Ever since I read Dallas Willard’s book, Life without Lack, Psalm 23 has been a daily source of prayer and reflection. This passage is such a beautiful description of God’s shepherding activity in our spiritual formation. It’s a shame that this passage has been relegated to funerals because it provides far more wisdom and promise for life than comfort at death.

So here are some of my current reflections on this Psalm.

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.” Psalm 23:1-3a

Verses 1-3a form a powerful description of God as our Shepherd and his formational activity in our lives. In him, we lack absolutely no good thing in our life. Because of this reality, I am always safe in him, regardless of whatever circumstance I’m experiencing.

But this requires being trained into the ability to genuinely live in this truth. It’s one thing to give intellectual assent that I lack nothing in God and a completely different thing to actually experience it within my thoughts, emotions, will and body. Let me put it another way. Even though I may believe I lack nothing in God when a crisis hits, my stress, worry, raised blood pressure, sweaty palms, upset stomach, hurriedness, impatience, inability to sleep, and other symptoms betray that I don’t actually believe it deep within my emotions and bodily systems. 

Those symptoms expose a fractured soul. The soul is that part of us that integrates our thoughts, feelings, will, body and relationships into a whole and synchronized life. When those components are at odds with one another, our soul is fractured.

But verses 1-3a show how God is restoring our soul. He makes us lie down in green pastures and walk beside still waters. The image of the sheep is one of complete fulfillment and satisfaction. It is so satisfied that it ignores the grass and water, the very thing it would normally crave.

Its satisfaction does not come from the tranquil environment. It’s neither hungry nor thirsty because it has found its nourishment in the Shepherd. This is very similar to what Jesus revealed in John 4:32, “I have food to eat of which you know nothing.” 

I tend to find satisfaction in my tranquil environment. I’m fulfilled when my bank account is full, when my health is good, when my job is meaningful and successful, and when my family and friendships are free of conflict. In those times, it’s easy to be like the foolish farmer in Jesus’ parable (Luke 12:13-21) and think I’m safe and secure because of my perceived abundance and success.

This is the grounds for a fractured soul. Because when those things are removed, we perceive our security to be gone and our world to be in turmoil. But God is training us to see that we lack nothing because he is our Shepherd. He’s training us to find our nourishment, satisfaction, and security in him and not the abundant “grass” and “water” around us. And by doing so, he’s restoring our soul.

We then come to verses 3b-4:

“He leads me in paths of righteousness 
for his name’s sake.
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.” Psalm 23:3b-4

Part of God’s training is how he leads us as our Shepherd.  He’s leading us on “paths of righteousness.” Righteousness in the Old Testament means “covenantal faithfulness and justice.” It means living in right relationship to the covenant between God and his people in the midst of daily lives.

God is showing and training us how to live our mundane and ordinary lives for his glory and for the good of others. When we go shopping. When we’re at the coffee shop. When we’re driving on the freeways. When we’re at work, in a meeting, caring for our kids, visiting friends, on vacation. Every single mundane moment can be lived in covenantal faithfulness for God’s glory and the good of those around us and in our lives. That’s because our souls are restored and we are living and experiencing God’s capable provision of every good thing in our lives.

Now notice that these “paths of righteousness” inevitably take us into the “valley of the shadow of death.” Our Good Shepherd, intentionally leads us into the dark valley. They’re part of the “paths of righteousness.” This is why God trains us and restores our souls. He has to take us through dark valleys. If we haven’t been formed into people who truly live in and experience the reality that we lack nothing in our Shepherd, we will succumb to fear. 

If my perceived security and safety is in the tranquil circumstances, then what happens when my bank account drains, when my health fails, when my job vanishes, and when my relationships crack. But if I’ve trained with my God to find all my sustenance in him and thereby he’s restored my soul, then I won’t fear evil. What I’ve learned in the tranquil times remains true in the tragic times. What is true of God in the light remains true of God in the dark.

We won’t fear evil because he is with us. And we’ve learned that he is everything we need, even in the midst of loss, tragedy, and perhaps death. We’re comforted by God’s shepherding rod and staff. These objects of protection and guidance are an extension of who he is as my Shepherd, which we will see at work in the next passage.

We come to verses 5-6. The metaphor changes. The dark valleys that our Shepherd guides us becomes a battlefield occupied by our enemies. But look at how we’re comforted by God’s rod and staff in the midst of constant threat:

“You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
    forever.” Psalm 23:5-6

Our Shepherd prepares a table for us smack dab in the midst of our enemies. God does not remove our enemies. Nor does he remove us from the presence of our enemies. He places a bountiful banqueting table in the middle of the battlefield. He doesn’t change the dire circumstances. Rather, he’s intimately present with us and abundantly caring for us in the midst of the dire circumstances.

And he anoints our head with oil. This is the ancient equivalent of a relaxing, hot shower. He provides us with peace during the desperate times. And he makes our cup overflow. He provides abundantly and generously in the midst of the chaos. In the dark valley and in the battlefield, God provides abundant protection, peace, and provision. It’s similar to what Paul wrote in 2Corinthians 9:8, “And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”

And in our Shepherd, in whom we lack nothing, we don’t have to worry about our enemies outflanking us and catching us by surprise. God‘s goodness and mercy follow us every day. His goodness and mercy are like his rod and his staff. They are an extension of who God is as our Shepherd. They guard us from behind so that nothing can surprise us.

And the Psalm ends as it begins. Our intimate friendship with our Shepherd will last forever. No circumstance, no matter how catastrophic, can change that. He is our shepherd, our sustainer, our satisfaction, our fulfillment, our nourishment, our protector, our guide, our peace, our provision. This world is a safe place to be because we lack no good thing in him. This is a promise for our day-to-day reality as he guides us through our ordinary, mundane life and it is a promise for our eternal reality that awaits us in God’s grand New Creation.