A S P E C T S - a monthly devotional journal
For subscription information on receiving Aspects every month via
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SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION near the end of this file.
Aspects is written by David S. Lampel.
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Issue #27, February 1993 (Internet Edition)
A G U I D I N G H A N D T H R O U G H
T H E P I T C H O F N I G H T
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In this issue:
Perspective 1 - All We Like Sheep
Perspective 2 - Passage Guaranteed
Perspective 3 - A Shout of Triumph
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The desert can be bathed in a brilliance that overpowers even the
darkest spectacles--unforgiving, inescapable white light that can drive
one fairly mad with its blinding intensity.
The desert can also be a place of abysmal darkness--a place void of its
own light, yet far from the light shared by others. It can contain a
blackness blacker than a shut up room, blacker than the black on the
near side of your eyelids.
Quite a number of years ago, I was in the desert on such a night. As is
its temperament during the hottest summer months, there was no cooling
of the desert after the sun's demise. Instead, on this night the wind
picked up--an unrelenting sirocco that torched everything in its path;
bare metal touched meant singed skin. There was not a sound but the
howling of that hot wind like a lamenting coyote.
There was no light: no moon, no stars--nothing. The world had
disappeared and left in its wake a black, empty void. Fingers held
before the eyes were as invisible as if they were not even there.
In that blackness I stood motionless, sweating and sand-dusted, afraid
to move--afraid to move in any direction--afraid that I might step off
the edge of the universe.
__________________________________
With treachery and deceit, Absalom had stolen the allegiance of the
people of Israel from his father, David.(1) And now David was on the
run. At the moment, his world was as arid and brittle as a desert; his
expectations were as dark and dismal as a black, moonless night. At such
a time, he could find no comfort but the comfort of the Lord:
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.(2)
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Perspective 1: A L L W E L I K E S H E E P
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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.(3)
__________________________________
"No man has a right to consider himself the Lord's sheep unless
his nature has been renewed, for the Scriptural description of
unconverted men does not picture them as sheep, but as wolves
and goats. A sheep is an object of property, not a wild animal;
its owner sets great store by it, and frequently it is bought
with great price."(4)
__________________________________
If nowhere in Scripture is the literal phrase "personal Savior" ever
used, we certainly have, in this Psalm, a perfect likeness of His being.
The Shepherd described in this song is generous...
I shall not want.
supplying everything we will ever want or need. He is thoughtful, and
always thinking of our comfort...
He makes me to lie down in green pastures.
Our shepherd knows how our life needs moments of peace, from which we
may drink from His nourishment until filled...
He leads me beside the still waters.
He is more than just a simple friend, but a supernatural God who has
the power to revive and replace what has been lost...
He restores my soul
He gently guides us down the correct life pathway--
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
--not just because it is the right thing to do--but because it
brings glory to His name
For His name's sake.
__________________________________
"Come down to the river; there is something going forward worth
seeing. Yon shepherd is about to lead his flock across; and as
our Lord says of the good shepherd--you observe that he goes
before, and the sheep follow. Not all in the same manner,
however. Some enter boldly, and come straight across. These are
the loved ones of the flock, who keep hard by the footsteps of
the shepherd, whether sauntering through green meadows by the
still waters, feeding upon the mountains, or resting at noon
beneath the shadow of great rocks. And now others enter, but in
doubt and alarm. Far from their guide, they miss the ford, and
are carried down the river, some more, some less; and yet, one
by one, they all struggle over and make good their landing.
Notice those little lambs. They refuse to enter, and must be
driven into the stream by the shepherd's dog. Poor things! how
they leap, and plunge, and bleat in terror! That weak one
yonder will be swept quite away, and perish in the sea. But no;
the shepherd himself leaps into the stream, lifts it into his
bosom, and bears it trembling to the shore."(6)
Into the Word
-------------
The LORD is my shepherd:
Genesis 49:22-25 ___________________________
Psalm 80:1-2 ___________________________
Isaiah 40:10-11 ___________________________
Ezekiel 34:11-16 ___________________________
Matthew 2:6 ___________________________
Matthew 25:32 ___________________________
Mark 6:34 ___________________________
John 10:7-18 ___________________________
Hebrews 13:20-21 ___________________________
1 Peter 2:25 ___________________________
1 Peter 5:4 ___________________________
Revelation 7:17 ___________________________
...beside the still waters.
NASB, NIV:
...beside quiet waters.
KJV:
...beside the still waters.
LIV:
...beside the quiet streams.
Literally, "waters of rest."
"Waters where the weary finds a most pleasant resting place and
can at the same time refresh himself." (5)
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Digging Deeper--Moving Higher
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The King of Love My Shepherd Is
The King of love my Shepherd is, whose goodness faileth never;
I nothing lack if I am His and He is mine forever.
Where streams of living water flow my ransomed soul He leadeth,
And, where the verdant pastures grow, with food celestial feedeth.
Perverse and foolish oft I strayed, but yet in love He sought me.
And on His shoulder gently laid, and home rejoicing brought me.
In death's dark vale I fear no ill with Thee, dear Lord, beside me;
Thy rod and staff my comfort still, Thy cross before to guide me.
And so through all the length of days Thy goodness faileth never:
Good Shepherd, may I sing Thy praise within Thy house forever. (7)
Making it Personal
------------------
What are some "green pastures" and "still waters" the Lord has taken you
to?
What happened there? Was it a time of rest or frustration? Did you learn
something through the experience?
Do you make it easy for the Lord to be your shepherd, or do you resist
His shepherding? When He "makes you lie down" do you welcome the moment
or get up quickly? When He "leads you beside quiet waters" do you drink?
Do you easily go down His "path of righteousness" or are you always
struggling to go down a path of your own choosing?
When it becomes necessary for the Lord to "restore your soul," is it
often because of external forces (such as in the story of King David
escaping his son Absalom) or is it more typically because of your
internal condition?
Your righteousness reaches to the skies, O God, you who have done
great things. Who, O God, is like you? Though you have made me see
troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again; from the
depths of the earth you will again bring me up. You will increase my
honor and comfort me once again. I will praise you with the harp for
your faithfulness, O my God; I will sing praise to you with the
lyre, O Holy One of Israel. My lips will shout for joy when I sing
praise to you--I, whom you have redeemed. My tongue will tell of
your righteous acts all day long, for those who wanted to harm me
have been put to shame and confusion. (8)
Into the Word
-------------
Read these three verses through several times; each time that you read
them, emphasize different parts of the sentences. For example, read the
verses giving emphasis to every personal pronoun for God ("The LORD is
my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down . . ."); this
establishes who is doing what for whom. Then read the verses again
giving emphasis to every personal pronoun for yourself ( "The LORD is my
shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down . . . "); this
personalizes what God, the Shepherd, is doing for you.
What other sentence elements can be emphasized? What conclusions do they
draw out of the passage?
. . . paths of righteousness.
Are there more than one?
What is "righteousness" to the follower of Christ?
Genesis 15:6 ___________________________
Deut 6:24-25 ___________________________
Psalm 1:1-3,6 ___________________________
Psalm 15:1-5 ___________________________
Psalm 24:3-5 ___________________________
Matthew 12:50 ___________________________
John 13:35 ___________________________
Romans 4:18-24 ___________________________
Gal 5:22-23 ___________________________
Phil 1:9-11 ___________________________
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Perspective 2: P A S S A G E G U A R A N T E E D
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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.(9)
In the narrative imagery of these two verses, David begins as a sheep
requiring protection, but ends as the Lord's honored guest at a banquet.
As it begins, the good shepherd is still leading his charge through a
dark and fearful place. Strange, unnatural sounds surround them;
loathsome creatures wishing to do them harm lurk in the shadowy
crevices; yet the sheep is unafraid, happily trotting along beside his
beloved shepherd. The disturbing sounds have no impact on him, the
darkness hides nothing unfamiliar.
Why is he unafraid? Two reasons: he walks so closely and steadily by the
shepherd that he knows him intimately. The sheep knows his personality,
his tender compassion for those in his charge. But he also knows the
value of the two instruments clutched in the shepherd's hands: his rod
and staff. With the one, he strikes out against those who might bring
harm to his sheep; with the other, he gently guides the wanderer to
safety on his chosen path.
The LORD is my light and my salvation--whom shall I fear? The LORD
is the stronghold of my life--of whom shall I be afraid? When evil
men advance against me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and my
foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. Though an army besiege
me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even
then will I be confident.(12)
"It is not 'the valley of death,' but 'the valley of the shadow
of death,' for death in its substance has been removed, and
only the shadow of it remains. Some one has said that when
there is a shadow there must be light somewhere, and so there
is. Death stands by the side of the highway in which we have to
travel, and the light of heaven shining upon him throws a
shadow across our path; let us then rejoice that there is a
light beyond. Nobody is afraid of a shadow, for a shadow cannot
stop a man's pathway even for a moment. The shadow of a dog
cannot bite; the shadow of a sword cannot kill; the shadow of
death cannot destroy us."(13)
There is a story in the gospel of Luke that seems to echo the thoughts
of verse 5:
Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so
he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. When a
woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus
was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of
perfume, and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began
to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair,
kissed them and poured perfume on them. When the Pharisee who had
invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a
prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman
she is--that she is a sinner."(14)
Jesus was blessed by the anointing of a sinful woman when a guest in the
house of a contentious religious leader.
Into the Word
-------------
...through the valley of the shadow of death...
"...signifies the shadow of death as an epithet of the most
fearful darkness, as of Hades (Job 10:21ff), but also of a
shaft of a mine (Job 28:3), and more especially of darkness
such as makes itself felt in a wild, uninhabited desert.
(Jer 2:6)" (10)
Neither did they say, 'Where is the LORD, Who brought us up out of
the land of Egypt, Who led us through the wilderness, Through a land
of deserts and pits, Through a land of drought and the shadow of
death, Through a land that no one crossed And where no one dwelt?'
-Jer 2:6 NKJV
I will fear no evil . . .
adversity, affliction, calamity, distress, grief, harm, hurt(11)
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Digging Deeper--Moving Higher
-----------------------------
Lead, Kindly Light
Lead, kindly Light, amid th' encircling gloom, lead Thou me on;
The night is dark, and I am far from home; lead Thou me on:
Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene--one step enough for me.
I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou shouldst lead me on;
I loved to choose and see my path; but now lead Thou me on.
I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,
Pride ruled my will: remember not past years.
So long Thy power hath blest me, sure it still will lead me on,
O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till the night is gone;
And with the morn those angel faces smile,
Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile.(15)
Making it Personal
------------------
Compare Psalm 23:4 to John 17:15-17.
Yea, though I walk through the My prayer is not that you take
valley of the shadow of death, them out of the world but that
I will fear no evil; For You you protect them from the evil
are with me; Your rod and Your one. They are not of the world,
staff, they comfort me. even as I am not of it. Sanctify
-Psalm 23:4 them by the truth; your word is
truth. -John 17:15-17
What do you learn about each passage from the other?
________________________
Children of the heav'nly Father safely in His bosom gather;
Nestling bird nor star in heaven such a refuge e'er was given.
God His own doth tend and nourish, in His holy courts they flourish;
From all evil things He spares them, in His mighty arms He bears them.
(16)
Into the Word
-------------
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies...
Who are these enemies?
Why would the Lord set a banquet and invite the enemy?
What is the lesson here for David (and us)?
What is the lesson for David's (and our) enemies?
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Perspective 3: A S H O U T O F T R I U M P H
-------------
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the LORD Forever.(17)
A ship carrying over one thousand men can generate a lot of garbage. On
the good ship Chicago, during the Vietnam War, it was the practice of
the Mess cooks (as it was the practice of Mess cooks fleet wide) to toss
their plastic bags of garbage off the ship's fantail (the back end),
there to mingle in the churning wake, before slipping slowly down to
Davey Jones' locker. Over a six-month period of time, a lot of garbage
was tossed into that ship's wake.
What is in your wake? What follows behind you as discards of your life?
As we journey through life, we leave a wake, a trail of impressions,
feelings, works, consequences, promises and dreams. Every day we affect
lives, whether we realize it or not. We can affect them positively or
negatively; we can touch people with the mind of God or the agenda of
the flesh; we can leave in our wake goodness and righteousness or we can
toss bags of garbage over the side.
"Made as we were in the image of God we scarcely find it strange
to take again our God as our All. God was our original habitat
and our hearts cannot but feel at home when they enter again
that ancient and beautiful abode."(18)
Another way to look at "goodness" and "mercy" is as companions following
along with you throughout every life experience.
"These two angels of God--Goodness and Mercy--shall follow and
encamp around the pilgrim. The enemies whom God held back while
he feasted [v5], may pursue, but will not overtake him. They
will be distanced sooner or later; but the white wings of these
messengers of the covenant will never be far away from the
journeying child, and the air will often be filled with the
music of their comings, and their celestial weapons will glance
around him in all the fight, and their soft arms will bear him
up over the rough ways, and up higher at last to the
throne."(19)
This precious song closes with a shout of triumph. Through it
all--through trials, darkness, fearful wanderings, pleasant
meditations, evil misgivings, and bountiful feasts--through every
passage of life, we have a house--a haven, a sanctuary, a temple--to
which we can always return to dwell.
In the presence of the Lord we can rest, as if in a tranquil field or by
a placid brook; in His house, we are restored to righteousness; there we
find sanctuary from the evil and harm that so regularly combats us;
there we find comfort, peace, and a table overflowing with His bounty.
And we are filled.
Into the Word
-------------
The Fruits of Righteousness
Daniel 12:3 ___________________________
Hosea 10:12 ___________________________
Matthew 12:35-37 ___________________________
John 13:35 ___________________________
John 14:21 ___________________________
Romans 8:5 ___________________________
1 Cor 13:4-8 ___________________________
2 Cor 5:17 ___________________________
Gal 5:22-23 ___________________________
One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell
in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the
beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. For in the day of
trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the
shelter of his tabernacle and set me high upon a rock. Then my head
will be exalted above the enemies who surround me; at his tabernacle
will I sacrifice with shouts of joy; I will sing and make music to
the LORD. -Psalm 27:4-6
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Digging Deeper--Moving Higher
-----------------------------
Love Divine
Love divine, all loves excelling, joy of heaven, to earth come down;
Fix in us Thy humble dwelling; all Thy faithful mercies crown.
Jesus, Thou art all compassion, pure, unbounded love Thou art;
Visit us with Thy salvation; enter every trembling heart.
Breathe, O breathe Thy loving Spirit into every troubled breast!
Let us all in Thee inherit, let us find that second rest.
Take away our bent to sinning, Alpha and Omega be;
End of faith, as its beginning, set our hearts at liberty.
Come, almighty to deliver, let us all Thy life receive;
Suddenly return, and never, nevermore Thy temples leave:
Thee we would be always blessing, serve Thee as Thy hosts above,
Pray, and praise Thee without ceasing, glory in Thy perfect love.
Finish then Thy new creation, pure and spotless let us be;
Let us see Thy great salvation perfectly restored in Thee:
Changed from glory into glory, till in heaven we take our place,
Till we cast our crowns before Thee, lost in wonder, love, and praise.
(20)
Making it Personal
------------------
Examine the trailing wake behind the Apostle Paul prior to that
momentous day on the road to Damascus. Then examine his wake after that
point. Summarize the differences between the two, including Scripture
references.
________________________
"The Lord is my constant companion.
There is no need that He cannot fulfill.
Whether His course for me points
to the mountaintops
of glorious ecstasy
or to the valleys
of human suffering,
He is by my side,
He is ever present with me.
He is close beside me
when I tread the dark streets
of danger,
and even when I flirt with
death itself,
He will not leave me.
When the pain is severe,
He is near to comfort.
When the burden is heavy,
He is there to lean upon.
When depression darkens my soul,
He touches me with eternal joy.
When I feel empty and alone,
He fills the aching vacuum
with His power.
My security is in His promise
to be near to me always,
and in the knowledge
that He will never let me go."(21)
Into the Word
-------------
And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
In his work, The Sacrifice of the Faithful, William Fenner (1600-1640)
said:
"A wicked man, it may be, will turn into God's house, and say a
prayer, but the prophet would dwell there forever; his soul
lieth always at the throne of grace."
There are two perspectives to this ringing finish to Psalm 23. First is
the temporal, asking the question of us: Is it our passion to be always
before the Lord?
The second perspective is the eternal--less a question than a statment
of fact: For every believer, there will come a day when we will begin
our eternity in the house of the Lord, worshipping Him forever.
How do you answer the first? Do you love to attend Him in His sanctuary?
As you meditate on this, search the Scriptures for passages that speak
to our earthly "dwelling" in His house.
Finally, how does the second, statement of fact, make you feel? What is
your response to an eternity of worship? Find passages that describe
this eternal occupation.
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NOTES, COPYRIGHT & SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
Notes
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1 Scholars are not in agreement as to the time in David's life at which
this Psalm was penned (not to mention those who claim it was written
by someone else entirely). John Trapp (1611 - 1669) claims that it was
not written during a time of duress at all: "written . . . not when he
fled into the forest of Hareth (1 Samuel 22:5), as some Hebrews will
have it; but when as having overcome all his enemies, and settled in
his kingdom, he enjoyed great peace and quiet." But I have chosen to
align myself (regard ing the time of authorship) with Franz Delitzsch,
great Old Testament s cholar (1868), who says "If David is the author,
and there is no reason for doubting it, then this Psalm belongs to the
time of the rebellion under Absalom, and this supposition is confirmed
on every hand." [K&D, Commentary on the Old Testament, Volume 5,
p.329]
2 Psalm 23:1-6 NKJV.
3 Psalm 23:1-3 NKJV.
4 Charles Haddon Spurgeon, inThe Treasury of David, p353f.
5 F. Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, Volume 5, p.330.
6 W.M. Thomson (1859), inThe Treasury of David, p362.
7 Henry W. Baker (born in London, May 27, 1821; the eldest son of an
admiral in the British navy, was vicar of Monkland in Herefordshire
until his death in February 12, 1877).
8 Psalm 71:19-24.
9 Psalm 23:4-5 NKJV.
10 F. Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, Volume 5, p.331.
11 #7451 in Strongs Exhaustive Concordance.
12 Psalm 27:1-3.
13 Charles Haddon Spurgeon, inThe Treasury of David, p355.
14 Luke 7:36-39.
15 John H. Newman (born February 1, 1801; wrote this hymn on a
Mediterranean voyage to Marseilles on June 16, 1833, during a time of
great personal distress over his attraction to (as a clergyman of the
Church of England) the Catholic faith; died a Catholic cardinal in
1890).
16 Carolina Sandell Berg; translated by Ernst W. Olson (text copyright
Board of Publication of the Lutheran Church in America).
17 Psalm 23:6 NKJV.
18 A.W. Tozer, in The Pursuit of God (Christian Publications, Inc.,
1982), p.104.
19 Alexander Maclaren (1863), in his Expositions of Holy Scripture
(Baker, 1984), Vol 4, p.103.
20 Charles Wesley (1707 - 1788).
21 Psalm 23, as interpreted by Leslie Brandt in Psalms/Now (Concordia,
1973), p.38.
Copyright Information
---------------------
All original material in Aspects is Copyright (C) 1995 David S. Lampel.
This data file is the sole property of David S. Lampel. It may not be
altered or edited in any way. It may be reproduced only in its entirety
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exceed more than 500 words may be used, with the appropriate copyright
notice, to enhance or supplement personal or church devotions,
newsletters, journals, or spoken messages. Unless otherwise indicated,
all Scripture is from the New International Version. NIV quotations are
from the Holy Bible: New International Version, Copyright 1973, 1978,
1984 by the International Bible Society. Used by permission. NASB
quotations are from the New American Standard Bible (C) 1960, 1962,
1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by The Lockman Foundation.
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file: /pub/resources/text/aspects: asp-027.txt