The Lord is my shepherd - even in the valley of darkness
Welcome (elder)
Singing (Music) (Rej 447) Now with Joyful exaltation let us sing to God our praise)
Opening Prayer
Let’s pray:
Our Father who sits enthroned over all that is …almighty God, God of mercy and love,
thank you Lord for causing us to stop for a moment and to reflect on how we are as we sit here before You this morning,
and how you are, as You guide us and call on us, wherever we may be.
Thank you Lord for making us aware that it is necessary for us to pause, to take stock of our lives …and of our relationship with you…
for we owe our very lives, our existence, to You.
Thank you Lord for Sundays, Lord’s days!
Thank you Father God that in times of despair, we may freely ask: where will our help come from – you give us that freedom and that mercy to be able to ask,
for if we could not ask you who will go to. And when we ask…
thank you Lord that we may know the answer:
Our help is in the name of the Lord, maker of heaven and earth.
As we are gathered here Father God, to sing the praises of your name, to hear your word spoken, may we forever be aware of your most precious blessing, Jesus, our Saviour, who washes away our sins. Thank you for the love of Jesus, Lord, in whom we may share in your grace, and mercy, and peace.
Grant us that peace now, Lord. - In His name we pray. – Amen!
Let’s sing (Rej 310) (Come let us sing for Joy to the Lord
And Ps 96 (Sing to the Lord – Sing His praise)
Sunday School (Kids talk) DVD -
Children to Kids Church
Confession –
Please turn with me to Romans 3: 9-20 as we remember our unworthiness before
God:////
9 What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. 10 As it is written:
“There is no one righteous, not even one;
11 there is no one who understands,
no one who seeks God.
12 All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.”
13 “Their throats are open graves;
their tongues practice deceit.”
“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”
14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and
bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 ruin and misery mark their ways,
17 and the way of peace they do not know.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
//Our lives would have been hopeless if this reading ended here. Our lives would have been lost, but for the mercy of God who loved his people so much, He would seek a way to reconcile His creation to Him.//
We continue our reading from verse 21 and further…
21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.
There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
Let us humble ourselves before our almighty, loving, and just, God: Let’s pray…
Our Father who is in Heaven, great is your faithfulness.
Lord, by your grace we believe, by your mercy we live, and through your love by the works of your Son Jesus, we may look forward to return to you and share in your grace, and mercy and love, forever.
Thank you Father God for placing us in your heart and keeping us there, generation after generation.
And yet, even as we bring thanks to you, Father God, even as we praise you, we must now pray for your goodness in the light of our wickedness. We need your love and your forgiveness, for so often we seem to be unable to find forgiveness in our own hearts for others.
Grant Lord that we will live lives, more and more each day, that bear witness to your love.
Forgive us our many sins, our hardened hearts, our lack of love.
Give us the strength and the knowledge and the will, to reach out to each other, and to you, in accordance with your great command.
These things we pray, Lord, in the name of Jesus, who alone has made it possible for us to approach you.
Amen!
Sing -- Bow 23 The Lord is my Shepherd
Reading: Psalm 23 (Wally)
Sermon
Thank you, /////////
Friends in our Lord Jesus …Do you keep a journal?
in our first year at college, in a subject called Pastoral Care, we were expected to keep a journal of our thoughts as we progressed and, hopefully, grew in our self consciousness around our Theological studies.
We were also assigned a mentor/councillor,
a pastoral care “confident,” so to speak,
with whom we could share our progress…or lack of it, sometimes.
As part of this process, from time to time we would be asked - in complete confidentiality - to share an entry in our journals with this pastoral care mentor…
One day my carer, whom I shared with three other students, was clearly burdened by the time it was my turn to see him on that specific day.
He had just listened to a few other journal revelations, and you could tell
he was somewhat strained.
And so I asked him if everything was ok?
This is what he said:
“Listening to the entries in people’s journals,
are like listening in on people’s prayers to God.”
It’s true, isn’t it. We commit our deepest thoughts, our worst disappointments, our, saddest moments, our happiest moments, to our journals – or, to the recees of the journals of our hearts! Our hearts and minds, too can hold our journal entries.
With that as background, what would someone hear if they were able to listen in on your prayers to God this morning, to read your heart, so to speak?
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In the Bible, we may read The Psalms as if they were journal entries.
Certainly, the Psalms, for the largest part,
may be read as David’s journal entries.
Let’s pretend we are the mentor, and we have asked David to share a journal entry of his, ps 23, with us.
And as we look at it, or listen to him read it, I think, as an introduction, we might say to him:
“Well David, Your majesty! we see in your Psalm 23 …. three things:
Confidence; Confusion; and Comfort
And we might add… “if I may say so Your highness
– it seems they are all applicable to my life, too!”
Three things then: Confidence; Confusion; Comfort!
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When David composes the words of Psalm 23, it is obvious, he is filled with gratitude and confidence. - The imagery he uses shouts it out!
Verse 1: The Lord is my shepherd, what more do I need!
It is so prominent in this Psalm that scholars indeed these days categorise this Psalm as a “Confidence Psalm”
And clearly, when we first read this Psalm, David’s cup is clearly running over, with joy and confidence.
He is in need of nothing (v1); he is at peace (v2); his soul is restored… ///////////////
or is it?
Is everything really all that wonderful for David on the day he writes this Psalm.
Wemay have to read a bit further to find out…
You see, when we compare Psalm 23 to other Psalms that David writes,
we suspect that he may be feeling great right now,
but something might be niggling (and so we keep a lookout for clues to this effect).
For instance, in some of his other psalms, his other journal entries, we see he is prone to worry, and guilt....
But for now, Clearly, David’s experience of his position before God, as he writes psalm 23, is one of being a true champion.
Here, even as David reflects on his perhaps perilous current position – for instance, there are suggestions he may have composed this poem on the eve of a battle, and that is what the shdows are that he refers to in verse 4 – but for now his awareness of God’s mercy drives him to the heights of human expression – to poetry, no less - to metaphoric language.
It is like being looked after and cared for on every front – like a sheep being cared for and tended to by the best shepherd one can hope for.
And David, a shepherd once himself, knows a sheep can do nothing for themselves but rely on the shepherd, to lead him to all that he needs.
This realisation can clearly be seen in the progression of the poem.
In the first three verses, it is as if David is the main subject, it is focussd on me, me, and my… (he enjoys the pastures, the calm waters….///////////
in the latter part of the poem, God is at the forefront – You God, prepare a table; you anoint me; you give me board and lodging in your house.
>>I have a friend from whom David may have learnt a lesson, had they met…
((When you ask him how he is, he always says: “It was a lot better when my dad still looked after me.”)) <<
That’s what it is like for David by the end of the poem. His focus is on His creator God alone!
From verse 3, we also see David venturing from the general (being looked after by God is great!)
to the more specific…what it means to be looked after by God, but also, by what means we may ensure we are looked after by God – by following Him!
Verse 3: “He guides me in paths of righteousness.”
“Guides,” here is the operative word!
And he quickly notes the reward for following such a shepherd
–a restored soul, a soul at peace…That is why David is so confident!
Important, however, a soul at peace, yes, - but for His name’s sake!
Not for David’s sake!
Our peace of mind, when we live lives acceptable to the Lord,
ultimately is not about us going to heaven and being issued a harp
– it is about the Kingdom of God, the glory of our creator God.
David clearly has come to understand this as he composes this poem – this journal entry.
And David’s poetry is full of it …
The way Hebrew poetry works, is this: it knits together two concepts in a unit, with the first part of the unit stating a fact , and the second part, in some cases contradicting it,
or expanding it,
or in many cases, intensifying it. (read a few examples)
In verse 3 we see this device being used to full effect:
part one – The Lord restores my souls;
part two, with my soul being restored, He guides me in paths of Righteousness – for his name’s sake.
One might transcribe these lines as follows:
“The Lord looks after me in every way, even my soul, as he leads me to the place where my sins are no longer held against me.
There, I too may be what God wants me to be when he created everything.”
The first part is great – but how great is the second part!
And yet… How can David sing such a bold a song in the midst of the full knowledge of who he really is? How can any of us stand before God so boldly?
His confidence can only be based on the fact that he knows that he stands before a merciful God! A forgiving God!
David’s ultimate hope and consolation, is in the Lord!
Not in himself, or in his own ability to do good or uphold the law of Moses (in the full understanding of our confessional reading from Romans earlier on.)
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We realise this when, slap bang in the middle of the Davids Psalm, we read a line that shows us another dimension of David. David might appear confident – but he approaches God carefully…
I think this verse is placed towards the middles exactly so that we might notice it – prominently!
In fact, fully analysed, it becomes the main idea of this Psalm!
Verse 4: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, or literally, through the valley of the darkest darkness (something is worrying David) I will fear no evil …”
This line forces one to a stop as you hope to comfort and be comforted by David’s Psalms.
What’s this about darkness and death now?
One moment David is at peace, resting easy by that stream of peace and plenty, and now these thoughts of death and darkness…
What this is, is David having a mental nervous twitch!
David, even as he relishes this moment of bliss…
remembers his own life,
and as he does, he realises he does not deserve this glorious moment,
or moments, of confidence.
It could well be that the situation he is in, reminds him of this, but no doubt, reflection on past situations, also come into play.
And several words and phrases that we come across as we read this Psalm, suggest that all may in fact not be as well as it seems in David’s make-up.
The mighty David may be somewhat…confused at this point….
Not surprisingly, really …When David approaches God in his prayer, he approaches God in complete honesty… that is the nature of a journal entry…
And He comes to God in the full knowledge of who he – David - really is.
and he knows God knows who he really is.
Yes, David knows himself, and we know him, don’t we?
And yet, God is good to him. David needs to learn something here, and us too!
And we need to learn it quickly, for we see a bit of David in ourselves, don’t we?
David knows he has the capacity to cheat, and steal… and yet … God crowns him a King!
How can that be?
David was an adulterer, a murderer, a weak father to his children - one of them, Absalom, even plotting to kill him.
As David reflects on this, we come to realise, this is David walking through the valley of the shadows of darkness,
This is David as he is confronted not only with physical danger - there was a lot of that we know from Kings, and Samuel –
but also as he remembers his own, many transgressions.
It is interesting to see the word used in the Hebrew Bible to describe this dark valley (translated from the Hebrew it reads something like: “the valley of deepest darkness,” //// is found in Job, too.
There it describes Job as sitting there - with dark rings under his eyes (Job 16:16).
Is this a picture of David as he writes these lines? Is it a picture of your inner turmoil?
If it is, what will David do as he looks at himself in the mirror of his conscience?
Will he give up?
No! By Gods grace and mercy, No!
God strengthens David as he fixes his gaze on Him, even now, even in the full knowledge of his sins – especially in the full knowledge of his sins!
Verse 4: I will fear no evil! I will stand strong. I will confess my sins, to You, Lord, and I will be delivered from the evil of my thoughts and deeds
…why? …….How?
In You alone, Father God, in your house…
- I will fear no evil, for You are with me, day and night,
in physical danger …. or on the spiritual warfare battle ground.
Your rod and your staff, your instruments of protection and of direction and leading is there for me.
In You I trust.
Considering David’s chequered life,
even as we give him credit for being a King after God’s own heart …
how can it be that God is so good, so great, towards David?
Because David, by God’s grace, has been locked in to bring glory and honour to God – verse 3… “for His name’s sake.”
David knows he is part of God’s plan – and this brings him comfort!
(Brothers and sisters, I hope as we have traveled along in this sermon, you have filled in your name wherever I have mentioned David’s name.
In the last verse, we see another turn in mood. We see David contemplating the complete joy of living in God’s own house (in the Hebrew the word used here can mean simply house, or temple.)
But it is here, where His father will provide for him …forever.
The Hebrew translation, literally is… for a very long time!
There is a wonderful bit of irony embedded in this last verse of psalm 23…
Remember how David says to the Lord: Lord I will build you a house!
Full of bravado, it is David who comes to God and declares that he will do God a real favour,
he will build him a house that will be so grand,
that God’s glory will be proclaimed by it.
How does God respond?
God says to him … “No! David! I will build me a house – through you!
From the dynasty that I will raise through you, I will build myself a house!
And this house will have enough rooms for all of God’s children to live in.
Is it in this house that David hopes to take up residence!
But surely, a house is a house, no?
Well, No! The house referred to here is much more than a house, more even than the temple of Solomon – it is our rock and our salvation!
Psalm 23, read canonically - that is as a part of the whole Bible with all parts referring to each other - clearly points to the Messiah – Jesus the Christ! That is who this house is…
And we know now, Jesus, would indeed later be born from the house of David, just as God said he would.
That is God’s house, the one God himself builds, for His name’s sake!
And by God’s mercy, we have a share in that House!
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In conclusion then …
When your conscience leads you into a valley of darkness,
who do you turn to for comfort?
David seems to have worked it out…
Psalm 121: “My help comes from the Lord – maker of heaven and earth!”
In Him alone, brothers and sisters, is our hope and our salvation!
We must stop thinking we will provide the peace and the comfort for ourselves.
We cannot, and nothing that we own, or control, can!
Psalm 23: That Lord is my Shepherd!”
He alone!!!!
And when we confess to this…let this truth wash over us…
Verse 6: Surely goodness and love will follow me, all the days of my life, as I dwell in the house of the Lord
…for a very, very long time.
Let us carry this comfort into this new week,
and all the days of our lives! – Amen!
Lets sing again. (How Great your Love)
A few announcements before we take up the collection this morning please congregation.
First, Elder Pieter Britz has an announcement.
A few reminders from the Bulletin and elsewhere: ………………………………..
>>Now is a good time to consider our offering.
The offering this morning is for the World Relief and Development Fund.
After the collection has been taken up, Retha Phillips will lead us in prayer.
Collection ///////// Prayer
>>Let’s sing again. Lets stand as we sing BoW 23B and lets remain standing afterwards for the benediction,
The Lord Bless you and Keep you,
The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you
The Lord turns His face toward you and give you peace
Amen
>>As we will soon depart from here, reminded that the Lord goes with us,
lets sing BoW 525