The Rev. Frank Logue
King of Peace Episcopal Church
Kingsland, Georgia
April 25, 2010

The 23^rd Psalm Revisited
Psalm 23 

Preachers only have one sermon and each week, they find a way to give that sermon anew. That’s how I have heard it told. Not that there is only one sermon, but that each preacher has some aspect of the Gospel that is central to him or her and that theme is explored in every sermon in some way. 

For example, the great Anglican leader and retired Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa, Desmond Tutu says that he only has the one sermon that “Jesus loves you.” Billy Graham has spent his whole ministry preaching that God loves you and wants a relationship with you, followed by showing how to get that relationship started. I have puzzled over this from time to time, wondering how I fall into that pattern. I like to think I have more than one sermon in me.  

Yet, as a rough draft of this sermon revealed, I find that the essence of the 23^rd Psalm is that we are to put our trust in God. As someone with the words “Trust in the Lord with all your heart” written on the walls of my home, this theme of trust is probably at least one of my sermons, if not the central core of all my preaching. 

I hope that this theme of learning to ever more trust in God is central to my preaching, because it is central to Christianity. Trust in God is also literally central to the 23^rd Psalm, as right in the middle of this well known passage of scripture, the Psalmist sings “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” 

There is a picture book I have used before in teaching this Psalm to children. The pictures are all drawn in the context of a rough inner city neighborhood. For the page on the Valley of the Shadow of Death, a school crossing guard is leading the children across the street that has what seems to be drug dealers hanging out on the steps of apartments all around. Her crossing sign is the rod and staff. She watches over the children as a sign of God watching over them. 

This is like the sheep that can pass through the most fearful situation, because the shepherd is right there alongside her. This reminds me of the kindergarten class who is going around the room sharing what they want to be when they grow up. Following after the usual answers of fireman, doctor, sailor, the shiest most timid boy in the class says in his meekest, I-hate-to-say-this-out-loud-but-it’s-true voice, “I’m gonna be a lion tamer.” The teacher asks, “I lion tamer? I would be too scared. Wouldn’t you be afraid?” The kindergartner sat up straighter and replied, “Well, my mommy would be with me.” 

The boy trusted his mother so completely that he could walk fearlessly into a lion cage if she were with him. For the sheep, it is the dark valley. For you it may have been the break up of a marriage; the loss of a job; the diagnosis of cancer; the death of a parent, or even that most difficult of losses, the death of a child. It takes different forms, but the Valley of the Shadow of Death is a very real location. Before you go through the valley on the well-worn and yet still so tricky path, it is best to know where to put your trust. 

This is where I find echoes of previous sermons. I have returned to the idea that if you put your greatest faith in a relationship or a job or anything or anyone other than God, then you will very often have that trust destroyed. If you don’t give God the place of priority in your life—putting your trust in God first and foremost—then it won’t matter what else you put in that place.  

You could decide that work comes first, because that is how you will have a secure future. Do everything you need to do to get ahead at work. Play your cards right. And maybe the company will repay your loyalty. Probably not. 

The list can go on easily enough. Money, power, prestige—these are some of the things people can place first in their lives, trusting that with enough of any of them, they will be fine. But there are a lot of good priorities in life too. Your kids, your husband or wife, your friends are all deserving of your time, attention and even trust. But decide that when push comes to shove life is going to work out just fine because of any one of them and you will have put more pressure on someone than is fair. Your friends and family should have your back. You should have people around you, you can trust. But when it comes to those dark times the Psalmist calls the Valley of the Shadow of Death then you and all those you trust will need a Good Shepherd nearby. It’s better to place your trust their first. 

This is what the 23^rd Psalm teaches from its very outset. The Psalm begins, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not be in want.” You should know that this statement had political overtones at the time it was written. In the Ancient Near East, kings were referred to as shepherds and the king was looked to as the one who was responsible for making sure that those in the kingdom had what they needed to thrive. The safety was the king’s responsibility. Like a shepherd, the king was to guide those in the kingdom. 

The 23^rd Psalm is a Psalm of David, which means it was written by or for Israel’s great king. And the great king sees that the real shepherd is the Lord. David knows that it is only because of God that we shall not be in want.” This is the king telling you that trusting in the king is fine, but place your essential trust in the Lord. For kings and kingdoms will all pass away, but the Lord will remain. It is a political statement in that this is a military and political leader saying don’t put your hope in military might or any political system, but put your hope, your faith, your trust, in God. 

The Psalm goes on to show how food, water and shelter are provided. The sheep is guided along right pathways, then we come to the midpoint of the Psalm, the Valley of the Shadow of Death. I keep emphasizing this verse because the very structure of the Psalm places the emphasis here. Everything builds toward and away from this image. 

We should note that far from promising that with God in our lives everything is gonna be peachy keen, the Bible promises that we will have to deal with tough times, hard decisions, painful losses. This is the way the world works. And as the Bible teaches that this world is a place to grow and learn, it is fitting that the world is made in such a way that opportunities to grow and learn naturally arise. Often they come up in very bad circumstances. We all learn more from adversity than from success as it is in difficult times that we discover what we can count on and what we can’t. 

The turn of the 15^th century Christian mystic Julian of Norwich put it like this as she reflected her experience of God as revealed to her in visions, 

If there be anywhere on earth [where] a lover of God is always kept safe from falling, I know nothing of it, for it was not shown me. But this was shown: that in falling and rising again we are always kept in the same precious love. Between God and the soul there is no between. He did not say, You will never have a rough passage, you will never be over-strained, you will never feel uncomfortable, but he did say You will never be overcome. (from Julian of Norwich’s Revelations of Divine Love). 

At the time she had her mystical experience, the 30-year old Julian was on her deathbed, or so she thought. It was May of 1373 and as she lay in great weakness, she saw some intense images of Jesus. She would recover and would then spend many years reflecting on the visions. Twenty years later, she set pen to paper to create the first book in the English language known to be written by a woman. And in reflecting on her own near death and Jesus presence in it is when she wrote, 

He did not say, You will never have a rough passage, you will never be over-strained, you will never feel uncomfortable, but he did say You will never be overcome. 

The reason we are not overcome. The reason we can make it through the deep darkness of the valley is that we are never alone for between God and the soul, there is no between.  

In closing, there is one corrective found in the Psalm that is worth noting. The shepherd watches over the sheep. The shepherd guards sheep, rescues sheep, cares for sheep. But the shepherd also pulls sheep back in line. The rod and staff that are a comfort to the sheep are both the means for rescuing the sheep and the way to poke and prod a sheep that has gotten out of line. 

So it is not simply that we trust God and no matter what happens, we’ll be fine. It is that we also need to follow the shepherd. We need to work to stay on the right pathways. Yes, the shepherd will be with you and rescue you if you get into trouble, but isn’t it a better course of action not to give him such a workout? 

The means of staying on the path are well known, I not always followed. Reading scripture routinely is one of the best ways to follow the shepherd’s leading. This is another frequent theme in my preaching and teaching. The Bible works poorly as an instruction manual for times of crisis, but works wonderfully well when read frequently. The most genuinely spiritual (rather than holier than thou) folk I know are those who read their Bibles routinely following a pattern, like the one in Forward Day by Day that we have available for free in the hall. You can decide you don’t need to make time to read the Bible, but look to how those who do make the commitment to routinely read scripture fair when troubles come their way. I find those who read scripture are always more prepared and better grounded when buffeted by the storms of life. 

Then beyond reading the Bible, routine prayer alone and in community together with gathering with a community for communion—these are among the key practices that keep you on the right path. Not only will they stand you in good stead when life leads through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, but these practices will also help you place and keep your trust in God even when everything is going well. 

Trusting in God is not easy. But there are proven ways to not only place your trust in God, but actions you can take, reading the Bible, praying, worshipping with others, that will make that trust deeper and more lasting. This is worth the time and energy it takes as if you don’t trust in God first and foremost, it won’t matter who or what you trust, you’ll be disappointed when the shadows lengthen across the valley. While I may have one or two other sermons in me, this one is worth returning to again and again.  

Amen.