Psalms 23:6
The Psalmist is so confident that his Shepherd is good that he opens the final verse of the 23rd Psalm with “Surely goodness…” There is no doubt that goodness and mercy will come his way. When the sheep have the past experience of watching their shepherd protect them and bless them, they are confident that He will always do so.
It is important to note the word that the English uses in this verse, and how different that it is from the original Hebrew. David says that goodness and mercy “shall follow me all the days of my life”, but the word ‘follow’ is a bit misleading. The Hebrew word for ‘follow’ is ‘radaph’ which means, “To pursue, to run after, to chase” or literally, “to hunt you down”. It is first found in Genesis 14, when Abram finds that his nephew Lot has been kidnapped. Abram assembles his own army of 318 men and “pursued them unto Dan” (Genesis 14:14). The word ‘pursued’ is ‘radaph’.
Just as Abram hunted the kidnappers down and brought them to justice, the Holy Spirit is saying through the Psalmist that we can be assured that God’s goodness and mercy will hunt us down as well. This entire Psalm has been about the accompaniment of our Good Shepherd. If He leads, we follow. If we leave the path, He restores us. If we are hurt, He heals us. It even shows Him go with us into areas that He did not lead us. The finality is that as we follow the footprints of the Shepherd, His goodness and mercy follow close after us.
We do not have to look for the goodness and the mercy, for it will look for us. Many believers have become sidetracked and discouraged because they are always looking for goodness and blessings. They have actually turned Christianity into one big blessing, rather than the relationship that it is. Follow after blessings and you will always be on the chasing end. Follow after Jesus and the blessings will chase the Jesus that lives in you!
David found that dwelling in the house of the LORD for ever was the most blessed thing. He commented that he would rather be a “doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness” (Psalms 84:10). It was for this cause that he wanted to build the temple, but God deferred that honor to his son Solomon. David was a New Covenant thinker living in an Old Covenant world. You and I are the temple of the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 6:19), so we dwell in His house forever. This promise in Psalms 23:6 is ours everyday because of the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Follow your shepherd today and fully expect that He is going to do the same to you with good things in your life and mercy in your spirit.
The Psalmist is so confident that his Shepherd is good that he opens the final verse of the 23rd Psalm with “Surely goodness…” There is no doubt that goodness and mercy will come his way. When the sheep have the past experience of watching their shepherd protect them and bless them, they are confident that He will always do so.
It is important to note the word that the English uses in this verse, and how different that it is from the original Hebrew. David says that goodness and mercy “shall follow me all the days of my life”, but the word ‘follow’ is a bit misleading. The Hebrew word for ‘follow’ is ‘radaph’ which means, “To pursue, to run after, to chase” or literally, “to hunt you down”. It is first found in Genesis 14, when Abram finds that his nephew Lot has been kidnapped. Abram assembles his own army of 318 men and “pursued them unto Dan” (Genesis 14:14). The word ‘pursued’ is ‘radaph’.
Just as Abram hunted the kidnappers down and brought them to justice, the Holy Spirit is saying through the Psalmist that we can be assured that God’s goodness and mercy will hunt us down as well. This entire Psalm has been about the accompaniment of our Good Shepherd. If He leads, we follow. If we leave the path, He restores us. If we are hurt, He heals us. It even shows Him go with us into areas that He did not lead us. The finality is that as we follow the footprints of the Shepherd, His goodness and mercy follow close after us.
We do not have to look for the goodness and the mercy, for it will look for us. Many believers have become sidetracked and discouraged because they are always looking for goodness and blessings. They have actually turned Christianity into one big blessing, rather than the relationship that it is. Follow after blessings and you will always be on the chasing end. Follow after Jesus and the blessings will chase the Jesus that lives in you!
David found that dwelling in the house of the LORD for ever was the most blessed thing. He commented that he would rather be a “doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness” (Psalms 84:10). It was for this cause that he wanted to build the temple, but God deferred that honor to his son Solomon. David was a New Covenant thinker living in an Old Covenant world. You and I are the temple of the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 6:19), so we dwell in His house forever. This promise in Psalms 23:6 is ours everyday because of the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Follow your shepherd today and fully expect that He is going to do the same to you with good things in your life and mercy in your spirit.
