Minnesota Episcopal
Environmental Stewardship
Commission (MEESC)

by John G. Gibbs, PhD

This is one of the psalms of trust. Psalm 11, for instance, expresses trust in God as the maintainer of Justice, for: "If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?" But wait, for God's eyes "examine humankind," God "hates the lover of violence," but "loves righteous deeds."

Similarly, Psalm 23 expresses trust in God the protector, whose rod and staff "comfort me" in the presence of "evil." It is also trust in God the gracious host who "prepares a table before me" and invites me to "dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long."

The first 3 verses set a bucolic scene that is pastoral in every way. The Shepherd, verdant pastures, "waters of rest" [Hebrew]-all these are evoked to communicate both who God is, and what God's merciful (v. 6) purpose toward the psalmist is. Not even in "the darkest valley" is any individual alone, for "the Lord is my shepherd" who even there finds a way to lead us back to green pastures and waters of rest.

This trust in God brings certainty of sufficiency: "I shall not want." As a later hymn-writer put it: "I nothing lack if I am His, And He is mine forever."

A second certainty is security. "I fear no evil; for you are with me." Realism about evil, and about the darkest valleys in our lives, is acknowledged and overcome by this kind of God and this kind of trust in God. Elie Wiesel, who barely survived Nazi concentration camps, has rightly remarked that we should say about God only what we can affirm when we stand at the upper edge of a pit that is filled with burning babies. There is no security for those who run away from death, violence, and horror. Only those are secure who feel steadied by this Shepherd, no matter how dark may be their valley.

Trust in God, thirdly, makes us steadfast. Desert hospitality afforded refuge within a tent to a fugitive, but only for a short time (two days and their intervening night). God's hospitality, however, has no limit. It lasts "my whole life long." That is what we can count on, that is what makes us steadfast. [See John Paterson, The Praises of Israel (Scribner's, 1950), pp. 113-14; Charles H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, I, pp. 356-57.]

People of this Shepherd Psalm have within them the kind of Shalom (Peace) that, if it is lived out in deeds, prepares them to be safe for "all creatures great and small." Such People live in harmony with all God's creation.

by Nan Stokes

Note: This reflection originally written for Lent 4, Year A.

Today we read of the anointing of David, the shepherd boy, in the Old Testament lesson, and we are refreshed with the familiar words of the 23rd Psalm, full of descriptions of God's creation, where we long to be – green pastures and still waters. Even in the presence of those who trouble us, we fear not, because we are comforted and God is with us. Samuel poured oil on David's head, and "the spirit of the Lord came mightily on David" with this anointing. It's hard to imagine what it would be like to have oil poured on your head, but it would certainly get your attention! It is hard to relate to what it was like to be a shepherd alone in green pastures, too, and yet when we are overwhelmed with all the trials of our daily lives, it seems idyllic – a quiet place where our souls can be revived. Do you have such a quiet, sacred place where you can go, either physically or in your thoughts, and be refreshed, no matter how loud and busy the surroundings? Do you find God there? How blessed you are if you are aware that goodness and mercy will follow you all the days of your life. Keep that thought, as penitence consumes you, and Lent leads you on to Easter.