by Jilene Scherenske
This is the twelfth, and last, in a series of articles on Psalm 23. I have found this study to be a great blessing to my soul and trust it will be to yours also. The reader should be aware that I have used Phillip Keller’s book A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 as a resource. I refer often to his book and knowledge of the care of sheep. Then I take his insights, combine them with the Word of God and meditate thereon. This is the result of my meditations.
Psalm 23:6b
“ ….. and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.”
After experiencing the tender and compassionate, wise and generous, loving care of the shepherd, the flock are completely content, content with their master and content with their life, having gained complete confidence in this master. They no longer have any thoughts of wandering. The sheep have now experienced the full gamut of life’s cycle. They began in the green pastures and still waters of the home ranch. Then they traveled up through the mountain passes onto the high plateaus of the summer range. Fall, with its storms has driven the flock back to the safety of the home ranch to spend the long winter. It is a home coming of sorts.
In his days of shepherding, Phillip Keller had a neighbor who was not a good shepherd. Keller describes his sheep as sickly. They would stand huddled at the fence, their tails to the storm, facing the lush fields upon which his sheep were grazing. They were poor, abused, neglected creatures with a heartless owner. They only knew great suffering at all times, their bodies were wracked with the diseases that we have mentioned in past lessons. Tormented by those diseases, they were so weak they could hardly stand. They would huddle at the fence line, starving, longing for the grass and the care of Keller, the good shepherd. If they could find a way, they would sneak into his pastures and feast on his grass, but this proved disastrous because their sickly bodies could not tolerate the richness of his grass. One day Keller found three of them in his pasture lying helpless and unable to stand. He took them over to their owner, who uncaringly quickly slit their necks. This is a vivid picture of how satan behaves. He never cares for anyone; he only seeks to steal them away from God and, after a life of misery, eventually kills them.
Jesus told us in John 10 that He is the door to the sheepfold. “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.” John 10:9 Only by Him can one enter in and be fed. The neighbor’s poor sheep had not entered into Keller’s pasture through the right gate. They tried to get in on their own, by their own means. Had they been able to come in through the right gate, the good shepherd’s gate, they would have been cared for and brought back to health. Every day we rub shoulders with people who are on the wrong side of the fence. Discontent, starving, sickly, dying people who desperately need to find Jesus, the Good Shepherd, Who will cure all their diseases, pour His love into them, care for all their needs. For these forsaken sheep/unbelievers we must consider what we look like to them. What is my impact on them? Does my life portray a life that is completely satisfied with my Jesus and His provisions for me? Do I reflect contentment and joy wherever I go? Does my joy make them envious of what I have? Thirsty for what I have? Do they see Jesus in me? Does my conversation with them lead to Jesus? Do they look over the fence that separates us from them and long for what we have in Jesus?
The phrase we are considering here speaks of dwelling in God’s house forever. I think we tend to think this only relates to heaven but let us consider a different application first. Being in the house of the Lord speaks to me of two things: worship and service. Is there ever a time when I should not be worshipping the Lord? We tend to think of worship in terms of church services. Yes, that is definitely a time to worship God. But what about our daily time with Him in His Word? Is that not to be a time of worship also? Do you think of that time as worship? How would your devotional time change if you saw it as worship? To me that signals an intimate time, a serious time, a time of praising God for Who He is, a time of humbling myself before Almighty God, confessing sin, a time of focusing completely and solely on Him and Who He is, a time of thanking Him for ALL that He has done for me. But worship should not be limited to church services or even that plus our daily time with Him. We ought to then step out into our day – whatever that means – and keep on worshipping Him. We are dwelling with Him in His house at all times, every moment at home in His Presence. Therefore, my entire life, every single movement of my limbs, every word I speak, every thought I think, ought to display an awareness of His Presence, yielding to the Spirit’s control so that I am continually worshipping Him by pleasing Him. No matter how busy and pressed upon by difficult things, or how laid back our life is, He desperately wants us to worship Him throughout our day. We do that by passing all things before Him, bathing all things in prayer, having a continual conversation with Him throughout the day. You may think this is impossible, but this I know, if we ask for this mindset – a continual awareness of His Presence and a yielding to Him - He will give it to us little by little. It ought to be our goal.
One more thought on worshipping. Several times the Bible speaks of worshipping in the beauty of holiness. 1Ch 16:29 Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come before him: worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. Ps 29:2 Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. Ps 96:9 O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth. Ps 99:5 Exalt ye the LORD our God, and worship at his footstool; for he is holy. It is the only way we can worship our holy God. Therefore, we must make sure that we come to Him with clean hands and a clean heart. Every time we approach God, we need to humble ourselves and confess our sin and beg for forgiveness, and if we see no sin, ask Him to reveal it to us. Then, and then only, are we truly ready to worship.
Mt 4:10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Jesus states here that we are both to worship and then to serve. I see this as the second component of dwelling in the house of the Lord. We must go forth from our private moments of worship, and in the spirit of worship then serve God. To me serving God means that I allow the Holy Spirit to have control of my life. If He has control of me, then I will automatically serve God and serve Him in the right spirit so that He gets all the glory. The Spirit will direct me into whatever service God has for me. He will give me the health, the energy, the wisdom, the courage, whatever I need He will give me so that I am serving God as He wants me to.
“…and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.” Forever! What a blessing to be permanently fixed in the presence of Jesus! We have learned that sheep desire to have their goodly shepherd in their view at all times. That gives the sheep security and peacefulness. Is this how we feel about Jesus? Or do we sometimes wish to hide something from Him? Jesus is everything to us. This psalm has taught us that. It has also taught us that we need Him – at all times and in all situations. Should He blink, we would be in grave danger! His presence guarantees that we will be safe and secure, that we will have green pastures to feed upon, that there will be still and clean waters from which to drink, that there will be fresh fields, freedom from fear, freedom from pests and diseases of the soul; there will be calm, quietness and contentment which ends in great joy. We have the Holy Spirit living within us. He will make His presence known to us if we will let Him. Pray that God will make you sensitive to realize His continual presence and to respond to it. As we learn to live in harmony with our Shepherd we will discover a life that is beyond satisfied! An abundant life!
Ps 16:11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
Ps 89:15 Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance.
Pr 16:15 In the light of the king's countenance is life; and his favour is as a cloud of the latter rain.
Isa 2:5 O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.
Ps 36:7-9 How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.
Ps 73:24-26 Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.
There is yet one thing more to consider. It is the thing that typically comes to mind first when we read this phrase, “and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.” Of course, I am speaking of heaven! It is the ultimate end for believers. We have no idea what heaven will be like in all of its splendor. We can try to imagine it, but we will not come close to its reality. Have you ever really looked forward to something and discovered that in your great anticipation your expectations exceeded what the reality became? I have. I have looked forward to something so much, only to have my expectations dashed because it did not prove to be as wonderful as I had anticipated. Heaven will never be like that! Our expectations will never exceed its awesomeness! This psalm has given us so much encouragement for this life…so much awareness of the blessings our Shepherd gives us in this life. Now it ends with heaven – the greatest encouragement of all! We can endure anything if we will keep the end in sight – heaven – a forever eternal time of feasting on the fellowship of face to face contact with Jesus! Wow! What more can I say? I am speechless!
Application
Let us go back and remember the poorly cared for sheep/unbelievers, whose master/shepherd is satan. When unbelievers look upon you do they see a believer who is feasting on the Word of God so much so that your every attitude and action is an example of godliness that makes the unbeliever long after what you have? May it be so. Are you this example to your family so that your children long to be as close to Jesus as you are? So that when they grow up they will desire to be just like you in their faith and even more so? Or are they looking forward to being out on their own so they can leave this religious stuff behind? Every time you walk out your door does the sweet smell of Jesus go with you? Never fake, always genuine because you have spent time with Him and are allowing Him to control your life? Are you ready then to show the unbelieving sheep how to enter by the right gate?
How is your worship? Is it limited to just certain times, or is it a continual practice? Beg God to make it a constant practice. Do you enter your day of worship considering your sins and then confessing them? Worship cannot happen if sins are harbored. Do you take the time to praise God for Who He is every morning? Do you adore Him? Thank Him for all He has done for you?
How are you serving God? Does your worship lead you to want to serve Him? Are you willing to do whatever He directs you to do? Wait for Him – make sure what you do is what His will is for you. Then seek to serve Him with all of your heart.
Are you encouraged by the fact that Jesus is with you every single nano moment of the day? How does that awareness affect you? How often do you thank and praise Him for His Presence?
Are you looking forward to heaven? Ashamedly, there have been times in my life when I asked God to spare my life a bit longer because I was not ready to go to heaven. I wanted the enjoyment of seeing my girls married, of seeing grandchildren and watch them grow. No matter what stage we are in life, heaven should be what we anticipate the most. If you are thinking like I once was, then ask God to give you a joy of looking forward to heaven and He will!