I guess I was going to say it
goes without saying, but it's not going to go without saying.
What a blessing and an honor it is for me and Janet to be
here. This is one of the highlights of my summer, to get to come
and worship with y'all, just this congregation, because this
was the first place that the Lord ever gave me the opportunity
to preach publicly. It holds a very special place
in my heart. This people is very special.
I couldn't even tell you how special your pastor and his wife
is to me. They're just dear, dear friends
and I am honored to be able to be here and worship with you.
Now if you would, open your Bibles to Psalm 23. Now there is, I
don't fear being wrong and making this statement. Psalm 23 is the
most familiar passage of Scripture to everybody, everywhere. People
who don't even own a Bible can quote all or at least parts of
Psalm 23. But let's be very careful not
to let familiarity make us not pay attention and think, well,
I've heard that before, I've seen that before. This Psalm
is a blessed Psalm to God's people. Someone said David wrote many
psalms. He wrote how many psalms did
David write? He wrote one, Psalm 23, just one. And these six verses
have comfort for everyone. Every age, every situation, this
psalm has some comfort, some instruction for us. Now this
Psalm 23 is the psalm of the shepherd. And you'll notice that
the psalm of the shepherd immediately follows the psalm of the cross.
Psalm 22 is the psalm of the cross. The bloody agony of Psalm
22 must come first before the sheep can know the sweet care
of the shepherd in Psalm 23. Christ can't be our shepherd
who cares and loves and provides for his sheep until he buys them
with his own blood. There can't be any surely goodness
and mercy will follow me all the days of my life until first
that my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Of Psalm 22. So I want us to look at this
Psalm this evening with this theme. This is the title of the
message. I shall not want. Verse one, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. Now you think
of the condescension of the Lord, the Lord of glory, condescended
to be the shepherd of his sheep. But being the shepherd is not
just something that the Lord does, it's not just an occupation,
a series of things that he does. This is who the Lord is. This is one of the great names
of Jehovah in the Old Testament, Jehovah-Raya. The Lord, my shepherd. This is who the Lord is. And
the reason this psalm is such a great blessing to God's people,
it blessed God's people for generations, is because it so clearly speaks
of Christ the shepherd, of who he is. He's the shepherd of the
sheep. And what a shepherd. Oh, what
a shepherd. Look over at Isaiah chapter 40. You know how Isaiah chapter 40
begins. It begins, comfort ye, comfort
ye my people, saith your God. As he comforts his people, look
at what he says in verse 11. He shall feed his flock like
a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with
his arm and carry them in his bosom and shall gently lead those
that are with young. Our shepherd deeply cares. for
each one of his sheep. He doesn't just care for this
gigantic nameless flock. He cares for each one of his
sheep. So much so, he gathers them with
his strong arm. He carries those lambs. He carries
them in his bosom. How he cares his sheep. Those
that are with young, those that are weak, he doesn't make fun
of them and beat them and harass them for not keeping up and not
being strong. Now he gently leads them. He's
the great shepherd of his sheep. You remember before the Lord
fed the 5,000 with those five loaves and two fishes, that's
that boy's lunch. We read that the Savior was moved
with compassion. The heart of the King, the Lord,
the Savior was moved with compassion for this crowd because he said,
there are sheep not having a shepherd. And then he moved with compassion
and acted as their shepherd and fed him, didn't he? Look at John
chapter 10. Here's our shepherd in action.
John chapter 10, verse three. To him the porter
openeth, and the sheep hear his voice. And he calleth his own
sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth
his own sheep, he goeth before them. And the sheep follow him,
for they know his voice." Our shepherd calls his sheep, he
calls them out. He gives them an ear to hear
his voice, and he leads them out. He leads them. Every step
the sheep take, the shepherd's taking first. He never puts the
sheep out in front of him to protect him. He always goes first. So every step we take, a step
of sorrow, a step of darkness, a step of weariness, a step of
joy, a step of faith, whatever step it is we take, the Savior's
taking it first. Our shepherd's taking, he leads
his sheep. Look at verse 11. He said, I
am the good shepherd and the good shepherd giveth his life
for the sheep. Christ loves his sheep with a
redeeming love, a love that would move him to die as their substitute. He says at the end of verse 15,
I lay down my life for the sheep, not just anybody in general,
but for the sheep, the shepherd. became a lamb. He became one
of his sheep to die as their substitute. The lamb of God,
the sacrifice of God died that his sheep might live. He loves
them with the redeeming love. Verse 14, he said, I'm the good
shepherd and know my sheep and am known of mine. The Lord knows
his sheep in love. And He makes sure His sheep know
Him. He calls them to Him. He reveals Himself to them. He
knows them and they know Him. And Christ our Great Shepherd
never lost one sheep, never won. Verse 16, other sheep I have
which are not of this fold, them also I must bring. And they shall,
not maybe, not they could, not if they're willing, no, they
shall hear my voice. And there shall be one fold and
one shepherd because Christ the great shepherd has never lost
a sheep. And he never will, he's gonna
have them all. Now Christ, David says, is my shepherd, my shepherd. How humbling that is to think
the Lord's my shepherd. He cares for me. He loves me. Mind-boggling, isn't it? It's
so humbling, so glorifying to Him that He could care and love
for someone like me. He's my shepherd. But now, don't
ever mistake this. The Lord is my shepherd. He has
all authority over me. He has a loving, warm, sweet
relationship with his people. But don't you ever forget we
bow to him as king. He's still king. Christ is not
my co-pilot. He's not my good buddy. He's
not my example. Christ is my shepherd. I go where
he tells me to go, when he tells me to go, how he tells me to
go. He has all authority over his
sheep because he owns me as his sheep, and I wouldn't have it
any other way. He owns his sheep, but he owns
his sheep in great love. David knew about being a shepherd,
didn't he? How much time did David spend being the shepherd
for his father, Jesse's flock? He knew about sheep. David knew
that sheep were bought with a great price. Sheep are not wild animals. They belong to somebody. Somebody's
got to take care of a sheep. A sheep can't last out there
on his own. A goat can, but a sheep can't. Sheep are bought with
a great price. Christ had bought his sheep in
Psalm 22. He bought them with a great price
of his precious blood. He redeemed them so that he owns
them. Sheep were a symbol of wealth.
You go into a new town, you want to know who the richest fellow
in town is? Just see who owns the most sheep. That's a symbol
of wealth and power and authority. Well, Christ is the great shepherd. He has a flock no man can number
and he won't let any one of that flock go. He'll not lose one
of them because he loves them. He bought them. His glory depends
on him not losing one. David's gonna tell us in a minute,
you know why the Lord's our shepherd? You know why we shall not want?
You know why the Lord's gonna provide everything we need? Why
he'll never lose one of his sheep? For his namesake. His glory depends
upon it. So he's not gonna lose one of
his sheep. The Lord is my shepherd, so I
shall not want. The Lord Jehovah is my shepherd. So I won't want for anything. Jehovah-Rehah is Jehovah-Jireh. The Lord will provide. That's
my shepherd. He'll provide everything we need.
Now you know this is true. Physically this is true. The
Lord is going to provide everything we need. The Lord feeds the ravens. Now, He doesn't just say, you
know, He feeds doves, or He feeds robins, or He feeds eagles, you
know, the pretty birds, birds that are majestic. The raven,
the hated raven, the Lord feeds the ravens. You reckon He's going
to feed me and you? I think He will. The Lord clothes
the lilies of the field. Consider the lilies. You reckon
he's going to clothe us? I think he will. I won't have
everything I wish for. Dave's not saying this. He's
not preaching this health and wealth and religion. I won't
have everything I wish for. But if the Lord's my shepherd,
I won't be in want. If I'm wishing for something
I don't have, it must be because I don't need it. Is that right?
If I needed it, he'd provide it. That's true, isn't it? That's
true physically. But this is doubly true spiritually.
If the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want for any good, for any
spiritual good. And it's because of who my shepherd
is. Verse two, he maketh me to lie
down in green pastures. If Christ is my shepherd, I shall
not want for any spiritual food because my shepherd is the bread
of life. The green pastures, he brings
his people to lay down in, makes them lay down in these green
pastures. It's his word. The sheep feed upon the word
of God. We preach God's word, because
this is how God's sheep are fed. And this word is Christ. Christ
is the incarnate word, and he's the written word too. You can't
separate the incarnate word from the written word. So when God's
sheep come to feed, we feed on Christ. Well, if we're feeding
on the Lord, we've got a feast, don't we? Oh, he gives his sheep
good food, and he leads his people to feed upon his word. Now, how
does the Lord lead his people to feed upon his word? By revealing
himself in his word. That's how he opens the word
to our understanding, just like he did to his disciples. Remember,
after our Lord arose and he appeared to his disciples, He taught them
all those things in the Old Testament and the law and the Psalms and
the prophets were all concerning him. Then opened he their understanding
that they might understand the word. They could quote Psalm
23. I'm confident those disciples
could quote Psalm 23. Since they were little fellas,
they could quote Psalm 23. But now they understood it because
they saw it's Christ. That's how he opens our understanding. And the sheep love nothing better
than to come into the green pastures of God's word and just feed to
our heart's content. My brother reminds me ever so
often. He said, sheep aren't real smart.
Sheep aren't armed for battle. They're not warriors. They're
sheep, they're grass eaters. And what the sheep need is to
come to the house of the Lord and just roll around in the green
pastures and just feed. That's what the sheep love. We
love nothing better than to graze to our heart's content upon the
word of God. You just turn to any page in
this book and you feast on it, you're not gonna find one thorn
there. It's all sweet grass because Christ is, our shepherd is the
bread of life. Then if Christ is my shepherd,
I shall not want for the water of life. The rest of verse two,
he leadeth me besides still waters. Christ leads his people to him
to drink. He is the water of life. If any
man thirst, are you thirsty? The question is not do you know
the chemical makeup of water. The question is not do you have
a glass that you can use to drink the water. This is the question.
Are you thirsty? Do you not have inside you what
you need? That's when we thirst. We thirst
when there's a sense we don't have enough water in us. Are
you thirsty? You don't have any righteousness.
You don't have any holiness. You don't have any peace. Are
you thirsty? The shepherd says, come unto
me and drink. Come drink. If thou knewest the
gift of God and who it is that saith unto thee, give me to drink,
you would have asked of him and he would have given thee living
water. Well, how does the Lord give us living water? How is
it that we can drink this living water? It's by faith, by faith
in Christ. He that believeth on me, as the
scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water. It's by faith we have this water.
If we have faith in Christ, we'll never thirst, because he's a
well of water springing up in us. And listen, these are not
hard waters to drink. You don't have to be an intellectual
to come drink this water of life. You don't have to be smart to
come drink the water of life. I get reminded of this every
so often too by my dear wife. She says, you know, preachers,
this is humiliating to preachers. God forbid we ever do this. She
said, preachers can make this so difficult. I'm not smart enough
to be saved." Now, that's not the gospel. There's something
wrong with preaching like that. These are not hard waters to
drink. David says they're still waters. That phrase, still waters,
means waters of quietness. These are deep, cold, smooth-flowing
water. They're not rushing waters that
make a bunch of noise and go over top of the rocks and stuff.
You know, it's very shallow water going over top of rocks makes
a bunch of noise. We don't need to make a bunch of noise in preaching.
These are deep, cold, still, smooth flowing waters. They're
not gonna frighten the lamb, but let the lamb come and drink
all he wants. If you're thirsty, come drink
all you want. If Christ is your shepherd, you'll
never want for the water of life. Then if Christ is my shepherd,
I shall not want for life. because my shepherd is Jehovah
Rapha, the Lord who healeth thee. Verse three, he restoreth my
soul. Now by his sin, Adam plunged
his entire race into spiritual death. Adam caused his race,
everyone he represented, all human race, he caused them to
lose righteousness. He caused them to lose fellowship
with God. So Christ came to restore to
his race everything we lost in Adam, except better, except better. What we have in Christ, we can
never lose. What we had in Adam, we could
lose, couldn't we? What we have in Christ, we can never lose,
because it all depends upon the shepherd, not us. By his obedience,
the Lord Jesus Christ undid everything Adam did by his disobedience.
Christ restores the soul of His people by giving them life. But it's a whole lot better than
giving us a birthday present and we open it up and inside
the box there's life. Christ gives His people life
by being their life. Christ is our life. If you have Him, you have life. Christ restores fellowship with
God. Not by just giving us a way to
God, but by being the way to God. We're accepted in the beloved. And Christ daily restores and
strengthens the souls of his people while we're on this journey
here below. And we need that, don't we? I
had a dear friend. Yesterday evening came to the
surface, and my friend's in it deep. He's in it deep. His father
is dying. It's ugly. It's going to be bad.
He's broken hearted. He's worried about his mother.
He's just, it's not good. You know, he left the service
last night with at least a little smile on his face. He said, I
was fed. I'm ready to go back out now. His soul was strengthened. His
soul was restored by feeding on the Lord Jesus Christ. When
we're weary, he restores the soul of his people by fellowshipping
with our heart, giving us the strength and the courage to go
on. When you think I can't take another step, he restores the
soul of his people by strengthening us with his strength. When we
sorrow and we think, I'm never gonna see another day where I
can smile. I'm never gonna see one more
day of sunshine and happiness. He restores the soul of his people
by giving us the joy of his salvation. I shall not want, he restoreth
my soul. Then if Christ is my shepherd,
I shall not want for righteousness, because my shepherd is Jehovah
Sidkenu, the Lord, my righteousness. Now let's be sure not to pass
over this quickly. This is important. Without holiness,
no man shall see the Lord. First three, he leadeth me in
paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Christ our shepherd
does more than lead us in paths of righteousness. Don't think
that somehow the Lord puts us now on the right path and somehow
we can do something righteous. That's not what David means here.
Christ is the path. Christ is the way. He is our
righteousness. And he makes his sheep righteous
in him. Christ came as a man. The Lord
of glory, the Prince of glory, the glory of heaven became a
man. And as a man, he obeyed the law
for his people. And his people are righteous.
Not like they're righteous, they're righteous through union with
Christ. His obedience is our obedience.
What he did, we did in him. If we're in Christ, we are what
he is. Our shepherd makes his people
righteous, as righteous as the Lamb of God himself. He is our
righteousness, so we're righteous in him. The end of the Lord is
my shepherd. I shall not want for companionship.
There'll be times we'll be alone. but we don't have to fear it.
We don't have to fear being alone, because my shepherd is Jehovah
Shammah. The Lord is present. He's there.
Verse four. 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. I'll fear no evil. I'll fear
no evil. David, why not? Because the Lord's
there. Because the Lord's with me. Now
you'll notice David didn't say there won't be any evil. No,
there are gonna be plenty evil. There are plenty of evil in me. There are plenty of evil all
around me. But I don't have to fear that evil as long as my
shepherd is there with me. And he always is. He's always
present. A child of God listened to me.
Listen, if you don't need this at this second, we'll need it
soon. No matter where you go, No matter
where you are right now or where you're going to go in the future,
wherever it is you go in the future is where the shepherd
leads. You're following him, right? No matter where it is you go
in the future, our God will be there with you. Brother Chapman
said one time, everywhere there's a where, God's there. Everywhere
there's a where. So when you go to the mountaintop
of joy, and don't we love those times? of great spiritual blessing. There's times you're afraid to
miss a single service because the Lord blesses so richly. Oh,
on that mountaintop, you've got every reason to give thanks,
don't you? The Lord's there with you. That's why you have that
time of joy and happiness. But when you go into the hour
of darkness and doubt and fear, you feel loneliness, you suffer
heartbreak, you suffer sickness and pain, The Lord's there. He's just as much there with
you there as He was with you on the mountaintop. He's there.
He's there with His people. So we'll hurt, but we don't have
to fear because the Lord is with us. Let me give you a couple
examples. A little girl, picture a little
girl. This time of year, it's hot outside. She's a little thing,
two, three years old. She's wearing her little shorts
or sun skirt or something, you know, and she's out playing.
And oh my goodness, she trips over them sandals. You know,
they always trip over the soles of them sandals. Down she goes,
skins her knee. Oh, you think we're going to
have to get a surgical team. She's just crying and carrying on. She's
going to have to wear a Band-Aid for a month, you know. And her
mama comes and says, it's all right. Mama's here." And you
know those tears start to dry up pretty quick because Mama's
here. Wherever it is we go, our Lord
is there. Then think of a little boy. I
remember being a little boy before we moved to Ashland, we lived
in Danville, and I would walk to and from school there. And
we were there recently and I showed my brother and his wife where
I used to walk to school. You know what I remembered? I
did that walk to and from school in utter fear, just fear. I was afraid of dogs coming out
and biting me. And there was one particular
bully I was scared to death of. I'm just going home from school
just utterly afraid. He was there waiting on me. But
you know when I wouldn't have been afraid? There are times
I went down the street completely unafraid. You know why? I was
taking a walk with my dad. Well, little boys know this.
My daddy can take care of anything. So if I'm with him, I don't fear
nothing if my daddy's there. Now, truth be told, there are
problems human daddies can't handle. But our shepherd is our
heavenly father. He'll take care of any problem.
There's nothing too hard for God. He takes care of every evil. That evil within, Christ cleanses
it from his people with his own precious blood. He keeps his
people safe from the evil around us, safe from the evil one. He
protects his sheep, even from the evil that we call death.
Now, for a believer, we should never, ever call death evil,
should we? Never. For a believer, that's
the happiest day of our life, the day we leave this body of
corruption and sin and decay and rebellion and go be with
the Lord. But we live in a world where
death is all around us. We're driving down here today,
we're driving past a cemetery, and I saw them putting up that
tent. They're gonna get ready to have a funeral. And I thought,
there's a poor family, going to be there broken hearted. We
live in a world where death is all around us. We live under
the shadow of this great mountain of death. We know someday we've
got to cross that mountain. And there's fear, for lack of
a better word, because it's unknown. I've never done that before,
so I don't know what it's like. I think of someone living at
the foot of that rocky mountain. I mean that rocky mountain just
goes up. And someone living there lives
in the shadow of that thing. They see it every day. They're
living in the shadow of it. And they know someday I've got
to cross that. It's not today, but someday. I don't know how
I'm going to do it. I don't know what that's like.
That's living in the shadow of this great mountain of death.
But David says, we don't have to fear that. It's just a shadow. Christ our shepherd has already
taken the substance of death out of the way. He took the sting
of death out of the way. So there's nothing to fear. One
writer said this, death is the front porch to the house of eternal
joy. We love our front porch, don't
we? We sit out there and entertain folks and sit out there. Nobody's
fear our front porch. That's all death is. It's the
front porch to the house of eternal joy. Here's another reason not
to fear the shadow. If there's a shadow, by definition,
light has to be nearby. You don't see a shadow in the
dark of midnight, do you? If we see a shadow, if we see
this shadow of death, Christ our light is nearby. Then we've
got nothing to fear. See, we speak of the time of
trouble and trial and affliction as the valley, and it is. That's
a good way to phrase it. But you picture there are two
great mountains right next to each other and between them there's
a valley. Get that picture in your head. You know where the water is?
You know where all the lush grass is? Down there in the valley. It's not up there on the top
of the mountain. All that water's run down to
the bottom. That's where the lush green grass is. So it must
be good for us to be in the valley. At least there, we learn the
Lord's with us and he will provide for us. That's where all of his
provision for his people is. And David shows us, he's got
no fear of being in the valley. He says, I'm walking through
it. I'm not running through in panic, I'm not scurrying here
and there and everywhere, you know, trying to find a way out.
I'm not in a panic, I'm walking. I'm not running through this
thing as fast as I can to get out of it, because I don't fear
it, because I'm following my shepherd, because my shepherd
is there with me, so I calmly walk, following him. See, this
is what comforts the hearts of God's people. It's the presence
of the Savior himself. The presence of the shepherd
comforts the hearts of his sheep. David says his rod and his staff
comfort me. I don't have to fear if the Lord's
my shepherd because his rod and his staff protect me from every
danger. Danger from within and danger
from without. The shepherd uses his rod to
correct the sheep. He uses that hook to hook them
around the neck and keep them from going off the wrong way.
I'm thankful for that because this is why I promised you I'd
go off the wrong way. But no, he uses that to protect
me from the evil within. And he uses that staff to beat
off the predators when they get too close. That's a comfort to
me. I don't have to worry about those
predators, my shepherd will take care of them. And then that rod
is comforting this way too. The shepherd uses the rod to
number his sheep, to say, this one's mine. As they're putting
them in the sheepfold, he's counting them. This one's mine. This one's
mine. This one's mine. His rod counts
me as one of his. He chose me. He bought me. I belong to him. He's my shepherd. Then what do I have to fear?
Not one blessed thing. Then if the Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want for victory because my shepherd is Jehovah
Nissi, the Lord my banner. Verse five, thou prepares the
table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Now God's people
are drawn to Christ the banner lifted up. The Savior said, and
I, if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all. unto me. I'll draw all my sheep unto me."
God's people fight under the banner of Christ, lifted up.
That's why we always have the victory, because of who our Savior
is. I like to watch good war movies. I've once or twice watched
the Band of Brothers, once or twice. And this is what I've
learned from watching those shows. Soldiers on the front line, when
they're under threat of the enemy, under fire, they're down there
in that foxhole. They never eat at a nice table with nice linen
tablecloth and linen napkins and nice china and good silverware.
They never use that stuff when they're under fire. They just
sit down in that foxhole and eat out of little bags, you know,
rations. That's all they've got time for. The only time one of
those soldiers sits down at one of those fine tables with fine
china and a big meal, big meal like we had tonight, you only
eat that kind of meal when you're at peace. The victory's already
been won. Christ has prepared a full table
for his children. Sometime go read about all the
provision for Solomon's table in one day. Where in the world
they find all those animals and birds and vegetables and all
the stuff they put in? I don't know that we eat that
much food in six months. How did he find all that food? The table God has prepared for
his children, much better provided than Solomon's table because
our shepherd provides the banquet. Christ is the table. He is the
table. We sit down to observe the Lord's
table. Christ is the table. It's his
broken body, his shed blood. What a feast, a feast of salvation,
a feast of redemption. And Christ is the one who prepares
the table. Remember that day the disciples
had gone out fishing. They caught nothing. They're
giving up, coming back in. And there's a man standing over
on the shore. He said, children, have you any
meat? And they said, no, we haven't caught anything. He said, well,
cast your net over there. And they did. And they caught
all these fish, you know. Peter said, it's the Lord. He
dives in. And when they got there and pulled
all those fish up to the shore, the Lord already had a meal prepared,
fish and bread. I bet you that was the best meal
they'd ever tasted. The Lord prepared it himself.
That's this gospel we preach. It's the best meal a believer
ever tasted, because the Lord's prepared it for us. The Lord
is the meal. And this table's a rich table,
a table for honored guests. Look at the rest of verse five.
Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over. Now at this
time, a host, when his guests would come, would anoint their
head with oil to refresh them in the hot, dusty area that they
lived in, anoint their head with oil to refresh them, to make
them feel more comfortable. Well, that's what the Lord does
for His people. He anoints them with oil, the oil of the Holy
Spirit. He refreshes His people with
His Word, with His presence and with His Spirit. And when the
honored guests would arrive, The host would give him a glass
and he'd begin to pour wine in it. He'd pour and pour and pour
until that wine just overflowed. When that was overflowing, he'd
keep pouring until it overflowed and ran everywhere. To show that
guest, you're an honored guest. There's an abundance here and
when you're my guest, when you're under my roof, you'll never want
for anything. That's what Christ does for his
people. That's what our shepherd does for his people. If we have
Him, we have everything, everything. We shall not want for peace,
because Christ is our peace. We shall not want for wisdom,
because Christ is our wisdom. We shall not want for sanctification,
because Christ is our sanctification. We shall not want for redemption,
because Christ is our redemption. We shall not want for comfort,
because He is all of our comfort. If we've got Him, we've got it
all. We've got every blessing God has for a sinner in our shepherd. Now, since all this is true,
see, I told you all of our comfort, all of our joy, every reason
that we shall not want is because of who our shepherd is. Since
this is who our shepherd is, then this must be sure. Verse
six. Surely, goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life. and I will dwell in the
house of the Lord forever. Goodness and mercy are God's
two bodyguards. He's sent to be with his children.
Goodness, to supply our every need. Mercy, to blot out our
sin. And no matter where one of his
children goes, goodness and mercy go with them. That's true in
dark days and in bright days. That's true in days of joy and
days of sorrow. That's true when my heart is
thrilled and when my heart is broken. Goodness and mercy have
not left me, but they're there with me always. In this life,
this life we live in the valley, in the shadow of death, it's
not going to last forever. It's not going to last forever.
Soon, it will be over. And when it is, We're not gonna
be left homeless. David says, I shall, when I leave
this valley, when this walk through the valley is finally over, I
shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. I wish I had some, I know I don't
have the words for it, I wish I had some understanding of the
joy that it will be to be with Christ eternally. I can't describe it because I
can't begin to imagine it. But when we're there, we're gonna
look back and you know what we're gonna see? I really did never want for anything. the Lord always provided. It all depends upon him. None
of it on me. I may be the weakest of sheep,
but I shall not want. I may be the dumbest sheep and
wander away from the shepherd. How dumb do I gotta be? But I
shall not want. If the Lord's my shepherd, I
may grow old and feeble. If the Lord tarries, doesn't
take me in the strength of life, I will grow old and feeble. But I shall not want because
the Lord is my shepherd, because of who he is. I pray that the
Lord will bless that to his glory and our comfort and encouragement.
May the Lord bless you.