Hello. Thank you for joining us today. We’re covering Psalm 23. Let me read that chapter, please. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul, He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His namesake. 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. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

This is a very short chapter, but very well known to many around the world. David, in this psalm, talks about the shepherd. David, by the way, is no stranger to shepherds. He was one as a young boy. In 1 Samuel 16, verse 11, The Bible says, “And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and behold, he keepeth the sheep, that is David.” As king, David was also like a shepherd to the nation of Israel. And here in Psalm 23, we find an older David, not the young shepherd boy, but an older, seasoned shepherd. We hear him mention green pastures as well as valleys of death. He speaks about still waters as well as the presence of enemies.

David, in Psalm 23, is a seasoned man with a life full of experiences in the valleys as well as on the mountaintops. It’s been said that experience is the best teacher. This sentiment was echoed by Laban when he told Jacob, “I have learned by experience that the Lord hath blessed me for thy sake.” And here in Psalm 23, we will look at some of the things that David learned about God. The key verse there is the first verse. It says, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” By way of introduction to this lesson, let me just say that David learned that when we make the Lord our shepherd, the one who leads in our lives, there are some things that we will never run off. What are those things? Well, tune in tomorrow and you’ll find out what those things are.

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Tom Apusen

Tom Apusen, Assistant Pastor

Tom Apusen is an Assistant Pastor at North Valley Baptist Church. He is the pastor of the Filipino Department, and he heads up the missions, security, and transportation ministries.