Psalm 23
King James Version
1. The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in
green pastures:
he leadeth me beside the
still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul:
he leadeth me in the paths of
righteousness
for his name's sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of
death,
I will fear no evil:
for thou art with me;
thy rod and thy staff they
comfort me.
5 Thou preparest a table before me
in the presence of mine
enemies:
thou anointest my head with oil;
my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy
shall follow me
all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house
of the Lord
for ever.
A dear friend of mine died last Sunday. We served on a college English board together for 20 years, and she was with the organization for ~40 years, many of those years as our president.
We decided as a board that we would flood her with cards through snail mail these last few weeks. The last card I sent her before she died contained verse 6 from David’s beautiful poem above, and I underlined Forever, using the NKJV translation.
Really Lord?
The lord is my shepherd…?
I’ve heard and read these words over and over again, mainly at funerals.
And, yet it seems all too often in this life, where are You in our time of deepest pain and grief?
Why did you take Janet from us? She was still doing important work and was a "light" in this dark world.
A number of years ago, I arrived at a memory care unit to be with my grandmother during the last hours of her life. My mom was fumbling through the Bible when I got there and asked me, “David, where is that verse about the Lord is my Shepherd?”
I grabbed the Bible from her, sat down next to my grandmother asleep in her bed, probably more in a coma state actually – she had been unresponsive for hours. I started reading Psalm 23, and my mom interrupted me and said, “David, look…”
My grandmother had turned her head towards me with her eyes wide open, dark pebbles recessed deep into her sockets. I started balling my eyes out and then finished reading the poem. She immediately went back into her previous state, completely unresponsive up to her last breath a few hours later.
The Lord is my Shepherd, I will fear no evil, and I will dwell with my friend “in the house of the Lord Forever” (NKJV).
King James Version
1. The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in
green pastures:
he leadeth me beside the
still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul:
he leadeth me in the paths of
righteousness
for his name's sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of
death,
I will fear no evil:
for thou art with me;
thy rod and thy staff they
comfort me.
5 Thou preparest a table before me
in the presence of mine
enemies:
thou anointest my head with oil;
my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy
shall follow me
all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house
of the Lord
for ever.
A dear friend of mine died last Sunday. We served on a college English board together for 20 years, and she was with the organization for ~40 years, many of those years as our president.
We decided as a board that we would flood her with cards through snail mail these last few weeks. The last card I sent her before she died contained verse 6 from David’s beautiful poem above, and I underlined Forever, using the NKJV translation.
Really Lord?
The lord is my shepherd…?
I’ve heard and read these words over and over again, mainly at funerals.
And, yet it seems all too often in this life, where are You in our time of deepest pain and grief?
Why did you take Janet from us? She was still doing important work and was a "light" in this dark world.
A number of years ago, I arrived at a memory care unit to be with my grandmother during the last hours of her life. My mom was fumbling through the Bible when I got there and asked me, “David, where is that verse about the Lord is my Shepherd?”
I grabbed the Bible from her, sat down next to my grandmother asleep in her bed, probably more in a coma state actually – she had been unresponsive for hours. I started reading Psalm 23, and my mom interrupted me and said, “David, look…”
My grandmother had turned her head towards me with her eyes wide open, dark pebbles recessed deep into her sockets. I started balling my eyes out and then finished reading the poem. She immediately went back into her previous state, completely unresponsive up to her last breath a few hours later.
The Lord is my Shepherd, I will fear no evil, and I will dwell with my friend “in the house of the Lord Forever” (NKJV).
