“Facing The Future”

Preached by Rev. Ed Brouwer at The Gathering Place, Osoyoos
Pulpit Series Volume 19 Issue 03 January 18, 2009

“The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.” Psalm 23:1 How would you like to learn the secret to facing your untried tomorrows with calm confidence and hope?

My text this morning is probably the most familiar song in the literature of the world. More of you can quote it from memory than any other single passage in God's Word.

If this Psalm could write its own biography, what a thrilling story it would have to tell! There is not an ocean it hasn’t crossed, no country it hasn’t visited, no road it hasn’t travelled. We can’t say with authority who wrote these words. For long centuries they have been credited to David, the shepherd king.

If David wrote them, as I assume he did, they were not written, I feel sure, in the springtime of his life, nor yet in the vigor of midsummer. These are the words of a man who has lived much and thought much. Who has greatly sinned and has been greatly forgiven.
There is One who has loved me and has sought me in all my wanderings. “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.”
What an amazing discovery! Look at the incredible wealth of it.
· He dares to claim God as his very own.
He does not say that the Lord is a Shepherd.
Having dared to claim God as his own, the psalmist's next word is the most logical ever uttered. If the Lord is my Shepherd, what follows as naturally as night follows day? Just this, “I shall not want.”
· He is able to supply all our needs.
We are accustomed to say that money talks, and that is true to some degree. But in the presence of the deep wants of the heart, it is as useful as a screen door on a submarine.
What are some of the wants that the Good Shepherd will supply?
If the Lord is our Shepherd, we shall not want for rest and refreshment.
· “He makes me to lie down in green pastures.”
We shall surely find in him satisfaction for the hungers and thirsts of our souls.
The sheep lie down because their hunger has been satisfied. They feel secure.
“He that comes to me shall never hunger; and he that believes on me shall never thirst.” John 6:35
“Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke on you and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11:29
· “He leads me beside still waters.”
With the Lord as our Shepherd, we shall not want for leadership and guidance. That means that He goes before us into our unknown tomorrow.
After the old geographers had mapped the known world, they wrote on the seas that lay beyond the confines of the known such words as these: “Here be dragons. Here be demons that devour men.” But the author of the 23rd Psalm had a sure confidence.
He believed that it was not dragons and demons that were waiting for us, but that God was there.
“If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall your hand lead me and your right hand shall hold me.” Psalm 139:9
What faith the Psalmist had. Whatever lies beyond to-day, we may be sure of this, that God is there. He goes before.
· “He leads [or guides] me in the paths of righteousness.”
Not only does the Good Shepherd go before us, but He gives us guidance.
How we need such guidance!
How limited is our vision!
How often we stand bewildered at the forks of the road not knowing which way to turn! “When he, the Spirit of Truth is come, he will guide you.” John 16:13
· “He restores my soul.”
This word restore has two possible meanings. Firstly, it means to bring back to health and strength, one who is sick. And secondly, to restore means to seek that which is lost and to bring it back to the fold. Surely David is here speaking out of his own experience.
This year that is ahead need not be simply another year. It can be a new year. New because we ourselves have become new. I know that to some this sounds like a lot of double talk, but some of you have given up hope of ever being anything different from what you are.
Not satisfied with the lean, drab lives that we are living, yet we see little chance of ever changing them for the better.
We hear of people making resolution after resolution, but never changing. Resolves and re-resolves and then die the same. But here is one who stands in a world grown old and gray and shouts, “Old things are passed away; behold they are become new.” II Corinthians 5:17
With the Lord as our Shepherd. we will not want for companionship and comfort in sorrow. The Good Shepherd leads us in green pastures and beside the still waters. But sometimes the road changes suddenly from green pastures to wild rugged mountains. But our Shepherd does not forsake us in those dark and desperate hours. In fact, He draws closer to us.
· “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.”
He not only walks with us in the darkness, He brings us through it.
The Good Shepherd will not leave us in the dark valley. He will bring us through it into the sunshine.
“Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” Psalm 30:5
Now for something few people know…

· “Thy rod and staff comfort me.”

Leviticus 27:32 “And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passes under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the LORD.”

Ezekiel 20:37 “And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant.”

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.”

Finally, with the Lord as our Shepherd, we shall not want for a home at the end of the journey.
Will Jesus love us and lead us all through our pilgrimage only to forsake us in the end?
Will He hold our hands in His till we reach that greedy and muddy ditch that we call the grave, and then fling us into it and turn His back upon us forever?

I for one, refuse to believe that. On the contrary, I am confident that when the shadows gather, Jesus, being the Good Shepherd that He is, is going to lead us home; that where He is, we may be also. He loves us too much to willingly throw us away.