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Wednesday 22^nd

Psalm 42

In this Psalm we have the narrative of an individual who it seems to use a modern phrase to be ‘down in the dumps’ spiritually. He seems to be low in spirit, we see this in verses 5 and verse 11 ‘Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?’

I think that we would all admit that sometime or other we have found ourselves in this place. Maybe more often than we would like to admit, we may have gone through a trying experience, we may have been faced with difficult circumstances, it may have been sickness, unemployment, feelings of rejection, the loss of someone, a marriage problem, the list could almost be endless and during those moments which seem to last for eternity we have gotten into a place of hopelessness and of feeling that it’s never going to end. Depression sets in, both an emotional and a spiritual depression and we find ourselves where the psalmist is, cast down, with an inner turmoil. In verses 9-10, the psalmist even questions the presence of God – have you been there? – maybe you are in that place at the moment – note what he says, ‘I say to God, my rock: “Why have you forgotten me?” he then gives us a little detail about what has caused his downcast soul, “Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”’

In the middle of his turmoil, depression, whichever label we want to give it, he feels that God has forgotten him. He feels all alone, he feels trapped within himself. Possibly thinking that his whole world was going to collapse in upon him or all around him, but, there is a glimmer of hope, even though his soul is downcast, even though he feels that God has forgotten him, the glimmer of hope is there like a flickering candle burning its last bit of wick, and twice he says ‘Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.’ (verses 5 and 11). His focus was turning from his hopelessness to the certainty of God’s help.

The spark would return, the joy would return, the hopelessness would be replaced with hope again, the turmoil will be replaced with peace again, the depression will lift and his spirit would soar again, because however deep into depression he went, even though he felt he’d been forgotten by God, he still clung onto God, even if from his point of view it may only have been by his finger-tips. For God was there, God hadn’t forgotten him.

Yesterday we considered Psalm 23 and the confidence we have that the Good Shepherd will be with us as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, can I suggest to you today, that the same Good Shepherd will also be with you if you ever have to walk through the valley of depression, and if you are walking through that valley at this moment of time, there is hope, there is a way out, keep clinging onto the Shepherd.

My intention for todays devotion was actually to deal with verses 1-3, but as you can see I’ve not done that, somehow, and I can only believe it was the prompting of the Spirit the devotion has become what it is. I have a very strong conviction that God wants to speak into someone’s life, maybe that someone is you, you are struggling in the pit of depression, understand this, God is there and he wants to lift you up and bring you out. Reach out. Instead of clinging on with the tips of your fingers, place your hand firmly in His hand, it is a strong hand, it is a hand that will not let you go, it is a hand that wants to lead you forward into all that he has planned for you. Take the psalmists words and apply it to your own life, ‘Hope in God; for I shall praise him, my salvation, my God.’

The opening verses (verses 1-4) are the psalmist’s prayer, he wants his desire for God, for the things of God and for the house of God to be re-ignited again. Sometimes it is when we take our focus off God and of who he is that we begin to lose our way. Going through the period of time that we are at present, with restrictions upon us in regard to fellowshipping together, it would be easy to lose our focus, easy to start feeling sorry for ourselves, easy to get into a routine that will be difficult to break when the restrictions are over, may each one of us, be resolute to keep our focus on God, on the things of God and with a determined desire to be found in the house of God when we are able once again to go.

I was going to originally link this Psalm to another Psalm, 63, but I will close todays devotion with the opening verses, ‘O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.’

A few weeks ago, I was preparing to speak on the hands of Jesus and a song that I discovered at the time blessed me, so I will include it here as my hymn for the day. Feeling hopeless and lost? Place your hand in His hand.

Put your hand in the hand of the man

Who stilled the water

Put your hand in the hand of the man

Who calmed the sea

Take a look at yourself

And you can look at others differently

Put your hand in the hand of the man

From Galilee

When Jesus came into this world to bring salvation,

He grew up in a town with a bad reputation

And he walked among the common people who lived in galilee

And he knows all the troubles of a people like a you and a me

Put your hand

Now there’s more to the story that we can ever understand

Jesus was God in the flesh while walking this land

And he came to die and to rise again to take our fears away

So that we can live with peace and joy everyday

^{Unknown, Adapted Caroll Roberson CCLI 788682}

TUESDAY 21^st

Psalm 23

I wonder going back to what I suggested on Sunday morning about listing seven of the Psalms, how many put Psalm 23 down? It is possibly one of the most well known and used Psalms and possibly most used portion of Scripture alongside ‘The Lord’s Prayer.’

And yet the reality is that so many who have used it whether at a wedding, funeral etc. do not actually know the Lord, let alone know him as their Shepherd. See it is a nice psalm, it speaks of nice things, but to know it’s benefits we need to know in a personal way the Shepherd it is referring to.

Can we truly say today that we know the Shepherd so that we can say ‘The LORD is my Shepherd?’

What are the benefits of knowing this Shepherd?

To list them:

We will not want

We lie in green pastures

We are led by still waters

Our soul is restored

We are led in the paths of righteousness

When we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we will not fear evil

The Shepherd is with us

His rod and staff comfort us

There is a table prepared before us in the presence of our enemies

Our head is anointed with oil

Goodness and mercy follow us – all the days of our life

We will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

The Psalm covers our pilgrimage as we walk with the Shepherd through life from our getting to know him as our Saviour, that is, our walk with him in the present, and his being with us as we pass through death and into eternity.

In Johns gospel, Jesus says that he is a Shepherd, he uses another word to describe what kind of Shepherd he is – ‘I am the GOOD Shepherd. (John 10:11) In the epistles he is also described as the Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:4) and as the Great Shepherd. (Hebrews 13:12).

If the LORD is the Shepherd then it also means that we who claim to belong to the Shepherd must be sheep, and not just any sheep but HIS sheep. In Isaiah 53:6 we read ‘All we like sheep have gone astray’ but 2 Peter 2:25 says ‘For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.’ In Psalm 100, one of the songs the Children of Israel sang includes the line, ‘We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture’ thank God because the Good Shepherd came to seek and to save the lost we can now also declare that we are his people and the sheep of his pasture. ‘I was lost, but Jesus found me, Found the sheep that went astray, threw His loving arms around me, drew me back into His way.’

We are familiar with the parable of the lost sheep, (Luke 15:1-7) that parable speaks of where we all were, lost, until Jesus came looking for us and found us and saved us. Perhaps there may be someone reading this today and you are still lost, you are still like a sheep that has gone astray, today you can come in repentance and know forgiveness of sin and be brought into the fold of the Good Shepherd. It was after hearing the parable of the Good Shepherd being preached one Sunday evening that I came to give my life to Jesus.

In deciding what to bring from this Psalm I decided upon v4 ‘Even 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.’

There are as we noted in the devotion on Sunday 19^th April, many blessings attached to knowing Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. This verse, Psalm 23:4 speaks of one of the most comforting blessings that come from knowing the Lord as our Shepherd. To summarize it ‘when we are faced with death be it our own or that of someone who is close to us, we do not need to fear any evil, we do not need to be afraid, and two reasons,

1) Because the Shepherd who hung on the cross for us, the Shepherd who came looking for us, the Shepherd who is walking with us every day will still be with us as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death. He made a promise that I will never leave you, even unto the end of the age and he is a promise keeper he will never leave us not even in the dark valley of death.

2) Because the Shepherd who is going to walk through that valley with us, has already been through it himself, and the good news is that by going through the valley of death himself, he conquered it, he destroyed its power. And here is some exciting news, in the book of Revelation we read that John the Apostle saw the risen Christ, our Shepherd, and as he looked upon him, it says, ‘he fell as if he was dead,’ but the Shepherd touched him and gave him some brilliant and exciting news; ‘Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive for evermore.’ Now if Jesus had stopped there that itself would be awesome, but he didn’t stop there, he continued with more amazing news that should bring us comfort and a realisation that we do not need to fear death. What did he say? ‘AND I HAVE THE KEYS OF DEATH AND HADES.’ (Revelation 1) What does this mean for us?

It means that the keyholder of death will have those keys with him as we walk through the valley, therefore we need not fear because he also has the power to grant eternal life to all who have believed on his name. I like to picture walking through the valley of the shadow of death and Jesus is walking with me and every time a door appears with death written upon it, he rattles it and says to me, ‘look it’s locked and I’ve got the key’ and when we get to the other end there is a door that says ‘life’ and he opens it and he takes me through it and into his eternal presence.

When it comes to the valley of the shadow of death it is something we have no choice over, one day we will all have to walk through it, but be encouraged as I have often said we may fear the way that we will die, its natural as we don’t want to suffer or go through pain, but we don’t need to fear death itself, this is why this Psalm is such a comfort to the believer.

Sadly, many are dying at this time, we often hear that many are having to die alone, and we need to pray that in their final moments that men and women will cry out to God for mercy and salvation.

I have a Shepherd, One I love so well;

how He has blessed me tongue can never tell;

on the Cross He suffered, shed His blood and died,

that I might ever in His love confide.

Following Jesus, ever day by day,

nothing can harm me when He leads the way;

darkness or sunshine, whate’er befall,

Jesus, the Shepherd, is my All in All.

Pastures abundant doth His hand provide,

still waters flowing ever at my side,

goodness and mercy follow on my track,

with such a Shepherd nothing can I lack.

When I would wander from the path astray,

then He will draw me back into the way;

in the darkest valley I need fear no ill,

for He, my Shepherd, will be with me still.

When labour’s ended and the journey done,

then He will lead me safely to my home;

there I shall dwell in rapture sure and sweet,

with all the loved ones gathered round His feet

^{Leonard Weaver CCLI 788682}