The Shepherd Psalm: A Meditation Part 6

And joy without a fear and smile without a tear, And work, nor care, nor rest, and find the last the best.

--_Maltbie D. Babc.o.c.k_

"=_Thy Rod and Thy Staff They Comfort Me_="

The rod is a protection from all the adversaries of the night. No enemy, not even the last enemy, death, can affright the soul in the care of the tender Shepherd, for He has extracted the sting from death. The staff is used for counting the sheep as they pa.s.s one by one into the fold. This action is sometimes called "pa.s.sing under the rod." The language used here indicates safety and security.

I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless; Ills have no weight and tears on bitterness.

Where is death's sting? where, grave, thy victory?

I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.

--_Henry F. Lyte_

Christ hath _abolished_ death and brought life and immortality to light.

The word "abolished" is a very strong one in the Greek. It has three root letters, a, r and g. Then the preposition _kata_ is added to it, thus making our English word "energy" which means "a working force."

Then, in a way known to Greek students, the preposition gives the word, as it were, the force of a double negative. So the Apostle teaches us that Christ, when He came into the world and died on the cross, did something with death. He double-twisted it, He de-vitalized it, double-negatived it, made it inoperative, rendered it powerless, so that ever afterwards it would be unable to hurt the children of G.o.d.

I do not know very much about bees except, of course, that they sting. I am told, however, that when a bee stings you it leaves its sting in the wound and goes away to die. A little child may play with the bee after it has stung a person without any harm coming to the child. The bee has lost its power to hurt. So we are told that the sting of death is sin.

Death stung Christ on the cross and left its sting in Him, so that ever after it could not hurt the children of G.o.d. He is "Death of death and h.e.l.l's destruction."

Christ, the Great Shepherd, will be there at the entrance of the valley to meet you and lead you through. He will beat off all the powers of death. He will destroy all the enemies of darkness and convey you safely through the valley into the Homeland. He holds the keys of death and the grave. How helpless a thing a sheep is! How much in need of a defender it is! It seems as though almost any other animal can defend itself. A dog will fight when attacked. A sheep stands helpless in the presence of its opponent. Christ, the Good Shepherd, will protect to the last.

The comforting thoughts of this verse must certainly take the sting out of death to those who grasp the great truths taught here. It surely abolishes death and illumines immortality.

No one need fear death with such thoughts as these before him. The Apostle Paul a.s.serts that every believer in Christ has "a cheerful view of death," and desires rather "to be absent from the body and at home with the Lord" than to remain here upon the earth.

Go to thy grave, not as the slave scourged to his dungeon, or the dog whipped to his kennel, but as the prince wraps around him the drapery of his couch and lies down to pleasant dreams. The conscious companionship of the Christ will remove thy fears. With what alacrity, courage and fearlessness doth he walk the highway whose heart is honest and whose conscience doth not convict him of the violation of his country's laws!

How different with the criminal! How full of fear and apprehension!

Abide with me! fast falls the eventide; The darkness deepens--Lord, with me abide!

When other helpers fail, and comforts flee, Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me!

Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day; Earth's joys grow dim, its glories pa.s.s away; Change and decay in all around I see; O Thou who changest not, abide with me!

I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless; Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness.

Where is death's sting? where, grave, thy victory?

I triumph still, if Thou abide with me!

Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes; Shine through the gloom, and point me to the skies; Heaven's morning breaks, and earth's vain shadows flee; In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me!

--_Henry F. Lyte_

CHAPTER FIVE

[Ill.u.s.tration]

="Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over."=

There is a variety of senses in which the truth of this verse may be understood.

It is said that in the ancient days a shepherd's tent was a kind of city of refuge. The man who had unwittingly slain another could find refuge in a shepherd's tent from the avenger of blood. The fugitive was permitted to stay a given length of time within the shepherd's care, during which time he was as safe from the pursuer as though he were in the actual city of refuge. The pursuer might be raging with fury outside of the door of the tent, but the fugitive could eat with perfect safety and peace in the presence of his enemy. How like Christ in His relation to the believer!

One day Charles Wesley stood looking out of a partly open window at the fierce storm howling without, when a young robin, quickly pa.s.sing some other birds, flew to his breast, seeking shelter from its foes. It was then he wrote that wonderful hymn, the opening words of which are:

Jesus, Lover of my soul, Let me to Thy bosom fly!

Is not this a picture of this verse of the Psalm? "And a man (Jesus Christ) shall be for a hiding place and a refuge from the storm." Are we not safe in Him from all our foes? "There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus."

We are told that in David's day it was the custom of conquering kings and princes to bring the royal captives of the contending defeated army into a large banqueting house. To each pillar in the house a prisoner of royal blood or a commanding officer was chained. The banquet tables were heavily laden with good things of which the victors partook. Feasting and jollification were indulged in, and joy and gladness were manifest in the presence of defeated and chained enemies. Are we not made "always to triumph" over all our foes in Christ? Are we not made "more than conquerors" in Him who hath "led captivity captive"? "Ye shall eat your meat in quietness, and nothing shall make you afraid."

Or, again, it may be that reference is made in this verse to the grazing of sheep in fields full of snakeholes or of poisonous plants. A sheep raiser in Texas once told the writer that he lost a great many sheep because snakes would come up through holes in the ground and bite the sheep as they grazed, poisoning them. After losing many of the flock he finally discovered a remedy. A mixture of some kind was poured down the holes, which killed the snakes, and after that the sheep were able to graze in peace and safety. Hath not Christ abolished death for the believer? Has He not deprived death of its sting and stripped the grave of its victim? Hath He not overcome that old serpent, the Devil? Do we not overcome the dragon, that old serpent, the Devil and Satan, the accuser of the brethren day and night--do we not overcome him by the blood of the Lamb?

Whichever of these meanings may be adopted as indicating the teaching of this verse, we may be certain that the truth the Psalmist desires to express is this: That G.o.d gives His children victory over all their foes, and makes them more than conquerors over all their enemies. Thus shall we "eat our meat in peace and quietness, and nothing shall make us afraid." "Why do the heathen rage?... He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh"--and so shall we.

On the Rock of Ages founded, Who can shake thy sure repose?

With salvation's walls surrounded, Thou mayes't smile at all thy foes.

--_Rev. John Newton_

"=_Thou Anointest My Head with Oil: My Cup Runneth Over_="

A shepherd must needs be a physician also. In the belt of the shepherd medicines are always carried. Sheep are very susceptible to sicknesses of many kinds, particularly fevers. Ofttimes at night as the sheep pa.s.sed into the fold the shepherd's knowing eye would detect that one or another of them was sick and feverish. Perhaps it had been bitten by a serpent or torn by some wild animal. He would take the feverish sheep and plunge its head into clear, cold water, plunging the head so far into the pail that the water would run over, or anoint the bruise with mollifying ointment. Doubtless David is thinking of this experience of his shepherd life.

Or, again, David may be referring to the bountiful water supply provided for the sheep and applying it to the rich provision G.o.d has made for the believer. Not only is there grace enough for oneself, but with the believer as a channel, an abundance for others.

Thou, O Christ, art all I want; More than all in Thee I find!

--_Charles Wesley_

This is the wonderful truth taught by Jesus in the Temple: "Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, from within him shall flow rivers of living water." Here we see how the believer may come to Christ for the quenching of his own thirst, and then draw on, or drink more deeply of, Christ for the quenching of the thirst of others. "Thou, O Christ, art all I want, more than all in Thee I find." Here we have the personal and relative side of a consecrated life of service.

My cup is to "run over." No selfish religion must I claim. I am to be satisfied with Christ first myself, then I am to take from Him so large a supply that others with whom I come into contact may also partake of His fullness. No hermit, no ascetic, monk, or recluse would the Master have me be.

There are hermit souls that live withdrawn In the peace of their self-content; There are souls, like stars, that dwell apart In a fellowless firmament.

There are pioneer souls that blaze their paths Where highways never ran-- But let me live by the side of the road And be a friend to man.

Let me live in my house by the side of the road Where the race of men go by-- The men who are good and the men who are bad, As good and as bad as I, I would not sit in the scorner's seat, Or hurl the cynic's ban-- Let me live in the house by the side of the road And be a friend to man.

I see from my house by the side of the road, By the side of the highway of life, The men who press with the ardor of hope, The men who are faint with the strife; But I turn not away from their smiles nor their tears-- Both parts of an infinite plan-- Let me live in a house by the side of the road And be a friend to man.

--_Sam Walter Foss_