Still Waters and Psalm 23

This psalm can be looked at from the perspective of the first verse which says, The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. The view can be what would you want and what you should want The Lord is the Shepherd of your wants. . One would be the leadings of the Lord specified in both verses 2 and 3.

The psalmist wanted still waters, he wanted restoration for his soul, he wanted leadership upon the paths of righteousness.

Matters of restoration could include restoration of health, of hopes, or relationships, of finances and good spirits. With regards to any issue, you can seek the leading of the Lord, as to where this could go but the leading is also directed by the Lord towards what you actually want.

The leadership is to paths of righteousness and this means that the Lord will co create with you possible paths that you could take, roads that you could successfully follow that are right for you, these are the paths of righteousness or what could be correct paths.

Just in terms of picturing the traveler, you can take a wrong turn and there are still going to be some right roads to where you might want to go. What you want might involve a series of paths, more than one route that will get you to a desired state or result.

Still waters are indicative of more than one place, more than one possibility. There might be several things you could want, that would have the quality of residing in your presence and your interior hopes and wants which may and will be manifold.

You don’t just want a fleeting glance of this possible blessing, but you want to savor its presence, in the symbolism of still waters, where it will stay for you and will be there for you as a residing presence. The still waters relate to the voice of the Lord over many waters mentioned in psalm 29. There are many possible points and areas of blessings that can extend from the hand of the Lord to an individual or group, there are many still waters, not just still water. Even a view of the surface of the earth shows that it is mostly water and while the still waters of this psalm are symbolic, they also could be actual still waters but more so it is representative of the sheperding presence of the Lord where he will bring the sheep to the best possible location and situations, which is still waters.

David has been a shepherd himself and understood how beautiful green pastures by still waters were not only from the point of view of the sheep but also of the shepherd.

But in the context of this psalm still waters would also include the eternal itself and heaven. The Lord indeed will have still waters for the soul that is being restored and led to these waters, with the final restoration and shepherding to heaven itself as the Lord never loses sight of his sheep going forward into the eternal. Per verse 2, the Lord makes it happen for you, he brings you right to the place of repose or green pastures, a place that is alive for you, that doesn’t involve dearth or lack but supplies into you wants to the points of aliveness.

This can pertain to all possible matters, where you might live, your work, your relationships, your inner thoughts and hopes all brought to the green pastures of aliveness.

A key phrase is n verse 3 where it says, “He restores my soul” First and foremost the tending it to the soul of the individual. The psalmist may have lost his way in the matter of soul, but the Good Shepherd restores his very soul and gets him back on track and into the goodness and mercy that will follow him.

Another key within this psalm from verse 3 is understanding that wants are and can be not only superficial but feed into the soul, there are wants of the soul, and restoration to what you might want, is not only superficial like a child wanting a candy bar but goes deep into the vision of the soul of the psalmist which does contain wants.

The eruption of wants for the individual comes can come from the depths of the soul, indeed from the depths of his soul the psalmist does long for the goodness of the Lord, the mercy of the Lord, the still waters, the paths of righteousness, and verdant valleys. The pastures of aliveness and overflowing cup of blessings. Indeed there is an overflowing cup of blessings and the psalmist also wants this cup, he wants to drink of this cup of overflowing blessings. Probably the most famous verse in this psalm is verse 4, which states, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. The paths of righteousness may at times come frightfully close to evil and dangers, which loom so large they are like giant shadows that envelop the whole valley that the psalmist might be crossing. There is the cause for fear, but the Lord comes right to the psalmist with his shepherding presence, and guards him to the point of bringing not only protection but also comfort.

The image of the “ shadow of death” directly contrasts with the themes of the psalm which is the aliveness to the wants of the individual, who is given what they want under the theme of life and life abundantly as mentioned in the New Testament, where Jesus says I have come to give life and life abundantly. Wants or desires are part of the aliveness of a person.

There is the presence also of the anointing indicating the presence of the Holy Spirit, and blessings overflow with the overflowing cup, another symbol of abundance. The Lord prepares the table, indicating a type of feast or festivities. The activities of the Holy Spirit both individual and at large involve preparations for that which is to come.

The Good Shepherd does not abandon his walk with the psalmist but stays with him all the days of his life, and goodness and mercy follows into his presence and in fact never ends as it becomes eternal in nature according to the final verse of the psalm. The still waters, the paths of righteousness, the green pastures, all will have a staying power that will extend through all days.

The finality to the psalm is the eternal and this relates to the restoration of the soul mentioned in verse 3, which is ultimately eternal in nature.

The “ house of the Lord”, is both temporal and eternal in nature, and it found with the goodness and mercy of the Holy Spirit present throughout all days and into the eternal home for the psalmist David.

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