God can. [ Psalm 66 ]

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies, [Psalm23 v 5 ]Yes this charismatic person had enemies, king Saul ,and those who sided with him. Saul knew his days as king were numbered[ 1 Samuel 13v 14/ 15 v26] and when David rose to prominence, Saul became Davids enemy[ 1 Samuel 18 v 7 - 9 ]. Yet inspite of Sauls attempts to kill him ,David prospered,and when he lived among the Philistines [1 Samuel 27 ] the Lord watched over him and blessed him and preserved him. No opponents could hinder God, blessing His servant David,and indeed all of Gods servants, Joseph ,for were not his brothers c p Genesis 43 v33, and godly Job ,for was not satan his enemy cp 42 v12- 16. The word of God tells us, if God be for us ,who can be against us [Romans 8 v 31],yes He can prepare for us a table in the presence of our enemies.
A prayer......./ Dear God we rejoice that inspite of enemies and difficulties , You have provided
for all our needs,we praise and thank You in Jesus name Amen/

The comforter. [ John 10 v 18 ]

Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. [Psalm 23 v 5 ] I am never to sure what these were, Bonar in his commentary wrote,that they were for defence,also for beating bushes when the sheep went astray, and for killing serpents, and the like.Whatever they were, they brought comfort to the sheep, who were easily frightened, lions and bears threatened the sheep[1 Samuel 17 v 34 ]. The Bible continually compares Gods people to sheep [CP.Isaiah 53 / Ezekiel 34 / Matthew25 / John 10] ,and like sheep we face dangers, from Gods arch enemy , the Devil, now of course he cannot attack God, but he most certainly will attack Gods childrens.[ 1 Peter 5 v 8 ] Before our Saviour left His disciples , He said ,I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you [John 14 v18 ], and of course He did in the Person of the Holy Spirit , the comforter[ John 14 v26 ].It is William Barclay who wrote the following,/ Nowadays the word comfort has to do almost solely with sorrow....Beyond a shadow of doubt the Holy Spirit does that,but to limit His work to that,is sadly to belittle Him. We have a modern phrase which we often use. We talk of being able to cope. That is precisely the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes to us, and takes away our inadequacies and enables us to cope with life. The Holy Spirit substitutes victorious for defeated living/,now little flock is this not a comfort to you?.
A prayer......./ Dear Lord we thank You that we have not been left to cope on our own, help us
to rely upon the Comforter at all times, in Your name we ask this Amen./

Make sure He is with you.[ 1 Thessalonians 1 v10 ]

Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me/ Psalm 23 v4/ Yesterday we thought on death, the why of death, sin, ,the rich man, the poor man, death is the great leveller, we may cry out it is not fair I dont deserve to die.It interrupts all our plans, it comes uninvited, nothing we do can shut it out,we cant bribe it to stay away, tears are of no avail,it has pity on no one, the most beautiful and the most ugly die. Yet this is not the end of the story, for we are told in the Bible ,but after this the Judgment [Hebrews 9v 27 ],many say when you are dead your dead, and thats all there is to it, not so. Now consider that the apostle John was the apostle of love, read his writings,in 1st John 4, he mentions love 27 times, love permeates his writings.Yet it is in one of the best know verses in his writings,we read [ John 3 v16 ] For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son ,yes here is John emphasizes again the love of God, but John does not stop there, for humanity is meant to respond to this love, so it follows,that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.For many it is inconceivable that anybody should perish,but love does not nulify judgement, rather it provides a way to escape judgment ,that is by putting ones faith in Jesus. This is why David could say , I will fear no evil, for Thou[ Jesus the good Shepherd] art with him. While taking a funeral recently I said, make sure you do not go into eternity alone,make sure that He the good Shepherd is with You.
A prayer......./Dear Lord we thank You that when we come to face the valley of the shadow
of death we need fear no evil if You are with us. Amen/

Death [Romans 5 v 12 ]

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. Psalm 23v 4. The word of God tells us that it is appointed unto men once to die Hebrews 9 v27 ], now everybody knows this, and of course most of us want to live as long as possible.It is said that this generation, are into denial in the matter of death, they rarely speak of it, or think of it. The Psalmist speaks of not being afraid of death, are you afraid of death?,someone wrote,/ The sum of all fears is the fear of death- the final loss of control/.David who wrote this Psalm faced death many times, yet he says he did not fear it, most of us will only face it only once.Some people welcome death as a friend, but is it?, the Bible says it is an enemy[ 1 Corinthians 15 v 26 ].God did not create us to die, but something terrible happened, we sinned, we disobeyed God [Genesis 3],and so an unwanted word ,and an unwanted experience came into being, death [ Romans 5 v12 ]. So sin is the cause of death,it is the penalty which effects everyone, men , women and children,humanty will never beat it,they may delay it,but thats all.
A prayer..../ Dear God help us see death for what it is, an enemy, and one we all have to face,
in Jesus name Amen./

Honour Him. [Revelation 5 v 11ff ]

He leadeth me, in the paths of righteousness, for His name sake [Psalm 23 v3] Just a few more thoughts on these words , first on , He leadeth me, Barnes writes,/ we can have this assurance, if we follow the directions of His word, the teaching of His Spirit, and the guidance of His providence./ Next , for His name sake, in other words David wants the Lord to be honoured , in all that he writes, not only in what he writes ,but in all the way the Lord was dealings with him. People seek to honour their country and often do dishonourable things, we are to honour our parents and rightly so [Exodus 20 v 12].People shower honour on so many things, but the Christian priority should be to honour their Lord,and Saviour, in all things, for He alone is worthy to recieve power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.
A prayer by Francis R Havergal......Lord, Thou , needest not, I know,
Service such as I can bring,
Yet I long to prove as I can bring,
Full allegiance to my King,
Thou an honour art to me,
Let me be a praise to Thee. Amen

Paths of righteousness. [ 2 Peter 3 v11 ]

He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name sake Psalm 23 v 3. / Now we may have difficulties in relation to being led, and we do get it wrong, mybe you are faced with a decision ,and you are not sure what you should do. There is one thing you can be sure and its cleary seen in v3,the Lord leads us in paths of righteousness,He does not lead us to commit adultery,he does not lead us into anything that is questionable, he leads us in paths of righteousness. Now as my favourite author stresses we are saved by grace, grace means something we cannot merit,by religious activities, or good works [ Galations 3 v11/ Ephesians 2 v 8-9 ]So some may say, does that mean we can live any old way? no of course not, as an evangelical, I know there will always be that tension between liberty and licence, but the truth of being saved by grace still stands. I read this in the daily devotional Word for today,/ Grace rightly understood,doesn,t prevent holiness, it produces it. The grace of God that brings salvation....teaches us to say , No, to ungodliness and worldly passion, and to live self- controlled, upright and godly lives. [Titus 2 v11-12 ]Let us never loose sight of the truth ,that our good shepherd will only lead us in paths of righteousness.
A prayer..../Dear Lord help us to walk in paths of righteousness, Amen.

He is leading. [ Psalm 48 v14 ]

/ He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His names sake Psalm 23 v3/ Consider the personal aspect of these words, let me stress , that this a statement of personal conviction, and of personal faith. Unless we have a personal relationship with the Lord, life will have a limited purpose, or no purpose at all.Read the book of Ecclesiates ,the writer appears to write as one who sees life as pretty meaningless.This was not Davids outlook on life, he knew the Lord personally, that governed his life,does it govern our life?.So David declares ,that the Lord was leading him,and if we are a child of God ,we can say that He is leading us, but the question is this are we following Him?.Be very sure the most secure and best place in life is to follow the good shepherd,David knew this, even though it meant danger and difficulties, but in the end it meant glory[ 2 Timothy 4 v 7 -8.]
A prayer...../Dear Lord give us grace to follow You ,and to trust You . Amen.