Everybody’s favorite scripture

The most favorite passage of Scripture is Psalm 23. Probably because it has such pathos, such personal impact, and so very much comfort. It’s requested at more funerals than any other passage.

Psalm 23’s thesis is very simple: “The Lord is my shepherd.” Because the Lord — God himself — is my (our) shepherd, we shall have no wants. That’s a mighty promise. Many people make a much to do over needs versus wants. Here, the Psalmist indicates clearly our “wants” are supplied when the Lord is our shepherd.

I saw a kid in Wal-Mart yesterday pointing out an item he had no need on earth for, but he wanted it. His earthly father, taking compassion on him, purchased the small item. This would be a drab world if our Father were only interested in supplying our needs. Yes, extremism can find its way into every relationship and spoil every relationship. I trust God, however, to bend over and provide our wants as surely as he providentially supplies our needs.

But Psalm 23 has an anti-thesis also and that is that even though the Lord is with me, I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Death prowls the valley to seek who he can steal, kill, and destroy.

Regardless of who you are, Death prowls the Paris auto tunnels to see who he can cut off and how many lives he can cause to suffer; death entices small children with claims of glory and a paltry sum for their parents to be strapped with a bomb and on notice blow his guts and brains out for Mohammed and Allah. Let me tell you, something is rotten and it’s not in Denmark. It’s in the Mosque of Eastern Europe. More about that later.

Psalm 23 also contains a wonderful, triumphant synthesis: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I fear no evil.” Just the shadow of death is adequate to scare the living daylights out of anyone. Death is a monster. I don’t know if we would ever want to see death face to face as much as we long to see Jesus face to face. I see death’s shadow on the loving, beautiful, but tired countenances of our senior citizens as they make ready for their crossing the “bar.”

The antithesis is profound and right there at the close of the Psalm: Yes, no matter what in life, God is there with me. I may have made some mighty large mistakes, but because he is my shepherd, regardless of the marks of death on my body, the Lord is still with me. He still protects me with his rod and staff.

More than all that: he still fills my cup with joy and has blessings to cover my head.

Old Man Dead, you don’t have anything on the prince of life.

If your conscience is clean

Submitted by fancypants on Wed, 09/20/2006 - 10:28am.

If you've repented from your large mistakes and have accepted Jesus, why are you so afraid of death? Death has nothing on you, unless you're a sinner living in sin. All the disciples of Christ, although they are still sinners, smile when death comes knocking on their door, as they realize it is time for them to go see their maker.

Death is nothing but a transition from this earthly life to the life in heaven with Christ and his angels, but certainly nothing to be afraid of.

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