Why Trust the Lord?

Is there anything in your life that has become so familiar to you that you've stopped seeing it? Maybe. Maybe it's a drive that you take each week or maybe every day that you get going. And then once you get to your destination, you realize you have no recollection on how you got there. I know that's happened to me.

I've left my house on my way here to church campus, and I pull into the parking lot and I realize I don't remember anything about the trip. And I really. I believe I was magically teleported from point A to point B because I don't remember. I was on autopilot. I guess it's a little disconcerting.

What's also disconcerting is when you leave the house to go somewhere, then all of a sudden you find yourself on the way to the location. I found myself on my way here. I'm like, wait a minute, this isn't where I intended to go. So I have to stop and actually think about where was I planning to go? And then I remember and head that direction.

But yeah, it can be disconcerting that it becomes like a rut of familiarity. Maybe you've lived somewhere beautiful, maybe you've worked somewhere amazing, and maybe you stopped actually seeing it. A couple weeks ago, my family and I were up in Northern Michigan. I don't know if you've heard of Sleeping Bear Dunes. It's beautiful.

I encourage you to go there if you are able to. We went there and it's about 20, 30 minutes from Traverse City. Ish. And I was at the top of this 450 foot foot mountain of sand, basically looking out over Lake Michigan. If you haven't seen it, it's amazing.

It looks like an ocean, basically of fresh water. It's incredible. And I'm standing there amazed by this, and I pause and I wonder, do people get bored of seeing that up here? They just drive by. Maybe it's like the ticket taker at the Grand Canyon where they get out of their car and they're heading to their ticket booth and they do they still lock their car, then pause and look and like, wow, that's amazing.

And then head into the office or the janitor at the Sistine Chapel. As they sweep up, do they still pause and look up every once in a while? Or maybe it's a groundskeeper at Augusta national on Hole. The green of hole 12, and stop and look around. Do they still feel something in.

In that moment? Interestingly, there are neurological reasons why our mind starts to become familiar with things and we stop noticing them. There's a part of our brain designed to stop seeing what it already knows. It's constantly scanning our environment and assessing the stimulus that are coming in and making a decision. Okay, does this warrant conscious attention or can I just filter that out?

Maybe you've gotten a new car before and now you start seeing that car everywhere. It breaks through the familiarity. Or you want to paint your door red at your house and now you're seeing red doors everywhere. It's not that there are more red doors, it's just it's breaking through. So there's, there's obviously a legitimate purpose to it, but I think there's also some downsides as well.

A specific example I came across in the past couple weeks has to do with the World Cup. If you haven't heard, we've been hosting the World cup this summer, which ends today. I love soccer, played soccer. I coach soccer. I don't know if you saw the third place game yesterday.

It was amazing. My family has loved how much soccer we have been watching lately. That's sarcasm. They are. They're ready to be done.

I don't know if you noticed this though, but there's international fans coming from all over the world. Europe, Asia, Africa, South America. They're coming here to watch the games and I believe they're walking through America and they're seeing things that we have become familiar with that we don't notice quite as much anymore. One of those things is ranch dressing. I kid you not.

Apparently ranch dressing is a revelation. Swedish fan posted. Why did no one tell me ranch sauce is like crack? We need Europe, we need ranch asap. Ranch sauce.

I love that she couldn't understand why there's no official recipe while different restaurants have different take flavors of it and why us Americans have evidently been withholding it from the rest of the world. It's gotten so bad that the TSA has actually issued a formal warning to those traveling back at home that yes, if it is above 3.4 ounces, it needs to be in your checked bag because evidently people are trying to smuggle it back. I don't know what this is, but. But I've also read the airport shops are now selling ranch as people are adding back. Capitalism at its best there.

But there are other, other things that I think they are noticing as well that we've become familiar with. And they're posting about it where the familiarity has drained the wonder out of the extraordinary one. Australian content creator posted a video in from Miami. He was at, at the time. And this American he doesn't even know just invited him onto his boat and show him around and he's overwhelmed.

He says he. He had heard about American hospitality but did not expect to experience it quite like this. It's not normal in any other country.

And I'm thankful for our country. And I love the, the stories of hospitality and kindness. And this is the, the familiarity that I felt when I was asked to preach this week and was given this passage of Psalm 23. It's actually a little daunting to me. This is probably the most read, most memorized, most familiar, most recited passage of scripture in the entire Bible.

Even if you're, you're. This is your first time in church, any church for that matter, you probably have heard of Psalm 23, maybe in a movie recited by LL Cool J. Pastor Mitchell told me about that. Have to ask him. Or perhaps at a funeral or a graveside. It's on plaques and pillows and greeting cards.

It's all over the place. And many of you might be able to recite a version of it from memory this morning, if I were to ask you to. And so as I prayerfully came to this passage, I was just praying, lord, help us to break through that familiarity this morning as we step into the passage and to attempt to do that. This week I asked some people from our church to read through Psalm 23 slowly and quietly and to get back to me and tell me what they thought of it and what it means to them right now in their specific season. Because sometimes we associate the Psalm with a specific season, but I think it's meant for any season that we're walking through.

Karen is a wife, a mother, a grandmother. She has walked with the Lord a long time and I believe has been at Southbridge 18 years or so. And this is what she wrote me. Psalm 23 speaks to my heart in a new way during this season of life. Looking back, I can see the shepherd that the shepherd has been preparing me all along.

Through every joy, every valley, every lesson and every blessing, God was shaping my faith and my heart. Now, as I enjoy my husband, children and grandchildren, I realize the season is not an ending, but another chapter of his purpose. He continues to lead, restore, and use me in ways that reflect his love and faithfulness. Truly, his goodness and mercy have followed me all the days of my life as I prepare for life changes. As I am older now, I trust God and what he has for me next here on earth.

And through his grace, I know that my husband, children and Grandchildren will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. I invite Karen to come up to read Psalm 23 for us this morning.

The Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. He refreshes my soul.

He guides me along the right path for his name's sake. And 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. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows.

Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Amen. Thank you, friend.

Others I sent the passage to have experienced difficulty in the past, but now are in seasons of victory and are able to claim some of those things at the end as goodness and love, or following them. And then some I I sent to are walking through grief that is days old. So whatever you were carrying into this room this morning, I invite you to push past the familiarity of the song psalm and to be open to what the Lord would have for you in this moment, even if you said these words a hundred times. Lean in. Let's pray together.

Lord, thank you for the opportunity to open your word, a familiar passage. And Lord, I'm grateful that you know the valleys each of us have and are or will be walking through. And Lord, I pray you'd meet us in this moment, that we would see you in this passage, that you'd speak to us and into each conversation, each situation, through your spirit, and that as a result, we would leave change. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.

As a reminder, we started last Sunday beginning a new series called the Stories We Believe. And the idea is that each of us carry this inner dialogue within us, this monologue, a running narrative that shapes how we see God, how we see others, and how we see the world and circumstances around us. And that's one of the reasons I love the Psalms. Because the Psalms are written by people who brought this inner story to God honestly, and they sought him to speak into them. One pastor said, but the Psalms are not cute thoughts for throw pillows.

These are weapons for war. They are the language God gave his people to fight despair with, to combat hopelessness with, to push back against the darkness when nothing else is working. Last week, Pastor A. Rod, Alex Rodriguez, the One and Only, walked us through Psalm 13. And if you're here, you heard something honest and raw where David is Asking a set of questions four times he asked, how long, O Lord, will you forget me forever? And Alex taught us and walked through what it feels like to be in a difficulty and feel like the Lord has gone quiet or silent, to be waiting for this answer that has hasn't come yet.

And at the end, he noticed. And if you look at the Passage in Psalm 13, you can notice that there's a change in perspective for David, but we don't see the change in circumstances necessarily. He says in Psalm 13, verse 5, but I trust in your unfailing love. But it doesn't tell you why he trusts in the Lord. It's really a faith decision made before the explanation arrives.

And that's why I've titled today's message, why Trust in the Lord? Because I believe Psalm 23 answers that question. The same David who wrote Psalm 13 wrote this passage today. And he's walked through the valley. He has had enemies.

He's watched God provide in the wilderness. And after that, through that, he's now writing these six verses. I'll give you the outline. Now, there's at least three reasons to trust him. One, he is your shepherd, so you lack nothing.

Two, he is with you, so you don't need to be afraid. And three, he is your host. We will be with him forever.

So if you ever have your Bibles, I invite you to turn to Psalm 23. We've read it already. And so we'll jump right in, starting in verse one. The Lord. Stop.

I'm going to stop right there because the word Lord here printed in your Bible is in the capital L, capital O, R, D. It's a translation signal. It tells you that in the Hebrew, this is the word Yahweh, the personal covenant name of God. Not a generic title, but a specific name for God that he reveals to Moses at the burning bush in Exodus 3. I am who I am. I am the God of Abraham.

I am the God who heard Israel crying out in Egypt and I came down. I am the God who parted the Red Sea. And David opens the psalm by claiming this God as his shepherd. And again, that's the first answer to the question, why trust the Lord? Because he is our shepherd.

The Lord is my. All right, I'm gonna stop there. I promise I'll keep. I'll get going further and not stop so much. But this word right after the covenant name of the Lord might be the most significant word in the psalm.

My shepherd, Charles Spurgeon, wrote the sweetest word of the whole is that monosyllable my. He does not say, the Lord is the shepherd of the world at large, but the Lord is my shepherd. If he be a shepherd to no one else, he is a shepherd to me. He cares for me, watches over me, and preserves me. Whatever be the believer's position, he is even now under the pastoral care of Jehovah.

So this is a very personal psalm. There's actually 17 first person words used across these six verses. I, me, my. No, us, no, we.

And so the question I think raises immediately, is he yours? Is he your shepherd? Have you turned to him as your personal shepherd, Lord and king? If you haven't, I encourage you to be thinking about that. We'll come back to it later at the end.

So if God is the shepherd, what does that make us? Yeah, makes us sheep. Yep. And as you have probably heard before, sheep. That's not the most positive comparison for us.

Most flattering. Right. David was a shepherd, though, so he probably knew what comparison he was making when he used this metaphor. Sheep are not the smartest. They're vulnerable, defenseless, weak, not very fast.

One commentator wrote, it is no accident that God has chosen to call a sheep. Left alone, sheep wander into dangerous places, eat what harms them, and fall into places they cannot get out of. I don't like that comparison, honestly. But Isaiah says it plainly. We all, like sheep, have gone astray.

Each of us has turned to our own way. We drift, we wander. We are creatures when left on our own, will leave the green pastures. We'll go to the edges and walk over. Which is why we need a shepherd.

So the Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing. Notice what David does right out of the gate. It's this personal declaration. I lack nothing.

There's not a request, actually, in the entire Psalm, not an ask. He opens by testifying what he knows to be true. The Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing. And different translations render this differently.

I lack nothing. I shall not want. I have all that I need. I don't need a thing.

I shall not be in want. And I was talking with my daughters about this. They went to a fuge camp a couple months ago. I think it's been now, where at camp, they walked through Psalm 30 or Psalm 23. If you haven't talked to your student yet, I encourage you to do so.

Ask them about it. What did they learn? And I was asking them because I was trying to learn what I could in preparation, and this part stuck out to a couple of them. And what they learned and what every translation is really trying to get to is with the Lord is my shepherd. Nothing essential is lacking.

I have lots of wants. I'm sure you have lots of wants as well. That's not saying that. It's not saying here that all of our wants are met. Rather, God supplies and makes me complete where I don't lack anything I need.

I mentioned to one of my daughters, it's kind of like a good parent, right? A good parent knows the child has lots of wants, but it's not giving, giving into all the wants. Bedtime's at 9, but I want to stay up to 11. No, you need to sleep. And I need some peace and quiet.

I want ice cream sandwiches for dinner. No, that's not going to be good for you long term. But the child lacks nothing that matters. And see, in verses two and three we have some examples of the Lord's provision. The shepherd is at work.

There's these four imperfect verbs in these two verses that convey this ongoing, habitual, continual action. David is not saying the Lord once led him or will lead him. He's saying he leads me day by day, moment by moment, not just in times of crisis, in all moments.

And what do we see? First, he makes me lie down in green pastures. He creates the conditions for rest so that I, that I cannot create myself. One commentary I read points out that sheep will not lie down unless these four things are met. It is free from fear, free from conflict, free from irritation and free from hunger.

That sounds like me actually. But the shepherd resolves those things so that the sheep can rest.

Then he leads the sheep beside quiet waters. Sheep are generally afraid of and won't drink from the fast moving water. They actually, if they get wet, their wool can become saturated and they can drown. So honestly, I don't know without shepherds how there's any sheep left in the world. But what we see here is that the shepherd doesn't just lead his sheep to water, but to still water.

He knows what is best for his sheep.

Then we see he refreshes the soul. The Hebrew word there means to turn back. Something in you has wandered away. And the shepherd turns you back home. He restores.

It's this theological picture of a soul turning back toward God. And lastly here he guides me along the right paths for his name's sake. And this was a verse as I was praying. It's like, lord, reveal something to me, break through the familiarity. And this was one of these verses for me that broke through for his name sake, not for mine, not for yours, but for his.

All that Provision, the green pasture, the still water, the restored soul, the guidance. Those are good things, but they're not primarily given for my comfort. It is ultimately for the display of his character. God is guiding you in a way that is consistent with who he is. His name is on the line.

He is revealing himself, which means a couple things. One, you cannot be abandoned. Second Timothy 2:13 says, if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself. Hebrews 13:5. Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.

John 10:27. My sheep listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.

My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. His faithfulness to you is a matter of his integrity and character. It's not a matter of your performance. Amen.

2. Secondly, you and I are not the main character, if you haven't figured that out yet. The path he puts us on is not arranged around our convenience. And that means the hard things. When.

When the path goes in a direction you aren't planning or hoping for, it's difficult, unexpected. There's loss, unanswered prayer, or maybe answered prayers, but it wasn't the way you were hoping it was answered.

All of this, though, is the shepherd making his name known through your life.

God says, through Isaiah, for my own name's sake, I delay my wrath. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this. How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another. This is all for his glory.

And the older I get, and this truth takes root in my heart and saturates my heart. Something in me begins to relax. I become less anxious. I become less rattled by the difficulty or uncertainty that comes. Why?

Because my shepherd is guiding, is leading, is providing, and it's ultimately for his namesake. And I can trust in that.

Moving on to verse four, we see a shift and get to the second answer to our question of why I trust the Lord, and that is, he is with you. Verse 4. This is where the darkest valley arrives. David stops talking about God and he starts talking to God. 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. John Piper has observed, it is good not to talk too long about God without talking to God. That's one of the things I love about the Psalms. And this Psalm emphasized that by shifting from talking about God to this moment where it becomes this personal conversation. So let's walk through the verse here.

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, or your translation, maybe the shadow, the valley of. The shadow of death. The Hebrew word here has several layers to it. Think of the darkest, most threatening place you can imagine. I'm from Flint, Michigan, and I can think of some pretty dark and threatening places that I don't go to.

And in the ancient world, this was not a metaphor for them. The shepherds knew, okay, we have to go through these dark ravines, these dangerous places to move the sheep into greener pastures.

There's real danger in that. And most scholars connect this language to the deep ravine between Jerusalem and Jericho, which may be familiar to you because that's the same road. Road where Jesus sets the parable of the Good Samaritan on. The road was known for danger. And a word I dialed in on here is the preposition.

Like the preposition. Yes, the preposition through, not around, not over, but through it. And I actually would connect it back to verse three. Verse three says, he guides me along the right path for his name's sake. Even the dark valley.

Even the dark valley. But he is with you, walking with. With you through the dark valley. But it's part of the path of. And David says, I will fear no evil.

David doesn't say, the valley is safe. The absence of fear doesn't mean there's the absence of danger here. Things can be overwhelming. There can be real danger. And we also have an enemy, right, that wants to use fear against us.

First Peter 5:8. Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. And a lion. Sometimes all they need to do is roar. And then we become paralyzed by fear.

And the enemy wants to paralyze us in our fear. Are you paralyzed by fear today?

But David reminds us we don't have to be afraid even through these dark valleys. Why? It's not because the lion's gone. It's because he is with us. The shepherd is present, and the shepherd is armed.

Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. And if you were around last summer, you might remember we had a guest speaker in Pastor Alex Amaya. He beautifully unpacked this passage. And I was looking for. He brought in a rod and a staff, a physical one.

If you were here, maybe you remember that. I was looking around campus to find them. I couldn't find them. So use your imaginations with me for a moment. The rod Was this instrument about this big with this weighted top to it.

And the. The shepherd may carry that in his belt. And when an enemy came, he would pull that out. And it's an offensive weapon to combat against the enemies. And we use it to combat to protect the sheep.

So the rod. The rod wasn't meant for the sheep where the staff was. And picture the staff. It's about gay big with a hooked crooked top to it. Think of a Christmas pageants you may have seen growing up.

That rod was meant for the sheep, but it was meant to guide and direct.

And if the. If the sheep fell in a hole or a vein or something. The hook could be used to pull the sheep out back to safety. Two different instruments, two different acts of love. The Lord protecting and the Lord guiding and directing.

Which can be still uncomfortable, but tender and caring when we're headed in the wrong direction.

The last thing I'll mention about this verse. Has to deal with the placement in the overall psalm. Some scholars who have studied the Hebrew text here. Point that these words actually fall in the literary center of the psalm. It's not the green pasture, it's not the table that we're going to see next.

But it's actually this first here. There's like the theological bullseye of the psalm. And the promise, you are with me. And that's a promise I hope you can take with you today. He is with you.

This year has been one of the harder ones for me. I lost my dad about a year ago. Coming up in a couple weeks it'll be one year. And those familiar with grief know the year of the firsts, right?

The first birthday without him. Where I'm. I don't get the call of his silly message to me on my birthday. The first Christmas, first time you reach out to call and then remember a couple weeks ago I was back in Michigan. And I just went by myself to drive by the house.

It was the first time we'd been in Flint since we sold the house. And we drove through. Or I drove through the neighborhood, drove by the house.

Just to lean into that moment, sat in the car.

In those moments I've learned something. Not necessarily about how I felt, but what I know is that he was with me in the car in the neighborhood. The shepherd was with me. He's not managing my grief. He was present.

And I don't know what valley you may be in in this moment. I know some.

Some have faced job loss and are wondering what's next.

Some are sitting in health issues and have been Sitting in them for a long time. You take a step forward and two steps back, and you're. You're just crying out to the Lord. I know some of you have a child that's walked away from the faith, from family, from the life you've prayed for them. I know some of you are walking in grief that's just days old.

To all of you. I want you to look here he is with you.

You are not alone in the valley.

Isaiah 43 says, when you pass through the waters, I will be with you. When you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned. Again that preposition. Psalm 34:18.

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. And I cling to that at times. The Lord is close if you're brokenhearted. Matthew 28. And surely I'm with you always.

This is Jesus speaking to the very end of the age. So why can we trust the Lord? Because he is with you. Amen.

Thankfully, there's more. Something changes in verse five. We've been outdoors. There's been green pastures, there's been dark valleys. And now there's a change.

There's a progression here. We've moved and it's been. It's a significant upgrade, honestly. We've gone from being cheap, which we said before isn't a very positive metaphor to be compared to, but now we're a guest at the host's table means the valley is not the end of the story. And so that's our third point of why we can trust him, is he is our host.

Verse 5. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows. In the ancient near east, if you are a guest at somebody's home, they were obligated to protect you. To sit at their table is to be under their personal protection.

And that's what David is saying here. God's preparing a table for him in the midst of his enemies. The Lord's not waiting for the enemies to disappear. He's pouring out this blessing even in the midst of that, and he's protected. He anoints our head with oil, which I promise, if you come to my house ever, I'm not going to anoint your head with oil.

But in this custom, it was a sign of honor. Jesus even mentions it in Luke 7 when he confronts the Pharisee hosting him, and he says, you did not put oil on my head. But she has poured perfume on my feet. Then we see the host. The cup overflows.

It's not barely enough. It's not like when my girls were little and we were pouring out a special drink, like soda or something at dinner time, and I was making sure it was exactly correct and equal so that there was no conflicts in between them that may or may not have happened. No, what we see here, more than enough. The generous host is pouring and it's overflowing. It's just generous.

Verse 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 forever. And maybe that's you. Maybe you're in that season where you're just walking and celebrating in these truths that his goodness and love is following you, and the truth and the promise that you will dwell in his house forever. This word love in the niv is the Hebrew word hesed. And it's this covenant love, steadfast love, God's unfailing commitment.

That's the love mentioned here. And the word follow, I believe you pronounce it rad off. I could be saying that wrong, but the idea it's more aggressive than that follow doesn't do it justice. It's actually most commonly used when it's talking about enemies pursuing their enemies, hunting them down, chasing. So like when Saul was chased or chased David in the wilderness, or when the Egyptians hunted Israel to the edge of the Red Sea.

So David spent years being chased by his enemies through the wilderness. And now writing a psalm, he realizes something, something else has been chasing him the whole time. God's goodness, God's covenant love, relentlessly, persistently pursuing him through every valley.

And the same Lord, the same shepherd is chasing you.

Do you feel far from the Lord? Maybe you're actively sinning, or maybe you're running from him. What I want you to hear is you cannot run so fast away from God that he can't catch you. He's chasing you. He's chasing after you.

I've heard it said that the footsteps you hear aren't his judgment or wrath, they are his goodness and love. You aren't creating more distance between you than the Lord. Just repent and return. He is right there. All you need to do is turn and he's right there, ready to receive.

And I encourage you to do so this morning and just embrace the truth that his goodness and love are coming after you. I love the progression in the psalm from sheep in verses one through three, dependent and led in verse four. It becomes more of a companion or walking with him, verse 5. Or this honored guest at the host table. But I think verse six takes it even another step where it says, we dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Guests go home eventually, right? Or at least we hope they do most of the time. But David says here that he will dwell in the house of the Lord. Not visit, but dwell permanently. Ephesians 2 says 2:19.

You are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people and also members of his household. First John 3:1 says, See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are. We are part of his family in Christ. We're not a tolerated visitor at his table.

You are a child of the house. You are an heir, a permanent resident. Resident. And we may start as a wandering sheep. But because of Christ, you are in his family.

You heard Karen say it this morning, I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. And that is not just hope in Christ. That is another promise that we can hold on to as we come to the end here. The Lord is my shepherd. So who is the shepherd?

We've been talking about it and alluding to it. I really want to get specific here and be as clear as possible. In Ezekiel 34, God rebukes the false shepherds of Israel who exploited the flock. And he makes this promise. I myself will search for my sheep and look after them.

As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with him. So I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they are scattered. God himself is coming to be the shepherd of Psalm 23 in person. Micah 5 prophesies that from Bethlehem will come one who will shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord.

Which is pointing to Jesus. Because in John 10, Jesus says this. I am the good shepherd. The shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He is not claiming to be a shepherd, but the shepherd.

And he's laying down his life for you. And thankfully, that's not the end. Doesn't end in the valley, but in Revelation 7:17. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd. He will lead them to springs of living water.

Sound familiar? And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. The lamb, Jesus is the shepherd. He is with you. He's preparing a place for you.

He wipes away every tear. And you can trust him.

Let's pray. And I invite you to close your eyes. And I'm going to read Psalm 23 one more time. Not because the words are unfamiliar, but I hope that they have broken through the familiarity and you can hear them in a new way. This morning, I invite you, even if you want, to open your hands before you as a posture of receiving and really make this personal in this moment, if you don't know Jesus, I asked the question earlier.

Is he yours? Maybe the answer is no. And today is the day to turn to him, and I encourage you to do so. In this moment, he walks through the darkest valley. He defeated sin, death and hell for you, and all you need to do is receive that gift from Him.

If you'd like to do so, you can do that now. You can talk to one of the pastors myself after the service today, we'd love to talk to you. For everyone else, I just invite you. Open hands whatever you're carrying today, whatever valley, whatever fear, whatever question, receive these words.

The Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. He refreshes my soul.

He guides me along the right paths for his name's sake. 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. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows.

Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Thank you Lord, for your word that's sharper than a two edged sword. For the truce that it has. Thank you that you are a good shepherd. And Lord, again, I don't know what valleys people are walking through in this moment, but you do. And what questions or what they need to hear from you.

I just pray you'd meet with these people as they cry out to you. As the psalms demonstrate, you're not afraid of our big questions. You're ready to receive them, to hear them. And so we, we cry out to you. And I pray you'd meet each of these, speak into them, that people would tangibly feel your presence as they seek you.

And Lord, as we walk in victory and the truth, that we will dwell with you forever. I pray that we would leave here changed and tell other people about the good shepherd, that we know that was sent for us, and that more people would be recruited into your kingdom. So Lord, we give this all to you, praying this all in your mighty name, Amen.