Prayer is a gift from God to us. It is our primary means of maintaining communion with Him. God is tender of His Word. So imagine the joy it brings Him when we pray, and when the prayer is His Word prayed back to Him. God’s Word never returns void.

Let us pray.

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures;
He leadth me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint 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.

Amen. Psalm 23. Adapted

Selah.

Like God’s Word generally, this psalm is full of meaning that may not be readily apparent on the second or twenty-second reading. It is the Holy Spirit’s mission to explicate it for you. Ask Him to open up its full beauty and depth to you. As an example, here is an explication of one sentence by Charles Spurgeon (1834 – 1892):

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” The storm breaks on the mountain, but the valley is the place of tranquility, and thus often the last days of Christians are the most peaceful of their whole career. The mountain is bleak and bare, but the valley is rich with golden sheaves, and many saints have reaped more joy and knowledge when they came to die than they ever knew while they lived. Moreover, it is not the valley of death but “the valley of the shadow of death,” for death in its substance has been removed, and only the shadow of it remains. Death stands by the side of the highway by which we have to travel, and the light of Heaven shining upon it throws a shadow across our path. Let us then rejoice that there is a light beyond. Nobody is afraid of a shadow, for a shadow cannot stop a person’s pathway, even for a moment. The shadow of a dog cannot bite; the shadow of a sword cannot kill; the shadow of death cannot destroy us. Let us, therefore, not be afraid.”

Adapted, Spurgeon and the Psalms

Note: Want to go deeper into the 23rd Psalm? Start your journey here: A Shepherd Looks At Psalm 23, W. Philip Keller