10. THE FINAL YEARS AND SETTLED FEARS

10. THE FINAL YEARS AND SETTLED FEARS

Psalm 23:1-6

The One who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, had as clearly and openly been David’s Shepherd, in the last moment and the last breath he took; as He had been out there in the pastures, when He first introduced Himself to David as His Shepherd.

1. The Lord had promised to be David’s shepherd. The Hebrew word for “shepherd” means to tend a flock. It also means to associate or keep company. The lord had not only tended David in those places; He had kept Him company. He spoke to him, spoke with him, and fellowshipped with him when there was no one else. Out there in that pasture is where David met his Shepherd, and He filled up those quiet hours.

1 Samuel 16:11

Psalm 78:70-72 – God was teaching David something about Himself while He was out there tending those sheep. David discovered something about God’s role in His own life by the role of his life in those sheep.

The signature of “my shepherd” is “my everything.”

Parallel: David as a sheep – God as the Shepherd.

David was saying “God you are my life.” God always teaches us something of Himself.

Now He would cause him to rest (1 Kings 2:10). David needed rest from all that he had encountered and had been through in his life.

2. The Lord had restored David’s soul. In the Hebrew “restored” means to cause, to return, to lead back, and to refresh. David said He always “led me back; He always refreshed me by bringing me back.” Restore also means that God would bring him to a place where he would never again depart. “You have brought me time and again back to the place where I departed – literally emotionally, spiritually, and from a place of departure going into a season of sin.”

When I give you another opportunity, a do-over this time is when you make a decision for my “Name’s sake.”

Exodus 20:20 – God will test us in that same area again and again until we get it right.

Restore also means that He would take him to a place where he would never again depart. David would never, ever, have another place of departure. He had departed for the last time.

3. The Lord had been David’s guide in the paths of righteousness (Psalm 23:1-3). He guides us in paths of righteousness in two ways:

A. His Word (Psalm 19:9-11). In keeping God’s Word there is reward, and He will keep us out of more trouble.

B. His Chastisement. We must come before Him with humility. There is a difference between a sin that has immediately been turned from, and sin which has been heaped upon sin upon sin.

Hebrews 12:5-6 – discipline is to teach someone that there is a penalty for disobedience.

Hebrews 12:10-13 – God always disciplines us for good to share in His holiness. He guides us with discipline as well as the Word of God, to bring us to a place where we can share with Him.

Now He would crown David with righteousness (Psalm 101:1-8) - a blameless life.

2 Timothy 4:7-8 – there is a Crown of Righteousness for those who long for His appearing. If we are not living a season of our life in righteousness, there is nothing in us that makes us want the Lord to return at that time.

When David came on his knees, God gave him a crown, and this time, after setting him free, it was the Crown of Righteousness.

4. The Lord had accompanied him through the valley of the shadow of death (Psalm 23:4). There are many times when David feared death. The original Hebrew word for “shadow of death” means “deep darkness” or “terror of death.”

Psalm 6:1-5 – this was the fear of death. Now God would accompany David through the valley of the reality of death.

Hebrews 2:14-15 – Christ has overcome the fear of death. When God accompanies someone to death, he overcomes the fear of death. In those last moments there is no fear. Christ has overcome the bondage of death; the freedom from the slavery of the fear of death.

5. The Lord had prepared a table before David in the presence of his enemies (Psalm 23:5). As David was brought into the presence of God, he would have a feast prepared for him in the presence of the One who had fed him as his Shepherd, in the presence of a Holy God (Luke 22:18).

Psalm 23:4-6 – it was in death that David got the thing that he most desired.

Psalm 27:4 – this was no longer the shadow, but the reality. God gave him his greatest request. David beheld the beauty of God’s face.

Psalm 71:5-6, 17-18, 20 – God would raise David up in the glorious resurrection. In David’s colorful life, God had been the one consistent shade. In our journeys with God, may we see Him faithful, and may we realize that He has been there over and over again; doing what it takes to bring the wandering heart home.

Oh, the privilege to love the One who remains the consistent thread in an inconsistent life.