100% Maybe

Ep. 41 - The Life of David: Facing Goliath & Psalm 23

• CLC Gulf Breeze • Season 1 • Episode 41

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In this week's episode, we explore David's conversation with Saul in 1 Samuel 17 and the familiar words of Psalm 23. Before David ever stepped into the Valley of Elah, God had been shaping him in pastures and moments of quiet faithfulness. David learned to reflect on what God had done, remember who God had proven Himself to be, and allow those truths to shape how he faced present challenges.

What if we became people of reflection? People who regularly rehearse God's faithfulness, and recognize His hand in our own stories. David reminds us that our stories aren't ultimately about building our own platform or proving our strength, they're invitations to participate in the greater story God is telling.

David didn't face Goliath because he believed in himself. He faced Goliath because he had spent years learning that God had always been faithful.

Join us as we discuss what it looks like to live from remembered faithfulness, walk courageously through life's valleys, and trust the Shepherd who has been guiding us all along.


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SPEAKER_02

You wanna do that?

unknown

No.

SPEAKER_02

But we do need to make some shirts out of some of these great ideas that we have that just go aside. No mess up of man can thwart God's plan. What was that? I did not say thwart. Is that Perrier? Guarantee. Guarantee I did not say thwart. It must be the Perrier. Yeah, it must be. My vocabulary has gotten much better. It's the French kiss talking. I've become cultured since I've started drinking sparkling water.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Well, let's roll right into our episode. I might keep that in there. Um Welcome to 100% maybe, you guys. This is awesome to have you with us. Great to be back with you and um our little corner of the of the world here. The office, yeah. Yeah. I just I was admiring your Yellowstone cup. A real manly cup. With your sparkling Perrier.

SPEAKER_02

But those two things balance each other or no? Or does one overwhelm the other?

SPEAKER_01

I don't know. Okay. I don't know yet. We'll see how the conversation goes.

SPEAKER_02

I'm trying to cut sodas out of my life. Which I fully support. But you don't support my slide to Perrier. It's fine. Okay.

SPEAKER_01

You gotta go to something. I get it. Because I cut out sodas years ago. Okay. I'm big coffee guy, big water guy. But you get tired of just water over, you know, I get it. So you're I'm putting lemon in, you're putting salt in. Like you're you gotta find things to kind of like Tammy is a bit, man.

SPEAKER_02

If she goes into a store and there's a deal, she'll try that thing and she'll bring home some of the worst tasting things ever. And then and she'll try one that's gone, but then the other one's sitting there, and you know me, I'm just a garbage disposal. I'll try, I'll try anything. I'm like, oh, that had a lot of energy in it.

SPEAKER_01

There's a boom. Yeah, there's a reason sometimes stores are just like, here, just buy this and then take this. Yeah, take this with you. Just give it to you. Drink this mega death drink. What could possibly go wrong?

SPEAKER_02

Nothing.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Nothing. Do you ever see the liquid death?

SPEAKER_02

Have you seen that water? I think we have one in the fridge. I've never had it. I won't. That I just that one, I was like, you know, I just I know my heart rhythms enough to know that that's a poor choice. I think it's just water.

SPEAKER_01

I think it's all the marketing thing. I think. I ain't buying it.

SPEAKER_00

Okay.

SPEAKER_01

Like I said, I haven't had it. But I think their whole thing is like, let's make it look like an energy drink kind of vibe. But it's really just water. It's just water. I think so. That they pulled out of the ditch. It's liquid death. Straight from the Gulf of Mexico. Straight from the American.

SPEAKER_02

The Gulf of America or Mexico or yeah, whatever. Nuts it. Now you now you've caused a problem.

SPEAKER_01

Ah. Well, doing good today? I know you were came in and feeling like you had had this on lockdown. So I got this. No problem.

SPEAKER_02

I don't know that I got anything, but I'm excited that this new series, the um life of David. See how I did that? I remembered it. The Life of David part one. Um man, it's the coolest thing to change the way we read and study scripture because it opens up whole new thoughts in the scripture. So today is uh 1 Samuel 17. It's the story of David and Goliath, but we're only going to look at a piece of it. Coupled together with Psalm, the 23rd Psalm. Yeah. Which is the number one hit of all psalms of all the world. Uh, and when you read the 23rd Psalm in light of 1 Samuel 17, it opens up verses in in in the psalm that you probably would have never considered the way that they are. We use the 23rd Psalm in a as a as a funeral psalm. Yeah. It's it's not a psalm for death, it's a psalm for life. Very important for life. And we've just relegated it to a box, which is an important box. And I don't want to take away from that. It just has so much more to say.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. I'm excited about looking at it and having the conversation with you about it in light of that, too, studying the story first. And again, there's no way to know exactly the timeline when these were written. We know who they're written by. But you don't know exactly when. You can't correlate this story to then he wrote this psalm and then this happened, and then he wrote that. So you can't do that work, but you do get a sense of the the events of David's life, how they unfold, the things that he experiences in life, and then how that translates to how he writes about God and about himself and about humanity and all the things that he rustles through in the psalm.

SPEAKER_02

There's guys in my Bible study that after reading the two together, they're like, This that story had a direct impact on that psalm. And they believe it like it's a even if it wasn't the same time frame, because of the uh you anoint my head with oil, surely goodness and mercy, which is I I got some thoughts about that that I just started unpacking. That's a man, that's one word in the Hebrew. Yeah. Um uh that it's it correlates closely to the psalm because of those two thoughts and how they just you come out of six uh chapter sixteen and into seventeen and Samuel. And uh you got the anointing, and then you got walking through the valley of shadow death, and you have all of those things together.

SPEAKER_01

But before we jump into it, I just I just something came to mind. So thinking about David, I think the the the big takeaway from Sunday was that the goal is not perfection, the goal is faithfulness. And when you look at David's life, you see a guy certainly didn't hit perfection, but he did, he did always run back to God, he did pursue faithfulness, he did open himself up to say, God search me, know me, correct me. Um what is it to you about maybe how we do this well or how we don't do this well, or maybe people you've seen connecting the events in your life or the things that you happen? Like we're looking at with David. So here's this interaction, Dave and Goliath and Saul and all this stuff. He had this crazy life. But then you see it practically in how he uh views God as fleshed out in the Psalms. What about our experiences? You know, what's a good way to handle that in light of our then our understanding of who God is? Does that make sense?

SPEAKER_02

Sure sure. You're you jump to the you jump right to the heart of the message, I think. Um because so we had the question in in worship planning yesterday, so what's your Goliath or who's your Goliath or what's the struggle that's in your life? Um which I think is the natural takeaway if you just read first Samuel 17. When you add it to the 23rd Psalm, and I don't know if I'm gonna get an answer to your question, and you're gonna have to remind me what your question is. Okay, when you add it to the 23rd Psalm, David didn't I don't believe David viewed Goliath as his giant. I think he viewed Goliath as a giant that was attacked uh the army of the living gods. Yes. God. Let's get that S off the end of that. Yeah. The army of the the armies of the living God. That's two different things. Do can we say, what is it I'm struggling with, and God help me defeat my giant? That's one thing, and that's a great place to be, kind of like last week's message. It's not about being perfect, it's it's about uh being faithful, so, so continuing to walk through the battle and um so maybe that's where you are, where you can just kind of you know anchor into that piece where you're just trying to feet defeat the giant that's front of you, or go back to the message on Peter getting out of the boat. Can we look at the purpose and the design that God has given us in our lives and understand that um that you uh uh understand where the 23rd Psalm says, um, He leads me in right paths for his name's sake. It's not for my glory, it's not for bit to bail me out of a problem, it's for God's glory. So it's Goliath that's not coming against me, it's Goliath that's coming against God. What's the greater purpose and design for our lives? So maybe, what was your question?

SPEAKER_01

How we maybe run from those things are affected by the things that shape us in that way. And then how the correct maybe view of what's happened to us or what we see then actually can lead us to a place of understanding God a bit more.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah, I think uh maybe the easier answer uh after saying all that is changing our viewpoint on all of on the whole scenario. So much back to the back to the point of faith, so much of it we center around ourselves that we are the the main part of our story rather than recognizing that it's God's story and what role do we play in the story. Right. Um, so therefore everything is a personal attack on us, a personal attack on us. The idea of having a shepherd that prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemies, he doesn't rip us out of that. He doesn't take us out of it, he doesn't take all the enemies out. We're always asking, deal with Goliath, deal with Goliath, and then God's like, I'm just gonna set you up a table here, yeah, and you're gonna eat really, really well. Yeah, that jacks you up when you think about um there's so many people that are this is whole, this is problematic. But we're gonna get that rapture, gonna get us out of here, gonna get us out of here. And God's like, I'm gonna prepare a table before you in the presence of your enemies. So just know that I'm here, I've prepared you, I've fed you, your cup overflows, I've blessed you mightily, and your enemies are right over there. Yeah. So um that's a that's a paradigm that we've got to figure out in this world that God placed us in this world to be a part of transforming this world or reaching this world. Yeah. That's a lot to start with, but that's good.

SPEAKER_01

I mean, that's all of that is in this. Yeah, yeah. And I think it's good too to start because it's a psalm, probably we've all heard, at least pieces of it. Everybody, yeah. You know, so my generation, you know what my first uh impression into this psalm is from? What's that? Gangsta's Paradise. Oh God. As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Yeah, put it to a wrap. That's right.

SPEAKER_02

Come on. And the movie that came with it. Yeah, sure. Uh yeah, I'm not a Eminem, not an Eminem guy. Was it Coolio? It's Coolio. But it wasn't Eminem song. Wasn't it wasn't it used in his movie? Uh Eight Mile? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

No. Okay.

SPEAKER_02

Oh man. That was 20 years later. I don't watch movies, man. I'm not really dialed in.

SPEAKER_01

That was that was clearly your thing. Early 90s, Coolio, Gangsta's Paradise. And then, of course, the weird owl rendition, the Amish Paradise. Amish Paradise. Yeah. Anyway, that that that was my introduction to Cold 23. I mean, it was 30 years ago now, so it's been a minute. Um, all right, let's jump into Samuel. So let's pick up the events of David's life as we left him last week. He's anointed, doesn't step into that right away. It's gonna be king, but it's gonna step into it for a very long time. It's gonna be a minute. Yeah. Um, so he's still young here. And what uh what happens?

SPEAKER_02

So, yeah, let's uh I don't know what you want to talk about, but we're only gonna be looking at verses 31 through 37. That's what we're gonna read. Okay. So you have all the context around it. Yeah. It's it's maybe one of the uh Psalm 17, Psalm 17, 1 Samuel 17. Super long, detailed story of David and Goliath and the armies and um Jesse sending his son to the front line. You got a conversation between David and his older brother. You got the people talking about what the person will get if they kill or deal with Goliath, and then David who's who doesn't he doesn't come out boldly. He says, um, the the statement that he makes, which is the first statement that starts to rumble and make it to the to through the crowd, is what sh what shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that should defy the armies of the living God? That's a maybe that's a bold statement, but it's not like, hey, I'm gonna go kill that guy. He doesn't start there. He's like, Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that defies the armies of the living God?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it seems he's shocked at what he finds here because he's he's thinking he's going to the war. He's bringing cheese, which I don't know, I don't know if that's what you are craving during a war. Bread and cheese, maybe. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02

Maybe it's probably what held well. You just scrape the mold off the outside and keep rocking. Yeah, just I don't know if I'm fighting, I don't know if I want cheese. But they're not fighting. Right. They're standing and yelling is what they're doing at this point.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so he's probably he's expecting to go into this war zone, and what he sees is this guy challenging Israel, openly defying the Lord, or Israel, you know, the way he's saying it. Like he, you know, uh Goliath doesn't seem to have a he has no respect or no fear of the Lord at all. Um, and you see David come into this situation, probably pretty surprised. And the thing that sticks out to him is who who is this defying the Lord? So he saw the connection of defying Israel, defying the army, the fear of the soldiers as a direct attack on the Lord his God.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, and uh there's some clarification in this story that I think is so important. Um remind me to get back to what I believe the purpose of chapter 17 is. Okay. Goliath is, he says, Am I not a Philistine and are you not servants of Saul? Right. This story, if you back into Samuel, I and I, and this is gonna be Sunday's message trying to figure out to do this, but in a literary sense, 1 Samuel 15, kingdom is taken away from Saul. 1 Samuel 16, David is anointed, and then boom, you get this giant story about Israel, the nation of Israel facing the Philistine, which was their arch nemesis for this entire season of their lives. And everything is directed at Saul. This is Saul's battle to fight. The Goliath is calling out the army of Saul. Like it's an offense. And you have all of this, you have this scenario where there is an uh uh an army that's coming against Israel. You have David who shows up, he's been anointed king, probably in his mind wondering, I've been anointed, how's this gonna happen? What's that gonna look like? How's that how's this gonna happen? Yeah, and then you have Saul, who's behind the battle lines that knows this is going on. It's his battle to fight. Goliath is doing everything but saying, send Saul out here. Right. And it stands in a literary sense as this most crucial moment in Israel. What's gonna happen? Is Saul gonna make the right choice, or is David gonna do something? Like, and really, you have the defining moment for Saul, which is in the tank, and a rising moment for David, but still not to be king. You still got to carry out the message of Saul. Right. Even when David goes in front of Saul, Saul tries to put his armor on him, maybe to get a bonus win. Not gonna go face him, but if you beat him and you got my armor on, yeah, that's Saul's armor. So Saul's still trying to figure out how to scrap out a win in all of this. David, for the entire thing, points to God. David never goes out. I mean, he does say, get, you know, let me out there, but who is this uncircumcised Philistine that defies the armies of the living God? Everything that David does points to God. Saul is in fear, everybody else is in fear. So I think 17 stands as a crucial moment. Samuel puts it together as a defining moment for Israel, and then the one is phasing out and one is coming on, right? And that's how that story really hits us. If uh Saul would have gotten himself together and gotten out there and done it, he probably would have died, but at least he would have gone down with the glory of trying to do this, maybe, you know.

SPEAKER_01

I don't think he would have had the same tactics that David did. Probably would not have. But how about David? So this all points back to the shepherd boy being formed in not the battlefield but the pasture, because it's so interesting. David comes onto this scene having already such an identity and who he is already. It wasn't brought out, maybe it was brought out publicly in this moment, but he already has such a confidence in the Lord. And if you go to 37, he knows the Lord who rescued me from already these things I've faced will will uh will rescue me from this Philistine.

SPEAKER_02

Confidence in the Lord, confidence in his experience. Right. Uh, you know, he um he has spent the time doing the things. Uh and and you know, we all I give a lot of credit to the fact that he brought a gun to a knife fight. I don't I don't think David ever even assumed that he was gonna die because his skills and what he knew, and I I think he knew he was gonna be able to kill the Goliath. But when he's talking to the king, he doesn't say, I'm gonna go out there and shoot him from 150 yards away. He's he just David fought bears. David fought lions. If he would have gotten into some hand to hand, maybe he could have defeated him. He never intended to. The idea that he ran towards Goliath, people think, oh, that's bold. We talked about this the last time we taught this, not that long ago. It was for range. He knew he'd used that sling so many times, he knew exactly where it was, and the guy's got a massive forehead. What better? He's probably like, look at the size of that guy's forehead. I can hit that thing. It's bigger than a bear, I can't miss. Yeah. Interesting conversation in worship planning yesterday because the thought came out that David learned a God's voice and God's presence in the solitude of being a shepherd. I think that's true. I think that's just a small part of it. Maybe the marker of David that continues on from last week's sermon is that David learned from every experience. Right? Like he then went from being a shepherd to playing an instrument in the presence of Saul. He had to learn the temperament of a king, he had to learn the anointing, uh, playing an instrument that then soothed Saul. So in all of those moments, David got to experience God protecting him from the sheep, I mean from the lion, God protecting him from the king that would ultimately try to kill him, God protecting him from Goliath. So there's another marker of David that just jumps off the page is he learned something from every moment that that he lived, good or bad. Some he made some bonehead decisions. He learned from those things, just you know, it was from the mistakes that he made.

SPEAKER_01

What is it, I guess, the marker of of someone who can do that, who is a good question, maybe has a softer heart towards understanding those things rather than just chalking them out to just uh whatever. Or, you know, not thinking about them, trying to put them away, compartmentalizing versus letting those things shape you.

SPEAKER_02

It's great, great question. Uh uh, and and so here therein lies the um the discipleship moment. Do we just let life happen to us and it unfolds, or are we able to to allow transformation to happen in our lives where we where we build in the ability to stop and process and learn and grow and shift and move? To me, that's the next step beyond dealing with just the Goliaths in your life. And I'm not minimizing the Goliaths.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Right. Um the the next step beyond wrestling through an addiction or wrestling through anxiety is okay, I've I've learned how to to some degree deal with this challenge in my life. How can I use this for the kingdom? You know, I it's it's not just about me surviving, it's about the ultimate purpose of why I walk this earth. Like God didn't put me here to survive. He put me here to thrive, to grow, to help others. It's and I think that's true for every person. So this story is not just David killing Goliath. It's God receiving the glory for what he did in David's life. And now Israel, who was sidelined, is now re-engaged back into the battle. Yeah. And away they get for at least a period of time.

SPEAKER_01

It's a huge perspective shift when you say not not minimizing Goliath's, right? Whatever that is. David didn't minimize Goliath either. He didn't, but he maximized who God is. That's just a great point.

SPEAKER_00

So write that down. What's going on in the shirt? Yeah. Um but that's just so huge.

SPEAKER_01

That's uh to me, that's that's gotta be the key. Because you can go in in a space and I could pour out my heart, hey, these are the things that I'm dealing with. And you could say, ah, it's not that bad. You could deflect it. Well, look look at what so and so's dealing with. That's worse than you. You know, there can be that element of even trying to give advice. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, dismissal. Ah, it's not that bad. But it is, and it might be to you and everything we hold differently. Um, you know, different uh just different things affect us differently and and and all that. And so um, I just think that's so key to know that it's it's not trying to minimize and say, hey, Goliath's not dangerous. Goliath was very dangerous. Yes, he terrified an entire army. Yeah. Um, but that's not what David saw in that moment.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, and and so like there's a there's a subtle shift in there. Once again, the person that's facing the Goliath, you I'm not minimizing that. There is a moment though where you can maybe just take a step back and realize that that part you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You know, there there's going to be a battle where you fight that Goliath for an extended period of time and it could be for the rest of your life, but know that God is present to you in that, and that's not that is not the definition of your life. It is the spirit of God that has it there. And so at some point, as you get that battle at arm's length, you can start to look around and realize there's there's more purpose to life, there's more design. Um, David is a is a pretty flawed person. So he has this moment, and you'd think, oh man, this guy, there's nothing in the world gonna slow this guy down. Oh no, his Goliaths get him. Right? The but the Goliaths are our lust, you know, the temptation. Uh, we're gonna read about it eventually. When the kings go off to war, David decided to stay home. Right. And uh, you know, sleeps with Bathsheba, then he becomes a murderer. All of the things.

SPEAKER_01

Um just the the dealings with this son. Oh, yeah. The way he chooses not to deal with things at times lead to an insane amount of problems later on.

SPEAKER_02

Later, yeah. Like you'd think that maybe the rest of his life would be calm and peaceful. Man, it this guy is life is wrought with stuff all the way through from beginning to end. So this might be the one best moment.

SPEAKER_01

So it yeah, for sure. And it's interesting, this kid who's like, hey, let's I'm I can kill him. Let's do this. Later on, that would have served him well as some of these things start to happen in his life that he doesn't do anything about, which leads to just an explosion of problems. You think, man, if if he had this same spirit as this kid, that's just like, oh, this is the Lord's battle. Yeah. I'm I'm I'll go do this. Yep. Um it changes. So it's interesting. Let's jump to Psalm 23. Okay. Um, we've talked a lot about it already. Yeah. But the idea of the because probably what we know is is verse 4 a walk through the valley of the shadow death. Darkest valley will not be afraid. Yeah. Shadow of death. So um I think most biblical scholars believe not an actual valley he's talking about. Some believe maybe I've heard both. Yeah. I've seen that.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, in the in the there are there are places that are known as the the Valley of the Shadow of Death near um uh Jericho. So near Jericho, down where, you know, so if he's from Bethlehem, Jericho would have been to the north of him and more over by the Dead Sea that anybody that was in those areas they walked through or had to cover areas that were known as the Valley of the Shadow of Death. So it's possible there was a place, a literal place, but but more than likely, even if it was a literal place, he's using it as a transliteration.

SPEAKER_01

Stance because that a valley would be narrow passages, high walls, predators, water during floods, danger and unsafe passage. Yeah. Is is the point he's making.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. The thing you can't miss in this psalm that's so important. It starts, God, he is, God is the Lord is my shepherd. So that's a distant recognition of God as being a shepherd. Then it's uh uh you for you are with me. So that second movement brings God from distant to being right present. And then the metaphor from shepherd changes to you prepare a table before me, unless we're gathered around with sheep around a table. The metaphor shifts, and now it's an intimate gathering with food, and God being the one that's offering all the provisions. So inside of that one psalm that's so short, it's got three movements that allow us to see the presence of God from a distance, caring for us and organizing and handling all the affairs. And then God that is right present to us, that is directing our actual steps, to then the God that is putting food on the table, right? The most intimate of details, and I will dwell in the house in the house of the Lord forever. So it's a it is a a defining heart in the psalm that brings you to a culmination of maybe David's greater understanding of God's presence in his life. From handling the details out there to right here to right here. You know, all every every aspect of that becomes more personal.

SPEAKER_01

Why do you think over the years it's become what it's become as far as the go-to funeral psalm?

SPEAKER_02

I will push that back at you, man, because you're the songwriter. Why do you think that one is? And I don't know enough, but I I I'll throw you some guesses.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, well, I think it's the comforting presence of God, probably.

SPEAKER_02

It's gotta be the length. Right? It's very short. It's and I mean seriously, it's short, so people can memorize it. Um Valley of the Shadow of Death, that one hook has has allowed it to be written on the side of airplanes in war, tanks. Um it's read at most every uh Christian or Hebrew, uh Jewish funeral, probably. Um so it's it has a a reach that's gone into culture, not just into religion, it's gone into culture. Yeah. So but but just like songs that are number one hits, there's something about them. There's a hook to it, there's a but it's a it's the perfect length, right? Like the way that it fits. It's only six verses long, and man, it covers every single aspect of life.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it's interesting.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. And but but it's but be but it's the disservice is it's so repetitious and it's so um I don't I'm gonna create a word memorizable. Easy to easy to remember, yeah, that we that we lose the detail. It's just like the Lord's Prayer. Right. We say the Lord's Prayer a lot instead of pray the Lord's Prayer, and you miss the detail of the words that are there, you I look forward to looking at some of these words. So you let me know when we need to attack some of these words, Jeff, and we're gonna do it.

SPEAKER_01

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

Okay. Well, what do you mean? Like the the meaning behind them? Yes. Okay. Okay. Let's do it. Um, I I was reading to the guys this morning, verse six. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. I was like, hey, go tell me the two words that are goodness and mercy, because I mercy is an important word for me. Goodness and mercy are one word. It's the word hesed, and it means blessing. The word is so rich, you can't define it in one word unless it's hesed, which would have been lost on us. So some say goodness and mercy, others say all sorts of other things, but it is it is the capsulation of a love that pursues and protects and guards and undergirds. I know every some of you hate that word, um, that that's that that up upholds um every uh a relationship. So it is a deep, rich word that that David uses, but it doesn't sound as good to say surely Hesed shall follow me all the days of my life.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

So it works better in our vernacular to put that in there. So like there is pieces of this when you understand surely the love of God that pursues, surrounds, protects, upholds, shall follow me all the days of my life. That's strong, man.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. That's a great that's a great point. Something that's so beautiful about scripture too is these ideas that can't really be held quickly. And I don't think we're intended to be either.

SPEAKER_01

In the study of of what we see, do we approach can we I don't know how to how to how I'm phrasing this, but is there a way that you can read it and how do you get to that next layer, I guess, the depth of it? Is it is it sitting with it a bit? Because you can even you can overstudy things to basically take the take the heart out of it. Yeah, it's a song, right? So you can and not just the Psalms, I think a lot of scripture is that way. Sure. Maybe uh, you know, exegete is like the biblical, you know, fancy word for it of like, okay, word by word, we're gonna go through this and dissect this thing to pull out everything you can from it. Do you almost sometimes then lose this ability to just sit in the pasture and look at God's creation and connect with him in a much deeper way than you would of just like beating the thing to death?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, but um the answer is not the answer I think is helpful actually, but it's not it's a kind of a cold answer. To truly exegete is that's only one aspect of to get the exegetical understanding of scripture would be to look at the other language. That's one piece of it. And if you solely hang on that one piece, you're right. You miss it. That's why understanding the context, understanding the flow of the song, understanding the language, where was David at, which we can't really define, um pulling all of those things together gives you the right exegetical understanding or the right meaning. And still there's an interpretation that is going to be difficult because we're 3,500 years or however far away from it being written. But uh, but but but to your point, yeah. If you just dive into the words, you you're gonna lose the meaning. Right. Because it is a song and it is a worship song that would have probably not probably, it would have pulled the heart of David together using words. When's the last time you heard a rock song and you stopped and focused on a single word? It's not usually that. It's usually a riff, it's usually a feel, it's kind of it, it's the music that goes along with it that's also very, very important. So it has to be that whole picture. That's why if you're in a church that's teaching one verse at a time and just dropping it on you, great, but do the work to figure out if what that person is saying about that verse makes sense in the context and do the work, is what I'm trying to say. Man, scripture is living, it's active. You gotta be able to put it together and understand it. Back to David being the second most written about person in all of scripture, you have to contend with him. Yeah. So David's life, written across the pages of history, tells us something about our relationship with God. So this psalm, why is it important? Because it was written from David and it tells the story of his life and God being present to him every step of the way.

SPEAKER_00

Right.

SPEAKER_02

We don't know when he wrote it.

SPEAKER_00

Right? Yeah. But I don't know that it matters when he wrote it. I don't think so.

SPEAKER_01

It's clearly a guy who's seen some things.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

But can I just said a lot.

SPEAKER_02

I'm sorry. I kind of I hate dominating all that stuff because you got really good thoughts about this stuff. Oh, not today, I don't. I would love for you to to stop it. I would love like, what's your thought about why you think there's a hook in that song that makes that that jumps it across Christendom out into culture? You think there's something in that? You think it's just the turniphrase with the the valley of the shadow of death?

SPEAKER_01

I think what's appealing to even culture is this I is the idea of this faith that has such confidence. You know, that's appealing to I think all people. You at least come to the point where I think you wrestle with it, I think. Start to ask the question, what do I what do I believe? You know, what do I believe about God? I heard about this Jesus guy, like what is this about? So I think there's something in these moments about and it's usually life and death. I think that's when people stop running and you're faced with, and I hate to go back to it, we go back to it a lot, Ecclesiastes in in that sense of he's saying it's actually better for your soul and your spirit to attend a funeral than a party, because you're gonna realize the amount of your life and the things that truly matter. And I think that's why he says that. So I think that connects, regardless of where you're at in your faith journey. I think there's something that connects you when you could see a person with such confidence in what they believe in, it's impactful too. So I think it connects in a lot of different ways. Maybe somebody even saying, I'm not really sure what I believe about God or about Jesus being Lord to me, but there is something about this type of faith that is really intriguing.

SPEAKER_02

The even though faith, even though I I will fear no evil, for you are, right? So it's even though I walk, I will fear no, for you are, right? So so the four kind of pulls it all together, even in that piece.

SPEAKER_01

He leads, he guides, he comforts, he protects, he prepares, uh, he honors. I mean, how crazy, you know, how amazing and how beautiful. Yeah. And I wonder, as I've been sitting with this the last week or two, I'd think about do I have this level of faith? Do I have this?

SPEAKER_02

And there's something Did David have this level of faith, or was it just a great song? Maybe.

SPEAKER_01

And he's trying to live into it. It could have been. You see that that's that stinks when we see these people that wrote these incredible pieces then fall away, and you're just like, oh man.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, but I mean, seriously, sometimes you write words because that's your that's your heart, it's what you're trying to attain to. I mean, he he had his horrible failing moments.

SPEAKER_01

Right.

SPEAKER_02

So yeah.

SPEAKER_01

I think that's the key, the attaining to. I think I really love that about scripture because we can read things and think, oh my gosh, I can never achieve that. Right. And that's isn't that the point? You could you're right. You cannot achieve that. Yeah. So the if think about if there was just, hey, if if you could read something like this and be like, man, I'm real close to that. I think in a few years, if I do these things, I can get there. There's there's maybe, maybe there's a level, I mean you can become more better version. But the the call to this absolute childlike faith and confidence in that not to minimize the danger, the valley is a dangerous place, but it's not the destination, and the sheep aren't abandoned there. Right. Talk to me about the connection between the shepherd and the sheep, because I I don't think you can miss how big that connection is.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I don't you got a smile on your face when you ask me that question, so it'll be interesting to hear what your what your back thought is. My dad said something in the Bible study this morning that about broke my brain because it it opened up a whole thought that I had not thought. David, when in our verses in 1 Samuel 17, 31 through 37, he references shepherd, shepherd, shepherd, and then he takes it to Goliath. So he he has the same sort of metaphor, and then you get into the Psalm 23, and I don't even think we realized this when we did it. Shepherd, shepherd, reality. So I there is a there is a tool that's being used here where the the metaphor is a is an imperfect picture maybe of the reality or a or a teasing out of the reality that we actually live in. And David, if whether it's the pattern of scripture that gives us it this way, um, so the use of the shepherd, uh the the story of our faith, you're gonna go back a long way, they were all shepherds. Right. And sheep were uh, you know, um my daughter's fiance, future husband, very near future, um is a shepherd. His family, they raise sheep.

SPEAKER_00

And and sheep, um, they they're not the brightest, no the brightest of animals. No.

SPEAKER_01

They can't if they're in a great valley, they will walk to the next barren valley and not ever find their way back on their own.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. And they'll just they'll get into a river and drown. I mean, you know, they they they can they can't cheer themselves, so they can't really take care of themselves. They need somebody to lead them, they need somebody to protect them. Um, they're a mess. And uh, you know, so some of the stories I hear are just absolutely incredible. And it should not surprise us that uh the story of our faith is told oftentimes through the eyes of shepherds, and we're referenced oftentimes as sheep.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Because without a shepherd, we're just drifting. You know, how many times preachers love stories of a lot of sheep together and one just decides to jump off a cliff, you know, 600 sheep later, they're all dead, right? Because they just are like, that's a great idea. Let's go do that. They just don't think for themselves. They just go, they follow their nose, the next blade of grass, and then they go.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. I I don't know. Shepherd. We need one. We have we need one.

SPEAKER_02

We are not great shepherds. We got a good one, though. We got a good one. Uh, one one thing, if I forget to do this on Sunday, I've I've made a major misstep. It would be easy for somebody who's not ever been in the faith or read scripture or any of that stuff to say, okay, well, great. David's been anointed, so this is his lot in life. What about me? I'm not been anointed. Um, all my guys like to point back to the 22nd Psalm, which when Jesus is on the cross, he says, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Which is the beginning of the 22nd Psalm, right? So he calls them back to the instance of the great shepherd coming in and redeeming and bringing healing. And so all of us have access not just to the anointing, as in the external anointing, but when you become a believer and you accept Christ into your life, you get the onboard anointing. You are filled with the Holy Spirit. So you have the Spirit of God that not only just goes before you, but lives inside of you, that reveals truth, that transforms you. So this is in a much greater way than David could have ever understood it, the truth for our life. That um, that we have God living inside of as believers, if you're a believer in Jesus, the Spirit of God that lives inside of you, that that brings clarity, that brings insight, that shapes, that molds, all of those things. It's awesome.

SPEAKER_01

The best. The best so cool. Yes. When you see, when you when you really put your heart out there to the Lord, it's amazing what he can do with it. Yep. Yep.

SPEAKER_02

Are we done?

SPEAKER_01

I'm excited.

SPEAKER_02

Have we just dug this up? I think it's good, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I love this series, man. It's just great. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Hope you guys are uh attracting along with us and can't wait to see y'all on Sunday. Week two of The Life of David. It's gonna be an awesome time to work and worship together. Can't wait to see you guys here. Love y'all. See ya.