Reflections From
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EDITORIAL TEAM: Anne Cetas, Becky Knapp, Dave Branon, Tim Gustafson, Alyson Kieda, David Sper • ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: Scriptures taken from Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®
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More than two thousand years ago, the psalmists composed wonderful songs of praise and thanksgiving to God. Yet they also wrote down their heartfelt cries for help and protection. They poured out their overwhelming fears, guilt and daily need in raw honesty and desperation.
Ray C. Stedman once described the Psalms as “God’s music, inspired and written to draw us to grace.” And so the journey they offer us is one of finding a voice for our own pains and sorrows, and of discovering strength and hope in the One who walks with us “through the darkest valley” (PSALM 23:4).
The hope of the Psalms echoes the central hope of God’s Word. Time and again, both in their heartbreaks and in their certainty of deliverance, we meet Jesus Himself. He is the “Rock” the Psalmists stood on, who continually sustained them (92:12-15). And so these ancient words will also direct us back to the One who is our constant companion, no matter where we find ourselves (139:7–8). He is the Shepherd who cares for us (23:1), who purifies us “whiter than snow” (51:7), who puts “a new song” in our mouths (40:3) and in whom we find a true “hiding-place” (32:7).
These specially selected Our Daily Bread articles will guide you through the honesty, hope and healing of five of the Psalms. Our prayer is that you will find a voice for your burdens, and see that Jesus meets each and every heartfelt cry and need. In Him,
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Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
PSALM 23:4
7 The Lord reigns for ever; he has established his throne for judgment.
8 He rules the world in righteousness and judges the peoples with equity.
9 The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.
10 Those who know your name trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.
Those who know your name trust in you.
[ PSALM 9:10 ]
While at a motorway service station, Russell heard panicked shouts for help. A man was suffering a major cardiac arrest and needed immediate attention. Russell took control of the situation, giving instructions and providing CPR until the paramedics arrived.
When the man failed to respond, the onlookers began to offer misguided advice. Finally Russell said, “I know what I’m doing; I work with the Royal Marines.” The crowd relaxed—after all, a Royal Marine was exactly the right kind of person to take charge in this emergency. They’re known to be highly trained, competent and trustworthy.
If a Royal Marine can be encouraging in a crisis, how much more can God’s name inspire confidence when we’re in any kind of trouble. “Those who know your name trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you,” writes the psalmist (PSALM 9:10).
What truths come to mind when we consider all that God’s name means? He “reigns for ever”, “rules the world in righteousness” and is “a refuge for the oppressed” (PSALM 9:7–9). These are absolute and eternal characteristics of God that we can depend upon in daily life and in emergencies.
No matter what crisis we may find ourselves in today, we can trust in the name of the Lord. He reigns as King and He is always our “stronghold in times of trouble” (V. 9).
DEBBI FRALICKREFLECT: What does God’s name mean to you? How does meditating on His character bring you reassurance and hope, whether in times of peace or during a crisis?
PRAY: Heavenly Father, thank You for reigning in righteousness. You are my refuge; I set my hope in You alone.
Psalm 9:10
1
“The God Who Sees Me”
(GENESIS 16:13)
2 God Almighty (GENESIS 17:1)
3 I am (EXODUS 3:14)
4 Ancient of Days (DANIEL 7:9)
5 God Most High (PSALM 57:2)
6 Jesus, the Messiah
(MATTHEW 1:1)
7 Immanuel, “God with us”
(MATTHEW 1:23)
8 The Good Shepherd (JOHN 10:11)
9 Abba, Father
(ROMANS 8:15)
10 The Alpha and Omega
(REVELATION 22:13)
1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.
3 They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them.
4 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.
5 It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
6 It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is deprived of its warmth.
The heavens declare the glory of God . . . their voice goes out into all the earth. [ PSALM 19:1–4 ]
Submerging her shoulders in near-freezing water, the swimmer’s ‘Oo-oo-oohs’ and ‘Aa-a-a-ahs’ sing-songed through the crisp, winter air. The ancient practice of swimming in open water surged during the Covid pandemic in the UK—I shiver just thinking about it! But the words of another rosy-cheeked wild swimmer captured my imagination: “We’re outside, connecting with nature. Once you’re in there, you can sigh so, so deeply. We always look for the kingfisher . . . It’s lovely.”
Connecting with nature, suggests the Psalmist, heightens our awareness of God. Creation declares the truth and beauty of its Creator (PSALM 19:1). Day and night, the skies display God’s glorious majesty: “their voice goes out into all the earth” (VV. 2–4). And just as the radiant light of the sun touches all, no one is hidden from God’s loving care—a care displayed throughout His created world (VV. 4–6).
Wherever we are, we can all connect with God through nature— even by gazing out of the window at the sky, opening our hearts to His revelations. Listening to birdsong stills our racing thoughts, inviting His restoration. Appreciating God’s sunset brushstrokes on our homeward commute reassures us of His presence. Seasonal changes prompt thoughts of what God is nurturing within us. A daisy prising its way through tarmac promises that we can fulfil our God-given potential, despite apparent obstacles.
Endless gifts in creation are ours to receive from God today. Amazing!
ANNE LE TISSIERREFLECT: In what ways has God used nature to convey His love, presence or inspiration to you in the past? Why not pause, take a deep breath and enjoy meeting with God in His creation today?
PRAY: Creator God, thank You for the gift of this world to help me to know You better.
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.
Isaiah 6:3
1
Take a walk: From the moment God first made people, He wanted to enjoy walking with them through His creation (SEE GENESIS 3:8). There’s something about taking a walk that can stimulate a prayerful conversation with Him. Whether strolling through your neighbourhood or lingering in a more rural setting, it’s good to remember that you’re surrounded by His creative genius, for “Through him all things were made” (JOHN 1:3).
2 Watch a sunrise: “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed” (MARK 1:35). Choose a morning to set your alarm early and start your day with the Lord, just as Jesus modelled. As you watch the sun rise with Him, let Him remind you that His compassions are new every morning (LAMENTATIONS 3:22–23).
3 Take a photo: Find a special place in God’s creation where you can rest in His presence and praise Him. You could take a photo of it to capture one such moment of peace—creating a memory aid of His faithfulness, to help you say with the Psalmist: “I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles” (PSALM 77:11).
1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. [ PSALM 23:4 ]
William Carey is known as the “father of modern missions”. But when he first arrived in India in 1792, he was quickly besieged by illness, loneliness and poverty. Then he was deserted by his missionary partner, one of his sons died of dysentery, and his wife’s mental health deteriorated so severely that she threatened him with a knife.
“I am in a strange land with no Christian friend, a large family and nothing to supply their wants,” Carey wrote. “This is indeed the valley of the shadow of death to me.”
Carey’s dark valley was impossible to navigate, humanly speaking. Yet he could write, “But I rejoice that I am here notwithstanding; and God is here.” Carey’s hope echoed David’s when he composed Psalm 23: “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me” (PSALM 23:4).
Hope in life’s valleys is found in the Shepherd who walks through them with us. He promises that whatever valley we’re facing, it will come to an end; one day we will finally sit at the table He has prepared for us in his home (VV. 5–6).
If you’re walking through a valley today, you can get a sense of that glorious future as you draw close to your Shepherd, the source of all reassurance. Seasons of darkness can become seasons of hope when we affirm, “You are with me” (V. 4). CHRIS WALE
REFLECT: Which promises or assurances in Psalm 23 bring you special hope and comfort? How can they help you draw closer to your Shepherd today?
PRAY: Good Shepherd, I thank You that You are with me. No matter what I face or go through, You will walk each step and each moment with me.
6 Praise be to the Lord, for he has heard my cry for mercy.
7 The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.
8 The Lord is the strength of his people, a fortress of salvation for his anointed one.
9 Save your people and bless your inheritance; be their shepherd and carry them for ever.
The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. [ PSALM 28:7 ]
As a police inspector who loves and follows Jesus, Marie says knowing Him makes all the difference in how she approaches her job. Once when she was sent on an emergency call to a woman who was reported to be violent and self-harming with knives, Marie prayed earnestly while on the journey to her home. When she arrived, she discovered that “the lady was fine”. Seeing God change the situation “gave me the courage that He is for me,” Marie later reflected. “He is my protector and shield and [will] be with me.”
Marie follows the example of King David, who trusted in God for help and hope: “The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me” (PSALM 28:7). We aren’t told which trial David endured when he wrote these words, whether he was on the run from King Saul or from his own son Absalom, but we know that he cried out to God for mercy (V. 6). He knew that God “is the strength of his people” and that He provides a place of safety and salvation for those who trust in Him (V. 8). When we face stressful situations, we too can put our hope in God. We know that He will be our shepherd who will carry us forever (V. 9). He won’t let us go astray when we follow Him.
AMY BOUCHER PYEREFLECT: How does putting your trust in God change the way you approach your daily life and challenges? How can you look to God for help and hope?
PRAY: Dear God, my Good Shepherd, lead me to quiet waters and refresh me. I know that You are with me always.
My Father in heaven, gladden and refresh my spirit in Your presence. Purify my heart and mind so that I may be at one with You. Even when I am beset by troubles and despair, guide me towards Your light and refuge. Thank You, Lord, for all of Your blessings in my life. Thank You for being here with me now, and for the promise of eternity in Your home. Please remind me of the many reasons why I should be joyful.
Be my hiding-place, my strong tower and my unshakable refuge, especially when life is hard. Plant my feet on the Rock of Christ who always holds me steady in the storms of life and who is God with me, right now even until the end of the age. In His name, Amen.
1 I will exalt you, Lord, for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me.
2 Lord my God, I called to you for help, and you healed me.
3 You, Lord, brought me up from the realm of the dead; you spared me from going down to the pit.
4 Sing the praises of the Lord, you his faithful people; praise his holy name.
5 For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favour lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.
6 When I felt secure, I said, ‘I shall never be shaken.’
7 Lord, when you favoured me, you made my royal mountain stand firm; but when you hid your face, I was dismayed.
8 To you, Lord, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy:
9 ‘What is gained if I am silenced, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it proclaim your faithfulness?
10 Hear, Lord, and be merciful to me; Lord, be my help.’
11 You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
12 that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent. Lord my God, I will praise you for ever.
Sing the praises of the Lord, you his faithful people; praise his holy name. [ PSALM 30:4 ]
Years ago, I cared for my mum as she was in hospice. I thanked God for the four months He allowed me to serve as her carer and asked Him to help me through the grieving process. I often struggled to praise God as I wrestled with my mixed emotions. But as my mum breathed her last breath and I wept uncontrollably, I whispered, “Hallelujah.” I felt guilty for praising God in that devastating moment until, years later, I took a closer look at Psalm 30.
In David’s song “for the dedication of the temple,” he worshipped God for His faithfulness and mercy (VV. 1–3). He encouraged others to “praise his holy name” (V. 4). Then David explored how intimately God entwines hardship and hope (V. 5). He acknowledged times of grief and rejoicing, times of feeling secure and being dismayed (VV. 6–7). His cries for help remained laced with confidence in God (VV. 7–10). The echo of his praise wove through David’s moments of wailing and dancing, grief and joy (V. 11). As if acknowledging the mystery and complexity of enduring affliction and anticipating God’s faithfulness, David proclaimed his endless devotion to God (V. 12).
Like David, we can sing, “Lord my God, I will praise you forever” (V. 12). Whether we’re happy or hurting, God can help us declare our trust in Him and lead us to worship Him with joyful shouts and tears of praise. XOCHITL
DIXONREFLECT: How has God helped you trust Him with your mixed emotions? How can you praise Him while still processing hardship?
PRAY: Dear God, please help me trust You and praise You as I process my emotions.
Israel’s King David spent much of his youth tending his “few sheep in the wilderness” (1 SAMUEL 17:28). The wilderness is one of the best places in the world to learn. There aren’t many distractions!
One day as David was watching his sheep, the idea came to him that God is like a shepherd. He thought of the incessant care that sheep require—their helplessness and defencelessness. He recalled their foolish straying from safe paths and their constant need for a guide. He thought of the time and patience it took for them to trust him before they would follow. He remembered the times when he led them through danger and they huddled close at his heels. He pondered the fact that he must think for his sheep, fight for them, guard them and find their pasture and quiet pools. He remembered their bruises and scratches that he bound up, and he marvelled at how frequently he had to rescue them from harm. Yet not one of his sheep was aware of how well it was watched.
Throughout the day he would stay close to his sheep, watching them carefully and protecting them from harm. When one sheep strayed, David searched for it until it was found. Then he laid it across his shoulders and brought it back home. At the end of the day, David led his flock to the safety of the fold and slept across the gateway to protect them.
A good shepherd never left his sheep alone. They would have been lost without him. His presence was their assurance. “Yes,” David thought to himself as he composed each line of Psalm 23, “God is very much like a good shepherd.”
Hundreds of years later, Jesus said: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. . . . I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep” (JOHN 10:11–15).
This is our Lord Jesus, “that great Shepherd of the sheep”
(HEBREWS 13:20). He saw us as “sheep without a shepherd”
(MATTHEW 9:36). He “came to seek and to save the lost” (LUKE 19:10).
He’s the one who left the “ninety-nine on the hills” and went “to look for the one that wandered off,” forever establishing the value of one person and the Father’s desire that not one of them should perish (MATTHEW 18:12–14).
F. B. Meyer wrote: “He has a shepherd’s heart, beating with pure and generous love that counted not His own lifeblood too dear a price to pay down as our ransom. He has a shepherd’s eye that takes in the whole flock and misses not even the poor sheep wandering away on the mountains cold. He has a shepherd’s faithfulness, which will never fail or forsake, leave us comfortless, nor flee when He sees the wolf coming. He has a shepherd’s strength, so that He is well able to deliver us from the jaw of the lion or the paw of the bear. He has a shepherd’s tenderness; no lamb so tiny that He will not carry it; no saint so weak that He will not gently lead; no soul so faint that He will not give it rest.”
The story of Jesus is about the death of the Shepherd: “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (ISAIAH 53:5–6).
When He died for us, He did so to pay for all our sin—the obvious sins as well as for the secret sins of selfishness and pride. He Himself bore them all in His body on the cross. This was sin’s final cure.
Some look at the cross and say that humanity was so bad and God was so angry that someone had to pay. But it was not anger that led Christ to be crucified; it was love. The crucifixion is the point of the story. God loves us so much that He Himself took on our guilt. He took all our sin upon Himself and healed us. When it was over He said, “It is finished!” There is nothing left for us to do but to enter into forgiving acceptance—and for those of us who have already entered it, to enter into more of it.
Our Shepherd calls to us and listens for the slightest sounds of life. He hears the faintest cry. If He hears nothing at all, He will not give up or leave us.
When we wander away (as we are prone to do) He allows us to, letting us experience the weariness of being away from His “green pastures” and “still waters” (PSALM 23:2). The discomfort we feel during these times is God’s doing; but not because He is far away. He is right next to us and longs for us to come back to Him. So He hounds us. He hems us in. He thwarts our dreams. He foils our best-laid plans. He frustrates our hopes. He waits until we know that nothing will ease our pain, nothing will make life worth living except His presence. And when we turn to Him, He is there to greet us. He has been there all along. “The Lord is near to all who call on him”
(PSALM 145:18).
“But,” you might say, “why would He want me? He knows my sin, my wandering, my poor choices. I’m not good enough. I’m not sorry enough for my sin. I’m unable not to sin.”
Our waywardness doesn’t have to be explained to God. He’s never surprised by anything we do. He sees everything at a single glance—what is, what could have been, what would have been apart from our sinful choices. He sees into the dark corners of our hearts and knows everything about us there is to know. But what He sees only draws out His love. There is no deeper motivation in God than love. It is His nature to love; He can do no other, for “God is love”
(1 JOHN 4:8).
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
Do you have some nameless weariness? Some vague, sad pain? Some inexplicable ache in your heart? Come to Him who made your heart. Jesus said: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (MATTHEW 11:28).
There is no more profound lesson than this: He is the one thing that we need. The word shepherd carries with it thoughts of tenderness, security and provision, yet it means nothing if I cannot say, “The Lord is my shepherd.”
What a difference that one syllable makes. It means that I can have all of God’s attention, all of the time, just as though I’m the only one. I may be part of a flock, but I’m one of a kind. It’s one thing to say, “The Lord is a shepherd.” It’s another to say, “The Lord is my shepherd.”
Adapted from The Lord Is My Shepherd, ©2013 by Our Daily Bread Ministries, Grand Rapids, Michigan. All rights reserved.
1 JOHN 4:7-8
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Journey through the honest, raw and heartfelt cries of the Psalms with these 10 specially selected Our Daily Bread readings. Use the psalmists’ words to deepen your own conversations with God, discover the hope He gives to those who put their faith in Him and find the love, rescue and provision of Jesus clearly depicted again and again.
Let the psalmists inspire you to live a life of security, contentment and joy because of the Saviour who fulfils His every promise and meets our every need.