingship of David and David's sons. In Psalms 20 through 24, which hymn in Psalm 23, they're all about kingship. And more specifically, in Psalm 22, the immediately preceding psalm, we have a very extensive discussion of David's reign, his experience as king. If you look closely at verse 1 and 2, you hear these words. Psalm 22. My God. My God. Why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me? And from the words of my groaning, oh my God, I cry in the daytime, but you do not hear in the night season and am not silent. The flow of the Psalms, this is the immediately preceding Psalm, and then you get to Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. The psalmist has moved from doubt and despair and God has brought him out of that. He's delivered him to the point where now he can confess Psalm 23 as his own personal confession of faith. Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ, this evening, are you tired? Are you hungry? Are you thirsty like you've been wandering through the wilderness? Are you struggling with sin? Are you afraid of something or someone? You feel like you're surrounded by enemies. Or maybe you just feel alone. You feel lonely. You feel empty, like you're whistling in the dark. Well, if one or all of these apply to you, hear the blessed message of Psalm 23. Trust in the Lord. Your Good Shepherd and Great King. Put your faith, put your trust in the Lord. Your Good Shepherd and Great King. Make this psalm your personal confession of faith. Well, by God's grace this evening, we're gonna look at three ways that God shows himself to be your shepherd king. Three reasons that you must trust him and him alone. First, in verses one and two, we'll see that he provides for all your needs. Second, in verses three and four, we'll see that he delivers you from all evil. And finally, in verses 5 and 6, we will see that He satisfies all your desires. The Lord provides, delivers, satisfies. Trust Him. Let's look at the first reason. He provides for all your needs. The Lord provides for all your needs. And we see this in general in verse 1. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. There's a sense in which verse 1 is really the whole psalm in miniature. It's a distillation of the entire passage. And look at what it begins with. What's the first word? The Lord. It's God's proper name, God's memorial name, Jehovah, Yahweh, the covenant Lord, the one who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy. I am who I am. But it's also the covenantal God who condescends and draws near to him who is humble, to him who is contrite. What does David pair with this name of God? With utter boldness and audacity, David says, the Lord's my shepherd. The Lord, the King, the covenant God, my shepherd. The term shepherd, if you go in the ancient Near East, it's often applied to kings. It's an image of leading a people, leading a flock with toughness, with tenderness, with firmness, with kindness. But David doesn't just say the Lord the shepherd, but he says the Lord my shepherd. Opalma Robertson calls this psalm an I psalm. That's a fitting description because if you look at this passage, there are 17 first person pronouns. Let's count them up. He says my, I. Me, me, my, me, I, I, me, me, my, my, me, my, I. 17 times, David refers to himself. At least for me, you might think, is David stuck on himself? Is he obsessed with his own identity? No. This is about David personally appropriating the benefits of God's covenant. This is about David making God his own. David saying, this is my Lord, my God, personal confession of faith. We often jump to apply this psalm directly to ourselves. We need to remember that originally this psalm was spoken and written by David. He spoke as the king of Israel on behalf of the people. And this is instructive. As Ian Hamilton likes to put it, David remembered that before he was a shepherd, he was a sheep. Before he could feed God's people, he had to be fed by the Lord. Before he could nourish others, he had to be nourished. And if you're a parent, or you're a teacher, or you're in ministry, or you're in leadership, or you're just trying to minister to somebody else in your life, never forget that you minister out of your own walk with the Lord, that you must be a sheep before you're a shepherd. And that as parents, as we attempt to shepherd our child's hearts, we must do so with that beautiful combination that the Lord provides of toughness and tenderness as a shepherd. The implication that David draws here, the Lord is my shepherd, is this, I shall not want. I shall not want, I shall not lack, I will have need of nothing. Why? Because the Lord as a good shepherd provides for all your needs. According as His divine power has granted to us everything we need for life, and godliness, spiritual and physical, eternal and temperable. Everything we need, God has provided. Now what does this look like in particular? Well, David unpacks this shepherding imagery in verse two where he says, he makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. This shepherd provides two things in particular. First, he provides refreshment. Refreshments. He provides food, abundant grass for the sheep to eat. He provides drink, cold waters in a dry and thirsty land. He refreshes his people. He provides a second thing. He provides rest. Not just refreshment, but rest. Sabbath. If we read verse 2, literally, it would go something like this. In pastures of grass, He causes me to lie down. He causes me to lie down. Have you ever been so tired, so weary, that you dragged yourself home and you just fell into bed? You're out like a light. Well, God graciously causes us to lie down and sleep. To rest. You literally read something like this, beside waters of rest, waters of rest, He carefully, gently leads me. Waters, not simply that are still, but waters of rest, waters of Sabbath, He gently and carefully leads us. This word for lead is a word used in Isaiah 40. where it says in Isaiah 40 verse 11, he will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom and gently lead those who are with young. The imagery of a shepherd reminds me of when I'm with my children. Maybe we go to the zoo and the children are getting tired. They're getting weary and you lead them gently by the hand until they can't walk anymore. Then you pick them up Grab them into your bosom, hold them to your arms. When you get home that day, you lay them gently into bed. That's the image of our God, a good shepherd who gently leads us, who causes us to lie down. The Lord provides for all your needs. He provides refreshment. He provides rest. The Lord is my shepherd. Well, this language has a history to it. It's not simply found in Psalm 23. If you go all the way back to the beginning of the Bible, the book of Genesis, we have Jacob, who tended flocks in the fields of his father. And Jacob, as you remember, was a manipulator. He was a trickster. He was a wrestler. He was constantly grasping after everything. By the end of his life, as he limped after wrestling with God, he said in Genesis 48, the God who has shepherded me all my lifelong to this day." At the end of Jacob's life, he could say, the Lord is my shepherd. I don't grasp for things anymore. I shall not want. Think of Moses, who also was a shepherd in the land of Midian. And through him, the Lord shepherded his people, Israel, through the wilderness and gave them bread from heaven and water from the rock. Gave them refreshment. He gave them rest. He gave them Sabbath so that Moses and the whole children of Israel could say, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. You think of David himself. The King of Israel, through whom the Lord shepherded His people in a land flowing with milk and honey. David, despite all of his trials and trauma, could say, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. But we look past all of these figures and we see none other than the true Israel. The new Moses. The son of David. Jesus Christ, who is the good shepherd. but also one who depended upon his Father and the power of the Spirit every day of his life, who had no place to lay his head, Jesus could say, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. So congregation, pray and sing this psalm through Jesus Christ. Because the Lord was his shepherd, he is your shepherd in union with Jesus. Are you hungry and are you thirsty? The Lord provides refreshment. Yes, for your body, and so you should pray, Lord, give us this day our daily bread. But even more than that, he provides food and drink for your soul. Attend to the means of grace, to the word, to the prayers of the saints, to the sacraments, to the fellowship of God's people. And in all these things, the Lord will provide for your spiritual nourishment and growth in grace. Are you tired? Are you weary? One of the ways that the Lord has provided for us, He's given us, yes, rest every day in Jesus, but especially on the Lord's day, a whole day of consecrated, taking away time from our normal employments and recreations and worshiping the Lord, delighting in Him. Sabbath was not made in such a way that would be a burden. You were not made for the Sabbath. The Sabbath was made for you. And through this, confess your faith with confidence. I shall not want because the Lord provides for all my needs. What is the second thing the Lord does? and that is that he delivers you from all evil. He delivers you from all evil. In scripture, the word evil is used broadly. Sometimes it's used of natural evil, and sometimes it's used of moral evil. It's used of things like earthquakes, natural evil, and murder, moral evil. And the reason the Bible does this is because both of these categories of things flow from the fall. The fall brought mankind into an estate of sin and misery. And the remarkable thing is that God delivers you from both. First, He delivers you from sin. And we see this spelled out in verse three. He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. Negatively, He delivers you from sin by restoring your soul. This speaks principally of moral correction. Literally, He brings back my soul. You have the idea that David at some point has strayed. He's gone down a wrong path. He's gotten off the road. And God has brought him back. He's restored him. All we like sheep have gone astray, but the good shepherd with his shepherd's crook brings us back. Perhaps you know what that's like. Maybe you know what it's like right now because you are resisting the grace of God. and you've gone astray, and you've had privileges, and you've spurned them, and you're living in unrepentant disobedience. In the hand of the Lord's chastening is upon you, and if that's the case, dear brother, dear sister, do not continue to kick against the pricks. Repent, repent and seek the Lord's. He wants to graciously bring you back. The psalmist puts this positively as well. He says, he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his namesake. Here it's a different word for lead. It's not that word for gently guiding by the hand, but this time it's firm guidance. Leads. Leads me in the paths of righteousness. This word for paths is sometimes used of the ruts of a wagon wheel in the earth. Tracks, paths of righteousness. It has the idea that God's righteous character, like a set of tracks, is embedded in the structure of the universe, like a highway of holiness, like a road of righteousness, and God leads us on that path. That's instructive, that when you go your own way, it's like trying to drive a train without tracks, like trying to drive a car without a road, like trying to steer a ship without water. It doesn't work. God, in His grace, leads us on the right way. And He does this for His own namesake. He desires to sanctify you in order to bring glory to His own name. Child of God, you are not alone in your struggle with sin. The Lord delivers you from sin. He brings you back from the wrong way, and he sets you on a path of righteousness. And so pray the prayer of the psalmist, lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness. Because of my enemies, make your way straight before me. Because let me tell you that the way of the transgressor is hard. But in the way of righteousness is life, and in the pathway thereof, there is no death. The Lord not only delivers you from sin, he delivers you from all evil, and that even includes the miseries of this life. Look at verse four. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For you are with me, your rod and your staff, they comfort me." Brother and sister, people of God, sometimes the paths of righteousness lead through the valley of the shadow of death. Sometimes The paths of righteousness lead through the valley of the shadow of death. Where by God's grace, you're doing the right thing. You're obeying God's word imperfectly but sincerely. You're trying to raise your family in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. You're working hard at your job, and you're doing everything within your power to walk along that right road. And you think that everything is going to be good. And God's gonna pour out blessings upon your head, and you'll experience something, the light of his countenance. And it's at that point, walking on the right road, that it goes straight through the valley of the shadow of death. It could be translated, when, even when I walk. Christian life is not immune from suffering. Christian life is not immune from sadness. The valley, what we could call literally the valley of death darkness, a valley that is so deep that it feels like death. Maybe it's a doctor's diagnosis. Maybe it's a nasty email. Maybe it's a broken relationship. Maybe it's bad news about your work. Maybe it's a broken friendship, a wayward child, a fear of something or someone. Whatever it is, I think we all know at some point what it's like to go through deep waters, a valley of death, darkness. And yet, What is the psalmist's response? How does he respond to this travail through darkness so deep it feels like death? He says, I will fear no evil. He responds with this almost audacious confession of faith. I will fear no evil. He's fearless. He's like what I've heard of Stonewall Jackson, riding on horseback, erect, bullets going this way and that. Utterly fearless. How can he do this? How can he respond to the valley this way? Look at the language of verse 4. Is it because the Lord takes the evil away? Is it because He takes him out of the valley? No. I will fear no evil, for you are with me, your rod and your staff, they comfort me. That word for, it's like a fulcrum that leverages fearlessness. It lays a firm foundation for faith, for you are with me. And there's a shift here. The psalmist has been using nothing but the third person. He says, the Lord. He makes. He leads. He restores. He leads. His name. But in the valley of the shadow of death, David shifts to the second person. For you are with me. And is it not true that when you're going through the deepest and darkest trials, the Lord makes Himself known to us oftentimes in a special way? When we don't just speak of Him in the third person, He does that. He's a great God. But you say, Lord, You are with me. And You've shown it to me in the deepest of trials and darkest of valleys. You are with me. Your rod and Your staff, this imagery, A rod is that weapon that a shepherd would have used to club animals. David himself used a rod to destroy, to kill the lion and the bear, protecting the sheep. The staff was used to control the flock. And if you think about it, these weapons of a shepherd, the rod and the staff, if you don't believe in Jesus, His rod of righteousness, his scepter of righteousness, his rod of iron, these things would crush you. They would be absolutely terrifying. But in Christ, the rod and the staff are emblems of comfort because he fights for you. He uses them to protect you. Sometimes the Lord doesn't take away the evil, but here's the comfort, that in the valley of the shadow of death, God walks with you. He promises to be with you and to take you all the way home. Well, as we think about even our Lord Jesus Christ, do you realize that he walked through the valley of the shadow of death. And he prayed, Father, if it's your will, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. And he was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. And on the cross, what did Jesus pray? In the hour of His distress, when He was truly walking through the valley of death, darkness, He prayed the words of Psalm 22, the immediately preceding psalm, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? I'm in the valley. Why are You so far from helping Me? And from the words of my groaning, O my God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear, and in the night season, and am not silent. Child of God, do You realize Jesus understands what it's like to go through the valley. He's been there. He's been there. He walked that road for you. And here's the joy. Is it because Jesus prayed the prayer of Psalm 22? Because He said, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? That enables you to embrace by faith the promise That He will never leave you, nor forsake you. That lo, He is with you always, even to the end of the age. Because Jesus prayed Psalm 22, it enables you to pray Psalm 23. I will fear no evil, for you are with me. You are with me. Jesus will walk with you through the trial. He delivers you from all There's a third thing that the Lord does. He doesn't just provide for all your needs, giving you refreshment, giving you rest for body and soul. He doesn't just deliver you from all evil, your sin and your misery, going with you through the valley. Finally, the Lord satisfies all your desires. The Lord satisfies all your desires. Although he's still using the second person you, there's another shift in the psalm when we get to verse five. Here the imagery shifts from that of a shepherd tending a flock to that of a king setting forth a royal banquet table, a feast. He's truly a good shepherd and a great king. Notice this shift in verse five. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over. Like an ancient Near Eastern host, the Lord sets a table with rich food and drink and it's overflowing. It's so sumptuous. It's so rich. And he does so in the presence of David's enemies. This is an echo back to the previous verse where David In the valley of darkness, they're surrounded by enemies, but here, the Lord prepares a table in the presence of David's enemies. It's a sign of favor, of victory, of vindication. He was hungry and thirsty in the valley, but now David feasts at the king's table. He goes on, you anoint my head with oil. Literally, you've made fat with oil. It's an idea of refreshments. In this time period, they would have taken perfumes and mixed them with olive oil and then put them upon the head. Refreshing, associated with joy, with the Holy Spirit, the oil of gladness, the joy of the Holy Ghost. In the valley, David almost despaired. But now he has the joy of the Holy Spirit. He's rejoicing in the Lord as the Lord pours oil on his head. Then he says, my cup. Runs over. Literally, my cup, saturation. My cup, overflow. My cup, super abundance. In the valley, David, as it were, took the lifeblood of his whole existence in a cup and poured it out on the ground, and now the Lord has refilled it. Not just to the brim, but over the top, overflowing, saturation. The table. The oil, the cup, these images, they take us way beyond meeting our needs. They reach satisfying your deepest desires. This isn't just a common meal. This is a royal banquet. I can't help but think of the words of Jonathan Edwards when he said, persons need not and ought not to set any bounds to their spiritual and gracious appetites. Our hungerings and thirstings after God and Jesus Christ and after holiness can't be too great for the value of these things, for they are things of infinite value. There is no such thing as excess in our taking of this spiritual food. There is no such virtue as temperance in spiritual feasting. And are we not reminded of this every time we come to the Lord's Supper? When we come and we realize that this is a sacrament, we're in by sensible signs, Wherein by giving and receiving bread and wine, according to Christ's appointment, his death is showed forth, and the worthy receivers are, not after a corporal and carnal manner, but by faith, made partakers of his body and blood, with all his benefits, to your spiritual nourishment and growth in grace. He spreads a feast, good shepherd, great king. The Lord satisfies all your desires, but what really is? We had to sum it up. What is the chief desire? What is the deepest longing of every human heart? What is it? Well, look at verse six, the final verse. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Literally, indeed, goodness and loyal love shall pursue me all the days of my life. That word follow or pursue is usually used negatively in the Bible, where someone is being pursued, hunted by enemies and persecutors, but here, it's turned on its head, and God's faithfulness, his covenant love, his goodness pursues you, chases you, hunts you, follows you as a bridegroom to his chosen. God says, I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. I will chase after you. I will hunt you down. My goodness, my loyal love will follow you all the days of your life. And what is the token of this favor? What is the final summation of our deepest longings? We have that in David's third confession of faith in the psalm. He's had two already. What did he say earlier? He said, I shall not once. Why? Because God provides for all my needs. And then he said, I will fear no evil. Why? Because the Lord delivers me from all evil. And now he comes to a third one. and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever, for length of days. Because the Lord satisfies all my desires. And my chief desire is to dwell with God in the house of God, on the mountain of God, forever and ever. What I want is union and communion with Jesus Christ in grace and glory. I want communion with God the Father in love, and with Jesus Christ in grace, and with the Holy Spirit in comfort. I want to meet with God. I want friendship with the Lord. I want to worship God. And that's why in the Psalter, what's David say? How lovely is your tabernacle, O Lord of hosts. My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. A day in your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. David says in Psalm 27, one thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek. that I may dwell in the house of the Lord. There is none else that I desire. The Lord is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Well, do you feel alone? Do you feel isolated? Do you feel unfulfilled? Well, Jesus says, behold, I stand at the door and knock. We were made to worship the Lord. We were made to glorify Him and to enjoy Him forever. Seek the Lord. Seek communion with God. Make this the pulse beat of your affections, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. At the beginning of this message, I mentioned that in that nursing home, when this psalm was read, became evident that when everything else failed, and when every light had gone out, this light was still on, that they still remembered this psalm. And so with that in mind, I think we see now maybe why that might be the case. When you're hungry, and when you're thirsty, and when you're tired, and when you're struggling with sin, and when you're surrounded by enemies, and when you just feel alone, Unfulfilled. All by yourself. This is the resounding cry of the psalmist. Trust in the Lord. Your Good Shepherd and Great King. Trust in the Lord. Your Good Shepherd and Your Great King because He provides for all your needs. He delivers you from all evil. And He satisfies all your desires. He satisfies you with His goodness. He satisfies you with Himself. in the person of his son. As your shepherd king, he makes to lie down, he carefully leads, he restores, he leads, he's with you, he comforts, he prepares, he anoints, he follows forever. So my challenge to you this day, to make this psalm your personal confession of faith so that you, with uplifted faces, with joy, and with confidence, can say, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want, I will fear no evil, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Trust him. Let's pray. Oh Father, we come to you through your Son, the Lord Jesus, who is the good shepherd of the sheep. And Lord, we stand in awe that you would strike the shepherd with a sword, that the sheep would be scattered, that he would lay down his life for us and take it up again in victory and in triumph. Lord, help us to make this psalm our own and to confess it by faith in Jesus all the days of our lives. We pray this in his name, amen. If you would please rise, we have the opportunity to respond to Psalm 23 with our own confession of faith in song. We'll be singing Trinity Hymnal number 642, Be Thou My Vision. ♪ Shall be all else to me, save that Thou art ♪ ♪ Thou my best thought, my day or my night ♪ ♪ Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light ♪ Be Thou my wisdom and Thou my true word, I am worthy and Thou with me Lord, Thou my great Father, I Thy true son. Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one. Be Thou there. Be Thou my dignity, Thou my delight, Thou my soul's shelter, Thou my high tower. Raise Thou me heavenward, O God of my heart. Riches I deny, your hands empty praise, Thou mine inheritance now and always. Thou and Thou only, worship my heart, Thine King of Heaven, my treasure Thou art. I lead the prayer, my victory won. May I reach heaven's joys, O bright and sun. Hard of my old world, whatever befall. Still be my vision, O ruler of all.