Surely Goodness and Mercy Shall Follow Me...
The world can be a frightening place, can’t it? As we follow the daily events of the news, we go from military conflicts to global pandemics to government overreach to racial injustice to destabilizing protests to political turmoil on a worldwide scale. Throw in some murder hornets and famine-inducing swarms of locusts for good measure, and that’s all still before breakfast! It’s almost enough to make a person want to go back to bed before they even get up!
I wonder if David ever had days like that.
Well, as we’ve seen so far in our study of Psalm 23, David knew what it was to experience want as he fled from Saul in the wilderness, and yet the Shepherd provided for him. “I shall not want,” David proclaimed.
David knew what it was like to experience an agonizing separation from God, brought about by his own sin and guilt. But he also experienced the joy of renewal. “You restore my soul,” he proclaimed to his Shepherd.
He knew what the valley of the shadow of death looked like, having faced off against lions, bears, giant Philistines, and a homicidal king whom he had served with loyalty and honesty. But he could say of his Lord, “Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me!”
And he knew the torment of the mind and its memories and worries, yet he also knew the relief that comes from being anointed with the Shepherd’s soothing oil, silencing the chaos of the thoughts within.
And yet, despite whatever David has been through in life, and whatever he is going through as he writes Psalm 23, David confidently proclaims, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life!”
David wasn’t naively burying his head in the sand and saying in denial, “Hey, it’s all ok!” Rather, he was proclaiming two truths in the face of difficult circumstances: first, David would “pay it forward” and make the world around him a better place. Second, David’s Shepherd would work out all the details for him, carefully weaving together the individual threads of David’s life into a grand and masterful tapestry.
Making the World a Better Place
One thing I didn’t realize when I first embarked upon this journey of sheep and their Shepherd, is that a well-looked-after flock of sheep is a major benefit to the land. No wonder it’s called “husbandry”. As sheep graze a meadow, they gradually clean up the weeds. Their manure replenishes the soil. As Philip Keller tells us, “In a few years, a flock of well-managed sheep will clean up and restore a piece of ravaged land as no other creature can do.”
This makes me pause to ask myself, as I consider who my Shepherd is:
Do I build people up, or do I tear them down?
Do I sow seeds of kindness and forgiveness, or do I leave behind thistles of bitterness?
Do I bring comfort to the hurting, or do I add to their burdens?
Do people enjoy my company, or do I light up a room just by leaving it?
As a sheep, my identity is in my Shepherd, so I hope that I leave things better than I found them more often than not.
Weaving a Masterful Tapestry
But in addition to leaving the world a better place, David knew that his Shepherd would also leave HIM in a better place.
We know that the world can be cruel, and circumstances can be painful. There’s no point in pretending that isn’t true. But David knew something that Paul expressed so wonderfully in Romans 8:28, which says, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.”
That wasn’t just a wish. It’s a promise.
Even when the world is in chaos, the promise is still true.
Even when our bodies break down, the promise is still true.
Even when we bid our loved ones a tearful farewell, separated by the temporary veil of death, the promise is still true.
Romans 8:35,37-39 assures us, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? … No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Even in the midst of aching pain, because of our Shepherd, goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives. And when our lives on earth are over, we get to be with Him! “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
Goodness and mercy. Following you wherever you go. All the days of your life. Thanks be to God! Amen.
In Christ,
Pastor Bryan