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.

Preparation for Ministry

The Lord is my shepherd He is my guide. I need to learn to follow him. He knows what’s best for me. He knows where the right pasture is located. He knows where the best water is. He knows the correct path. I am only a sheep. I cannot possibly begin to know these things, so I must learn to trust in the Good Shepherd and learn to follow him wherever he leads.

I shall not want Literally: I shall not lack. He will provide for me the proper training, the proper credentials. He will give me everything I need to enter the ministry. I shall not lack. He will give me the right church with financial stability, even if outward appearances seem to not indicate it. He will provide.

He makes me to lie down He gives me rest. I do not have to be anxious or concerned. He will find the right spot for me, and it will be restful.

In green pastures Literally: in grassy or tender pastures. He knows the best place for me to minister. He will select the pasture. As the sheep, all I will have to do is follow him there. The ministry will be lush and green. The Hebrew indicates it will be abundant and new. My soul will be satisfied.

He leads me He is the one who will direct me. He is the one who will find the proper place for me. All I need to concern myself with is following his leading.

Beside the still waters Literally: the waters of rest or peaceful waters. Where he sends me will not be turbulent and in upheaval. Even in difficult situations he will give me his peace. He has promised me peaceful waters.

He restores my soul He will fill my soul with his goodness. He will renew me and help me to be the kind of minister that he wants me to be. I don’t have to try to be something I’m not. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

He leads me in the paths of righteousness He will teach me righteousness. All those areas of my life that may hinder my ministry will be transformed by his restoring power. I may fail, but I know that he is the one who is guiding and directing my walk. I don’t have to try to do it in my own strength. When difficult times arise, he will be there to help me through them.

For his name’s sake This is why I can be confident that God will see me through all the difficult times. He is doing this for his name’s sake. It has nothing to do with my ability, my righteousness, or my spiritual understanding. It has everything to do with God’s power, his holiness, and his truth. He will make me a minister to proclaim his name to others, not for my sake, but for his name’s sake; not that my church may be built, but that his church may be built; not that I might save others, but that he may save others; not that I may be a blessing and help, but that he might be a blessing and help. Knowing this, I can rest assured that he will do a good job with my ministry since it is, after all, not my ministry at all, but his.

Yea Literally: and or also. This is a tie-in with the previous verse. I leave verse 3 confident and assured that God will take care of me for his name’s sake. I can have this same confidence as I look at the difficulties described in verse 4.

Though I walk through He will take me through the difficult times. I don’t have to be concerned or worried by them. As I go through, I can have confidence that he will show me how to have more faith and more patience. As I search for the proper place for me to minister, I don’t have to be anxious. He will see me through.

The valley It does sometimes seem like a valley as I wonder where God wants me, and when he will show me. I may be tempted to feel discouraged or frustrated that no doors are opening up, or they aren’t opening up as fast as I would like them to, but in order to get to the next verses, five and six, I may have to spend a little time in the valley, in preparation.

Of the shadow of death Literally: deep darkness. This may seem like a dark time of uncertainty, but it is only a shadow which will soon pass away. Jesus is the light and will shine his love on my pathway. He is slowly revealing his perfect plan for my ministry and the darkness is receding. As I learn from his Spirit, from his word, and from his personal guidance, I find that I am going through the valley to the other side. During this dark time of confusion I have truly found his word a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

I will fear no evil The Hebrew for evil is also used to mean distress or anything bad. The point is I should not fear no matter what the circumstances are. I should not stress or get uptight. God in his perfect timing will open his ministry up for me. If doors close one place, he will open them elsewhere. So why am I in anguish? The opposite of fear is faith. If I truly trust God, I will not worry about the future. He knows exactly where he wants me, and he knows the way to get me there even though at times I may feel the way is tortuous and uncertain.

For you are with me I am not doing any of this in my own strength. I am doing it in the Lord’s strength. In fact it’s not even me doing it: it is the Lord working through me. This is my assurance: God is with me. He is right there every step of the way. He knows my feeling of uncertainty and anticipation. He understands the questions that are going through my mind. In fact, it is he who has placed the desire to pastor in my heart. If I fully understand that God is with me every step of the way, then I can boldly say I believe that all things work together for good. Whatever is happening right now is God’s perfect plan to prepare me for the ministry to which he has called me.

Your rod The rod, or club, was used by the shepherd primarily to fight off the predators and those who would devour the sheep. So no church or denomination is going to devour me. I don’t have to worry about denominational bureaucracy. I don’t have to be concerned with how I will be ordained, or if I will be accepted. God will keep me from all those things that would try to consume me with worry.

Your staff The staff was primarily used to gently guide the sheep and sometimes to reach out and move wandering or reluctant sheep back to the fold. God will guide me. He will not allow me to wander away from his plan for me.

They comfort me When the sheep saw the shepherd’s rod and staff, they knew they were under the care and protection of the shepherd. So am I. I can take comfort in God’s care for me. Instead of anxiety, I can know peace. I have the assurance of God’s hand on my life.

You prepare Literally: set in order or arrange. I realize that God is setting my ministry in order. He is arranging things. There is a preparation that must take place: in my heart, in my spiritual gifts, in my obedience, and in the circumstances where he is calling me. I need to be patient while God sets things in order.

A table before me This burning desire in my heart to pastor will be realized. God is preparing the proper table for me. He is setting things up. I may think it should be a large, ornate mahogany table with many elegant armchairs around it, but he may be preparing a simple plywood table with a few wooden crates around it. Whatever he has prepared for me, I know it will be the very best according to his divine plan for my ministry.

In the presence of my enemies It may be I will be sent to the very place that I think least likely to accept me or my ministry. It doesn’t matter where God sets up the table for me, nothing can come against the ministry to which he has called me. Every attempt to thwart God’s ministry plan for me will fail.

You anoint my head with oil God is the one who anoints me for ministry. He has called me and will work out all the details. There is no force in this universe strong enough to withstand God’s anointing on my life. He has called me to minister, and he will open up the ministry for me. I am especially chosen and anointed, even though I am totally unworthy of either. He has chosen me for his own reasons. He will have mercy on whom he will have mercy. I cannot possibly understand why he has chosen me. But who he chooses for ministry, he anoints. I don’t need to be concerned about my abilities or my gifts. I don’t need to worry whether I will be able to come up with the right messages on time. I don’t need to fret over whether I can handle all the personal struggles others may be going through. I don’t need to be anxious whether I will be smart enough, or wise enough, or prepared enough. The Lord has anointed me. He will give me abilities that I don’t have, and strength that I don’t possess. He will give me wisdom beyond my mental capacity and patience beyond my physical ability. I am not a minister when the right church opens up or when all the correct paperwork is completed or when all the preparation is finished. I am a minister now. I have been called and anointed by God.

My cup runs over Literally: my cup is filled to abundance. Since the Lord has called me, I have been overflowing with the desire to pastor. This is no wonder. He has filled me to abundance. As I take the necessary steps of obedience in this process, I will find abundant help in every area of ministry. He will not leave me helpless or inadequate in any area of ministry. He will fill my cup to abundance.

Surely goodness Isn’t this wonderful? Goodness will follow me. Everywhere I go, wherever I am ministering, God’s goodness will be dwelling there. He will fill my life, my family, my church, my ministry with goodness.

And mercy I will need God’s mercy. I know I will fail. I will yield to sin; I may hurt others; I may give unbiblical advice. I may get ahead of God’s plan, or lag behind it. I may try to build the church in my own strength or I may ignore the heavenly vision. I will certainly need God’s mercy. How comforting to know that through all my failures God’s mercy will follow me. He will be there to help me back up, to place me back on the right track, to gently rebuke me, to teach me the error of my ways, to rescue me from the fruit of my own stubbornness, to reveal his truth to me, and to help me along the way.

Shall follow me all the days of my life There will not be even one day that God isn’t with me to assist me, to teach me in my ministry, to direct me. His presence will be with me every moment of every day. His goodness and mercy will follow me even when I wander off the path he has called me to. I am not pastoring alone. There may be times when I feel isolated, but Jesus will always be there.

And I will dwell The Hebrew means dwell in the sense of being set, staying, remaining. This is where God has called me. I shall dwell there. I will be set. I won’t be looking for the first excuse to get out of his work, but remain true to the calling he has placed on my life.

In the house of the Lord God has called me to minister in his house. I will be faithful to this call. He has not said to do it only when I feel like it or only if the pay is big enough or the circumstances are ideal enough. He has called me to minister in his house — his church. I know God has called me to pastor. I will do the work in his house for which he has appointed me. This is also his promise: that I will minister in his house. Opportunities don't seem forthcoming right now, but I will minister in his house. He is faithful to his word. He does not call me to his service without also making a way for me to minister. I will not be a pastor without a work and without people. He will give me the church and the congregation.

For ever Literally: length of days. I am not called to minister for just a short time, but for the rest of my days. This will not be a temporary position or even a part-time position. God has called me to pastor for the length of my days. He will provide the place and the situation. I will trust in him for he is my shepherd and will lead me into the right way.

From The Bible Explorer

"The idea that we are chosen, called by God to share in the ministry of Jesus Christ, is phenomenal – almost unbelievable! Why would God want us to help Him? He could do a much better job, in far less time, doing it Himself. Why involve us? Because God knows the secret of being truly human and truly divine. Only when we participate in ministry, only when we give ourselves away to others, only when we do what God does, will we ever become the people He wants us to be."

Footnotes:

This meditation of Psalm 23 © 1998 by David Humpal. All Rights Reserved.

This meditation of Psalm 23 was written by David Humpal, but I feel I can take little credit for its content. I feel the Lord was ministering to me his assurance, and I want to make it available to anyone else facing a similar situation. Permission is granted to reproduce or retransmit this by any means, provided that its content is not altered and that no financial gain is realized.

The Bible Explorer: Ministry, John 14:12, Electronic Data © Cinerom, Inc.