Psalms 23 sometimes referred to as: The Pearl of Psalms, The Nightingale Psalms, or The Shepherd Song about His Shepherd. Psalms 23 also gives us a picture of a tender Shepherd, who leads his flock, protecting them from the perils of the wilderness but also the picture of the Greatest Host.
Psalms 23 has been recited over and over in my life since a child. I remember as a child, I had to memorize this memory verses. At a church I had gone to, there were certain times of the year where we had stood in front of the congregation and recite memory verses in Samoan. Let me just tell you, reciting them in Samoan was lot more difficult, a lot of the times; you didn’t understand what you where saying. Us kids those days, really wasn’t thinking of what we were saying, it was after we had said it, and that was when the excitement started. It was when what goodies, or where our treat was coming from. At times it would be like a game, in what we would call our ultimate destination and it would be like McDonald’s or Jack in the Box. The mega destination if we did the best would be Fun Factory. When it came to learning the verses we were rebels, until the day came to do it, we knew what our big prize would be.
It is when we become older and get in that stuck mode, which is where we revel Psalms 23. When all else failed us, then we turned to the last thing we know, our bibles and we read the Psalm that David wrote when he was a shepherd. I had gone through many trials and tribulations. For me, Psalms 23 wasn’t in sight. I was blind and deaf to God, yet God was doing His work in telling me to listen, and he did it through people that were around me. And then recently I went on vacation because I was going through struggles in my life that I couldn’t handle, all I knew that my heart was full of anger, rage, and hurt. At first my anger was towards people, then I began to have rage, but rage in a different manner, I had made an excuse that I was starting to get angry toward the people who was treating God invisibly. Well, in all these trials, I decide to go away. What surprised me was God knew exactly where I needed to be. In a room full of books, a library, and that is where my room was. God worked to the point that I did a 360 turn that I was now waking up in the morning and my schedule look this. Between 7am and 2pm that is the time God allotted me to be in His presence, He told me, come and sit here, I said ok, then He told me, you see all these books, well they are yours so you would have time for me. I will take you away from this world, and where I take you, you will feel my peace and presence, you will take time to know me. And I did. Well, so, I did what God wanted me to do. In between my time with God, I had emailed a pastor and asked him for a sermon writing assignment. He said to write a sermon on Psalms 23. I have not written a sermon on Psalms 23 before. I took up the challenge. Then as I began to research Psalms 23, it was as if Jesus said, Jessie, I am your Psalms 23 and I am shepherding you at this moment. What are you going to give up for me Jessie? I told Jesus this, I will give up hours for you, so I could know you intimately and my heart is longing to be in your presence. Psalms 23 is quite simple. God is my shepherd, my teacher, my guide, my source of hope and peace, my rest, who replenishes my life. Everything I need for my daily life and the answer to my struggles in life. When I had come back from my trip I had another interesting short talk with another pastor, and I told her, Psalms 23 is a revolving cycle every day. It is a continual cycle that revives us every day. As I reflect upon Psalms 23, it fully opens and awakens the words for me as I am in the presence of God, at the time I had given all to him. I have also seen it where when I am in the presence of God, I have no fear, I have no worries, I have no troubles. In Psalms 23:3 says, “You let me rest in fields of green grass, you lead me to streams of peaceful water and you refresh my life.” What powerful words these are? They are true in my own experience; Psalms 23 is repeating itself as I open my bible, and studying his words, and as I open myself to be Shepherd by God.
“There was once a Shakespearean actor who was known everywhere for his one-man shows of readings and recitations from the classics. He would always end his performance with a dramatic reading of Psalm 23. Each night, without exception, as the actor began his recitation - "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want"...The crowd would listen attentively. And then, at the conclusion of the Psalm, they would rise in thunderous applause in appreciation of the actor's incredible ability to bring the verse to life. But one night, just before the actor was to offer his customary recital of Psalm 23, a young man from the audience spoke up. "Sir, do you mind if tonight I recite Psalm 23?" The actor was quite taken back by this unusual request, but he allowed the young man to come forward and stand front and center on the stage to recite the Psalm, knowing that the ability of this unskilled youth would be no match for his own talent. With a soft voice, the young man began to recite the words of the Psalm. When he was finished, there was no applause. There was no standing ovation as on other nights. All that could be heard was the sound of weeping. The audience had been so moved by the young man's recitation that every eye was full of tears. Amazed by what he had heard, the actor said to the youth, "I don't understand. I have been performing Psalm 23 for years. I have a lifetime of experience and training - but I have never been able to move an audience as you have tonight. Tell me, what is your secret?" The young man quietly replied, "Well sir, you know the Psalm... I know the Shepherd."”
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