Psalm 23 Expounded

Good afternoon, brethren. It’s wonderful to see you all. Not to cause division amongst the ministry, I will leave my comments about the weather privately. It’s not just a matter of different administrations.

So, who likes a pop quiz? Or, play a little game? I hated pop quizzes in school, but I get to be the teacher this afternoon, so guess what? We can have a pop quiz. Well, the little quiz we’re going to play is, can you guess the Scripture? So here goes.

“Your beauty and love chases after me.” Anything come to mind? How about “I’ll never be lonely for you are near”? Anything coming to mind? I didn’t say I was going to use New King James scripture, just to give you a little bit of a hint. “You serve me a six-course meal.” Anything? Next one: “Fear will never conquer me because you already have.” No? How about this one? “The quiet brook of bliss.”

I don’t think I’m doing very well as a teacher here if this was actually a quiz. It doesn’t seem like much is coming to mind. Of course, yes, I’m not using the King James version. Maybe this will help. I’ll give you a little clue. A rapper from the nineties used parts of this psalm in a popular song. Maybe I age myself by saying, something from the nineties. A Jewish comedian, or a Jewish comedic singer, has also used this psalm.

Well, if any of you happen to think of or write down Psalm twenty-three, the Lord’s my shepherd, you would get the gold star from the teacher for the pop quiz. The reason why I use those words or those quotes, the reason why I referenced a singer from the nineties and a Jewish comedian, I’m sure you can quickly come to mind who that Jewish comedian may have been, is mankind has the tendency to take very important words of God and lower their value. Mankind, human nature can, from time to time, take God’s words and belittle them to a point and almost, in a sense, mock ultimately, what is God’s instructions or God’s words to us.

I want to, this afternoon, have all of us go to Psalm twenty-three. We’re going to read it and we’re going to expound the words, and we’re going to see what God is telling us. We’re going to see what its importance is to us, and that it is much more than you could say a simple song in a particular genre or a very poor translation of man simplifying the important words of God. So, if we all turn to Psalm twenty-three. Yes, we also know it is a very important hymn. It’s a hymn. We sing a few of them.

There are translations of it that are significant, but one of my goals today is to show all of us that it is much deeper, much more instructive, much more encouraging than just a hymn. Just a popular hymn. Let’s go to Psalm twenty-three and we’re going to read it now. You may want to make sure your marker is there. We’ll be going in and out of the psalm throughout the message.

So, Psalm twenty-three. We’re going to read through the whole message, the whole chapter, to get it into our minds. So here we begin in verse one. “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures: he leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul: he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yes, 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.” Verse five. “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies: You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.” Verse six. In conclusion, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

A popular scripture, scripture that we all may have memorized from time to time. I got to say while preparing the message, I didn’t know it as well as I should have. I didn’t have it in memory. Maybe many, many years ago in YAS lessons, the CBLs we call them today, it was memory work. I didn’t keep it in memory, but it is one that should be good to have there, but let’s go into it now. Let’s expand God’s words. Let’s expand the importance of this chapter. So, verse one. Let’s re-read it. “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” What comes to mind?

Take a little pause and think about it for a moment. Now read by it quickly. Throughout the message we’ll do a little bit of a word study of the important keywords of each verse. Here, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” Looking at the word shepherd, it means to rule. But also interestingly, it means companion, make friendship with. So those first few words, the Lord is my companion. The Lord is my friend. Yes, the Lord is my ruler. It adds a little more depth to what is the first five words of the chapter. But importantly, I shall not want. What is want?

It can also mean to lack. I shall not lessen. I shall not fail. So just in the shortest of the six verses, there’s great depth here. In many ways, there’s a lot of insightful meaning. Our God is our ruler, is our companion, is our friend. And when He is our ruler, our friend, and our companion, we will not lack for anything. We will not be lessened. We will not fail. Let’s turn to a few verses to help expound this even further. Let’s go to John ten and verse fourteen. Talking about the first half of this one verse, my shepherd, the Lord is my shepherd. Let’s go to John ten and verse fourteen.

There’s two things with calling, saying, making the declarative statement, the Lord is my shepherd. God calls us. We must also answer that calling. But let’s learn a little bit here about the shepherd. Here Christ is speaking in verse fourteen of John ten. “I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and have known of mine. As the Lord knows me, even so I know the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.” So that is our shepherd, Christ. Also, God as well, to a certain point. But Christ, He laid down his life for us. We know the story, that story, we know that great meaning. But God is that good shepherd. He cares for us, to the point that He laid down his life for us so that we could have life.

Let’s look a little further in verse twenty-seven as Christ explains some more. “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” Again, the Lord is my shepherd, we hear his voice and we follow him. Verse twenty-eight just to see where see where we are, see where that puts us. “And I give unto them eternal life...” By his death and his resurrection. “...and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” So, if the Lord is our shepherd... I ask that rhetorically.... we are in his hand, and nothing can move us from his hand.

And reading further in verse twenty-nine. “My father which gave them to me...” So ultimately God calls us. “...He is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” So, we are in both. We may have heard this before. We’re in Christ’s hands and we are in the Father’s hand. They both are holding us, are shepherding us, are leading us. What a place that is. So, when we say my Lord is my shepherd, imagine where we are, where that stands, where that puts us in the hands of God and Christ.

And we read in verse one of Psalm twenty-three that we shall not lack. God has done this before; God actually has done this before. Let’s go to Deuteronomy two and verse seven to see an example of it and He does that in our lives. He makes sure we do not lack. We may easily bring to mind many instances where God has looked after us and cared for us. But Deuteronomy two and verse seven. We see this relates the Israel wandering through the wilderness, Israel leaving Egypt and wandering to the promised land. It’s similar to our calling in this age in this life, we’re wandering in the wilderness of this world.

Deuteronomy two and verse seven. “For the Lord thy God has blessed thee and all thy works of thy hand: he knows you’re walking through this great wilderness: for these forty years the Lord God has been with you; and you have lacked nothing.” So, through those forty years wandering the wilderness, Israel lacked nothing. As we are wandering through the wilderness, God promises that we lack nothing.

Let’s go to Nehemiah nine. Just a little more detail on how God provided for ancient Israel as they wandered, and it is encouraging and inspiring to us how God provides for us. How He has called us, and we have chosen him as our shepherd, and He promises that we lack nothing. Let’s see what our God did for ancient Israel. Nehemiah nine and verse twenty-one. Actually, let’s begin reading in verse nineteen.

“Yet you in many manifold mercies forsook them not in the wilderness: the pillar of cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to show them light, and the way they’re in it they should go.” So, God never left them. The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. “You gave them thy good spirit to instruct them…” They were instructed in God’s ways throughout their trek through the wilderness. “…And withheld not your manna from their mouth, and gave them water for their thirst.”

They were never thirsty. They were never without food. Yes, there were times, of course, when God tried them, to learn lessons, to build character. We know that happens also in our lives, but ultimately, they had manna and food. They had water and food. And verse twenty-one. “Yes, forty years you did sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing.” Here we are again. “Their clothes wax not old, and their feet swelled not.” So, what a miracle. Over forty years of wandering in the wilderness, their clothing never wore out. Their shoes never got holes in them. The food was always there, and the water was always plenteous. You see from verse one here, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” We answer the father’s calling. We follow Christ as our shepherd. We choose God as our ruler, our friend, and our companion. We will lack nothing. What a great encouraging promise and position that puts us all in. That is only the first verse of Psalm twenty-three. Let’s go back there.

Let’s see what the second verse can tell us. Let’s see what the second verse can show us. We’ll read it first. “He makes me to lie down in green pastures: he leads me beside the still waters.” Like I said, a little bit of a word study. So, let’s look at the keywords here. Lie down. Make to rest, to sit, to repose. So, God makes us rest, makes us sit, puts us in repose. The green; it’s new, tender, healthy grass. Being a shepherd and we are his lambs. We are his sheep. Giving us what we need in food, sustenance. The next word. Pastures. You know, I found this quite intriguing. Quite enlightening.

You read it at first, green pastures. So, God brings us to green fresh grass in a pasture. And He calls the pasture more than that. The word here goes to home, habitation, house, a pleasant place, of course, also a pasture. So here God calls us to be at rest where we are fed green grass in a home, in a habitation, in a pleasant home. That’s where God brings us, leads us to. Next word. Leads. And we’ll find that God leads us in multiple ways. In the next verse, we’ll see the word again. We’ll see a different, actually, a different word used, a different translation. But here God carries us. The word lead can be also carry, can feed, can guide, lead us gently on.

How does that describe in your minds the God that we follow? The God that is our ruler. The being that is also our shepherd. He will carry us. He will guide us. He will lead us gently on. How loving and caring that sounds for the God that provides for us. What a picture that shows. Let’s go further. The next key words. Still waters. So still. Peaceful, comfortable, ease, quiet. A resting place. Still. The word still. And water is as simple. We’ll find it amazing in this. As we go through the words, some of these words just mean water means water. Find other words that there’ll be a long list of defining words to it and it’ll really make it enlightening. But water is just water, a spring or a stream, simple.

So here we see that God wants us to lie down in green pastures. Lead us beside still waters. That was a side point. Something near and dear to my heart. Close. Being close to nature. I love being around God’s creation. Look at this instruction to us in one way. Look at it in a more important way as well. But in one way, being close to God’s creation. Why the outdoors largely is green. God made it as a color that is extremely calming to us. It is a color that puts us at ease. So being around God’s creation, if we need to be put at ease, put two and two together. The more often we are around it, the more often we are with it, the more calming it can be, the more setting at rest and at ease it can be.

There are many, many studies out there, man takes time to catch up to God’s instruction, in His Word that was written thousands of years ago, man catches up with many studies how important it is for us to be out in nature, to be out in creation and how a difference it makes to our well-being.

Was a couple of times in the summer. I got to say it felt a little childish. I took my shoes off, I took my socks off and I went for a walk in the grass. When was the last time you did that? Just walk in the green pastures. What a feeling that is. I know that may have sound a little strange, a little different. Yes, you can say in a certain sense that you’re an adult now, you don’t do those things anymore. Try it sometime if you haven’t.

God puts it there in His Word for a reason. But more importantly, where does God lead us? What does God want us to do? Let’s go to Ezekiel thirty-four. What He’ll do for us in the future. It expounds a little bit more on this verse, but more importantly, what does God lead us to? He leads us to keeping his laws and his ways. But let’s go to Ezekiel, and this will actually just expound more on verse two and we’ll get back to the statement I just made, but Ezekiel thirty-four, Ezekiel thirty-four and verse fourteen, and here we read.

So, you go thirty-four and verse fourteen, just kind of a different picture of the different way to look at the same picture. “I’ll feed them on good pasture, upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: and there shall they lie in good fold, and in fat pasture, and there shall they’ll feed upon the mountains of the Lord. I will feed my flock, I will feed my people, and I will cause them to lie down, says the Lord My God.” Yes, it looks to a time in the future, but as we follow God, as we apply verse one in our lives, that is us today. God will feed us. God will provide for us.

But again, that expounds, verse two, I want to get back to the statement that I made. What’s more important? Yes, of course, spending time in God’s creation. God may put us in his creation for reasons and that can be physically helpful, but following God’s lead as He gently leads us on to obeying his laws and his ways, is the way that we’ll bring true peace, true rest and true happiness in our lives. If we obey God’s laws, we do his will in our life, that is the only, truly the only way we can lie down in green pastures, we can come beside still waters.

That was verse two. Let’s go back to Psalm twenty-three. Let’s look at verse three. “He restores my soul: he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” Again, let’s look at the words, the first phrase, “He restores my soul.” This is one of those words that had many definitions attached to it. It expands the picture. Then just one word, God restores our soul. He restores our being, our purpose, our lives, our life. So, let’s look at the words. So, restores, to turn back, maybe, or it can also mean but not fully intended to turn back to the start, to bring back, to bring home. God brings us home.

You can look at that first phrase. He carries us back, He converts us. That should ring with us in our calling. Our conversion, God converts us. He changes us. He recovers, He refreshes, He relieves. Back to verse two. When God leads us to those places, is that not a relief? Rescue, restore, retrieve, return, reverse, turn again to. Of course, our soul, our life, but restores, all those words attached to it describe a much bigger word picture than just one word.

He converts us. He brings us back home again. He returns us. It’s amazing what our God does. Of course, that rings a lot to our calling, our initial calling. What God had done, taken us out of this world, taken us out from wherever we were before calling us and putting us on a certain path. We’ll get to that with the rest of this verse. And of course, every time we go to him now, every time we call on God’s help, He continues to restore our souls, He continues to help us on our conversion and on our calling.

It’s a process that ultimately never stops till we are in the kingdom. But let’s look further here at leads. Hear a different word that God uses to be defined as to guide, and I found this very curious, to transport as into exile, or as a colonist, sent on a mission, or to govern. So here in this verse, it describes God as taking a much more active role, a much more hands-on direction here. To send us.

Okay, He does not send us into exile. He does not send us as colonists to take over other lands, but He sends us with a purpose. He sends us with great intent, with great purpose to accomplish something. He sends us and leads us in a way that He governs us, governs what we do. Let’s look at the word path. Here is the definition, only a couple words, but it is enlightening. It expands and brings it to a greater depth.

So here a path can be a track. It’s much different in my mind when you talk about a path, or you talk about a track. A track is much harder to stray from. A path... You can walk off a path much easier, but furthermore, this word can also mean trench. It often comes to mind as a rut. So, God leads us in the paths, in a trench of righteousness. How hard is it to get out of a rut when you’re stuck in it? And this is where a rut will want to be stuck in. This is a trench we all want to have our proverbial wheels stuck in.

How hard is it to get out? It takes a lot of effort, and of course, we don’t want to get out of this. So just this path is not only a path, it’s a track, it’s a trench. And more on the vernacular, you can look at it, it’s a rut. And God is leading us, transporting us, directing us on a purpose. What is that? And paths of righteousness. Of course, righteousness, we are all striving to be one of the righteous of God.

The righteous, the word here is the right, natural, moral, legal, of course, godly, equity, prosperity, and justice. God leads us in a path of righteousness, and ultimately, what’s the point? It’s ultimately to God’s glory and benefit. It’s ultimately what God is doing in our lives. He’s directing us, putting us in that rut, you can say, putting us in that trench, and guiding us to righteousness, to ultimately, to his glory, in his Kingdom. Furthermore, or a summary of this verse, allow God to shepherd you, to convert you, to change, restore, convert, recover our souls and change you and put you on a direction on the track to righteousness. Ultimately the track to his kingdom.

Let’s go to Luke nine and verse sixty-two. A common verse that relates very closely to this. Luke nine verse sixty-two in here. God restores our soul. He leads us in the path of righteousness for His name’s sake. That we’re stuck on, that trench we’re on in here, Jesus puts it a different way.

“And Jesus said unto him, ‘No man having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom.’” So, no man being put in that rut, being put in that trench, who tries to climb out of it, and who tries to look another way or look back, is fit for the kingdom. What a great guide we have that leads us on what a mission ultimately to God’s kingdom. Brethren, a rut and a trench we’ll always want to be stuck in.

Let’s go to verse four, back to Psalm twenty-three. Let’s read the verse. “Yes, 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.” Let’s expand the word picture. So, valley. A steep, narrow valley or gorge. That’s what that word can mean. Reminds us, a little bit about the path we just heard about.

The way in my mind, what I quickly see, there’s only one way forward in this valley. There’s only one way to go in this valley and that’s forward. It’s narrow and it’s a gorge. There is no option to go to the right or left or climb out of it. There’s only one option to go forward and that is the shadow of death. What does that mean? Death is present, so the grave calamity. We more than likely in our physical lives have never been in such a place.

Spiritually in our battles, we can maybe imagine some of the trials we’ve been to that we’ve been there. We’ve been in such a place. We’ve been where death is present, or failure you could imagine is present. Great calamity in our lives. But this verse is also very promising and very hopeful. What about fear? Of course, fear, just the word fear, to make afraid, to be fearful, to be scared, to worry.

But it says, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death...” Though I’m in that valley where death is present, where calamity is present. “...I will fear no evil.” I will have no fear of evil. And what is evil? This word expounds. Affliction, bad, calamity, distress, evil, grief, harm, hurt, mischief, misery, sore, sorrow, trouble, wickedness. I will fear none of that. None of that will cause me to fear, cause us to fear.

When you’re in such a dark place, when you’re in such place of trouble, this is, of course, Psalm, David writing, but inspired by us. In God’s Word and promise to us, we will fear no evil. We will fear nothing can come to us. No affliction, nothing that’s bad, no calamity, no distress, no evil, no grief, no harm. The picture that is, but why? The verse expounds on that. You’re with me. God, our shepherd, is by me.

He’s along. He’s right beside you. He’s right with you. God is with you in every step as we go through this valley. And the words further expound it more. Rod, and here I found it amazing the word as this was defined, but of course, to simply, a stick, it’s used for punishing, more importantly, here, used for ruling and walking. It’s a rod. It’s a scepter. But it’s a word that’s actually most often described as tribe. Let’s go to Genesis forty-nine and verse sixteen. If you find that surprising that in this verse, Psalm twenty-three verse four, where it says, “Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” Thy rod is more actually often translated tribe.

Let’s go to Genesis forty-nine and verse sixteen. One example of it. And this... When I read this and looked at it, it made this verse appear much different in my mind than I’ve ever seen before. Genesis forty-nine and verse sixteen. And just simply, I want to focus on here the second half of it, but it’s the verse here is, “Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.”

That’s word there tribe. It’s the same as rod in Psalm twenty-three verse four. So, if you go back to Psalm twenty-three, a few more words that we want to look at, but what a different picture we see here is, “For you are with me...” Yes, God is with me, as we walk as we are in such a grave trial. “...your rod, your tribe...” Let’s expound that a little more, your people. Those that are called alongside of you, those that maybe going through the same thing are there with you.

I’ve always personally looked at the scripture as a very personal scripture. That is just myself with our shepherd, God guiding us through there, but that one word made me see it a little differently. It can also mean that all of us are there together. They’re supporting one another when we’re going through deep trials. What a different picture. It’s not just God is there with his rod and his staff, but He’s there with his rod that shows us that his tribe is there, his people are there with you. We are there together.

What a different word picture you see when you look into the different definitions a word can show, and of course, the staff is a support, protector, or sustenance. Of course, God is there in such a place. He is supporting us. He is protecting us. He provides what we need. And ultimately, for what does it do? It comforts us, consoles us, makes us comfort, puts us at ease. What a different picture we see here in this one verse.

Let’s reread the verse, “Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil...” Death and calamity are around you, around us, and we will fear no evil. And why? For God is with us, his rod, and his staff, his people, his tribe, and his staff, his support, his protection, his sustenance, his ruling is with us. His care, ultimately, to our comfort. What a different picture that shows of this verse.

Let’s expound this a little further. Let’s go to Isaiah forty-one and verse ten. What God will do in the future and as we follow our God, our shepherd, what He does for us today. Isaiah forty-one and verse ten, “Fear not; for I am with you: do not be dismayed; for I am your God: I am your shepherd. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.” Another promising scripture that expounds it further.

We can look at this verse, back to verse four of Psalm twenty-three. We know that as we go through trials and we endure to the end, we will be saved. Ultimately, a summary of that verse. Let’s go back to Psalm twenty-three and verse five. We’ll now expound out what this verse shows us. What the words that God uses there were used to make a much deeper picture. Verse five, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies: you anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.”

This verse at first sounds interesting. God prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemies, He anoints our head with oil, my cup runs over. In the presence of our enemy, God does this for us. What does He do and prepare? He sets in a row, arrange, furnishes, ordains, and orders. God puts a table, a feast before us in the presence of the world, in the presence of our enemies, in front of, kind of almost the way I look at it in spite of as a counterpart before, over, and against to our presence is also defined as.

What a picture. God creates a table, a feast as a counterpart to the world, as a counterpart to those that are around us. The enemy, the adversary, of course, the god of this world, but the world around us. That is an affliction and distress that’s oppressed, that’s in trouble. The word enemy can show.

So here God prepares a table in the presence of the world, a feast. And what does He do? Anoint? Here, of course, it’s in older words, but to be fat, to anoint, to satisfy. We know that to be fat can symbolize great blessing. We know that anointing and oil symbolizes the Holy Spirit. So, God pouring out on us, great blessing, great benefit. Also, the symbol of the Holy Spirit, the greatest blessing, God’s spirit within us to guide us and to help us, but here the picture runs over. My cup runs over, of course, cup means cup, but runs over to satisfaction, abundance in a wealthy manner. It’s what God does for us. Prepare to table a feast in the presence of the world, anoints us and blesses us, and our cups runs over. What a picture.

This reminds me of a question I asked my parents long ago, but as an example, God’s way works. The more we obey God, as we have learned in the prior verses of Psalm twenty-three, here, the more we obey him, the more He will bless us. And when God blesses us, it becomes apparent. It becomes obvious. The world can see it. I had a conversation before the feast. Remember those hurricanes? You remember the trouble in the world and the trouble that’s in the headlines. Why do we go to keep the feast? How do we rejoice at such an occasion? That’s what God wants us to do. That’s what God wants us to be. An example is we obey him, as we keep his laws and keep his ways, our light will shine evermore greater.

And what will that show to the world as we keep his ways? It’ll be this picture here, a feast, great blessings, while the world is in turmoil with the world around us. Brethren, in a sense here, don’t hide your light as it grows brighter. As we obey God and walk in his ways, and we are a contrast to the world, don’t hide what God is doing in our lives.

You should still all be there in Psalm twenty-three. Let’s read verse six. Come as the chapter here, the Psalm comes to a close. “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

What an amazing goal. What do we look forward to? To dwell in the house of the Lord forever. To be in God’s kingdom. To be in God’s temple forever. But let’s look at the words here. And here, goodness, I think it has every positive word possible tied to it. Probably doesn’t, but it seems like it. Let me read them. Goodness can mean good, a good thing, a good person, beautiful, best, better, bountiful, cheerful, fair, favor, fine, glad, goodly, gracious, joyful, kindly, kindness, loving, merry, pleasant, pleasure, prosperity, wealth. That’s all jammed into one word. Goodness. It’s what God wants in our lives. What an amazing picture that is if you attach all those words to the one word.

And then mercy. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me. Mercy, kindness, favor, good deeds, kindly, kindliness, mercy, pity, loving-kindness shall follow us all our days. But is that just a declaration? The first half of verse six was David, just a little overconfident. Concluding the verse, and of course, he’s inspired by God, but let’s have some fun.

Was he just a little overconfident saying, “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life”? Is that what he was saying? No. Let’s look at the whole chapter again. He’s making that declaration because of the verses before. Because of the picture that we have seen this afternoon. First, David and the psalm, us, we together, we chose God as our friend and our shepherd.

And we will not lack. We follow God’s lead and keep his law and his ways. And He brings us to good pastures, and He leads us beside still waters. We allow God to restore, convert, and change our heart so He can lead us and set us in that path, in that rut, in that trench, and to that ultimate goal of righteousness, and to be in his kingdom. That’s what David was referencing when surely goodness and mercy shall follow me.

He’s applying those three and we’ll read more in his life. He endured all the trials that came to him. He endured trials and temptations to the end. Walking through the valley of the shadow of death, he feared no evil. He endured to the end. And in verse five, the other point where he so confidently states, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.

As he obeyed God and God blessed him, he allowed his example, as we should allow our example, to be seen. We obey God, we walk in God’s way, we live God’s way. He blesses us. So, with confidence, after applying those five verses, the psalmist king David and we can say, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.