April is National Poetry Month, so in honor of it I thought I would share with you some thoughts on a perennial favorite psalm, Psalm 23. It is no doubt the most memorized of all the Psalms in the Psalter. It is one of the first Psalms that we teach our children since it’s easy to memorize and it can be such a comfort when they are afraid. Knowing that they have a Shepherd watching over them who guides and protects them can help them get through the night when they are scared of the dark or when they have to be in the car during a thunderstorm. And as adults it comforts us to know that we are not on this journey alone, we have a Shepherd who will make sure that we will reach the journey’s end, so that we may dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
\nThe text:<\/p>\n
A Psalm of David.<\/a>
\n23:1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
\n2 He makes me lie down in green pastures.
\nHe leads me beside still waters.
\n3 He restores my soul.
\nHe leads me in paths of righteousness
\nfor his name’s sake.
\n4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
\nI will fear no evil,
\nfor you are with me;
\nyour rod and your staff,
\nthey comfort me.
\n5 You prepare a table before me
\nin the presence of my enemies;
\nyou anoint my head with oil;
\nmy cup overflows.
\n6 Surely [4] goodness and mercy shall follow me
\nall the days of my life,
\nand I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
\nforever. <\/p><\/blockquote>\nThis semester as I study Hebrew poetry, I have gained a new appreciation for this psalm. It was always a favorite, one that I’ve turned to a number of times in my life but now that I have cancer, it’s taken on a whole new meaning for me. Knowing that as I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I’m not alone, the Lord comforts me and guides me. He hasn’t abandoned me but is with me every step of the way.
\nAs I learned new ways to look at the psalm, it has given me even more comfort as I see Jesus as both Shepherd and sheep in this psalm. He is the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep (John 10<\/a>) but Jesus also shares in our humanity, he is the representative man who walked through the valley of the shadow of death for us but feared no evil because he knew that he could trust his Shepherd to guide and comfort him through it.
\nAs we are lead by our Shepherd, we are comforted by the fact that he is not remote or distant to our suffering. He knows our weakness (Hebrews 4:15<\/a>). He knows that I have trouble fearing no evil. I am afraid, cancer is scary. But I trust that he will guide me through it and each time I remember the psalm I’m reminded of the fact that I’m not alone, I’m lead by the Good Shepherd who gives his life for his sheep and I know I can trust him to get me through this.
\nI told Sarah, my 16-year-old, that I would be writing a post on Psalm 23 in honor of National Poetry Month and asked her if she wanted to contribute a poem, here’s her take on the psalm:<\/p>\nMy Shepherd Lord
\nLost and afraid, am I.
\nA Lost sheep, soon to die,
\nCaptured by the evil one,
\nWho will soon serve me well done.
\nI wait, pondering my fate,
\nUnable to escape from the one I hate.
\nI have heard of one who comes to save,
\nAnd takes you away from this life as a slave.
\nWill he come to save me as well?
\nOr will i spend my remaining hours in this prison cell?
\nI wait, hoping and praying with all my might,
\nthat I will be saved before the night.
\nAfternoon comes, the sun is high above,
\nWhen down from the sky shoots a dove.
\nDistracted by the dove, a voice startles me.
\n“I am here to set you free.”
\nThe man who had spoke was shining bright,
\nAnd gave me quite a fright.
\nHe smiled a wonderful smile,
\nAnd i knew that he was not hostile.
\n“Trust in me, and you will live”
\nSaid he, “Repent, and I will forgive.”
\nI knew I had been a naughty sheep,
\nAnd looking at my past deeds began to weep.
\nI put my trust in the mighty LORD
\nWho I with all my heart adored.
\nHe set me free from my ball and chain,
\nAnd relieved me of all my pain.
\nWe left my cell far behind as we walked on
\nI was ecstatic to be gone.
\nWe passed through Death’s shadow, a frightful place
\nNo sunlight shone, darkness filled every space.
\nThe kind LORD picked me up and held me in his arms
\nAnd away fled all my alarms.
\nIn his gentle embrace I was secure,
\nFor though frightened, his love did reassure.
\nWe walked together out of there
\nAnd walked into a pasture so fair.
\nMy LORD set me down and welcomed me to my new home.
\nHere I was not tied up, but free to roam.
\n“You are now one of my little sheep,” he said.
\nAnd to lush green grass and clean, pure water he led.
\nMy Shepherd LORD loves me so,
\nAnd away from him I will never go.
\nI fear no evil, for no one can take me away,
\nand in Jesus’ arms forever I will stay.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"April is National Poetry Month, so in honor of it I thought I would share with you some thoughts on a perennial favorite psalm, Psalm 23. It is no doubt the most memorized of all the Psalms in the Psalter. It is one of the first Psalms that we teach our children since it’s easy…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,402],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-religion-2"],"yoast_head":"\n
Psalm 23 - Reformed Chicks Blabbing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/2009\/04\/psalm-23.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Psalm 23 - Reformed Chicks Blabbing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"April is National Poetry Month, so in honor of it I thought I would share with you some thoughts on a perennial favorite psalm, Psalm 23. It is no doubt the most memorized of all the Psalms in the Psalter. It is one of the first Psalms that we teach our children since it’s easy…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/2009\/04\/psalm-23.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Reformed Chicks Blabbing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-04-05T21:30:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Susan Johnson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Psalm 23 - Reformed Chicks Blabbing","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/2009\/04\/psalm-23.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Psalm 23 - Reformed Chicks Blabbing","og_description":"April is National Poetry Month, so in honor of it I thought I would share with you some thoughts on a perennial favorite psalm, Psalm 23. It is no doubt the most memorized of all the Psalms in the Psalter. It is one of the first Psalms that we teach our children since it’s easy…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/2009\/04\/psalm-23.html","og_site_name":"Reformed Chicks Blabbing","article_published_time":"2009-04-05T21:30:40+00:00","author":"Susan Johnson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/2009\/04\/psalm-23.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/2009\/04\/psalm-23.html","name":"Psalm 23 - Reformed Chicks Blabbing","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-04-05T21:30:40+00:00","dateModified":"2009-04-05T21:30:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/#\/schema\/person\/b4e41455e911277a4681a65e81271065"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/2009\/04\/psalm-23.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/2009\/04\/psalm-23.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/2009\/04\/psalm-23.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Psalm 23"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/","name":"Reformed Chicks Blabbing","description":"Politics and current events from a Reformed perspective, by Michele McGinty","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/#\/schema\/person\/b4e41455e911277a4681a65e81271065","name":"Susan Johnson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/020\/02041661cf28a19369e083191c05c819x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/020\/02041661cf28a19369e083191c05c819x96.jpg","caption":"Susan Johnson"},"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/author\/sjohnson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6269\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/reformedchicksblabbing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}