Life With God

If someone were to come up to you and say, “Christians claim to have a personal relationship with God.  Can you tell me what that’s like? Can you tell me what that’s’ all about? Can you describe for me what it looks like to experience life with God?”  What would you say to them?  How would you describe your relationship with God?

Would you say, “I believe in Jesus. I know Him. I love Him and live for Him because He died for me!” And saying something like that’s not too bad.  You’re using relational language, but it doesn’t describe your life with God in practical terms.  Or perhaps you might say, “I study His Life so I can learn how to live and love like Him.”  Again, that’s not bad. But studying someone’s life doesn’t guarantee you have a personal relationship with them.  After all, if you study the life of Hitler, does that mean you have a personal relationship with him?  No!  So, how else might you describe your personal relationship with God?  What words would you use?  What kind of images could you use to describe your life with God?

Well, I want to help you out with that today by looking at how David describes his life with God.  And where he describes his life with God is in one of the most famous Psalms in God’s Word, Psalm 23.  So let me encourage you to open your Bible to Psalm 23, and let’s see how David’s description of life with God helps us get a better handle on our life with God.

And to do that let’s begin where David begins. For he tells us that Life With God is A Life Without Lack!  A life without want. Listen to how David expresses this: The LORD is my shepherd; I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Psalm 23:1-3

Once again, David describes his relationship with God by using the personal name of God, Yahweh: The eternal, self-sufficient, inexhaustible name of God.  This is the God who exists to always do good for His people.  This is the God who is not limited by time and space. And that’s good news.  I can’t always be there for you.  Your spouse can’t always be there for you, but God promises too always be there for you.  This is the God who is completely self-sufficient.  He needs nothing outside Himself to be God.  He needs no wisdom from anyone else.  He needs no power. He does not even need to be worship or served. And This is the God who is inexhaustible.  He is the source of unlimited wisdom and power, life and peace, goodness and mercy.  And David identifies this eternal, self-sufficient, inexhaustible being as his loving shepherd.

This helps us understand something of his relationship with God.  For to call God your Shepherd implies something about you – it acknowledges that you are in a relationship with God where you are completely dependent on Him, like a sheep.

Let me ask you: Do you see yourself like a sheep?  Think with me about the life of a sheep. Sheep are the most helpless of all animals.  They’re completely dependent on their shepherd for everything.  They need him to provide their food, their safety and even their rest.  They are prone to wander and oblivious to the dangers.   But when they’re in the hands of a loving shepherd, they don’t have to worry about a thing.  Because they trust their shepherd to care for all their needs.

And that’s what David begins to picture for us in his life with God.  He describes his Shepherd’s care for him by saying: He makes me lie down in green pastures.  What kind of a sheep lies down in green pasture?  A sheep that has eaten its fill.  A sheep that is satisfied and content. For sheep do not lie down easily.

In fact, author Philip Keller sheds some light on this: “It is impossible for sheep to be made to lie down unless they are free of all fear.  Because of the social behavior within the flock sheep will not lie down unless they are free of friction with others of their kind.  If tormented by flies or parasites, sheep will not lie down.  Only when they are free of these pests can they relax.  Lastly, sheep will not lie down as long as they feel in need of finding food.  They must be free from hunger…  Fear, Friction, Flies and Famine.  Sheep must be free from each of these to be content.  Only the shepherd can provide the trust, peace, deliverance, and pasture that is needed to free the sheep from them.”  That’s what David is describing here:  He has a God who cares about his relationships. He has a shepherd who removes the pests from his life.  And he has a God who cares about the everyday worries of life: what you will eat, what you will wear, where you will lay your head.  What David pictures for about his life with God is this: He is not some distant-uncaring force but a loving shepherd who is intimately acquainted with your every need.  He knows just what you need and out of the inexhaustible riches of His grace He is always there to meet your need. He’s a good shepherd.

The second image David gives of his life with God is this: He leads me beside still waters.  This is an amazing picture of the peace or rest He provides.  In this text, the quiet waters are the wells or springs where the sheep can drink without being rushed.  The Hebrew word here is “menuha” translated as quiet or rest.  To the Hebrew ear “quiet waters” pictures a life without strife, fighting, fear and distrust.  It is a picture of peace and rest.  To the Hebrew mind, the essence of good life is this term: menuha.

I like this: Life with God is a life of rest.  David’s imagery reminds us that in our relationship with Christ begins by resting in Christ.  As Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28 This is what our souls crave, and when you have life with God, you no longer have to strive, your freed from mistrust and fear. Life with God is a life of peace and rest.

But that’s not all He gives you. Next David writes: He restores my soul.  What a beautiful phrase.  To truly understand what it means to have your soul restored, is to understand how sin has damaged each of us to the core of our being. And this kind of damage is something we can’t irradicate on our own.  We can read all the self-help books; work out every day, eat right, do good works – these things may make you feel better about yourself, but they don’t have the healing power to reverse the damage caused by sin.

Once again, Philip Keller’s description of “cast sheep” gives us insight to the help God gives us to restore our souls. What happens is this: “A heavy, fat or long fleeced sheep will lie down comfortably in some little hollow or depression in the ground.  It may roll on its side slightly to stretch out or to relax.  Suddenly the center of gravity in the body shifts so that it turns on its back far enough that the feet no longer touch the ground.  It may feel a sense of panic and start to paw frantically.  Frequently this only makes things worse.  It rolls over even further.  Now it is quite impossible for it to regain its feet. In this position gases build up in the body, cutting off circulation to the legs, and often it is only a matter of a few hours before the sheep dies.  The only one who can restore the sheep to health is the shepherd.”

Without a shepherd we are just like a “cast sheep.”  We are spiritually on our backs; helpless to right ourselves.  This is one of the reasons God sent His Son, not to make our lives a little better, but to give us a whole new life.  When you enter into a relationship with Jesus, He doesn’t just save you from your sin, but He begins a work in you to restore you to the life He meant for you to enjoy when He created you. He heals your hurts.  He renews your mind.  He makes you right. He restores your soul.  He does for you that you can’t do for yourself.  That’s what it’s like to have life with God.

Then He does this: He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.  In other words, He leads you down a new path of life that will bless you and honor Him.

You see, like sheep, we are prone to wander. We’re tempted to fall for the myth of the greener grass.  We think we know the best paths to take, but we often can find ourselves on paths that don’t deliver.  And sometimes our wandering leads us far from God or away from God altogether.  But life with God means trusting Him to lead you down paths of kindness and mercy – paths of generosity and justice – paths of integrity and blessing. That’s why God has given us His Word to be a light unto our path and why He’s gives us His Holy Spirit to guide us and help us along the way.

You see, God exists to give us what we cannot give ourselves.  He is a Good Shepherd who cares for every part of your life: If you’re weary, He can give you rest.  If you’re anxious, He can give you peace.  If you’re damaged, He can make you whole.  If you’ve wandered, He can bring you back. This is what it means to do life with God.  Life with God is a life without lack.

But also, Life with God is a life without fear. Take a look at verse 4 with me and listen to how David describes this aspect of his relationship with God. He says, ^Even 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. Psalm 23:4 As a shepherd himself, David was familiar with the dangers lurking in the shadows. Shepherds would take their sheep from the lowlands, where sheep spend the winter, and they would pass through the valleys to the high pastures, where they go in summer.  These valleys were places of rich pasture and much water, but also places of danger.  Danger from the wild animals, and anger from sudden storms. And since sunlight was quite sparse in these valleys, these valleys were called shadows of death.

The valley of the shadow of death is a strong metaphor for life today.  None of us are immune from the valley of shadows.  Sometimes physical illness confronts us with the shadow. We’ve grown quite familiar with the shadow of cancer, or pneumonia and aging and failing bodies. This shadow can often cast fear in us.  Sometimes the tragedy of losing a loved one envelops us with shadow.  This is a shadow that’s weighed on me this week. Losing my mom this week literally enveloped me shadows of grief at times this week.  But like David, knowing that God was with me, He literally swept those shadows away.  That’s another aspect of doing life with God.  We’re not alone in pain.  We’re not alone in death.  We’re not alone in grief.  God is with us in whatever fear or shadow we may face.

Let’s not kid ourselves. We all have fears. Some of you struggle with a fear of what the future may hold. Some fear losing your freedom or way of life.  Some fear losing your nest egg or ability to do what you enjoy.  Many struggle with the fear of shame and some with the fear of having to face life alone or even death.  But perhaps our greatest fear is the one David names here: the fear of evil.

But it’s with this fear, we receive one of the greatest gifts of doing life with God. He promises to be with you in the valleys.  He promises, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5 He promises to be with you when life is uncertain.  He promises to be with you in suffering.  He promises to be with you no matter what you’re dealing with right now and whatever you’ll face in the future…

That’s always been God’s plan for you! God’s coming to be with you is what is at the heart of the gospel. One day when all the pain and evil of this life has passed away, you will “be with God” forever.  This is our hope in Jesus Christ.  If you have a relationship with God through faith in Jesus, you can be confident that God is with you.  Therefore, you never have to fear anything or anyone. You don’t have to fear death, you don’t have to fear the future and you don’t have to fear evil. Because God is with you, His perfect love for you can drive out all fear. Listen to His command to you: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.” Isaiah 43:1–3 Life with God is a life without fear! For He chose to be with you.  And He will never abandon you.  That’s the good news of life with God.

And finally, Life with God is a Life Without Limits In these final verses David describes life with God as an incredible blessing of living in a relationship of His abundant grace.  Here David describes the abundant grace of life with God, saying:  You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Psalm 23:5

David gives us some amazing images:  The first is of God preparing a table. For the ancient Israelites a table was much more than a place to eat.  It was a place of mutual trust and vulnerability. The word “table” represented all those you trusted in.  These were the people who were committed to you and would have your back. So, if you were invited to the table it meant you were family, that you belong. But when it’s God prepares the table, the meaning goes deeper.  Joining the table He has prepared for you means you have a home with God.  God is the host; you are His guest.  But as His guest, you are coming home to the family where you belong.

A second image that goes with this table is the anointing. The way you welcomed someone into your home as an honored guest was to anoint them with oil. This anointing was with a fragrant perfume that covered your whole head, so that everyone at the table would know the host is honoring you.

The idea pictured here is simply this: When you do life with God, He doesn’t just care for you and provide for you. He doesn’t just drive away your fears. He gives you a place to belong with Him and honors you as His beloved.  Today, the way He does this is by anointing you with the Holy Spirit the moment you put your faith in Jesus.  And from that moment, wherever you go, you now bear the aroma of Christ, and you get to live in the security of knowing that you belong to Him.  For there are no limits of His love for you.  For He’s not just only always with you. This table and His anointing are symbols of His limitless love for you.  Life with God means you get to live as His honored guest.  That’s amazing grace.

So, then David wraps all this up by declaring: Surely your goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Psalm 23:6 So the point David is making here is that when you have life with God, you have a relationship with Him where you are the recipient of His inexhaustible goodness and His unlimited mercy.  You get to live as the object of His relentless goodness.  And you get to rest as the object of His steadfast mercy – His Hesed love. And the good news of his steadfast love is this: His hesed love for you will never change.  And that means He will always forgive you when you sin. He will never reject you when you fail.  In fact, there is nothing you can ever do that can make Him stop loving you. Even if you were a hundred times worse then you are today, your sins would never be a match for His mercy. For His mercy toward you is limitless.  What a God!  What a life.

This is what a life with God looks like.

It’s a life under the steadfast love of a good shepherd who knows just what you need and has the inexhaustible resources to give you whatever you need.

It’s a life of peace and rest.

It’s a life of healing and help.

It’s a life of blessing and honor.

It’s a life without fear.

It’s a life of belonging.

It’s a life of goodness and mercy.

That’s why David can say, The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

This is what life with God is meant to be.

So, let me ask you:  Do you know this life with God?  If so, rest in His mercy and love for you today.

But if you don’t know this life with God… Do you want this life?  Do you want to experience it?  Then all you have to do, is put your trust in Jesus, God’s Son, and He will give you this life…

This life without want, this life without fear, this life without limits – with Him.

Let’s pray.