THE GOOD, GOOD SHEPHERD
Part 3
“Your Table Is Ready!”
Psalms 23:1-6 “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. 3 He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. 4 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. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
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Once again, the 23rd Psalm is not a psalm to die by, it’s a psalm to live by.
So far in this series we’ve seen that every one of the six verses builds on the next one—to lay out for us a beautiful picture of our journey with the Great Shepherd—the Lord Jesus!
In verse 1 He’s our Provider—“I shall not want” (I have all I need).
In verse 2 He’s our Restorer—“He restores my soul.”
In verse 3 He’s our Guide—“He leads me in righteous paths.”
In verse 4 He’s our Shepherd in the dark valleys of life—“Your rod and your staff comfort me.”
And now this time in verses 5-6 we’re going to see that He is our Host!
Vs 5 “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;”
In this verse, the imagery changes from the LORD as a shepherd to the Lord as a HOST.
God (like the Host of a feast) welcomes His guest (David, and by default all of us) to a feast already prepared and spread out for him on the table.
I believe this verse deals with both here and now and hereafter.
The Scriptures promise that one day we will enjoy an incredible banquet at “the marriage supper of the Lamb!”
As it was for David it is for all believers who accept the invitation to dine at “the marriage supper of the Lamb” by turning to Christ as Savior!
Listen to these next passages:
“Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!”—Rev. 19:9
Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son…”—Matt 22:2
“And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut…”—Matt. 25:10
—So without a doubt the Bible promises there will one day be an indescribable feast where Jesus Himself will be the Host!
“It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them.”—Luke 12:37
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But this verse is also a description of the here and now!
When we go through a troublesome valley we find on the other side of that valley a TABLE set.
In fact, when we’re walking through the middle of the valley the Lord is on the other side setting a table for us!
Vs. 5 “You prepare a table…”
Now in David’s day with real shepherds of real sheep there were what is called “tablelands.”
Tablelands are the relatively flat, green plateaus to which the shepherd would lead his flock for summer grazing.
Early in the season he would make the difficult journey to the tableland and inspect it with great care, making sure all was well before leading his sheep there.
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So David’s use of the word “table” likely had this in mind.
Now David mentions three things the shepherd is preparing for the valley-weary sheep.
First, there is:
I. A TABLE
When we say “table” we think of food, feast, and celebration!
Like a Thanksgiving table filled with the best of foods!
While all your Thanksgiving guests are traveling your way, you are preparing the turkey, gravy, dressing, bread, cranberry, and everything else for the table.
Likewise, all the while we’re walking through that dark valley, God is preparing a table on the other side!
This is the way God works!
—“We went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance.”—Ps. 66:12
—“Indeed the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.”—Job 42:10
—“Weeping may go on all night, but joy comes in the morning.”—Ps 30:5
God has a way of wiping our tears away by presenting a table of blessing on the other side of the valley!
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And then once we’re seated at the table:
II. OIL
“You anoint my head with oil…”
Oil in the Bible represents gladness, joy, and the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
At feasts in Bible times, the heads of the distinguished guests were anointed with perfumed oil.
We read about the woman in the gospel story that poured the box of precious ointment upon the head of our Lord as a good example.
This was a custom which the host who had invited Him had shamefully neglected.
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At the Lord’s table prepared for “valley-weary,” the sheep of the Lord’s pasture become oil-anointed guests!
On the other side of a taxing, wearying valley God greets us with an anointing of freshly applied oil!
Ps 92:10 AMP “I am anointed with fresh oil [for Your service].”
So the anointing of oil points to a fresh outpouring of strength, fire, zeal, and refreshing!
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And finally at the table there was:
III. A CUP
David says that his cup is “running over” which means abundance!
It shows us that God doesn’t just give us what we need, but he gives us more!
The cup isn’t half full, or 3/4 full, or even just full.
It’s OVERFLOWING, where God gave “exceedingly, abundantly above all that the sheep could ask for or imagine!”
Eph. 3:20 “Now to Him who is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly more than all that we dare ask or think [infinitely beyond our greatest prayers, hopes, or dreams], according to His power that is at work within us,”
Exceedingly, superabundantly, above and beyond our ability to imagine!
John 4:14 “Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst—not ever. The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life.”
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And here’s the good part:
All this takes place while my enemies must stand by and watch!
“IN THE PRESENCE OF MY ENEMIES!”
God is providing for what we need not by removing our enemies, but by blessing us in their midst!
It’s as if you are enjoying a meal after a long day surrounded by people and things that want to harm you but can’t.
They are spitefully looking on, but unable to stop God from blessing you!
You can sit at the table in peace because God is protecting you!
We don’t have to worry about those things because we serve a God who is bigger, stronger, and who is looking out for us.
And David closes out his psalm with a beautiful picture:
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.”
ILLUS: puppies
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And when our life comes to a close, we have the greatest promise of all:
“I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever!”—vs.6
SUMMARY:
Ps 23 tells us plainly that our good, good Shepherd:
PROVIDES for our needs
RESTORES our sin-damaged souls
GUIDES us onto the right road
SHEPHERDS us through the darkest valley
HOSTS us at the table he’s prepared
ANOINTS us with fresh strength and power
SURROUNDS us with goodness and mercy, and
ESCORTS us to our eternal home at the end of our days!