Somewhere in the distant past it was decided that this was "the passage" of Scripture that was to be used in the funeral service, especially here in the south. While this isn’t a wrong use of the passage, it seems to me if it is of far more comfort to an individual trying to pass through this life than those who mourn the passing of a loved one. I do not think I have attended a funeral yet where the bulletin from the funeral home didn’t have this verse included, and most times the person officiating at the funeral will also read Psalm 23.

I choose to look at it as the prayer of a soldier or one facing hardships in life. In the midst of your stressed out week can you think of anything more peaceful or comforting than a green pasture, or a pool of deep, still water? In the midst of the choices we all must make each day what comfort to know that indeed the Lord will lead us to do the right thing, for His own sake. Integrity is a given with God. Moses recognized this as he stood in the gap when God said He would destroy the infant nation in the desert. Moses says nay Lord take me, for if you harm this people the Egyptians will laugh because you led them out here to die, wherein is your glory if this happens? So it is God is compassionate and longsuffering toward His children for the sake of the name of His Son who is our atonement. How nonsensical it would appear for God to call us to himself through the blood of His Son to allow us to perish in the storms of this life. So God gives us rest for the name sake of Jesus, the Messiah. Because of that shed blood He leads us aside to a place of rest, before we are utterly destroyed in life.

When we reach the end of our mortal means and would fall into absolute despair, He gives us the renewal of heart (soul) to rise up and press onward toward victory in Christ. The psalmist says that even when it is so dark that we stand in the valley of death, not only does He come to us with such rest and comfort, but goes even further and provides for us there "in the face of our enemies" where we cannot provide for self. It is not a maybe, a measure of our faith, nor a weak God we rely on, but one who will comfort us with the right decisions (comforted by His staff) and lead us to safety. He who isn’t unable, but comes prepared with His rod in His hand to protect us. We have all seen pictures of Christ as the good shepherd. In the Anglican tradition as well as the Methodist we find many churches with names derived from the position of Christ as our shepherd, or as the Chief Shepherd. The shepherd who guides his sheep to safe pastures, with plenty of food, and cool waters. Who personally stands guard over their rest, insuring their safety from the wild animals around them. This is the picture the Hebrew language so richly paints of the first four verses of this Psalm.

Verse five speaks of the covenant relationship whereby Israel placed all of her hope, knowing God was fully able to do that which He spoke. The covenant is made manifest in the anointing and the overflowing cup pointing back to the promise of God to their father Abraham and the covenant that promised a land of milk and honey. The Hebrew people recognized the covenant as for all times, without end. Though from the advantage point of the New Testament we so easily see the New Covenant in the Old Testament, this was not true to the ancient people who saw it by faith alone. Jeremiah told of a day when there would be a new covenant, but it was still with the nation, and was seen as a renewal then of the existing covenant made with Abraham and brought forward into each generation of the patriarchs with a solemn declaration by God. Thus the conclusion that the blessing would not end was the only one possible from where they sat and how they understood the covenant. Verse six is then the conclusion of matters as expected by the Hebrew people throughout their existence, that they would dwell in the house of the Lord forever. We sing of Emanuel at Christmas, when in fact this is God’s promise from the beginning, that is He would dwell with His people and be their God. While there is reason to remember Emanuel (God with us) at Christmas, it is a truth that this was both the experience and expectation for the nation of Israel. From the flight from Egypt until Sinai He was with them day and night as a pillar of smoke by day, and pillar of fire by night. The time came when for disobedience the Glory of God departed Israel, and their hope became the return of God (Emanuel) to dwell with His people.

Things are not any different for us today in that we believe God and await the return of His Son, Jesus Christ, when with the curse now banished, we enter into the renewal and rest of the New Jerusalem where God is the light of it (the pillar of fire) and both nature and the holy angels sing of the long awaited manifestation of the sons of God and God once more dwells with His people.

I know the comfort of this is real for the soldier in the darkness of the inhumanity of man toward man in that we call war, but the warrior on the field calls hell. I cannot begin to tell you how many dark nights that as I sat alone with my thoughts, knowing that before the sun arose I would kill or be killed that these words of hope rang out as from deep within my soul. Here was the comfort to make it though the night, the fire to push aside the cold, that of the physical, and spiritual. It brought warmth to the soul chilled by the fear of being surrounded by death, when the earth seemed void, ready to swallow yet another victim. David knew the battle field and I cannot help but think this Psalm came from that experience, when he was surrounded by death day and night. In a time when the heart grows weary and life faint, indeed it is the Lord who lifts you up and gives rest by His presence. In such places the comfort and peace of God becomes tangible, a living presence. Such times of adversity are a necessity for the growth of the soul, that God might be revealed in His fullness to His children.

I also know that as surely as these precious words from God were both a spiritual comfort and real tangible help in that pit of hell, so they will be able to sustain the soldier of the cross through whatever terror they face in the jungle we call life. In the face of death, we find God’s word of life, for He is not the God of the dead but the living. He said to Moses, I am the God of Abraham, Jacob, and Isaac, not the God of the dead but the "God of the living. So that tomb remains empty to this day, and our Lord is the Lord of life and that eternal.

Lord open my eyes that I might see thy holy hand round about me in the storms of life and find thy peace and comfort within the perils of the testing in this life, that I may bring glory to thy name forever. AMEN

By:  Dr. Chuck Baynard