This is the second book

The Shepherd & Sheep, Guide & Traveller, Host & Guest

The 23rd Psalm is one of the sweetest, simplest Songs of Praise ever written. It is very individualist; seventeen times the writer refers to himself and thirteen times to our Lord. This Song of David is often known as the 'Shepherd & Sheep Psalm', but there is far more in it. The first two verses are indeed about the 'Shepherd & Sheep', of course there is a large flock but that is not in view here. It is only our Lord and ourselves as individuals, there are only the two of us, you and your Shepherd and me and mine. Not that you can take anything from me, or me from you, our Lord is very individualistic to us all, indeed He knows us all by name

The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want,

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures,

He leasdeth me beside the still waters,

He restoreth my soul

I understand the title 'Lord' comes from the Anglo Saxons, it means ruler and governor, so in sincerely taking this word to ones lips we indicate by the very use of it, that our dear Lord is the ruler and governor of our lives. Just dwell on this thought for a moment, remembering that as Jesus is our Lord we cannot say no to Him. At the first miracle, Mary said to the disciples of Jesus, 'Whatever He tells you to do, do it'. As our Shepherd He leads us and we follow, in the East the shepherd always went before the flock. As a Rabboni moved forward from the synagogue he led the way with two or three of his closest disciples near to him, teaching as he moved forward. In the same way, there were with our blessed Lord, Peter, James and John, the disciples who were so close to their Rabboni. Our Lord is The Shepherd of our Souls, He leads us in our lives and we should be obedient and follow Him, whether we do or not is another matter that we must all resolve for ourselves and this can take a life time. The Master desires the obedience of our hearts and minds and He leads us in ways that are best for us, not always easy pathways. As we look back on our lives we should be able to sing those words the hymnist wrote. 'All that has needful has been, granted in what He ordaineth'. Our dear Lord called my good lady to Himself a few years ago and I could not sing those words for a long time, we loved each other so much. I considered that I needed Amy but now our Lord has brought me to a point in my thinking when I can sing those words again. It has been a very difficult pathway to tread, but good for my soul. Those who teach a prosperity gospel do so from little experience, a half-closed Bible and a half opened mind

In the Psalm we are considering it says, 'I shall not want'. Now about this truth some folk would argue until the cats come home about material things, but let us put that sort of thinking on one side and consider matters of far, far more importance. In the things which are spiritual and eternal, 'We shall not want'. Many of the Old Testament saints understood this teaching and we should understand it more so through the wonderful ministry of our Lord Jesus. As for our sins we are not left wanting because of the work of our Lord Jesus, the work of Jesus on The Cross was perfect. Our Lord paid the price, the penalty for our sins; it was complete in Him so for our sins are concerned, 'We shall not be left wanting'. We also know the teaching of Scripture, 'That there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus'

Consider our fellowship with God The Father, this through our Lord Jesus, by His Spirit, 'We shall not be left wanting'. He is our Comforter, being with us the moment we enter the Covenant of Grace, as we put our faith in our Father God, through our Lord Jesus, by His Spirit

Now please dwell on the next point for a few moments, namely our eternal destiny, in and through our Lord Jesus. As we put on one side our mortal bodies, we will be with our Lord in Glory, about this there is no doubt, it is an absolute certainty, Jesus proclaimed it and He could not lie. Just read the words in John's Gospel, 'I am the resurrection and the life, he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live', that is crystal clear, no doubt at all. In our Lord Jesus our eternal destiny is fixed, 'We will not be left wanting'. Please dwell on the following words, the first two lines were written by Charles Hart and the remainder by Norman J Clayton:

Let your soul take you where you want to be,

Only then shall you belong to me

Now I belong to Jesus,

Jesus belongs to me,

Not for the years of time alone,

But for eternity

As we understand more so who our Lord Jesus is, have committed our lives to our Father God through Him, by His Spirit, then there is no doubt about our forgiveness, fellowship and eternal destiny, they are absolute certainties

The next few words are very blessed in their meaning to me. The sheep with their shepherds in the East, the ones that kept closest to their shepherd, were able to partake of the succulent grass and were the strongest by far. Now let us think of this regarding our Lord and ourselves. We must keep close to our Lord in our daily prayers and consideration of His Word, this will mean that our hearts and minds will be fed upon the things of our Lord. This will make us strong in our faith and this should be expressed in our daily lives, if not then there is something wrong. The ways in which our dear Lord desires to use us in our daily lives for Him, can only spring from our own Personal Devotional Life. There is no other way by which we can be employed by our Lord in His Kingdom; it cannot be done through any other channels

If we feel our Christian life is unproductive and consider our spiritual life is not burning very brightly then there is, as I understand from my own experience, just one answer. The problem is related to how much time we spend every day in our devotions. The answer is there without any doubt at all

Next we have the words, 'Still waters'. This means refreshment in our lives and real Christian fellowship with other believers, not just having a cup of tea with folk, that is OK but it is not the fellowship which the Bible speaks about. May we understand this clearly, with these, 'Still waters', springing up into eternal life

Now let us meditate on the words, 'He restoreth my soul'. Our Father God desires to restore our souls to the position of communion similar to that which Adam & Eve had with our Lord in the Garden of Eden, before they were disobedient. At the time our God, 'Walked with them in the garden, in the cool of the day', what wonderful fellowship, communion, almost use whatever similar word you desire but it must have been an incredible experience, it was The Dispensation of Innocence. Then sin came into their lives; fellowship was broken, making it necessary for communion with God to be restored through sacrifice. This was the only way because our God is holy, just and the wages of sin had to be paid, this is death

The sum of all this is that we need our souls restored and this can only be done through a person outside ourselves, this one being our Lord Jesus Christ. If we think our souls can be restored, our sins forgiven by the works of our lives then please read the following words with understanding. If we think this way, we are implying that the work of our Lord Jesus on The Cross was all in vain. God forbid that we should think and live this way. Our souls can only be restored and salvation archived through the grace of our Lord Jesus in His Cross experience. Works do not count in redemption, only grace

In the next two verses of this Psalm the image changes to, 'Guide & Traveller'. The road is black with pilgrims but it seems as if there are only the two of us there, you with your Lord and me with mine but the same Lord. You cannot rob me of the company of my guide, neither will He desert you. The words read:

He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His namesake,

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will feel no evil,

For Thou art with me, Thy rod and staff they comfort me

I am not going to touch for long on the next few words of this rich Psalm, 'The paths of righteousness'; they are of great value and challenge to us all. We are NOT in life, in the fellowship of believers where we worship, to fulfill our own selfish ambitions in any way. We are in those paths of righteousness for HIS NAME'S SAKE, that our dear Lord will have all the glory, not ourselves. Please remember the closing words of The Disciples Prayer, they read:

ForThine is The Kingdom, the Power and the Glory

For ever and ever Amen

The next few words of this Psalm are very meaningful for me, they are,

Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me

In the area where Psalmist David lived there was a valley called, 'The Valley of the Shadow of Death', in that valley they buried their loved ones, similar to our cemeteries, and the words just quoted had a phophetical edge to them regarding our Lord Jesus. Our Lord did indeed pass right through, but not into the 'Valley of the Shadow of Death', for He rose to the wonder and glory of the resurrection on the third day. We should rejoice in this as we gather for worship every Lord's Day. Sunday is the first day of the week, the Day of the Resurrection. Now as we believe we will also go through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, but lets us use nicer words, we will pass through, 'The gates of pearly splendour, victors we'll rest in Him through endless years the same'. We will be with our blessed Lord and this will be better than anything we have experienced while here on Planet Earth. There will be nothing we have enjoyed in our living here, that will not be replaced by something far better when we get to Glory. May we all fully understand this

In the quote we are considering let us omit the words 'Of death'. It will read, 'Though I walk through the valley of the shadow' and the Psalmist continues, 'I will fear no evil for Thou art with me'

As believers we all have problems in life, we are taught this so clearly in Scripture without any doubt at all. Even our blessed Lord Himself said, 'In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer for I have overcome the world'. Those who teach triumphalism do so out of an empty experience, a void in their thinking and their own version of the Bibles so what are these problems of, 'The Valley of the Shadow?' These shadows can be difficulties with loneliness, which so many experience. They can refer to our health and I understand this a little. We can have problems with relationships which are so common to us and there are those financial worries which beset so many. These are all 'Valleys of the Shadow' which we all go through but the Lord is our Shepherd. Now let us stop for a moment as I often do and consider this point. In life there are problems, difficulties, call them what you will, but they are there for a reason, to bring us to become full grown men and women in Christ Jesus. Our God's world is based on fixed principles; everything is for a purpose. Please turn to 11 Corinthians c4 v8 to 11 & v17, consider the words carefully. Again we have the words of the hymn which are based on the Royal Oracles, we sing, 'We thank Thee Lord, that all our joy is touched with pain', do we? Our lives are in the nailed pierced hands of our blessed Lord Jesus, also in the hands of our Father God, what greater security could we desire?

Now dwell for a few moments on the next words in this Psalm about the 'rod' and 'staff. In brief they were used by the shepherd in his work, to get sheep out of difficulties and guide them in the right direction. Please spiritualist on these two points yourself for a few moments

The last two verses of the psalm read:

Thou preparest a table for me, in the presence of mine enemies,

Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over,

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever

With the last two verses of this Psalm, they deal not with the 'Shepherd & Sheep' or 'Guide & Traveller but the 'Host & Guest'. Although the guest chamber is full of guests yet it seems as if there are only the two of us present, you and your Lord, me and mine, neither of us depriving each bother of nourishment. As we are present at the banquet house of our Lord, He feeds us with the Word of God. We know that Jesus said, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth from The Father', for it is, 'By such things that we live', as taught in Isaiah. If we take services may we always present the Word of God as we understand it, this is most important. When I wanted to take meetings again, I felt my lack to do this in many directions, one being that I knew so few illustrations, another factor being that I was not certain how to finish or start an address. About these problems I spent a nice afternoon with a dear Godly couple in Birmingham. In speaking about my concerns, Leslie said to me about illustrations, 'Trevor, what do you want those for, the Bible is packed with them', yes Leslie was right

Let us now pick up the words regarding the Host & Guest, 'Thou preparest a table before me'. In consideration of this, regard the 'table' to be that of our lives. Please note it is, 'prepared for us'

When we had the family with us, I enjoyed our meals together, it was an ideal opportunity to enjoy some nice food and also share the things of the day. Before we dined the table had been well laid, cutlery, napkins, tablemats and all the other things to enable us to enjoy the meal more so. On the table was salt, pepper and whatever seasoning we required for the food placed before us, it was well, 'Prepared for us'

Now what does all this teach regarding our lives? The 'table' of our lives has been prepared for us by our loving Heavenly Father, about this there is no doubt at all. Everything in your life and mine is there for a purpose and through it there should be a testimony for our Lord. There are things on the 'table of our lives' we enjoy, but to help bring out the 'taste' of the 'food' we have the 'seasoning'. On our dining tables there is mustard for the beef, to enjoy lamb to the full mint sauce is required and for pork, some applesauce makes it more enjoyable. But if too much seasoning is put on the meat it is spoilt, so it is with our lives. I need the continual hand of our dear Lord on my life, so that all the rough edges are knocked off. We all need the discipline of our Lord in our lives, we have the words of the hymn, 'We thank Thee Lord that all our joy is touched with pain'

We follow on with the words from the Psalm, 'Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over and to that I add, 'And my saucer as well'. Whatever do these two points mean?

In the East when a guest came to one's home, their head would be anointed with just a drop of oil, also a cup would be placed before them and filled to overflowing with the choicest wine. The drop of oil would indicate to the guest that while in the company of their hosts, their love would always be showered upon them. The overflowing cup taught that there would always be more than enough for the needs of the guests. This is just the same as we enter the household of our Father God. His love will always be expressed towards us in and through our wonderful way, which we will never fully understand while we are here ion time. With the blessings we have from our Lord there will always be more than enough for what we need. Remember, 'We have grace according to the riches there are in Christ Jesus', not out of them as we cannot exhaust the riches in Christ Jesus

At the end of this Psalm we have the two 'sheep dogs', the one called 'Goodness' and the other 'Mercy', everything in our lives is in the goodness and mercy of our Lord. The sheep dogs helped the shepherd keep the sheep under control, directing them way he desired the sheep to go. At times the dogs hurt the sheep a little but this was for their good. This is the same in your life and mime

I close in using some of the words of that hymn which I have quoted from already, just dwell on them for a few moments:

All that is needful has been, granted in what He ordaineth

This is true with all of us, we learn through experience, but her charges are high

Can I suggest that for the next month you read first thing in the morning the 23rd |Psalm. Yes every six verses of it and meditate upon them during the day before you. What a blessing you will experience as this has been for me. I rarely go through a day without dwelling a little on maybe just a small point from this wonderful Psalm. I just cannot get away from it, no that is wrong Trevor, In have no desire to get away from the Shepherd of my soul, my first class guide and ones wonderful host

This is the second book