Psalm 23 Devotional:

GNV: 1 Because the Prophet had proved the great mercies of God at divers times, and in sundry manners, he gathereth a certain assurance, fully persuading himself that God will continue the very same goodness towards him forever.

A Psalm of David.

23:1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

4 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.

5 Thou dost prepare a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou dost anoint my head with oil; and my cup runneth over.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Previously we saw in the Psalm the marvelous manner in which God deals with David, and with all His people. For God is kind towards us and is very patient and gentle, although we often times go astray and are unfaithful towards Him. Yet God leads us like a good shepherd and causes us to grow in grace by the government of His word and doctrine. Moreover He comforts us by the rod and staff, ensuring we remain disciplined, and although he smites us with the rod that we might rise up and be freed from deformity, yet He smites His enemies so that they may not rise again. Just as we have in the history of Israel, how that God sent them into captivity, and punished them by the Assyrians and Babylonians, but afterwards destroyed their enemies and preserved them. For all kingdoms will fall if they be not established and upheld by Jesus Christ. And so it is written, “Therefore is the anger of the Lord kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcases were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly: None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken: Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses’ hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind: Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it. And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if one look unto the land, behold darkness and sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof.” and again, “O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets….Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.” and again, “For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet I will not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.” Then when we have seen how God dealt with Israel may we see how God hath dealt with us. He uses the rod to beat us but for our comfort and salvation. But His sword He reserves for His enemies as it is written, “Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” Therefore may the Christian ever take comfort in the rod and staff of the good shepherd.

We also ought to note the liberality with which God indulges His people, for David says immediately after that He sets a table before us in the presence of our enemies, the import of which is this, that God gives us joy as if we were at a banquet, despite our present condition, such joy as is set in contrast with the fleeting happiness of the wicked. For the wicked have joy but for a moment, but their joy is soon turned to sorrow with the loss of things in this life, but our joy is often *increased* by loss, and fully realized by grief and worldly sorrow, for it is then we learn to lean on Christ our rock, even as Paul says in his epistle. And so we see that it is written, “Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.” and again, “And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord.” and concerning the wicked, “Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish….Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction. How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors.” And therefore we see the import of these words of David, Thou dost prepare a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.” For God will bless His people with peace so that they are able to go through life with a glad countenance as if a banquet full of diverse and rich foods were ever before them, for we daily feast on the word of God in the ordinances, and are blessed when we come to them zealously anticipating grace at His lips.

Calvin,
These words, which are put in the future tense, here denote a continued act. David, therefore, now repeats, without a figure, what he has hitherto declared, concerning the beneficence of God, under the similitude of a shepherd. He tells us that by his liberality he is supplied with all that is necessary for the maintenance of this life. When he says, Thou preparest a table before me, he means that God furnished him with sustenance without trouble or difficulty on his part, just as if a father should stretch forth his hand to give food to his child. He enhances this benefit from the additional consideration, that although many malicious persons envy his happiness, and desire his ruin, yea, endeavor to defraud him of the blessing of God; yet God does not desist from showing himself liberal towards him, and from doing him good. What he subjoins concerning oil, has a reference to a custom which then prevailed. We know that in old time, ointments were used at the more magnificent feasts, and no man thought he had honourably received his guests if he had not perfumed them therewith. Now, this exuberant store of oil, and also this overflowing cup, ought to be explained as denoting the abundance which goes beyond the mere supply of the common necessaries of life; for it is spoken in commendation of the royal wealth with which, as the sacred historian records, David had been amply furnished. All men, it is true, are not treated with the same liberality with which David was treated; but there is not an individual who is not under obligation to God by the benefits which God has conferred upon him, so that we are constrained to acknowledge that he is a kind and liberal Father to all his people. In the meantime, let each of us stir up himself to gratitude to God for his benefits, and the more abundantly these have been bestowed upon us, our gratitude ought to be the greater. If he is ungrateful who, having only a coarse loaf, does not acknowledge in that the fatherly providence of God, how much less can the stupidity of those be tolerated, who glut themselves with the great abundance of the good things of God which they possess, without having any sense or taste of his goodness towards them? David, therefore, by his own example, admonishes the rich of their duty, that they may be the more ardent in the expression of their gratitude to God, the more delicately he feeds them. Farther, let us remember, that those who have greater abundance than others are bound to observe moderation not less than if they had only as much of the good things of this life as would serve for their limited and temperate enjoyment. We are too much inclined by nature to excess; and, therefore, when God is, in respect of worldly things, bountiful to his people, it is not to stir up and nourish in them this disease. All men ought to attend to the rule of Paul, which is laid down in Philippians 4:12, that they “may know both how to be abased, and how to abound.” That want may not sink us into despondency, we need to be sustained by patient endurance; and, on the other hand, that too great abundance may not elate us above measure, we need to be restrained by the bridle of temperance. Accordingly, the Lord, when he enriches his own people, restrains, at the same time, the licentious desires of the flesh by the spirit of confidence, so that, of their own accord, they prescribe to themselves rules of temperance. Not that it is unlawful for rich men to enjoy more freely the abundance which they possess than if God had given them a smaller portion; but all men ought to beware, (and much more kings,) lest they should be dissolved in voluptuous pleasures. David, no doubt, as was perfectly lawful, allowed himself larger scope than if he had been only one of the common people, or than if he had still dwelt in his father’s cottage, but he so regulated himself in the midst of his delicacies, as not at all to take pleasure in stuffing and fattening the body. He knew well how to distinguish between the table which God had prepared for him and a trough for swine. It is also worthy of particular notice, that although David lived upon his own lands, the tribute money and other revenues of the kingdom, he gave thanks to God just as if God had daily given him his food with his own hand. From this we conclude that he was not blinded with his riches, but always looked upon God as his householder, who brought forth meat and drink from his own store, and distributed it to him at the proper season.

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Therefore let us as many as are spiritually minded, with David lift our hearts up to God in worship and admiration of His kindness towards us and acknowledge His wonderful gifts, else if we despise the good things He has so carefully given to us, at any time He may remove them. Let us therefore be sober minded, neither giving ourselves to excess or the love of the world, neither to ungratefulness and the despising of God’s gifts.

Opening Prayer.

Intro.
The Book of Malachi.

—

The Westminster Confession of Faith.
Lesson 3. Introduction. [3]
The Christian’s labor in spiritual knowledge.
Heb. 4:11, Proverbs 2.

As we cannot but with grief of soul lament those multitudes of errors, blasphemies, and all kinds of profaneness, which have in this last age, like a mighty deluge, overflown this nation; so, among several other sins which have helped to open the flood-gates of all these impieties, we cannot but esteem the disuse of family instruction one of the greatest. The two great pillars upon which the kingdom of Satan is erected, and by which it is upheld, are ignorance and error; the first step of our manumission from this spiritual thraldom consists in having our eyes opened, and being turned from darkness to light,

Lesson 1.
The errors and blasphemies in our age for which thing’s sake cometh the wrath of God.
Col. 3:5-7
Catholicism, Baptist theology, Free will (in the mind and in the life), Calvinist ecumenism. Inter faithism. Prosperity gospel. Cults. Islam.
The love of the world. Pride, covetousness, lust, feminism and toleration of wickedness,
1. Distinguish heresy and heathenism.. Demonstrate the use of the confession in restraining these diabolical forces.
i. Restraining error.
ii. Restraining lust.

2. The importance of family instruction. Subsequent application. My own experience.

3. Whence cometh unbelief from ignorance and error. Demonstrate the use of the Confession herein also.

4. The special influence of parents over their children.

5. Application. The labor and reward of instruction.

6. Historical observation. The age of English Puritanism called noon day. Subsequent application. Woe unto us for slighting the gospel and making light of THE light.

Lesson 2.
Intro. The principle of teaching. “from fairest creatures we desire increase”
1. The goal in mind. A high goal. A noble goal. A goal with God’s seal of approval.
“For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.”
Gen. 18:19

2. The authority of men in general and husbands and fathers in particular. App. a. Feminism abolished. b. Pray for and seek for a wife who will listen to instruction and obey.

Lesson 3. The work set before us.
a. It is great. The rarity of true faith.
b. It is difficult. The ignorant and depraved mind.
c. It is commanded by God. And accompanied with His blessing.

Lesson 4. The excellency of knowledge. Knowledge is freedom from slavery. Knowledge is freedom from tyranny. Knowledge is a crown to those who wear it. Knowledge is a fortress.

Conclusion.

Closing Prayer.

YouTube Audio: https://youtu.be/iD5XDfDnAfk