Psalm 23 reminds us that certainty and comfort don’t come through knowing the future, but knowing the LORD as Shepherd. If the LORD – the eternal, needless, self-sufficient One – is your provider in life and is present with you even in valley of the shadow of death, you lack nothing and fear nothing. In the final two verses of the Psalm, we’re given a three-point safety harness or three points of contact with the Shepherd, that enable us to have comfort about the future, even when the present seems murky. First, we’ll see our host (v. 5); second, our hunters (v. 6a); third, our home (v. 6b).

In the valley of the shadow of death of verse 4, the Shepherd draws closer. He is not just the Shepherd, but the companion to the traveller plunged into darkness. We will see that our only comfort in the face of death is in the LORD. First, we’re told this dark valley is his path (4a). Second, there is the assurance of his presence (4b). Third, we’re comforted by his provision (4c).

The Bible doesn’t just describe us as sheep in order to show our neediness, but also to reveal the true and living God as the Shepherd. Perhaps this is why we have such a love for Psalm 23. It gives us three memorable images that reveal who God is and what he provides: the sheep and the shepherd (vs. 1-3), the traveller and the companion (v. 4), the guest and the host (vs. 5-6). The first picture addresses our comfort in life; the second our comfort in death; and the third, our assurance for the future. So, this morning in looking at verses 1-3, what is our only comfort in the topsy-turvy, ongoing neediness of day-to-day life? Comfort in life is found in first, knowing the Shepherd (v. 1a) and second, being restored by the Shepherd (vs. 1b-3). 

We know what it’s like to be maligned and mistreated. As we read Psalm 35, we sympathise with David's great angst of being in a war of words. Often the hardest thing to do when we’re faced with slander, gossip, animosity, rumours, innuendo and unfair criticism is to present ourselves to God. How do we praise God under siege? David reminds us that the answer is found in recognising that God fights, God sees and God delights.

David hits rock bottom in his faking insanity before the Philistine king, Abimelech. Yet, God hears and answers David's pleas for help. Psalm 34 is David's outpouring of thanks to God for His dependable deliverance. We're taught that God's deliverance is the boast of the humble, the bounty of the poor and the bedrock of the righteous.

We find it difficult to place our valuables, our children and our families into the hands of others. Why can we confidently place ourselves in God's hands? This psalm explains that God's Word, work and watch provide abundant cause for us to trust Him. This trust leads to joyful praise and confident prayer to Him.

Guilt and shame are both crippling. As John Bunyan illustrated in his Pilgrims Progress, it feels as if you are carrying a heavy burden that you cannot relieve yourself of. David rejoices in Psalm 32 that God is a merciful and forgiving God. He removes our sin as far as the east is from the west in His Son, the Lord Jesus.

We often find ourselves in a rhythm in the Christian life. Trouble comes our way which brings us distress and then we run to God for refuge. This is a rhythm of trust. Psalm 31 explains this is a normal rhythm. It is in this rhythm that we commit our souls to God and courageously wait on Him as our Rock and Fortress.

Have you turned up to worship on Sunday morning internally wondering, "Why exactly am I here?" In Psalm 30, a song David penned for the dedication of the temple, we are reminded why we come to worship God. We gather to praise Him for lifting us up out of the pit of sin, to be brought down from thinking life is all about ourselves and to turn back God's blessings to His praise.

This psalm confronts us with the all-glorious, all-powerful God who is described as a storm that levels everything in its path. How can we stand before this God and not be consumed? It is only through Jesus who opens for us the glory of heaven, faces the storm of God's righteous wrath for our sin at the cross and gives us peace on earth by reconciling us to God.

A pacemaker is a wonderful piece of medical technology that keeps a heart with an irregular rhythm beat at a settled pace. David finds himself in need of a pacemaker in Psalm 28 as he is unsettled by God's silence, the plight of God's people and being caught in the crossfire of God bringing His righteous judgement on the wicked. However, God settles David's heart by reminding David that He is David's strength and shield. We too find a pacemaker for our unsettled hearts in the Lord's anointed, Jesus Christ.

This psalm is a paramedic's psalm because like a paramedic's systematic approach to treating a patient, David gives us a systematic approach to our troubles confidently. We are called to trust in the LORD, seek Him, pray to Him and wait on Him.

When have you last asked God to judge you? David prays this in the very first line of this psalm. We might wonder how anyone could be found innocent under the holy gaze of the true and living God! This psalm reminds us that we must begin with the original author (King David), look to Jesus and then, apply it to ourselves. It's only in Christ that the guilty can pray an innocent prayer.

Psalm 25 is an acrostic poem with each line beginning with a subsequent letter in the Hebrew alphabet. It is structured this way to aid in memorisation. David understood that when we are distressed, we often forget the basics. This psalm provides us with a GPS in our trouble. We're taught to come to God praying, "Guide me; pardon me; secure me."

Psalm 24 asks the question 'Who is the King of Glory?' The answer is that the LORD is King of Glory. He is the King of creation, the King of holiness and the King of heaven. Incredibly, this great King invites us into fellowship with Him through His Son. The eternal Son of God descended from the holy hill of the LORD. He came down and rescued us from our sin through shedding His blood on the cross. Then, He ascended back up the holy hill with His redeemed people in His train.

Psalm 23 is perhaps the most well-known and well-loved passages of Scripture in the Bible. Yet, it raises an important point that we may miss due to familiarity with the psalm: you need a shepherd. David tells us that it is only when the God of the Bible is our shepherd that our souls can be restored, that comfort in death can be found and that we can have certainty about our future. We're reminded that Jesus is our Good Shepherd and because He laid down His life for us, we are always assured of His presence and have the bright hope of calling God's house our home forever.

The beginning of this psalm is one of the most well-known verses in Scripture. Jesus cries it from the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Perhaps this cry is so familiar because it is exactly what we feel when we're suffering. Psalm 22 points us to the suffering of Christ and reminds us that there is always suffering before glory; a cross before the crown. However, because the Man of Sorrows rose as the King of Glory, we are assured that God will also deliver the King's people.

This psalm celebrates God's strength given to and God's blessing poured out on His king. The result of a blessed king is a blessed people. We have experienced this in Jesus' kingship. The blessing of His rule and reign means we can find salvation, comfort and hope in Him. We are also warned that there is a day coming where all of King Jesus' enemies will be defeated. If we haven't closed with Jesus, we will be swallowed up in God's wrath. The only way we can be saved is if Jesus takes the wrath we deserve at the cross. If He is our Saviour and Lord, we too can sing and rejoice in God's power.

This psalm is written for a special occasion: a king set to go to war. The people pray that God would protect the king and the king prays that God would give him success in battle. We're reminded in this psalm that our deliverance is bound up in God's blessing of our King, the Lord Jesus. Thus, this psalm reminds us to rest in Jesus' victory and bring others before the throne of grace in their days of trouble.

The creation proclaims constantly, universally and wordlessly the glory of God, its Creator. We can see in the beautiful canvas of creation a glimpse of what its Artist - the true and living God - is like. What is even more extraordinary is that God has entered into His own painting to speak to us. It's through God's Word that we know even more of who God is; especially that He is a saving God. Jesus, the Word who became flesh, is God's ultimate, special, personal revelation of Himself. God's revelation in creation, His Word and in Jesus calls us to respond by valuing His revelation and listening to it. We also pray that God would reveal our hearts and that we would rest in Him as our Rock and Redeemer.