Curt Harlow [00:00:00]:
Hello, my friends, and welcome back to another episode of the Bible study podcast where we take the weekend teaching passage at Bayside Church. And we kind of go in a deep dive to try to understand how to become even better Bible study people in our day to day life. We got a special one for you today. It's special for two reasons. Number one, we're going to look at Psalm 23, the most popular, well known psalm. And I bet you you're going to learn a ton you didn't know about this psalm today. And we are joined for the first time by Folsom's best communicator. That's right, I said that.
Curt Harlow [00:00:37]:
Brannon Shortt.
Rachel Annis [00:00:37]:
I don't know about that.
Curt Harlow [00:00:38]:
Rachel Annis is with us.
Dena Davidson [00:00:40]:
Rachel, hey, how's it going?
Curt Harlow [00:00:41]:
Tell us what you do over at the Folsom campus.
Rachel Annis [00:00:43]:
Yeah. So my name is Rachel Annis. I work at our Folsom campus and I work with 6th through 12th grade. So one of our student pastors with our middle school and high schoolers.
Curt Harlow [00:00:51]:
Wow. 6th through 12th grade. And you're married?
Dena Davidson [00:00:54]:
Yep, married.
Curt Harlow [00:00:55]:
And where does your husband work?
Rachel Annis [00:00:56]:
He also works here at Bayside. His name's Taylor. He actually is responsible for work for these videos.
Dena Davidson [00:01:00]:
So we've had a little extra Taylor in the room.
Curt Harlow [00:01:02]:
One of the genius. And you have a beautiful dog, German shepherd, who also comes to work with Taylor.
Rachel Annis [00:01:08]:
Yep.
Curt Harlow [00:01:09]:
What's his dog's name?
Rachel Annis [00:01:10]:
Theo.
Curt Harlow [00:01:11]:
Theo should get a podcast. Bri, make a note of that. Okay, let's go. Let's get into this Psalm 27. Of course. Psalm. It's musical poetry. And this psalm is just packed with so many good things.
Curt Harlow [00:01:23]:
So I'm gonna read it and we're gonna get right into talking about how do you study this psalm in the best, most possible, possible, and true to the text way. Okay, here we go. A psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing. He makes me lie down and greet pastors. He leads me beside quiet waters. He refreshes my soul.
Curt Harlow [00:01:46]:
He guides me along the right paths for his namesake. Even though I walk through the valley that's darkest, 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.
Dena Davidson [00:02:17]:
So good.
Curt Harlow [00:02:18]:
So, Dena, did you listen to Keith Green? This version of I Came in, you.
Dena Davidson [00:02:21]:
Were seeing him And I said, I failed my homework assignment. It was my one job that instead.
Curt Harlow [00:02:26]:
Of Psalm 23, sing any Keith Green. But one of the most beautiful Keith Green songs ever put to music is his rendition of Psalm 23. Okay, setting the sentimentality of how heart touching this is aside. Dena, from a Bible study point of view, how should we approach this passage?
Dena Davidson [00:02:46]:
Well, I know that Curt in particular is a fan of taking every single passage and just pausing on it. So I don't wanna go too far back, but I do think if you know the story of David, this psalm is so powerful because knowing what happened to David in his early life, how he was a shepherd, what happen in the middle of his life, how he was anointed king, and then he had many enemies who tried to take the throne over and over again. And knowing even the end of his life, he closed it in this really humble state where he was sick and all he had left was God and his righteousness. And so knowing those, those three parts of David's life, for me, just bring this psalm so much to life. Like I read the first verse, the Lord is my shepherd. How can you not think back to David's background and think that this whole psalm is just filled with what he learned as a young man out caring for his sheep, and then bringing that experience into this moment, and then thinking about what happened in the middle of his life. And when it says, even though I walk through the darkest valley, and how you prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies, these were things that actually we get to see how this played out for this character David. That God in fact never left his side, even though he was going through these dark valleys.
Dena Davidson [00:04:12]:
And that God never let his enemies triumph over him, even though there were many chapters where it seemed like they were going to triumph over them over him. And even in the end it says, I will dwell. 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. That's how David ends his life. Actually, he ends his life with the presence of God, and lots of people have abandoned him, but he is still connected to the Lord. And it's just really beautiful to me to know his story with these psalms.
Curt Harlow [00:04:48]:
In the book of Psalm that indicate this is a psalm of David. It's very helpful what you're saying. It's very helpful to read them alongside the passages that talk about David's life. Starting in First Samuel, if you read everything about David's story, these things will interpret them Better, you'll understand them better, and they will be more spiritually and emotionally impacted.
Dena Davidson [00:05:12]:
Right? Because imagine you. You have this idea of David, oh, he's this king. What does he know about being a shepherd? You know? And so you're thinking, ah, that's cute. But knowing that he was in fact a shepherd before he came a king, and he's still using this idea of being a shepherd man, that's just. That's. To me, that's so powerful. And it speaks to the Bible's depth that these characters are real flesh and blood, and they saw the God and who he was all throughout their testimony. And I love that we get that on full display.
Dena Davidson [00:05:40]:
We also don't know when Psalm 23 was written, what chapter of David's life. And so you could see, maybe he wrote it in the early parts, maybe he wrote it in the middle, maybe he wrote it at the end, at whatever point all these things were true.
Curt Harlow [00:05:54]:
Or maybe he wrote it when he was a boy, just as a shepherd. And then he added the valley of the darkness later on, when Absalom, his son, was right.
Dena Davidson [00:06:04]:
Or maybe he revisited what he wrote and said, oh, it was when I was going through the darkest valley, and I had no idea that was not even close to the darkest valley. I'm in the darkest valley now.
Curt Harlow [00:06:14]:
Okay, Rachel, give us your insight. You're approaching this. Let's say you're not preparing a sermon for sixth graders to seniors in high school. You're just studying the Bible for yourself. How would you approach this passage?
Rachel Annis [00:06:26]:
I feel like I would approach this passage in a couple ways. One way, I actually feel like you've actually taught me to approach this passage in the past couple years. As it's come up a couple times, is in first verse where it says, the Lord is my shepherd. The vocation of shepherd influences the rest of the passage. And so I feel like asking myself the question, okay, what does a shepherd do? And why does a shepherd do it? So, like, when he. When he lets me rest in green meadows and he leads me besides peaceful streams, I'd ask myself the question of why does a shepherd do that? And then to kind of couple with it, the second way I would prepare the passage is, okay, how does this relate to my life now? Like, why would God bring me next to a green meadow? Why would he lay me beside down peaceful streams? Is it this, like, forceful thing that he's telling me to do? Or is this something that he's gently doing? Gently? And so that's how I'd approach It of why does a shepherd do this for his sheep? How does he care about his sheep? And then in what way does the Lord actually do that for me?
Curt Harlow [00:07:24]:
Excellent. You know, the. You can't escape it. And the way we handle livestock now, or don't handle livestock. I'm talking to everyone from Granite Bay.
Rachel Annis [00:07:35]:
Loomis people get it, though.
Curt Harlow [00:07:36]:
You have. Well, I'd say Auburn people get it a little bit here, too. The Blue Oaks people. Not a chance. Not a clue. By the way, we're referencing different Bayside canvases. Go Bayside online dot com. You'll see.
Dena Davidson [00:07:49]:
Should we throw in? Because they. I feel like OC definitely has knows.
Curt Harlow [00:07:53]:
A lot about lamb chops, like the fine dining brewery. But the vocation of shepherd, you know, this is what makes Bible study fun is when you go. When you look context, clue, like I need to understand David's story or I need to understand the vocation of Shepherd 4,000 years ago. And it always. You might get a great interpretation of this passage just by looking at it and saying, God's completely in charge and I'm like a domesticated piece of livestock. That's a good. Pretty easy.
Dena Davidson [00:08:25]:
That reads.
Curt Harlow [00:08:25]:
Yeah, hermeneutic there. But for it to really open up and blossom and you go, oh, man, the Holy Spirit really knows what they're doing here. This isn't just a simple point. There's a depth to it. You've got to go know that story and you got to know that profession. I will add one thing to this, and this is a thing I just figured out. I didn't say this in the sermon prep meeting last Wednesday, and I should have. It just occurred to me as I.
Dena Davidson [00:08:51]:
Was coming to the Bible study pod.
Curt Harlow [00:08:53]:
Yes, excellent. This psalm follows one of my other favorite psalms. And I just put it together. The flow of this is so beautiful and powerful. So I think one of the things you have to understand about this is the profession of shepherd. The other thing you have to understand about this is the tone in contrast to Psalm 22. So Psalm 22 is probably David's most earnest lament. And just like you said a moment ago, Dena, we don't know if it's when King Saul's attacking him or when Absalom's attacking him, but he is.
Curt Harlow [00:09:30]:
He feels abandoned. And he begins the psalm by saying, God, why have you abandoned me? God, why have you abandoned me? The beautiful thing about the contrast between the lament there and the Psalm 23 is because in the context of David, he's answering that he said God didn't abandon me. I went through the dark part of the valley and I learned on the other side that God didn't abandon me. But he's the sort of God that I could say, it feels like you abandoned me. So from David's context, there's this beautiful ask and answered. Now, Psalm 22 is also beautiful next to this psalm because it is the crucifixion and the resurrection. So Jesus is on the cross, right? What does he say? My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? And then he stops. I had a guy tell me, he said, you guys, you don't hear this correctly because you think Jesus is complaining, my God, my God, why have you abandoned me? But to the Jewish ear, he's saying, I am the fulfillment of King David.
Dena Davidson [00:10:44]:
Wow.
Curt Harlow [00:10:44]:
I'm quoting David here from this cross. Then you read down Psalm 22. I was getting chills thinking about it. And it says, they pierce my hands and they gamble for my clothes.
Dena Davidson [00:10:55]:
I'm getting chills right now.
Curt Harlow [00:10:56]:
So Jesus is on the cross going, you guys, I am the fulfillment of the throne of David. And look at this prophecy being fulfilled right in front of your eyes. They are piercing my hands and feet. I think it's verse 16, 17, and 18 in Psalm 22. They are piercing my hands and feet, and they're dividing my clothes at the foot of the cross. And because Jesus did that for us, what do we get? Well, I will fear no evil. You are with me. Your comfort is with me.
Curt Harlow [00:11:34]:
You prepare a table before every enemy. You anoint my head with oil. My head does not deserve a kingly anointing, but I get it. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life. And what do we get because of the sacrifice of Psalm 22? I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever and ever.
Dena Davidson [00:11:55]:
Wow.
Curt Harlow [00:11:55]:
And so, you know, just be aware of the chapters around the chapter and the paragraphs. People always say, study the Bible verse by verse. And I always say, great idea. How about idea by idea and context by context? Because once you know Psalm 22, it makes Psalm 23 such a more powerful celebration. And then, of course, the affirmation of the apologetic of it. Beautiful. Incredible.
Dena Davidson [00:12:22]:
I honestly wish you had had that revelation before sermon prep, because I remember a great question Jason Cain asked as he said, you know, we're going to preach Psalm 23. We're going to preach it. Well, we're going to preach it faithfully. But what about those that lack? What about those that feel abandoned? They don't feel God with them what about those who can't say, his goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life? That's just not the chapter they're in. And that would have been a really good answer, Curt, just to point out.
Curt Harlow [00:12:50]:
Well, I got to save some of my best thought for just the sermon I'm preaching. Yeah, I can't let every Bayside pastor have those. So come up to Auburn. You can hit the. I'm doing it at the end.
Dena Davidson [00:13:04]:
That was one of. I'd been sitting on Jason's question since that meeting, because I'm always looking out for those moments where someone's gonna hear a Bible passage and say to themselves, that's not true, because the word of God is true. But where are those moments experientially where what we experience on a Tuesday really pushes against the revealed word of God? And I just love that based on what you're saying, the Hebrews, the Jews, they didn't have this naive view of what it was like to be in relationship with God, that he's this even just based off of Psalm 23, that he's the shepherd. So I lack nothing. And yet further down you see that he's in the presence of enemies and that he's going through the darkest valleys. And so sometimes when I hear that lack nothing, I just kind of want to paste it over. That means I lack no joy, I lack no peace, I lack no goodness. But this, this psalm is not saying that.
Dena Davidson [00:14:04]:
It is saying that in. Even in the hardest, the darkest chapters, there will be something that I need more than those other things that I want in that moment. I have what I need. I have the presence of God, the shepherd.
Rachel Annis [00:14:18]:
That you have someone to sustain you even when you're going through your difficulty.
Curt Harlow [00:14:21]:
So, Rachel, let me ask you a question. You brought up some of the specific things in here about a shepherd's voc. So the sheep lie down in green pastures. They need quiet water. They get. They can't find the right path. Talk to me about some of these individual references and what we should know about 4000 year ago shepherds.
Rachel Annis [00:14:43]:
Oh, gosh. Okay. I'm not an expert at all. I'm going off of what we. What I learned.
Curt Harlow [00:14:47]:
Rachel. Smart dog. They could herd sheep. I'm sure so.
Rachel Annis [00:14:52]:
Or a tax sheep.
Dena Davidson [00:14:53]:
We'll see.
Rachel Annis [00:14:55]:
Okay. A couple interesting pieces. Actually, can I go Back to Psalm 22 really quick?
Curt Harlow [00:15:01]:
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Rachel Annis [00:15:02]:
There's this really cool quote that I read from Charles Spurgeon the other day that I thought was really interesting. And as soon as he brought up Psalms 22, I was like, whoa, okay, yes, this is on the same track. But Charles Spurgeon has this quote, and he says, we must by experience. So going back to your saying of experiencing life, we must by experience know the value of the blood shedding and see the sword awakened against the shepherd. So Jesus dying on the cross before we shall be able to truly know the sweetness and the goodness of the shepherd's care. And for me, when I read that quote kind of to what you were saying of, like, sometimes we have to go through those very, very dark things and those hard things in life to see that there is the goodness that is the reality of being in relationship with Jesus in Psalms 23. And so I just wanted to point it out. I thought that was really important Chuck.
Curt Harlow [00:15:48]:
Spurgeon quote that compares the two chapters.
Rachel Annis [00:15:52]:
It was just really cool. But in terms of the shepherds, a couple things I thought were really cool. So a while ago, something that was. That I found really cool was in verse four. It says, your rod and your staff protect me and comfort me. And for the longest time, I didn't know what that meant until a couple years ago, someone was explaining why the shepherd has, like, the staff. And I've heard you talk about how the shaft, like, it has, like, the hook at the end. And some people think it's just that, but there's also that ball at the end it, like, protects.
Rachel Annis [00:16:17]:
It used to, like, beat off bears and lions and bad animals away from the sheep. But something I heard that was really cool was that as the shepherd is leading along his flock, that he'll actually use the rod to kind of, like, push up against them just a little bit so that they know that Jesus is right there, or, excuse me, we're gonna get there, that the shepherd's right there next to them, that as they're walking, that if they feel nervous or if they feel shaken or if they feel like they don't know where they're about to go, the shepherd will use his rod to show them, hey, I'm still right here. But he'll also use it as like a, hey, you're almost walking at a pace with me. Let me push you kind of back in line to where we're going. And so it just reminds me of how, like, Jesus will push up against us. Not in, like a, hey, I'm like, in a rude way, but in a kind way of, hey, I'm still right here next to you. Even when it feels like I'm not here anymore, but I'm still right here. Hey, maybe you're starting to walk out of step from what I've called you into.
Rachel Annis [00:17:17]:
And so there's that gentle discipline of, hey, I want to get you back to where you're supposed to be going in relationship with me, not stepping out of relationship with me.
Curt Harlow [00:17:26]:
So let's apply that to the darkest valley.
Rachel Annis [00:17:27]:
Yeah.
Curt Harlow [00:17:29]:
Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death is the most well known. Is that King James? It's probably King James. But the darkest valley is what the Niv says. So when he says, you guide my path, he's literally doing that. He's taking that staff, the long, thin stick with a crook on it, and he's tapping the sheep that gets out of the way. If the sheep. Sheep with. If a sheep goes wayward, he will.
Curt Harlow [00:17:52]:
The rod is a shorter weapon. He'll throw the rod at the sheep and scare them, like, get back in. So I'm sure Jesus is never rude.
Dena Davidson [00:18:01]:
Like, be scared of the rod.
Curt Harlow [00:18:03]:
But he scared me a couple times like. Like, get back in. But here's what most people don't understand. Like, okay, you say, oh, now I'm going through this darkest valley. And then that's different from, you know, the right path, and that's different from the green pastures. They're all related. So where the shepherd wants to bring the sheep to lay down is called a tabletop form. And you cannot get there without going through the valley.
Curt Harlow [00:18:30]:
And they're the right path in the valley that leads you correctly up the side of the hill. So I don't know if you've ever been a little bit of hiking, but you can follow a game trail, and it leads you to a place that you just have to backtrack another couple miles to get to the one that actually gets you to the top or gets you through the mountain pass. So the shepherd knows the correct paths. And when you're in the valley, why is that so dangerous? All of the predators that prey on sheep, leopards, lions, bears, they will find a high place like leopards. And lions will literally get in trees and they will jump from below. So when you're in that darkest valley, you're in a place where predators can hide more and where predators are looming above you. I used to go mountain biking up in Auburn, and I'm bike with these guys that go way faster than me, which is everyone. And we would go at night with all the headlights and everything.
Curt Harlow [00:19:31]:
And right as you go onto the Auburn Confluence Trail, there's a big sign that says, beware Mountain lions. And I know that mountain lions attack from trees and they. They pounce down. They want to get you in the back of the neck right there. And these guys would get 10 yards in front of me, then 20, then 30, and get darker and darker. And I would just imagine this mountain lion up there when I'm going through this little ravine, and they're like a half mile in front of me, and the mountain lion's looking at them coming and going. No, they're very fit. They're fast.
Curt Harlow [00:20:02]:
I'm not attacking them. Oh, wait, there's a slow, chubby one back there. I'm going to get that guy. And so the idea of. And you know, I'm way too big for mountain lion, but the idea of it really started to freak me out every time I went on that trail. And the idea is this. When you're alone and it's dark and you're not sure you're on the right trail, you are never going to lie down in a green pasture. You're not getting there.
Curt Harlow [00:20:29]:
Sheep will only lie down if they know there's no predator, there's no fear, and they're not hungry, they've eaten well, then they'll settle down and they'll lie down. So again, just powerful, powerful stuff. As far as that vocation point that you make, that's so good. So, Dena, what do you think? You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Clearly, he shifts here from sheep metaphor, David as the sheep, to David as the leader and the person. And then he says, you anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows. By the way, you can.
Curt Harlow [00:21:10]:
That both works were shepherding and for David's role as king, because as a boy, he was anointed king while he was still a shepherd. And then, of course, the shepherd anoints the head of the sheep to keep insects from laying eggs in their nose, which. Go read that. Go read the book. I want to get the authorized shepherd's perspective. Philip W. Keller, 2007. A Shepherd's look at Psalm 23.
Curt Harlow [00:21:41]:
Okay, so talk to me, because there's a little controversy about what this verse 5 means. What do you think it means to you? Prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies?
Dena Davidson [00:21:50]:
Yeah, there's two possible ideas. One I think would be like, the more if you don't have the historical background, this is the one you'd walk away with. So if I'm having a table prepared for me in the presence of my enemies, this is God saying, I approve of you, not your enemies. And here you are, I'm you, I'm on your side and I'm taking care of you. And your enemies are going to have to look on and watch you consume all this goodness, because I'm not for them. So that's one interpretation. It's very possible. Another is that there, there was this tradition of actually coming and sitting with your enemies.
Dena Davidson [00:22:29]:
And this would be how peace was made between two opposing parties. And so this also could have some real gospel overtones. And it could be if David is writing this in the time where his son Absalom is rebelling against him, this could be what David is longing for. Because David never stopped longing for a song. This is part of David's story is even though Absalom did horrendous things, that literally David's military commander came to him and said, you must stop having your heart, go after Absalom when he's treated you and your people this way. Everyone's going to abandon you if you, you don't stop having your heart, go after him. But it was always in David's heart to reconcile with Absalom.
Curt Harlow [00:23:12]:
And so which one do you pick?
Dena Davidson [00:23:14]:
Which one do I pick?
Curt Harlow [00:23:15]:
Is it. I get the scene. And the scene is Saul is pulled in front of David and David is just eating this giant, you know, chicken wing and.
Dena Davidson [00:23:26]:
Which I had never.
Curt Harlow [00:23:28]:
Or you get the one where the table's been set and Absalom says, I'm sorry, Father. And it is literally a Middle Eastern reconciliation. Yes.
Dena Davidson [00:23:38]:
It's a total.
Curt Harlow [00:23:38]:
That's a three step process that ends with a meal and discussion. Which one?
Dena Davidson [00:23:43]:
I'm so torn, to be honest, because I see both images in other parts of scripture and so I don't know. But here's what I do know. If this is David writing this and if David is talking about Saul and Absalom, then we're talking about the reconciliation table. Because there is not an Israelite really, that David just his heart was for them and he wanted honor and reconciliation. If we're talking about his other enemies, the other kings, he was constantly going to war. Oh, he's not very kind to those enemies. He does not want to reconcile with them.
Curt Harlow [00:24:15]:
Yeah, yeah. It depends on who the enemies are. Yeah. Honestly, anyone with an ites at the end of their name, it's probably the first one. And Rachel, what do you. Go ahead, Rachel, what do you think? Which one?
Rachel Annis [00:24:25]:
Oh, man, I really love how both can give. This picture of God is either choosing to honor me and allow me to prosper Even when I've been persecuted and oppressed or this. God's heart for me is to be reconciled to other people. His heart for me is not for me to have resentment towards others, but to be reconciled and be put back in right relationship. And Dean, I love how you said for a moment that there's this picture of the Gospel. And please correct me if I'm wrong on this. It's just where my brain is going. But when I think of how our sin separates us from God.
Rachel Annis [00:24:58]:
God, that because of our sin, if we like don't believe in Jesus, then we can't be in this right relationship with God. But because of Jesus forgiving us of our sin, we can be in a right relationship with God. And so the way I think about it is if our sin separates us from God, then our sin makes us an enemy of God. Yet here David says, you prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. And so it's God inviting us into a relationship with him because our sin, our sin is God's enemy. But because God wants a relationship with us and wants to be reconciled to us, that he prepares a feast for us to come and be with him so that we're no longer his enemy. Is that. Am I right on that?
Curt Harlow [00:25:38]:
100% correct.
Rachel Annis [00:25:39]:
That's like what my heart and mind went as soon as you said that. And I just think that's really cool that God desire. I think God desires both of us.
Curt Harlow [00:25:46]:
I would say you can. Both can be true.
Rachel Annis [00:25:50]:
Yeah.
Curt Harlow [00:25:50]:
Because we're talking musical poetry here. This is not Ephesians where we have to go, what did Jesus, what did Paul exactly mean by submit mutually to one another, what does that practice? What does it exactly look like? This is musical poetry. So the fact that we have enemies that are subdued and we celebrate at that subduing, that could be true. And the fact that we have the heart for reconciliation, you see, I lean to the second one. I'll tell you why. Why? In context, David wants to reconcile with Absalom. That's the whole story. David is grieved that he's in conflict with Saul.
Curt Harlow [00:26:29]:
He doesn't like either of those. Now, I've never thought about, is it all the Ites and the Steens? The Philistines would probably be the biggest one. I could see that there. Now, let me add one little New Testament spin to my take on this. The Bible tells us, Paul tells us, I battle not against flesh and blood. Blood. So as we're reading this as Christians, to your point, Rachel, we are not to be viewing that boss who didn't give us a promotion, that ex spouse that the marriage fell apart, that family member that hurt us. They're not subdued because I battle not against flesh or blood.
Curt Harlow [00:27:07]:
My enemies. David had specific context for his enemies in the history of Israel. Our enemies are never a person. Person. Never. There's never a person sitting across from me and God setting the table. Who are my enemies then? Satan and my own sin.
Rachel Annis [00:27:23]:
Yeah.
Curt Harlow [00:27:23]:
And God does conquer both of those. And I do celebrate, literally, the weddings, The. The wedding feast of the lamb. And I do so because of the defeat of my sin and Satan and his rebellion against God. So you. It's fine to think about this subduing of enemies. You just got to put the right enemies in there.
Dena Davidson [00:27:46]:
Yeah.
Curt Harlow [00:27:46]:
We have gone. Oh, my goodness. Bree, don't look at the clock. Okay. Let's do this. We gotta apply this. So.
Dena Davidson [00:27:53]:
Ready?
Curt Harlow [00:27:54]:
Lots of beautiful imagery here, Lots of David's story here, and lots of beautiful context here. Psalm 22 versus Psalm 23. Put it all together. Dena, give me one practical thought. What should I do about this? This?
Dena Davidson [00:28:07]:
You should, without a doubt, memorize this psalm. I just don't know of any more. I mean, there's. I don't know of any other psalm that would be more powerful to memorize than Psalm 23. There is a reason why it is well known by believers and well known by. It's as famous, if not more than 1 Corinthians 13, which is read out at so many wedding ceremonies. And I. I just think.
Dena Davidson [00:28:33]:
Think verse by verse, you will need this inside of you. And so I would take just a verse at a time and paste it on your bathroom mirror, put it on your phone, and one week at a time, work on memorizing this psalm because you will never regret that these words. I have this memorized. Don't test me right now, but I have this memorized. And there. I cannot tell you how many moments I have needed one verse. Verse from this psalm.
Curt Harlow [00:29:01]:
I. I can tell you how to memorize it in an hour.
Rachel Annis [00:29:04]:
Let's hear it.
Dena Davidson [00:29:05]:
Forget.
Curt Harlow [00:29:06]:
Go listen to the Keith Green version of this psalm ten times. It is such a good version. The Lord is my. I said I wouldn't sing. Okay, But I'm telling you, that's honestly how I've got it memorized. Is. That song is in my head. I feel.
Rachel Annis [00:29:21]:
Listen to it green in my head.
Curt Harlow [00:29:23]:
Then you will both be texting me later and saying, you were so right about this.
Rachel Annis [00:29:26]:
My dad sounds like a country singer.
Dena Davidson [00:29:28]:
It's like his favorite artist.
Curt Harlow [00:29:30]:
All right, Rachel, give me an application thought. And if you got one that leans towards sixth graders, to students, just to say all those students, that would help every parent and every student watching.
Rachel Annis [00:29:43]:
That's a good question.
Curt Harlow [00:29:44]:
That kind of put you on the spot there.
Rachel Annis [00:29:45]:
No, that's good. Well, for parents and even for students, too. I have two things. First, one is this, and I think it's a good reminder for me even, too, as a student pastor, is that God loves all of our students, all of our kids, every single person greater than any other, like, human relationship that they have. And I feel like Psalms 23 is a beautiful picture of God's heart for us. And I wrote this down yesterday, just taking some notes and observations before we came here. So it didn't sound like I didn't know what I was talking about, but this was an observation. I got that stuck out for me.
Rachel Annis [00:30:17]:
And if this is something that I could encourage other people to remind themselves, and even this is a big reminder for me, because we all go through seasons of life where it feels like God. I don't know where you're at that. But to always remember this, that the Lord cares for me. He cares for you. His care and love for you is affectionate. It's full, it's deep, and it's ready, and it's wanting to love you. That that's God's heart for us, is to just care for us and love us through every season of our life. And I think that as much as we can remind ourselves of that, that that's God's heart for us all the days of our lives.
Rachel Annis [00:30:48]:
Like in verse six, it says, surely in your goodness an unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life. That God's always after us and that he's not ever gonna stop that. And so memorizing scripture is a big one for that. I think something for me is always just reminding myself, what do I need to know about God today? And the thing I need to know is that he loves me, and that's never gonna change.
Curt Harlow [00:31:07]:
So what you're saying is, let this form the inner dialogue and inner concept you have about your relationship with God. Yes, that's a great application.
Rachel Annis [00:31:17]:
Yeah.
Curt Harlow [00:31:17]:
Okay, I got one. And it's very practical. Go read two really great books. That's my application for this. And one of them I already mentioned, it's the book Shepherd's View of Psalm 23 by Philip W. Keller. What this book will do for you is it'll help you understand how inspired the Bible is, because as you unpack the layers and we've just, you know, barely hit the surface of them here, you just go, wow, God really knows what he's doing. These metaphors are very, very, very applicable.
Curt Harlow [00:31:52]:
Then the other one is A Tale of Three Kings by Gene Edwards. To Dena's original point, it's just that it's the story of David and his relationship to Saul. So it asks the question, when you have injustice in your life, how do you handle it? Then it is a story of David reigning over Israel once he becomes king. And the question asked, there is authority. How do you handle it? And how do you treat others? And then it's the story of Absalom dividing the kingdom, creating civil war. And it's the story of when you experience betrayal. And what happens as you read this book is you see that you are King Saul sometimes, and sometimes you're King David at his worst. And sometimes you're Absalom, and sometimes you're King David at his best in all three of those.
Curt Harlow [00:32:47]:
And it's just a powerful, powerful book. A short read. A Tale of Three Kings by Gene Edwards. Go get it today. All right, well, next week, Bre. Tell me what we got going on next week.
Dena Davidson [00:32:58]:
Mark.
Curt Harlow [00:32:59]:
Mark. Mark Clark, next week. So it's summer, so we're hoping Mark Clark next week. You have to tune in. If you see Mark Clark and Dena on camera together, it will be amazing. That will be our best episode. It'll have. It'll feature three powerful things.
Curt Harlow [00:33:15]:
Mark will be here, Dena will be here, and I'm on vacation, so.
Dena Davidson [00:33:19]:
So it might just be me.
Curt Harlow [00:33:20]:
Yeah. And what's the song? We're studying Psalm 27. Another good one. I think we got three more of these psalm ones left. By the way, can I ask you to do a very big favor for me? A ton of you have been watching these and hearting the clips that we put on social media and that sort of stuff. Can you also just spread the word about the Bible study? And that's not because we want a bunch of followers for this podcast. You know, there's a billion podcasts out there you could choose. It's because the more we actually take the Bible study from Sunday morning into the rest of our lives, Sunday morning's important, but we take it in the rest of our lives, the better we're gonna do at just our inner dialogue, self conscious place in life, purpose, all of those things.
Curt Harlow [00:34:05]:
So spread the word for us. Share this one right now with someone you know, who needs to hear a little comfort from the good shepherd, Jesus. All right, thanks for watching. We'll see you next time.