Articles
For True Security
I was probably a preschooler at the time, but I can recall my grandmother, in her seventies, teaching me to say the 23rd Psalm. It is among the first Scriptures I remember learning.
Even though it has been 3,000 years since David wrote it, this psalm has remained a favorite, even in 21st century America, where most of us have never seen a shepherd with his sheep.
What is there about the 23rd Psalm that has made it, as G. Frederick Owen has said, “the best-known and most-loved of all poems ever written in the world”?
Perhaps one reason for its appeal is the way it speaks of God. The Psalmist does not say merely that God is, or even that God is good, but the theme of the Psalm is that God is good to me. “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul . . . You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”
Altogether, fifteen such pronouns (I, my, my) give the Psalm a personal quality that is truly comforting. God is no remote Creator. He is here with me now. He cares!
Reprinted and adapted from the daily devotional guide Power for Today
