Introduction

00:01

It's a real joy and privilege for me to come and share with you the Word of God. I have been richly blessed by my brethren, my fellow companions, who labour in the Word, who have shared their messages in the previous sessions, and I hope to contribute further to our understanding of the psalms so that we can love God and follow Him well. 

I think in this camp, there has been a practice or tradition to say something about standing between. And I thought about it, and I thought, you know, it makes me feel like I'm blocking the way and I don't want to be blocking the way. So, I wouldn't say anything about standing between. I would say, instead, I stand before you this morning to share with you God's Word, which I trust is the reason why you are here this morning, because you are hungry and you are thirsting for the living God. 

So, let's pray together, shall we? Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for You are our God. We thank you Lord that You have redeemed us and made us Your own and that You want us to know You and to love You. We pray this morning as we look into Psalms 23 that You would speak to our hearts, open our eyes to behold the wonderful truth out of Your law. So, we ask that Your Holy Spirit may be pleased to move and work in our midst, so that Jesus alone will be lifted up to the advance of the gospel in our hearts and in our lives, to Your glory, and we ask all this in Jesus’ name. Amen. 

When [Pastor Jason] invited me to speak at the camp, I was very happy to agree, and when he also allows us to pick our preferred psalm, without hesitation, I chose Psalm 23. The reason is the Lord used this psalm to minister to me during my journey of treatment which some of you may be aware of, since three years ago, and I just wanted to take the opportunity to dig a little deeper to understand why is it that this psalm has been so encouraging and comforting, and why is it that there are times when I lie in bed, tired, in pain, in fear, this psalm will come to my mind, and it would comfort my heart and put me to rest in the Lord. 

Famous, Familiar and Favourite

And I think for many of you, you are also going to find that Psalm 23 is very well known. It's a famous psalm. It is a familiar psalm. It is a favourite of many, not just myself but I want to say that just because we are familiar or we like it, it doesn't mean that we are informed about the psalm. What does that mean? Well, most people think that this maybe is a psalm for those who are sorrowing, like just now, I just shared with you some of my sorrows, right? So, you think, wha…I'm very happy, so no need, I go for other psalm, I go for Hallelujah. Now some people think that this is a psalm for funerals, because…why? Almost without fail, at funerals, the pastor, the officiating minister will read Psalm 23. So as a result, we think I haven't died yet…so maybe later…that's a misconception. The truth is that this is a psalm for all Christians in all of life and so we need to be informed, so that we can follow Jesus well especially for Christians, and I know there are many of us here who have fought battles and we have carried burdens. This psalm can be a great inspiration for you to know that no matter what you have endured, what you may have suffered, the best is yet to be.

And so, I like to invite you now to open up your Bible to Psalm 23, some of you may have it in your handphone or iPad. I like to go through this psalm with you, to help you understand what the psalmist is really saying, so that the comfort and the encouragement can be even closer to heart. Now from Psalm 23 I would just like you to understand this key truth that “The Lord shepherds His followers through a personal journey that culminates in an intimate communion with Him forever.”. I know that this is very long. I have tried to wreck my brain to shorten it, but I can't do justice to the psalm by compressing it further. Now I understand that there can be other ways to alliterate it, but bear with me, I will explain to you why this, I feel…is so important. Now, a word first about Hebrew poetry, I don't know whether you are like me, when I was told that this is poetry, in fact, the Poetic Books in the Bible are Job, you know, right? Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Solomon, now maybe a bit closer, and one more, Proverbs, right? Ecclesiastes as well, that's right. And I do not know how you feel, but I couldn't picture that…Why? Because the poetry I learned in school, or poems, they have rhyme, they have rhythm, and they have meter. What do I mean? For example, Amazing Grace. “How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now and found”. And what's the last line? “[I once] was blind, but now I see”. So, you can see the rhyme, the rhythm and the meter. And it's not just the English, even Chinese poetry has the same characteristic. For example, 

床前明月光

Chuáng qián míng yuè guāng

next line, 

疑是地上霜

Yí shì dìshàng shuāng

举头望明月

Jǔ tóu wàng míng yuè

then

低头思故乡

Dītóu sī gùxiāng

And just in case you think this is one of the very learned people who says this. And by the way, for those who didn't understand what was said, I give you the modern Singapore English rendition, even that rhymes, 

Bed front, moon bright bright,

Look down, see white white,

What's the next line?

Jǔ tóu wàng míng yuè, duì ma? [Correct? in mandarin]

Look up, see moon moon,

Right? 

Look down, think home home

So that is poetry to many of us, I hope you are getting it. And so, I didn't understand, what is Hebrew poetry? Ahh…the locals say “Liah Bo Kiu” [catch no ball in Hokkien], “Catch no ball” [translate to “do not understand”], right? So, it's important when we go into psalm especially Psalm 23, that Hebrew poetry works on the basis of metaphors / imageries. Put it another way, it paints pictures in your mind, and so, in Psalm 23 it paints two pictures, not one, and that's why I didn't title it, “The LORD is my shepherd”. I know that, that's more familiar because it starts that way, but there are two pictures. The first picture is this, the first metaphor is “The Lord as Shepherd”, but the second picture in Psalm 23 is “The Lord as Host”, a host to a meal. And these two pictures are the two powerful imageries that the psalmist used to communicate what we are talking about here, and when you understand Psalm 23, you are going to find that it is actually not a tranquil psalm. It's not a tranquil psalm, the images, the pictures, they are peaceable, and yet they are disturbing ones, and fears, oppressing realities. And so, the psalm does not fabricate a world for you and I as believers that is free of hardships. In other words, the contentment in Psalm 23 is not complacency, and we need to understand that the journey is not an escape, [09:46] but it leads us on into a deepening relationship with God that culminates in his presence forever. 

1. The Lord as Shepherd

So, with that, I like to look at the first picture. So, look at Psalm 23 together with me, and we're going to examine each of these pictures and see how they built, to help you understand your journey, “The Lord as Shepherd”. Now the first statement [that] the psalmist made is “The LORD is my shepherd”, and so, we need to establish an understanding at the beginning, who wrote this psalm? David, that's good. Now, who is he writing about? Now this is where it's a bit of question, right? So, I like to suggest to you that David wrote this psalm about Christ, our Lord Jesus Christ, and who did he write it for? And again, there is a bit of a question, isn't it? Think with me, if he wrote it for himself or for the Jews, this psalm has nothing to do with you and me, but if he wrote this psalm about Christ for Christians, then we can embrace it wholeheartedly. And as you saw yesterday’s night in Psalm 22, that although the sweet psalmist of Israel is writing about things that he has not even seen or experienced, yet it pointed accurately down the ages, of the kind of relationship that God wants to have with us and what the Messiah, himself will do. So, this psalm is written by David about Christ for Christians. How do I know that? Well, first of all, as you see in the superscript that it is a psalm of David, now think with me, David, he is the shepherd boy who was eventually appointed as the shepherd king over Israel. So, he is a shepherd himself, so he know what he's talking about, right? He's in the profession. Now, not only is he a shepherd, but he also identified himself as a sheep, so he understands both sides of the relationship. Now, when he talks about Christ, we read later in Revelation seven, verse 17, that Christ is the Lamb who became the Shepherd. Now, how do we know that this psalm is for us as Christians? Because Jesus said, “My sheep hears my voice” right, “and they follow me”. And so, we know that we are not trying to pretend to be David. We know we're not trying to pretend to be Israelites and Jews. We know that this is for us. 

[Psalm 23:1]

And so, I would like to suggest to you that we now need to look at the word “my”. How would this be true? How is the Lord going to be my shepherd. Now, in John chapter 10, verse 27, the Lord Jesus said, “My sheep hears my voice”. In other words, He's not talking about all humanity. He's not talking about everyone who comes to church. He's talking about those who hears his voice and has believed in the gospel because he said, “I lay down my life for my sheep”. This journey, this relationship, will not be true if not for the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, but you see, it's more than just being one of his followers. The Bible tells us that “My sheep hears my voice and they follow me”. In other words, if all you do is come to church listen to a sermon, go home and live your own life. You are really not on this journey that Psalms 23 is speaking of. You not only need to believe the gospel in the terminology and expression in Gospel Light [Christian Church] here, you need to live out the gospel. You need to be actively following Jesus for this to be true in your life, for Psalm 23 to be really meaningful to you. 

[Psalm 23:1, 6]

Now, the scripture goes on to tell us that in Psalm 23 if you take a step back and look at the big picture, you see, when you look at the psalm, when you look at the picture, you not only need to look at the details, you also have to look at the frame. What frames this entire psalm? Verse one and verse six tells us that the Lord at the beginning and at the end is the frame of the entire psalm, which means he is at the front and the centre, and the focus of this entire journey. This is not about me and my experiences. This is about God and how He is leading me. And so, from Psalm 23 we understand that God is not only known as we learn in the first session through general revelation of creation. He's not only known through the special revelation of His law of the Word, but He's also known in individual relationships, that this is a journey in which we are getting to know God in the ever-deepening way in our own journey of life. Now, when you have such a relationship, the psalmist goes on to say, “I shall not want.” “I shall not want.”. And as you read on to how these pictures develop, I want to tell you this [which] I feel is very important. Why do I say it's very important? Because most of the times we like to say, when you hear of sheep in the church, we think of those who are baa..baa [sheep sounds], cute, cute, dumb, dumb. So, when you are going to get your way, you become the lion [roar]. You become the bear [growl]. When you get into trouble, suddenly you see, [act like sheep] baa..baa.. [sheep sounds]. So, you act blur, you think gong-gong [stupid in Singlish]. So, when you read Psalm 23 you feel very comforted, because you think I also gong-gong [stupid in Singlish]. I want to tell you that, you know, [by] acting blur, [by] playing dumb, [and by] trying to imagine yourself to be someone spiritually stupid is not in this psalm. Now, I understand in Isaiah 53 it talks about “All we, like sheep, have gone astray,” there is..there is..there is the element there, I'm not denying it, but I'm just telling you this, it's not in Psalm 23 because the whole development of Psalm 23 is not emphasizing the animal-like characteristic of a sheep, but the discipleship qualities of one who follow the Lord. And so, if I can give you some examples, it will be like the Apostle Paul, who although he knew that he's going to be imprisoned in Rome because of the prophecy of Agabus, he continued and he said, “I’m willing to go up to Jerusalem, not just to be imprisoned, but even to die for his sake.”. “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.” that's what he meant, that's what David meant. 

It would be like in AD 155, [18:01] the Bishop of Smyrna, Polycarp, who, when he was caught, he was about to be burned at the stake for being a Christian. And the people pleaded with him, cursed Christ and lived. And he replied, 86 years have I served him, never have he failed me. How can I deny my God who saved me? “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.”. If we fast forward into the modern day, you may have heard of the American missionary Jim Elliot, one of the five missionaries who died in the missions to the Auca Indians in Ecuador. And do you remember his famous words that he wrote before he died? “He is no fool to give what he cannot keep”, right? “To keep what he cannot lose”. And so, we see that these are the sheep that Psalm 23 is talking about. “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.” Now I need to inform you, that's why I say let's get ready to dig into the Word, okay, because if you got the wrong idea, you are going the wrong direction. If you are thinking of Psalm 23 in ways that it is not drawing [right], the pictures are wrong then you have the wrong impression. 

[Psalm 23:2]

And so now let's move on to the next picture that Psalm 23 tells us about, the Bible tells us that “He makes me lie down in green pastures”. Now the “green pastures” here, if you know the Middle Eastern geography and their climate, they only have green pastures in late winter and spring. In other words, they are seasonal, and so for the psalmist to say that the Lord can lead me to green pastures, he thinks that he is doing something beyond the natural realm and experience of man, that the care, the provision of God is constant and abounding, it doesn't end. The Scripture also tells us that “He leads me beside still waters”. Sheep are unable to drink, and they would die of thirst if the water is rushing or moving. So, the shepherd has to come and look for these waters that are suitable. He understands the needs. He understands the moments in our lives and our needs in order to meet them at the right place at the right time. And the Scripture tells us here a very interesting thing that Philip Keller, some of you may have read him, a shepherd [who] looks at Psalms 23, who has been a shepherd for eight years, that a sheep will not actually lie down unless he is free of fear, friction, hunger and pest, unless all these criteria are met, according to Philip Keller, in his experience as a shepherd, the sheep will not lie down. Now think about isn't that like us? I mean, Elder Jeff wanted to entitle his sermon How to sleep well at night. I think that is a pretty good title, because many of us, even as Christians, have trouble sleeping at night. Why? We have problems lying down because we deal with friction, with fears, with pest and with hunger all the time. And yet this shepherd, when you follow him, he is able to provide your needs, that are physical, that are social, that are medical, and in other areas as you have need. So, when you combine all these pictures in verse two, you actually have a picture of an abundant life. It is a picture of an abundant life. Now don't get me wrong, when we think of abundant life in our modern day and age, we think about health and wealth. Wha..we think about, you pray and then, wha..blessing come, you pray and then, wha..suddenly all the curse broken. You pray only, everything goes well for you, and we think that is the abundant life. That's not what the Scripture says. The Scripture tells us in John chapter 10 that the abundant life refers to a life in which God is meeting your needs, all that is needed for your life and mind to flourish, to take shape, to have meaning, to have momentum, is found in Jesus in following him well. And so, when you turn to the gospel in Luke chapter 15, if you remember, Jesus gave us three parables to explain the heart of the Father in the redemption of man, and he gave us the parable of the lost sheep, and secondly, the lost coin, and the last one, the lost son. Now the first two parable doesn't give us a very clear picture of what the psalmist is talking about here, but think about the prodigal son, he thought that he had it worked out for him[self] when he left the father's house, when he went his own way, when he did as he pleased, when he thought he was pursuing his dreams. But all along in the whole scope of life as God has designed, he was not happy, he is wasting away. There is no abundance in his life until he repented and he turned, and he went back to the father's house. And the Scripture tells us that the moment he returned and was in the father's embrace, he is living in the presence of the only one who could make him lie down in green pastures and lead him beside still waters. In other words, my friends, you and I, we may have our thoughts, you and I may have our dreams, but our life will never take on the shape and the meaning that would fulfil God's will until the LORD is my shepherd and that is the second picture that David drew. 

[Psalm 23:3]

Now let's move on to the third picture, verse three, “He restores my soul”. Now here we are to make it very clear, we're not talking about mere refreshment. We're not talking about after a run, you drink Red Bull. We're not talking about last night; somebody went and had a great feast and told us about the suckling pig and the crabs that we never got to eat. We're not talking about that, alright. What are we talking about here? We're talking about spiritual renewal, restoring your soul, and how can your soul be restored? Jesus restores our soul by bringing us back to God. Nowhere else [and] nothing else will restore your soul, and that's why he had to die on the cross to shed his blood for our sins, so that through faith, we can be reconciled to God and through the rest of the journey, we are to follow him well, so that we constantly come back to God, and that's why he goes on to say that “He leads me in paths of righteousness”. 

Now, I know I'm giving you a lot of information. It's kind of like a literature class, you know, like a poetry class. I'm going to tell you what these pictures are about. Are you still with me, by the way? Okay, I'm afraid I lost some of you already, because I got to give you even more information. Now so get ready, I'm going to give you some more information about the path of righteousness. There are three senses about this path of righteousness, three sense[s] or three meaning[s]. The first one is this, the first meaning of the path of righteousness is, this is the moral righteousness, moral righteousness, ethical living. The second sense is this, that God will do right by you, that God will do right by you. The third sense is this, that this is the right path, the most direct way to your destination. So, there are these three senses, and then people will try to pick between one of the three. Okay, let me repeat them in case you, you lost me, so that we can get the right picture in mind. What's the first sense? Moral righteousness. Very good! Second sense, God will do right by you. And the third sense, the most direct rule. Excellent! I think you have rewarded yourself, later can have a nice meal. 

[27:38] Alright? Now…and so, you would like to ask yourself, which is the correct sense, how about this… how about all of it is true, you know, like multiple choice, A,B,C, and then D, all of the above. All of it is true, that when God leads you, He's going to lead you in a path that's morally right, that He's going to do right by you, and He's going to bring you in the most direct route to your destination. Now, here's a catch, He's not going to bring you on the most direct route according to your estimation, and that's where we get tripped up, right? That's where I got tripped up. In 2021 [28:27] July, I was diagnosed with cancer. I was honestly shocked. It's not in my family’s genes. I mean, you all may not believe it, I try to eat well [28:44] by not eating too much canned food. I didn't say I tried to eat less, I tried to try to eat well. So don't get me wrong, I get this look of unbelief, you know, I try not to eat so much instant noodle. You know, I do my part to fight cancer, and I eat more Lady’s finger when [at] the Cai Png [Economy rice in Hokkien] stall, you know, because I heard that it is good against cancer and I got it, I didn't understand it. And honestly, if you know, and some of you in the congregation, you have experienced this, it's not unique to me. You are looking at death in the face. There was a lot of pain and grief in my heart, and I never thought [of] this before, but I felt I want to grow old with my wife, I want to see my children grow up and get married and have children of their own. Isn't that normal? Isn't that, right? Am I asking for too much? Have I sinned? And therefore, I get punished? What's…now this sounds even a little off, but that is…please understand the anguish of my heart. What's the point of believing in Jesus if this is the end, if…whether you live good or evil, you are going to die like an animal and cancer will rob you of everything. And I thought to myself, what's the point? What's the point? Where is that path of righteousness? I struggled and I couldn't understand it, to be honest, but the Lord use Psalm 23 and he pointed out to me that this path of righteousness is for His name's sake, not for my comfort, not for according to my expectations. That…yes, I may not understand it but yet you must continue to live in moral righteousness. You must believe that God is doing right by me, even in this. And yes, it is hard to accept but this is the most direct route to my destination in God's will. I can't see it but I have to believe it. But this is a strange thing, I struggled, I wept, I cried, I prayed, I couldn't understand, but in the midst of all that, when I decided to give up my estimation of what a path of righteousness to lead to, and accept what God is doing and embrace that this is for His name's sake. I had peace because “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want”. It's not easy. I told you, it's peaceable; the pictures but disturbing. There's no escapism in Psalm 23, it's talking about real life, and so, we have to follow him well by understanding the ways and the paths in which he will lead us. 

[Psalm 23:4]

And this is just the beginning, or just a part of the journey, because the next verse, in verse four, is going to be like a central verse that kind of brings you up to a whole new level, and I need to take some time now to explain to you what the psalmist is describing here. He says here, “[Even] though I walk through the valley”, the valleys here in the Middle East refers to wadis. What are wadis? I give you a picture of a wadi. A wadi is a valley cut by the rains of winter, and so they are deep, sharp cliffs in which when you're walking through the air is heavy and the shadows are many. There could be wild animals lurking at the corner ready to prowl on you, you could be swept away by a flash flood at any time. In other words, this is not a playground. This is a very scary time for the sheep when the shepherd takes the next step and brings you down to a valley. And so, he described this valley as “the valley of the shadow of death”. You see, men can be very brave and very strong, but we got to realize that strength and courage cannot overcome death no matter how courageous you are, no matter how strong you may be, whether mentally, financially, physically, emotionally, it doesn't matter. It really doesn't matter. Death is death. The only one who overcomes death is our Lord Jesus Christ. The rest of us are hopeless, are helpless in the face of death. And so, when the psalmist wrote about this, he's telling us that this is like getting from good, it seems…to bad, and from bad to worse, is like who wants to go into a valley, who wants to meet with the shadow of death? 

And yet he said, even though I am going into one of the most difficult moments of my life, where I cannot overcome, where there is nothing, I can do, yet he said, “I will fear no evil. I will fear no evil”. Verse one, “I shall not want”. Verse four, “I will fear no evil”. So, the connection is there, that when you are following the Lord as your Shepherd, this can become realities, not that you will not fear, but you WILL not fear. Why? Why is it that you will not fear? And this is where the whole psalm explodes with glory and light of what this whole journey of the Lord as my Shepherd is about. It's because You are with me. It's not because of what you know. It's not because of what you have done. It's not because of what you have experienced. It's not because of who you think you are. All that doesn't matter in all of life if God is not with you. So, the psalmist is saying, I started off thinking it's going to be a good journey. You know, green pastures, still waters and you know, paths of righteousness, all to my liking and whoa…what's this? I don't want it. This is no fun. I don't want to live in fear. But how can I, in the most difficult times of my life, when I am following Jesus, when I'm trying my best to be a good Christian, and serve him all the days of my life, and yet this is on my plate, and all I have are fears. How can I overcome? What can I do? 

And the psalmist said, notice he is no longer using the third person, He leads me. He switched to the second person, You, and so that image intensifies in personal intimacy here. He is no longer talking about someone he knows. He is calling out to the one who alone can rescue him. And he says, the reason why I can survive this is because “You are with me”. I mentioned I went through treatment, and I don't want to go into too much detail, but I think it's sufficient to say that I have found that, for me personally, maybe not for some of you, that cancer is one of those diseases in which you know you are going to die or you may not survive, and yet you have a lot of time to think about it. [38:18] So it's really no fun. I mean, heart attack, ahh…die. Right? Accident, ahh…die. Stroke…whaa [action of dying]. I mean, I'm not trying to be brutal or cruel here. I'm just saying that, this is what I realized, that I'm there, this tumour, my doctor says, four by seven cm, huge one, advanced, local stage three, right at the border of going terminal. You know, it's like what a valley. What did I sign up for? Right? And I didn't get to go home right away and I got all this time in the world to think about it and wondering whether or not the treatment is going to turn positive. So, I can safely say, although I understand what I have gone through may not be as bad as what some of you have gone through, alright, so, I'm not trying to compare or compete here, okay. You may have gone through much worse than I have gone through, I understand that, and I respect that, but I'm just saying that I was in that valley, and I had a lot of time to fear because I didn't know whether I will live. I didn't know whether the tumour would shrink and when I survived that treatment, and I was told that the tumour has shrunk, I was so glad but there was a complication. You see, the thing about cancer is [that] it depends on where it grows and then what gets chopped off, and whatever gets chopped off means that you are no longer normal in that area. So, some better, some worse, for me, it was a quality of life. Some of you may have heard my bowels. I'm constantly dealing with my bowels. So, some have identified with my struggles with their Crohn’s disease, with their irritable bowel, it's something like that. And when I was going through that with the stoma, I remembered, I went on the internet and I read about those people who had it reversed, and they really, really had no quality of life. They can't leave the house. They have to be stuck to the toilet for years. And you know what? During that time, I had just finished my major surgery, I was going to chemotherapy which is another valley. And then when I thought about what life would be like after that, I was so depressed. 

On Sunday, I remember I worshiped with my family online at home, and after that, I wept before my family, my wife, my two boys, and I said, pray for me, because I feel like there is no more hope for me. And yet, at that very moment, the Lord gave me Hebrews, chapter 12, verse one and two, and told me, “Look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame,” follow Him. The Lord was with me. I have no other explanation. I want to tell you this, cancer didn't change me, except physically. It is Jesus who changed me. There's nothing to be proud about having a disease. I pray that you will be healthy and well, there's nothing to boast about. These valleys, the less you experience, I feel…the happier you would be, but if you do go through it, there's no way you could prepare yourself by saying, let me start eating this, let me start training that. There's no way because nothing you do will prepare for the willies of your life, except that the LORD is your shepherd, and when He comes and He is with you, there is no fear. And I thank God that He was with me and His rod and His staff, they comfort me. The rod is used to beat off external enemies. The staff is used as a shepherd tool to pull the sheep back from his own internal follies, and in that way, He leads on and He leads on. And now we turn to the next image.

2. The Lord as Host

Now, when we turn to the next image, I feel for you and for me, this can be pretty challenging. Why? Because we start with the LORD is my shepherd. We kind of want to stick with the LORD is my shepherd, right? We want to see this to the end. I do not know about you, when I read Psalm 23, I read up to verse four, I'm very happy, “You are with me”, right? Then you prepare a table for me. I mean in Hokkien, Lu Kong Si Mi [What are you saying?], what's going on here? I get lost and I trip over countless times for years, until I studied into it and then I realized that this is what the psalmist is doing, when he, now introduced another metaphor, it's not an anticlimax. It's actually a climax. He is now intensifying the metaphor from shepherd translating it into the host, to tell us what he is really talking about. The hint, “You are with me. You are with me.”, remember that central verse, that is the pivot. That is what he wants us to focus on, and now he's going to describe what it means for God to be with you. 

[Psalm 23:5]

And so, in verse five, he says, “You”, my shepherd, “prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil;” and “my cup overflows.” Now the image has completely changed. So, folks, if you drifted off, please come back. No more shepherd, already, okay. No more shepherd, no more shepherd. Now, Psalm 23, Bo Liao [Don’t have in Hokkien]. Pastures are passed. Still waters are passed. Valleys are passed. And now the picture is, the picture..the new picture is we enter into an Ancient Near Eastern home. Now, why did I say an Ancient Near Eastern home? Because when you enter into the Ancient Near Eastern home, you immediately come under His hospitality and you come under His protection, you get that picture? I repeat one more time, in case you missed it. The moment you enter into Ancient Near Eastern home, unlike our modern homes, [when] we go into modern home, we see our location, we see the toilet, you know, we go and see the fixtures. No..no..when you enter the Ancient Near Eastern home, you, in your journey, you come under His hospitality, and you come under His protection, and so when he used table, oil and cup and mix these images together, he's telling us that the home you're entering into is the LORD's, and He has infinite resources to meet every need because He is with you, and in His presence the enemies cannot trouble you, cannot move you anymore, cannot touch you. In fact, in contrast, the picture of oil is one of honour and celebration. You are not entering to home like a defeated foe. You are entering to home as an honoured guest. The Bible tells us here that my cup runs over, in other words, God is going to give you the very best in His presence. And he says, a table, in the New Testament, the table is a symbol of salvation and that's why Jesus said that in the final days, men will come from the east and the west, and they will recline at the table with the Son of Man. And so, you are not only getting hospitality, you are not only getting friendship, companionship, you are entering into the seal of His covenant of redemption. At the table is where Jesus lifted up the cup and said, “as often as you drink of this cup, do this in remembrance of me”. And so, when the psalmist is talking about all these things, he's saying, you know what, I realized that when I follow the Lord as my Shepherd, yes, there are good times, there are bad times, but what really matters is His presence. And when I understand that I am going to enter into the glory of His communion, [47:52] and there is so much comfort and rejoicing that my woes and pains don't seem to matter anymore, and that is what the presence of God would do for you. 

[Psalm 23:6]

And so I would submit to you that if you and I are constantly complaining, unhappy with anything in life, I wonder if you are feasting at His table, or you are just struggling to follow Jesus, but insisting on going your own way, because if you miss the picture of this communion, the psalmist goes on in verse 26 [correction, verse 6] to drive it home by saying, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life”. Notice that he's no longer talking about the valley. He's not talking about the green pastures. He's no longer talking about the still waters, those images that he started off with. Now he's going straight for the kill, and he's saying, you know what? As I look back in my life, as I journey with God, I realized this, I thought my pain was so big. I thought my sufferings are so much. I thought I lost it all. I thought I had been robbed. But he realized no, no, no, in the presence of my God, I realized that all my life He has been good. He has been good. The perfection and the fulfilment of God's will is good, and He is merciful, hesed; the loving kindness of God. And he's saying that this kind of firm friendship and communion is not just what I enjoy, but actually God was pursuing me. It's not only stable, it's vigorous. That when I step back and look back and I realized, you know what, He was with me all this while. He has been vigorously hunting me down so that I will taste of His goodness. And so, he ends with this, he said, “and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever”. 

Now this is where you can get really tripped over, if you are thinking of the place. Let me try to help you with this, now, this hotel is pretty nice. It has some big rooms, I hear, bigger than some of our homes, right? It has nice beds, nice toilet, wow, so big, and you know, so and so forth, and nice lighting and all. But you know what, as nice as the hotel is, is not your home. Your home is where your loved one is. And so, when David is talking about the house of the LORD, he's not talking about heaven as a place, like a better hotel, a better house, a better home. So, if you are saying, well, never mind, I now can't afford to buy a house, I got a mansion in heaven. A lot of Christian thought like that, right? I don't know. Later, all you have is a coconut tree. You['ll be] very disappointed because you're thinking of a place. David is not thinking of a place, okay? He's thinking about where God is. He's thinking about where God is, and he's saying, you know, I realized that when You are with me, there is this hospitality, there is protection, there is this seal of a covenant, and I am so blessed by Your goodness and Your mercy that I realize, that this is where my life is headed, in Your presence where You are, forever. 

Now…forever, we got to be careful, I have heard Christians before say, this is real, eternity, so long you know…Do what? Sing every day, wow, later, sore throat, how? It's like alamak [dismay in Singlish], why? Because we don't understand the Bible, you see, the Hebrew don't think of eternity as a timeless realm. The Hebrew thinks of eternity forever as endless days. That means every single day filled with His life, light and glory, going on and on and on forever. And he's saying, you know what? This is worth my whole life, and I will follow my Shepherd. That's why I couldn't shorten this any further, and I have to say that the key truth that I like to share with you is the Lord shepherds His followers through a personal journey. Are you a believer in the gospel? Are you living out the gospel that culminates, that culminates at the end point, is an intimate communion with Him forever. Don't miss it. It's not about how many green pastures you have eaten, how much still waters you have drunk. It's not about how long your path of righteousness is, you know, how much you suffer. It's not about all that. It's not about all that. It's not about how many valleys you went through. You know, I [53:22] so garang [courageous in Singlish] you know, you don't know. You, one sickness, I got 10. Okay, you win. You win. It's not about that, alright? It's not about that. It's about God, that intimate communion, forever. And so, you see that in Psalm 23 there is a confession [53:47] that brings you comfort and confidence. 3Cs, right, no need to guess who came out with it. [53:58] So I chew on the 3Cs for a while, I thought about Psalm 23 and I thought to myself, you know what, that is really neat, and I'm sure it's very helpful, but if you look at Psalm 23, it doesn't end, and I hope, it wouldn't end with me and my comfort, me and my confidence, like…wha…solid Christian. But I hope it ends with me and my communion with God. You see friends, Psalm 23 is telling us, it is not the place, not the place, not the house of the LORD, but the vitality of that relationship with God that transformed. And so, when your heart is conscious of the nearness of God, your journey will be filled with a light and glory that this world cannot give. So, having been informed of the Lord as your Shepherd, how will you follow him better? And I hope, having been inspired by the love, the goodness and the mercy of God that is pursuing you. How will you orientate your life and direction so that you end up where God wants to be with you and me forever? 

Closing Prayer

Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for Your Word. We ask that You take Your truth and speak it to our hearts and help us to understand that this is all about You, and if not for You, we are nothing. So may we have a deeper sense of humility and brokenness, to love You, to trust You and to follow You all the days of our lives, so that in the eternal bliss of glory, we can say this is the God I have known in the earthly days of my life, and I'm so glad that I have spent my life following Him. We ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.