Week 25: Day 5

Intro: Hello and welcome to Orbit, a short reflection to help you put God at the centre of your life from the team behind Satellites - my name is Zachary Gain and I’ll be taking you through today’s passage. Each weekday we share a little bit of the Bible with you, give you a chance to pray and think about it, and provide you with one practical way to put it into practice today.

Bible: Today's reading comes from Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, 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 for ever.

Thoughts: Psalm 23! It’s an absolute classic.....I’m sure many of you have heard or read this psalm before. Many songs have been written using this passage (don’t worry I won’t sing them) and many a Christian household probably have it printed at home on a lovely print in a nice frame. I’m pretty sure my mum does actually....

You also hear it at weddings and have it read at funerals or put on gravestones, all spectrums of life experiences and events.

But why is it so popular? Well let’s have a little look. Let’s read some of it again “He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, He refreshes my soul”. That sounds pretty good to me. I don't know about you.

But then it says “Even though I walk through the darkest valley” that sounds rather bleak.

However it then goes on to say “I will fear no evil, for you are with me” and “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies” Now that one sounds actually quite amusing. Can you imagine? What would you eat at the table in front of your enemies? I think I’d choose a burger.

What we have here is an expression to God, about God - David the psalmist describing the character that he has experienced. Now David went through an awful lot in the Old Testament, from being hunted down by a whole army led by Saul to having an affair with someone else’s wife and having her husband killed. Yet throughout all this David is still able to proclaim God’s goodness, through the high highs and the low lows.

What he’s demonstrating here in this psalm is that no matter what we experience in life God provides what we need, that he can comfort us and protect us. In the ups and downs he is constant.

Prayer: Lord thank you that you are the same yesterday, today and forever. Even when I am experiencing the high highs and the low lows you remain constant. Thank you that you provide for us what we need, that you know what we need even if it’s not what we would have chosen ourselves or thought was best for us. Help us seek you today in all that we do because we know that you want us to rely and depend on you. Amen

Silence: There's now just a few moments of silence for you to pray, reflect on these ideas, or simply sit and be still.

Challenge: There are many different names for God that David uses in this psalm, from the more commonly known name Jehovah Jireh (the Lord provides) to some of the more harder to pronounce names Jehovah tsidkeneau (the Lord our righteousness). Take a pen and paper and write down as many descriptive words about God as you can, use Psalm 23 as inspiration.....How many could you think of? Our God is much greater than every word you could ever think of or write down. And he wants you, he wants to get to know you more and for you to know him closer day by day. Whatever you do today fun, difficult, joyfully, sadly, let that knowledge bring you comfort.

Outro: That's it for today's Orbit. Thanks so much for joining me this week!