Psalm 23: The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.
3 He restores my soul; He leads 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 You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs 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 Forever.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies...
Over the years scholars have debated the timing of the writing of Psalm 23. There are those who feel that the Psalm was written when David was a lad tending the sheep, because it is a shepherd's psalm.
However, there is evidence that this is not true.
- In verse three he was experiencing rest from his troubles.
- In verse four he was facing the danger of death.
- In verse five, he was old enough to have enemies and experiencing prosperity.
These things all point to an older person, or at least one who had reached maturity or adulthood. Probably the Twenty third Psalm was written while David was at Mahanaim wondering how the battle was between his forces and those of his son, Absalom, during the civil war caused by Absalom's rebellion.
Of course, David was grief-stricken and heartbroken. It may have been the darkest hour of his life and this is where he penned the beautiful words, "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want." It was probably written at a time when he was away from the corporate worship of the house of the Lord, for he yearns to be there in verse six. In any case David is looking forward to an event where he will be vindicated.
In truth, most Christians in the west do not have enemies. We are not (currently) heavily persecuted. We are ignored, that’s something completely different altogether, but actual enemies after our blood?
We still live in relative comfort and privilege compared to our brothers and sisters in the persecuted church.
We do seem to be very adept at suffering relationship breakdowns of various sorts; divorce, not talking to people in church, ignoring people, or just generally having the hump with those around us.
David knew times when his very life was at stake; from Saul and later from his own son Absalom. What is being expressed here is the hope of a testimony. If David is in hiding from Absalom, he is believing for the time when the trial will be over.
Today’s test is tomorrow testimony and today’s testimony is yesterday’s test.
- Relationships do go wrong.
- Jobs do have moments, days, or months of stress.
- Personal finances can be hard at times, sometimes through no fault of our own.
- Churches are, on occasion, the toughest place to be, where vulnerability should be welcomed but is sometimes silently criticised.
- Sometimes suffering enters our lives through grief, through health problems, through emotional and spiritual challenges.
David expresses hope in Psalm 23; a table, a feast, will be prepared in the presence of his enemies.
Everyone wants someone to pay them back at some point in their life. Some wrong has been committed, some injustice done, a temper lost, a cross word exchanged, an atmosphere or an issue left unresolved.
Is this Psalm implying waiter service from people who have wronged you? Are they to queue up to serve you? No.
It is God, the Lord Shepherd, who prepares the table and serves the meal in the prose. It is He who lowers Himself to lift you up out of the claylike stickiness of sin!(Psalm 3:3; Philippians 2:7-8; Psalm 40:2).
He gives the honour, but others witness it. They may not expect it or even understand it: how could God bless someone like you after all the bad stuff you have done in your life?
Because He is is the Redeemer of the lost, the lifter of your head, the glory of your life. He decides when that honouring will take place and in what way.
The table He sets before you may be a healed marriage, a promotion at work, freedom from financial debt, a new ministry in church or physical healing. It may the salvation of an until recently lost child, the healing of your emotions, the joy of seeing old friends and being on on good terms with them again.
There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of ways that the Shepherd honours His children. All of this takes place in the presence of those who have maligned, wronged you, or broken off relationships with you.
The Table is not Just for Your Benefit!
This table is not for the purpose of our gloating. Not so that we might look down on them pridefully, be superior to them, or in anyway claim that what is happening is a result of our spirituality over theirs.
It is so that we may invite them to come and eat with us!
“What! Keith, you don’t understand what they have done to me. Your don't see the harm they have caused; now you expect them to come and eat at my table of blessing?”
Yes! That is why forgiveness is the gift of God that we must share with others, in the same way He has forgiven us (Matthew 6:14-15).
When we read that the table is prepared in the presence of our enemies we have this mental picture, that if they are not serving us, they are looking longingly on at the sumptuous feast but that they cannot partake of. As the banquet is thrown in your honour you are able to extend the invitation to them. The table in the presence of the enemies of your past is a redemptive place.
This table is reminiscent of another table and the instructions we have around the Lord’s Supper; to be in right relationship, to examine ourselves, to make sure that we are right before God through Jesus (1 Corinthians 11:17-34).
It is for the Surrendered Warrior to make the first move, in the same way that Jesus made the first move for our salvation; as far as we can we are to live at peace with everyone (Hebrews 12:14).
In the moment when the Lord pours honour and blessing upon you is the moment to share that blessing with others, even if they have wronged you in the past. That is the point of a testimony, to encourage others.
- Marriage healed? tell others, even those who said it would never work out!
- Career takes an upward turn? testify, so that others may know how they too can enjoy promotion.
- Financial situation improves because you have been obedient to God? share the news with others, so that they too may apply Kingdom principles.
- Energised and enriched by serving in the local church? share this testimony, that others may be encouraged into the Lord’s service too.
- Dark valley of suffering comes to an end? shout about it, honour God so that others may walk through their dark season as you light the way for them.
One of the reasons the Lord provides you with a feast at the table that was once bare is not so that you can merely gorge yourself on His blessings, but so that you can use that new platform of experience to help others get to their table of feasting too; even your enemies! (Matthew 5:44).
What’s Acceptable to Forgive?
Here’s the kicker! No sin committed against you is unforgivable! There is no list of acceptable sins and those that are just too heinous to be forgiven by God.
This maybe a tough truth to grasp in the depth of pain, but nonetheless, it’s true.
The only unforgivable sin is to deny the work of the Holy Spirit in sending Jesus to forgive the sins of the world (Mark 3:23-29); reject Jesus and eventually He will reject you. Beyond that all other things are forgivable.
Bitterness is crippling. If we harbour past hurts we end up on a lonely road that eventually leads us to a place of aloneness and health issues.
Unforgiveness can turn us into an island with sharks swimming just off shore to protect ourselves from rescue. Open your heart today.
Forgiveness Is the Tablecloth
Forgiveness is the tablecloth upon which the place settings of the love feast are set. Forgiveness for the Surrendered Warrior is not optional, but it is not easy; Jesus was unequivocal on this point, forgiveness is commanded (Matthew 6:15).
It is commanded for we may not always feel like it. It is vital to understand the realities of forgiveness:
Forgiveness is a redemptive response to having been wronged.
It is the remedy for the bitterness that so desires to become a cancer to the soul. If someone injures us accidentally, we may excuse them; we only forgive the ones we blame.
Forgiveness requires three basic but essential actions.
First, the right to get even is surrendered. There may well be consequences for the one who has aggrieved you; they may even have to spend time incarcerated, but you are not the judge. The wages for sin, despite inflation have remained the same, but the payment of the blood of Jesus deals with all our sins, and theirs if they are repentant (Romans 6:23).
When we forgive we give the final outcome of the matter into God’s hands.
Secondly, we discover the humanity of our wrongdoer. When wronged we build up a picture, a caricature, of the person responsible. When we forgive we discover that they are like us in so many ways, complex, weak, confused, and fragile.
Thirdly, we wish the one who sinned against us well. Not only is the desire for revenge forsaken, but a desire for their wellbeing replaces the angst we once harboured. Is this too much to comprehend right now? Maybe, but it is exactly how God forgives. It’s how He has forgiven you.
How many things in life have you got away with? How many wrongs have gone unpunished? How many times has God given a second chance to you? Therefore to complain when He does the same for others, even those who have hurt you, is a double standard. You cannot ask for grace for yourself and judgement for others.
Forgiveness takes time.
Don’t fret too much if you’re not there yet. Don’t wallow in the imperfections of your weak attempts at perfect forgiveness. God forgives instantly it seems.
We struggle with the anguish in our souls, but actually movement in the right direction is more important than a supercilious response to the need to forgive.
Time is needed. Time is not the healer, God is; over time good and bad things can grow. Time in itself is not the remedy; its the direction of spiritual travel that matters.
Just before he died C.S. Lewis wrote: “I think I have at last forgiven the cruel schoolmaster who as darkened my youth. I had done it Mandy times before, but this time I think I may have really done it.”
Had he lived longer perhaps he would need to do it again!
One thing is for sure, forgiveness is a messy, crazy journey.
Forgiving others does not require forgetting.
True, God says He would forget our sins (Isaiah 43:25).
Does this mean God is an amnesiac? Clearly not for He could not be omniscient, knowing all things, if He were.
It is as though He is able to detoxify the memory of the wrongdoing done to Him.
If He asks that we forgive as he does then He must also expect that we too have the ability to similarly detoxify the memory - with His help!
How do you know when you have truly forgiven? When you can remember the events with it hurting anymore. It is not a denial that bad things have happened; it is an acknowledgment of the healing touch of the King.
It’s as though when these things are recalled that they happened to a different person in a far way land.
Ideally, forgiveness leads to reconciliation.
Ideally, but not always! Sometimes the forgiven one will not want to reconcile, they may have moved too far away, they may have passed away, or they simply may not care that forgiveness is the option you have chosen.
It may not always be wise to reconcile either for reasons of personal safety; an abused spouse would not be wise to reestablish a relationship unless the other has truly changed, but equally forgiveness will release the abused one from ongoing abuse too.
Forgiveness is an internal action that has an outward outworking.
There can be no reunion without forgiving but there can be forgiving without a reunion.
If they don’t want to, or cannot reconcile, you can make sure your heart is beating with love and the grace of the Good Shepherd towards them. It is liberating!
Forgiveness comes naturally to the forgiven.
One of the greatest enablers of forgiveness is knowing the forgiveness of God in our own lives. It is unthinkable for a forgiven person to deliberately withhold forgiveness from others. Therefore, keeping short records or wrongs is vital (1 Corinthians 13:5).
Don’t allow something to poison your heart, to be nurtured by the fuels of anger and indignation, to become so all encompassing that it infiltrates your thoughts, prayers and emotions too.
Take steps towards forgiving the offender.
When will the Dinner Be Served?
Often the delay in the blessing the Father wants to release is caused, not by the enemy, but by our own unforgiveness towards others.
After completing a seven week series on forgiveness in a church where I served I was approached by a dear saint and this is an abridged version of our conversation:
Constance: “Pastor, I just want you to know that Angela and I are having lunch together today after church.”
Me: “That’s nice, Constance, where are you going?”
Constance: Looking slightly perplexed at my lack of understanding, “That’s not important! What you need to know is that we have not spoken to each other in over three years! Today I decided to forgive her, and she me, and I’ve got back my best friend!”
Me: Now understanding why she was beaming and so excited, “That’s great! I’m so glad that you’ve come to this place in your friendship. Have a great lunch!”
I did leave that conversation pondering how two apparently godly women, mature in their faith, managed not to talk to each other in a church of less than thirty people at that time, yet sit on the same row each Sunday just three seats apart, and not talk to each other. That takes some skill and determination!
I didn’t need to know what the original transgression was, nor who had done what to whom subsequently, or how they had managed the dynamic of sharing communion whilst carrying such pain; none of that now mattered in the light of fresh forgiveness. To this day I still don’t know what they had for lunch; I do know they didn’t chew on the past or on each other!
The point is though they could have reached this place three years earlier and had missed out on some beautiful moments in their friendship as a result. However, forgiveness is redemptive, and their friendship became stronger than ever.
Sadly, though this story could be repeated many times over, in the churches I’ve led, but also around the world. Celebrations of the feast are delayed through unforgiveness. Bitter people are not better people in any area of their lives.
The Shepherd desires that the feast prepared to you will will take place. Often these times of blessing do not come as quickly as we would like them to; but they do come. Know this though, David speaks in the present tense, “You prepare a table;” you may not be experiencing the love feast of blessing right now, but the table is currently being prepared.
It may ultimately only be enjoyed in heaven, where we will all be invited to the greatest love feast by the Lamb if we have accepted Him as Lord and Saviour (Revelation 19:19).
Wrapping this up:
How many of you need a fresh testimony of the Lord’s feasting table in your life today?
Are you willing to let go the the hurt and the pain to obtain it?
Come forward for prayer - prayer team is coming!
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