A satisfied life
[Psalms 23]
Are you satisfied with your life? Lee Jin-ho who wrote a book titled ‘99 Hope Formulas That Make Life Tasty’ says modern people suffer from a deficiency of satisfaction. The philosopher Socrates said, ‘The richest person in the world is a person who can satisfied by even a least thing.’ However, there are more people in the world who aren’t satisfied than those who are satisfied. An American writer Gail Sheehy said in her best-selling book, “Path Finders”, the people who live with great satisfaction are: (1) First, a person who knows the meaning of his life and direction to go, (2) Second, a person who who isn’t disappointed that he has been living his life in vain, (3) Third, a person who has a clear long-term plan and is gradually accomplishing it, (4) Fourth, a person who has someone whom he loves truly, (5) Fifth, a person who has a good friend whom he can open up his heart and talk to, (6) Sixth, a person who is cheerful and interprets and deal a difficult things positively, (7) Seventh, a person who can listen generously to other people’s criticisms, (8) Eigth, a person who has the strong mental power to overcome fear or anxiety (Internet).
In Psalms 23, we see the psalmist David who lived a satisfied life. He confessed “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want” (v. 1). In other words, David confessed that he lived the satisfied life because the Lord was his shepherd. The life of a saint who lives with God is satisfied. Based on Psalms 23, I would like to meditate on the six things to do in order to live a life without deficiency (or the satisfied life). In the midst of that, I hope and pray that we can have satisfying life too.
First, in order to live the satisfied life, we must be supplied by the Shepherd Lord.
Look at Psalms 23:2 – “He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.” The true shepherd provides food and drinking water for the sheep. The reason why the shepherd makes the sheep to lie down in green pastures is because the green pastures have soft grass that sheep like to eat. Like this, the good shepherd feeds the sheep. In addition, the good shepherd leads the sheep beside quiet waters to let them drink water. Here, “quiet water” is slow flowing water, so the sheep can drink water easily and is beneficial to their health (Calvin). Our good Shepherd Lord not noly feeds us, the sheep, the physical food but also the spiritual food, the word of God. He feeds us abundantly. The Lord is “The Lord Will Provide” who provides us (Gen. 22:14).
However, at the time of Ezekiel, the Israeli shepherds were those who fed themselves. So God told them through the prophet Ezekiel: “… Woe, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flock?” (Ezek. 34:2) The Israel shepherds ate the fat and clothed themselves with the wool and slaughtered the fat sheep without feeding the flock (v. 3). What happens to sheep when shepherds don’t supply the food they need? The sheep wander and scatter, eventually becoming Satan's food: “They were scattered for lack of a shepherd, and they became food for every beast of the field and were scattered. My flock wandered through all the mountains and on every high hill; My flock was scattered over all the surface of the earth, and there was no one to search or seek for them” (vv. 5-6).
Many of the believers are wandering and scattered, falling into the Satan’s temptation. What is the problem? We can think of the problem in two ways:
(1) The pastors’ problem.
Why are the pastors’ problem? This is because, like the shepherds of Israel in the time of Ezekiel, the pastors are feeding themselves without feeding the church members. Another pastors’ problem is because they don’t feed the church members the healthy food, the church members are spiritually malnourished. In other words, the pastors don’t prepare the word of God faithfully and proclaim and teach the word to the church members that the church members are spiritually malnourished.
(2) The church members’s problem.
Even if the pastors prepare the spiritual food, the word of God, well on the ‘table’ and wait for the church members to come and eat their spiritual food, the saints don’t come and eat. The reason may be because the sheep’s stomach is full, or the ‘spiritual digestive function’ is not working properly. Isn't this strange? In this era in which we live, even though there is the ‘Flood of the Word,’ there is a phenomenon that the church members refuse to eat the Word. It’s like a mother who has prepared the table with great effort to feed the children three meals a day at home, the children refused to eat the meals. Why is that? Sometimes it's because our children eat sweets, candy, or snacks before meals, and at other times, they don't eat regularly, so they don't get hungry at meals. In the case of me, I sometimes skipped breakfast because I ate late at night and was still indigestible and my stomach was full. Like this, we may feel like we don't have to eat God's word more that once a week after Sunday and live for a whole week. In other words, as we do not digest well, we don’t feel the need to receive and eat the Word again because we are unable to properly digest it at that time. And the reason we are unable to properly digest it is because we don’t obey the Word that we have eaten on Sunday. However, it seems that there are some Christians whose spiritual digestive function is broken.
In order for us to live the satisfied life, we must be the church members who receive the Word of God, our spiritual food, as well as the daily food provided by the Lord who is our Shepherd. And our spiritual digestive function should work well. To do this, we must take the Word and obey (apply) it in our daily lives. Therefore, we must run toward the Word of God and eat the Word more and more (Ps. 119:32).
Second, in order to live the satisfied life, we must be restored by our Shepherd Lord.
Look at Psalms 23:3 – “He restores my soul ….” Here, ‘restoring the soul’ means repentance of the soul who has sinned so that he can receive true life (Park). When we aren’t repenting after sinning against God, our souls are under pressure. David was like that. Look at Psalms 32:3-4: “When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away Through my groaning all day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Selah.” The souls that don’t solve the problem of sin always feel something are lacking. Not only is his soul crushed, but he is also bound by sin, so his soul isn’t free. An unrepentant heart cannot be satisfied. The souls with dry tears of repentance can’t satisfied. Dr. Yoon-sun Park said: ‘The soul dies only because of sin, and it is only by repenting of the sins that the soul lives again’ (Park). Yes. When we repent of our sins, our crushed souls can be revived. But this is only possible by God's grace. In other words, when our Lord reveals our sins through His Word through the Holy Spirit that we will be able to regard them as sins, acknowledge our sins and truly repent them. Only the Lord, the Shepherd, can restore our souls.
In terms of the Shepherd Lord restoring our souls, it is deeply connected with His words. For example, look at Psalms 119: “My soul cleaves to the dust; Revive me according to Your word” (v. 25), “My soul weeps because of grief; Strengthen me according to Your word” (v. 28), “… And revive me in Your ways” (v. 37), and “That Your word has revived me” (v. 50). The Lord revives our souls, and He does so by His word. The Lord revives our souls by providing us with the Word, the spiritual food, as our Shepherd.
Too many of us are living without real freedom of faith because our souls are crushed by unrepented sin. As a result, we say that we live a religious life, but we lack true satisfaction. What is the problem? The problem is that we don’t receive the Word of God properly and aren’t faithfully able to live the life of reflecting ourselves with His Word. In the midst of that, we don’t regard sin as sin and we aren’t praying for repentance. As a result, our souls are crushed. We should seek the provision of the word of our Shepherd Lord. In the midst of that, we must thoroughly repent of our sins as we reflect ourselves on the Word of God and as the Holy Spirit reveals our sins. In doing so, the Lord revives our souls with His Word. We can be satisfied when we live a life restored by the Word of God.
Third, in order to live the satisfied life, we must be led by our Shepherd Lord.
Look at Psalms 23:3 – “… He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name's sake.” Here, the word “He guides me in the paths of righteousness” means that the Lord who is the Shepherd leads us in a straight path (Park). Many people in this sinful world where we are living now are taking the path of evil and walking that path rather than the path of righteousness. But our Christians must walk the path of righteousness. Then we, like the righteous Lot, walk among the paths of evil, and every day we see and hear their unlawful deeds, and our righteous souls are tormented (2 Pet. 2:8). Only when our Shepherd Lord restores our tormented righteous souls with His Word so that we can walk the path of righteousness. One surprising fact is that the reason the Lord leads us to the path of righteousness isn’t because of any good conditions for our humanity, but because of Hi name’s sake (Park). God is not only the God who blots our sins for His name’s sake, but also He is the Lord who revives our souls and who leads us in the path of righteousness for His name’s sake.
Dr. Yoon-sun Park said: ‘In God's sight, a straight path may be a rough and narrow path in people’s sight. But that is the path to get into heaven.’ That makes sense. God's point of view and our point of view can be very different. Therefore, we must believe and obey our Shepherd Lord in order to be led by the Lord. We the sheep must only listen and follow the voice of the Shepherd Lord. Look at John 10:26-27: “But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” We should never follow a hired hand, who is not a shepherd. The reason is this: “He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep” (vv. 12-13).
We must not deny the guidance of the Shepherd Lord. Like a child who refuses his father who tries to lead him to walk on the dry ground by holding his hand and walks through the muddy water so that his shoes and pant get wet, we must not refuse our Heavenly Father who tries to guide us and walk on our own way. We must hold on to the Lord's hand, receive His Word, and be guided by the Lord as His Word revives our souls. Our Shepherd Lord leads us in the way of righteousness for His name’s sake. With His guidance, we can live the satisfying life when we walk on the straight and right path.
Fourth, in order to live the satisfied life, we must be protected by the Lord.
Look at Psalms 23:4 – “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” Here, “the valley of the shadow of death” refers to the extreme of danger (Park). David made the Lord his Shepherd, so he wasn’t afraid of any danger. The reason was because he believed that God was with him. The God who was with Joseph, therefore Joseph, who was blessed with prosperity and was protected by God, whether serving as slave in the house of Potiphar or in prison. As the Shepherd Lord was with David and protected him with His rod and His staff. Just as the shepherd protects the sheep from the beast with a staff and a stick and leads the sheep to the green pastures and quiet waters, the Shepherd Lord protects us from Satan and his servants like beasts and leads us. .
David made this confession to the Lord: “You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah” (32:7). The Lord, our hiding place, is the Lord who keeps us as the apple of the eye and hides us in the shadow of His wings (17:8). Look at Ruth 2:12. Boaz said to Ruth: “… the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to seek refuge.” Like Ruth, who was protected under the wings of the Lord, we are also under the protection of the Shepherd Lord, so we aren’t afraid of any extreme danger. We are the Lord’s sheep who live under the care of the Shepherd Lord. And we, who are protected by Him, aren’t in want. Therefore, we agree with the psalmist's confession: “The LORD is your keeper; The LORD is your shade on your right hand. The sun will not smite you by day, Nor the moon by night” (121:5-6).
Fifth, in order to live the satisfied life, we must be exalted by the Lord.
Look at Psalms 23:5 – “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows.” The Lord is the Shepherd who rewards us in the sight of our enemies. As the Shepherd, the Lord gave a joyful victory to David as He prepared a banquet for him in front of his enemies who tried to destroy David (Park). In addition, the phrase “You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows” was said in consideration of the custom of anointing the VIP at the banquet (Park). God treated David, who was persecuted before the enemy, like a VIP and invited him to the banquet. As a result, the hospitality and portion that David received was rich and overflowing (Park).
Our Shepherd Lord is the Lord who exalts us before our enemies. He is the Lord who makes us victorious, and who gives us the banquet with great riches. Therefore, we are living the satisfied life.
Sixth and last, in order to live the satisfied life, we must be filled with love and hope that the Lord gives.
Look at Psalms 23:6 – “Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” Here, David looked forward to his future as he recalled the past's graceful experience. He believed in his future to be everlasting, because he was loved and helped by God in the past (vv. 1-5). This is because the Lord's goodness and lovingkindness have always been with him. So David had a sure hope to dwell in the Lord's house, the kingdom of God forever. There is no want in the life filled with hope. There is a definite future for a life that is loved by the Shepherd Lord, that is, the Lord's provision, revitalization, guidance, protection, and exaltation. He lives the satisfying life because he lives his present life with clear future hope to dwell in the kingdom of God forever.
When the end of life approaches, we should be able to look back at our lives and confess that, like David, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want” (v. 1). If we could make such confession, we could say that we had the satisfied life. If we receive the Shepherd Lord's provision, and experience His restoring work, receive His guidance and protection, and His grace that exalts us even in the sight of our enemies, with the love and hope from the Lord, then we can surely say that we lived the satisfied life. Only such a person can confess, like David, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want” (v. 1). May such blessings be upon us.
With desire to confess, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want,”
James Kim
(Praying to be satisfied with the Lord alone)