How blessed (privileged) we are with the amount of excellent reading materials in our day. (I know that the loads of misinformation and disinformation coming down the pipe is a serious problem too, but there’s little inspiring about that!)
My friend Jason loaned me his copy of a book he finished recently. I was somewhat familiar with David Gibson’s writing and have appreciated the things that I’ve read of his in the past, but I hadn’t read this one – The Lord of Psalm 23.
I’m enjoying my way through it and as expected, it’s full of helpful insights to ensure we are reading Scripture well. The early part of the book concerns itself with the early words of the Psalm, of course, and the importance of getting the frontend right.
In that vein, I appreciated this statement where Gibson quotes Richard Briggs speaking on the sense of the first few words of this magnificent psalm of David.
“Verse one points to letting YHWH (the LORD) decide what it is I need, in the very process of ensuring that whatever it is, I will not lack it.”
Briggs goes on to say, “Psalm 23 is partly in the business of training my sense of need to be better attuned to what God provides.”
There is a great deal to this understanding in terms of appreciating just how true it is. The author spends some quality time working through the backstory of Who this Shepherd is and why being able to say (with that kind of confidence) that he is ‘my Shepherd’ is so lifechanging.
So, His provision for me is founded on who He is and the relationship I have with Him. So, knowing Him for who He is should be my goal. But in the process of discovering who He is, I also come to understand who I am and what my situation truly is in Him and because of Him.
It is understandable that this Psalm is familiar to most people because of its popularity at funerals. But it is unfortunate that most people have little idea of how foundational the truths contained in it are for life AND death.