The Lord is My Shepherd.

An Exposition of the Twenty-Third Psalm.. 
(An address by Henry Varley. Reported in Word and Work.) 
I SHALL endeavor to give an exposition of this Psalm; and trust you have your Bibles with you, for if not, the probability is, you may not get a blessing. The Word of God is to our spiritual life just what food is to our bodily life. The man who lightly esteems the Word of God will be a dwarf. “As new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby.”  “This is that bread which came down from heaven.” 
Christ says, “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.” I would remark here, that whilst no end of controversy continues about the meaning of these words, they are obvious enough. Flesh and blood represent the integrity of His being. “His flesh is meat indeed, his blood is drink indeed.” This Book is His life in manifestation, and if you and I want to reproduce His life upon earth (of course always in an imperfect form), the best preparation will be to feed upon His Word; the result of which is sure to be seen in the increase of our spiritual life. You cannot give out what you have not received, and by the grace of the Spirit, you may constantly receive “of his fullness and grace upon grace.” See, however, that you do not talk of holding the truth only, rather let it hold you. You want it to shape your judgment of men and things, and to guide your thoughts about time and eternity. Such is the force of the current of what is called free thought at the present time, that the man who is not held by this Book, will be drifted away from the truth of God. 
Well, about the 23rd Psalm. Shall we first of all notice the position of this Psalm. It seems a very simple thing to say that it comes between the 22nd and the 24th Psalms, but there is much thought suggested by its position. 
Look at the 22nd Psalm; it is a Psalm which of all others, speaks of the sorrows and sufferings of Christ, and of the ignominy of the Cross. It is preeminently a Messianic Psalm. Look at the opening verse, they are the words which were quoted by the Lord Jesus Christ in the hour of His deepest agony, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Look again at the 17th and 18th verses, how familiar are those to us in connection with the scene at the crucifixion of our Lord. 
Look now at the 24th Psalm, where we find a totally different experience: “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof," &c. To whom do these words refer? They refer to the Lord Jesus Christ, not as the man of sorrows now, but as the risen One, “God over all, blessed for ever.” People often get wrong in their conception of the Psalms. Take the first Psalm, “Blessed is the man,” &c. Who is there represented? Is it some fine specimen of human life or character? Nothing of the kind. It is just a description of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
So, with the 24th Psalm: “Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?” Who is referred to? It is the Lord Jesus Christ, of whom we read in the closing verses: “Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is the King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory.” Now, I want you to observe that in the 22nd Psalm, we have the sorrow of the Lord Jesus Christ. There we have Christ identified with the Cross, and in the 24th, we have Him identified with the glory. 
That is the reason the 23rd Psalm stands where it is—it comes between the Cross, after it, and before the glory, just where the believer is now, between the Cross and the glory. On this side of the Cross, and not yet come to the glory. Just between these, and while we are still on earth, we have Christ spoken of (in the 23rd Psalm) as our Shepherd, Leader, and Restorer.
I do sincerely trust your minds are clear as to this; that you are past the judgment of the Cross and are united to the risen Christ. Of course, the time will never come when a believer will speak lightly of the “atonement" effected by His death. That precious supper was instituted for the refreshment of our memory on that very point. Yet, let us remember that so far as our standing is concerned, we are past the Cross. Many have no clear apprehension of what spiritual life is; but it is life in Christ. As Paul says, “Not I, but Christ liveth in me.” I beseech you, do not play fast and loose with this precious truth; for if you sometimes think that you are united to Christ, and at other times doubt whether you are or not, you cannot know the quiet power of life in Christ, or abide in the joy of the Lord which is our strength. This being so, I now read with you this afternoon the 23rd Psalm. 
THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD. 
How beautiful are these words? I think internal evidence shows this Psalm to have been written, not in the early life of David, but after he ascended the throne. I do not speak dogmatically, but I think it so. Look at the 5th verse which speaks of “anointing his head with oil;” from that, you would judge that was after he was made king, for it is added, “My cup runneth over.” How beautiful, then, as coming from a man in his position, is that impression with which the Psalm opens—“The Lord is my Shepherd! I shall not want.” David, what do you mean? You are the king of an intensely loyal nation; you have large revenues; you have power and authority; why do you not say you shall not want because of these things? I suppose the last thing which any king would expect, would be that he should come to want. Yet observe, he does not say, I shall not want because I am king; but because “The Lord is my Shepherd.” 
Beloved friends, let us be careful lest we interpret the circumstances incidental to the present life between us and God. The trust of every one of us ought to be “The Lord is my Shepherd,” therefore, “I shall not want.”  “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things.” 
Lately, I met a friend of mine who has a large estate in the country. He seemed much depressed, and I asked him what was troubling him, and I soon found, it was the cares of his estate. ‘Why, my dear sir, are you attempting to carry your estate? One acre of it is enough to bury you many times over, and what must it be if you are attempting to bear the whole?’ There was the poverty of plenty. Many things and much care. Our answer both to wealth and penury is, “The Lord is my Shepherd.” Nor will we make a bugbear of our poverty, or a burden of our wealth—“The Lord is my portion, saith my soul.” A never-failing portion. 
At Exeter, last week, I heard of a dear old Christian woman, who, according to our thoughts, was suffering a good deal. It was laid on the mind of a lady to visit her, and she found the old Christian lying in bed on the morning of the third day without food, that is, she had been two days fasting; and yet, after her needs had been relieved by the lady, instead of complaining, the aged sister said: “I was just praising God, that I had not suffered any desire for food these last forty eight hours.” I am not surprised at that. He either makes a way of escape, or gives strength to bear. See how the devil came to Christ after His long abstinence, and says, “Command that these stones be made bread.” It is a common plan of the devil’s, to trouble us in regard to our circumstances. But what does Christ say to him? It is written “that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word of God.” It is not for those who are hungry in God’s service to be fed at the table of the devil—
God may send a raven ever; 
He never sends the devil—never. 
Christ’s reply is equivalent to saying, ‘My Father has kept Me for forty days, and so He may sustain Me for fifty or sixty days if He please,—I will wait His time.’ Let us remember that we are very precious in His sight. To those of us who have received the Lord Jesus Christ, I say, our bodies are just the vessels of mercy into which the Lord Jesus has come to dwell. The casket that holds the “unspeakable gift” is therefore precious unto God. If you have some gift, as a memento of some loved one who is gone, I understand how you will cherish the casket in which it is placed; and I can see you take it out again and again and look at it with loving memories. So, you are the caskets in which Christ, His Son, dwells. His love and care of you, who shall tell? I would sooner expect the sun to fall from the heavens, than one of His children should be forsaken. 
Another thought here; how wonderful that the Lord Jesus Christ should have been in this world, voluntarily a poor man. He had none of those things that we are accustomed to call the accessories of success. 
When I was a youth of nineteen, I went to Australia, just because I had nothing to start with here, and I thought there was little prospect of success in business, without some capital to begin with. When I made sufficient in Australia to aid me here, I returned home. 
More or less, we are all troubled in regard to the accessories of success; and we do not look for prosperity without them; yet Christ had none of these. Had it been essential to His success, He would certainly have had a large estate, and princely revenues. Yet He had no estate, no house; indeed, He Himself said that He “had not where to lay his head.” And when the tax gatherer came, so poor was He, that He had to send Peter to the sea and get the money from the mouth of a fish. What was all this for? Surely to teach us all the great truth, and in His own life, the highest example of the fact that, “a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” 
Now we pass on to the next verse: “He maketh me to lie down.” I like that word “maketh.” It is such a good word. The thought here is that God has at times to compel us to lie down. We do need this compelling hand. Some of us are so restless, and it is as though He would shape us into gentle quietness. God maketh us to lie down. It is said of sheep, that they will never lie down, until they are satisfied. I believe it is perfectly true; and this verse indicates the peace of satisfaction. We are perfectly satisfied—not with self; but, satisfied with Jesus, His love, His presence, and care. My beloved friends, are you satisfied? Some reply, I shall be satisfied when I awake in His likeness. That is now. You are putting it off to the resurrection day. Who gave you license to do so? You are in the image of Christ, even as you sit there. 
The Psalmist could say, "My soul shall dwell at ease,” or, as the margin has it, “shall lodge in goodness.” That is a good place to dwell in, is it not? Again, Jesus Himself says, “My yoke is easy.” There is work, but it is easy. The employ of His presence is rest. By the way, there is a beautiful thought here. It is the idea of bullocks yoked in pairs, Christ is filling one side of the yoke Himself, and He asks you to come and put your neck, as it were, inside the other. If you are weak, He is not. I have known horses thus yoked, a strong and a weak one, Even thus we lose our weakness in His might. I really do not know what He would do with His strength were it not for our weakness. Just so with His wisdom; what would He do with it were it not for our ignorance? and what would He do with Heaven if He had not His people to fill it? “He leadeth me beside the still waters.” There is still the idea of quietness here, as well as loving care. In connection with this, turn for one moment to Isaiah 40: 11, “He shall feed his flock like a shepherd; he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.” What infinite tenderness, and so to speak, littleness there is in this. Yet, look at the next verse, “Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span,” &c. If you have infinite littleness on the one hand, you have infinite greatness on the other. How precious is the contrast between these two verses, “Gathered the lambs with his arm;”  “Meted out heaven with His span.” His span is enough for heaven’s arch, but hand, and arm, and heart, are given to the lambs. 
An American brother gives a beautiful little parable about this. He speaks of a flock of sheep coming to the shepherd, and the first says, “I know I am your sheep, for you had eight pounds of wool off my back last shearing time;” the next one says, “I know I am your sheep, too, because you had six pounds off my back;” the next one says, “I know I am your sheep, because you had four pounds off my back;” another comes and says, “I am in doubt whether I am your sheep or not, because you had only two pounds of wool off my back;” then up comes a poor, scraggy-looking fellow and says, “I don't know if I am your sheep at all, or what I am, whether a sheep or a goat, for you had hardly any at all from me.” The shepherd looks at them and says, “I would that every one of you gave me ten pounds of wool; but the question of your belonging to Me is not settled by your giving Me much or little, but by the fact that I bought you and paid for you.” Pray you remember these things. Some forget that it is not the sheep who holds the shepherd, but the shepherd who holds the sheep; it is not the house that holds the foundation, but the foundation that holds the house. Never, never forget that it is the shepherd who goes before the sheep and leads them. The very word “sheep” implies a possessor.  
"The Sunday School Times" Jan. 1876