Ever since the age of five, my family has visited a
particular stretch of beach located in
North
Carolina. Our very first week there my older sisters
and I noticed and picked up everything: driftwood, broken shells, polished
stones, and even dead crabs. I remember how loud I thought the ocean was and
how looking straight down at the layers of waves—some coming, some going—made
me dizzy. Decades later, my mom, dad, brother, sisters, and I, and our respective
families travel out to that same beach every other year. We love it, but many
of those details that once loudly called for our attention have been muffled. I
realized this one summer as I was mindlessly throwing shells into the waves
without caring if each one was a “keeper” or not. I believe that this is much
the same way with familiar passages of the Bible. The first few times we
encountered them we may have tried to scrutinize every word and connection, but
after a while familiarity sets in and we find ourselves breezing through much
treasured passages, losing out on new discoveries.
Realizing this too common phenomenon, I tried to come up
with a way to help my mind focus on the details of Psalm 23 (the
well-known The Lord is my shepherd passage). John Calvin and Charles Spurgeon,
in their commentaries on Psalm 23, note what an amazing and godly man David was
to have written what he did. I asked myself, When I speak Psalm 23 aloud, in
song or praise, do I speak it in earnest? Or, in other words, How truthful are
the precious words of this Psalm when emanating from my mouth? I admit—sheepishly, may I say—that
I was not all that pleased with my answer to that question.
Nonetheless, this very question will serve as the backdrop
for my next few meditations on Psalm 23, as we walk through the pastures and
the valley with David and the Great Shepherd.
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