Finding Life in the Shadow of Death: Psalm 23

Finding Life in the Shadow of Death: Psalm 23 

Here are sermon resources for my message today at Cornerstone Community Church on Psalm 23: Finding Life in the Shadow of Death. 

Sermon PowerPoint  

Sermon Manuscript  

Sermon Outline  

Sermon Audio

Sermon Introduction: Two Shepherds Teach Us to Turn to the Good Shepherd 

Imagine that your siblings were jealous of you. You were your father’s favorite, and they didn’t like it at all. Imagine that their jealousy led them to refuse to speak a kind word to you—ever. You receive nothing but criticism and biting remarks. No matter what you did, what you said, what you tried—they would not reconcile with you. In fact, the harder you tried, the deeper their hatred, the more entrenched their jealousy. Their greatest joy was crushing your most cherished dreams. 

So intense was their hatred that they plotted to kill you. Throwing you into a pit and leaving you to die. But just in the nick of time, instead of killing you they sold you into slavery, where you lived for decades. 

What would your image of God be at this moment in time? How would you view God? As good, kind, and forever faithful? Or, would some other images creep into the crevices of your mind? Of my mind? 

I’ve been describing Joseph from Genesis 37, and here’s the image of God that Jacob said Joseph maintained even when his life was literally in the pits: 

“I remained strong because of the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob, because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel. Because of my father’s God, who helps me. Because of the Almighty, who blesses me with blessing of the heavens above and blessings of the earth below” (Genesis 49:24-25). 

What an amazing image of God from the valley of the shadow of death. 

As I studied Psalm 23, I discovered that the first reference to the Lord as our Shepherd was in Genesis 49:24 in relationship to Joseph. And Genesis 37:2 informs us that Joseph was 17 and was “tending the flocks.” Joseph was a shepherd. And when the world screamed at him, “The Great Shepherd has abandoned you!” Joseph’s soul screamed back, “No! He has not! The Lord is my Shepherd! Just like I guided and guarded, provided for and protected my sheep, so the Lord my Shepherd has guided and guarded, provided for and protected me…even when my life was in the deepest pit. 

Psalm 23 is a psalm of David. Do you recall the first reference we have to David’s occupation before he became King of Israel? Here’s what we read in 1 Samuel 16:11, when Samuel was speaking to David’s father, Jesse: 

“Then Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Are all your sons here?’ And he said, ‘There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep’” (1 Samuel 16:11). 

We’re also told in Psalm 78:70-72 that God chose David from tending the sheep and brought him to be the shepherd of his people. Joseph and David are both shepherds who point us to the Good Shepherd. They also have something else in common—enemies in their family. 

Given the descriptions in Psalm 23 of David in the valley of the shadow of death, needing water and food, and being in the presence of enemies, most commentators link this psalm to one of two situations in David’s life. It could have been when David was on the run in the wilderness from his mentor and father-figure, Saul. Or, it could have been when David was on the run in the wilderness from his own son, Absalom. 

So, let’s think about Joseph and David. Both were shepherds. Between them, they were forsaken and attacked by their father-figure, their brothers, and their son. By their family—by those who should have been shepherding them. Their family members were like wolves in sheep’s clothing—false shepherds. Both these shepherds clung to the image of God as their Good Shepherd when those closest to them were false shepherds. 

As you hear this, you may be thinking, “Not another psalm of lament. We’ve seen a couple of those already. I’m ready for something new!” Today is your day. Psalm 23 is not a Psalm of lament. Instead, it is a Psalm of trust and triumph, of confidence and comfort. 

Here’s David’s triumphant message to us in Psalm 23: 

When we find ourselves in the valley of the shadow of death, we survive and thrive by clinging confidently to our Good Shepherd who is the Resurrection and the Life. 

RPM Ministries: Equipping You to Change Lives with Christ’s Changeless Truth