Are you ready to witness a miracle?
Beloveds, there are few scriptures that are as popular and as frequently used as the 23rd psalm. In the church I grew up in, if you didn’t know anything else about the Bible you knew that Jesus wept, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day, the red sea split and the Lord was your shepherd. It has often been read as a balm, a comforting text, read in times of sympathy and perhaps when one needed to be reminded that they were not alone in the perils they may have been facing in this world.
And while I love that… and I promise I do. Truly on this re-read, and at this time, in the midst of empires raging violence in these never have been united states, my contextual hermeneutic shifted a bit.
Yes, this text continued to find me and haunt me if you will necessarily - inviting a re-reading not solely of the text, but of the tone.
This book of poetry, often read with the ease of a cool breeze, might be less lullaby and more manifesto. Even as it is comforting for what can be, perhaps it is declarative for what will be.
This pivot it shifted me from the gentle tones I had often heard in my head during these recitations to something that felt like a fortifying agent, an assuredness, of hope and belief. Something that required my response.
I began to remember that this writer knew hard and perilous times as well. And in the midst of a “how long oh lord” and “ again I say rejoice”, these words found their way to his rhetorical tapestry.
“ The Lord is My shepherd…. “
Now as what happens in the midst of my wrestling of what response might look like, three questions begin to arise as I inquired how this text might expand from solely a balm but moved to a buoy of what might be next for each of us.
My first question is, “ Who is Your shepherd?”
See, the image of the shepherd was a popular image throughout biblical times because the occupation of the shepherd was well known and understood. David would have used this image because it was common and easy to know. See he didn’t just randomly pick this image of God.
Shepherds cared for the flock and chose the life of a nomad, so that they would be able to move their flock to new places when they ran out of food in the current spot. See they knew when to keep their sheep still and when it was time to shift to new terrain. Shepherds essentially were called to live the life that they were asking their sheep to live. Their sheep weren’t asked to go where they had not already been. Their presence made all the difference in the safety and continued well-being of their flock, when they followed.
See, David knew that there were many other things trying to compete for his attention and his loyalty, but named that God was who he would choose to follow. He would not be perfect, but he would move with intention.
And like David beloveds, we too have a choice on the shepherd we want to follow. We are all following something or perhaps many things.. If I’m honest many of us have chosen to follow the shepherds known as exclusivism and elitism that birth horrors like racism, ableism, sexism, heterosexism, xenophobia, classism, and cisgenderism, just to name a few.
Some have chosen capitalism as their shepherd. Following the pursuit of success with no regard to human well-being or the possibility that if we actually all figure out a way for all of us to flourish, then maybe all of humanity might just be well and not just a few of us.
Others of us have fallen behind the shepherd known as complacency. Fooling ourselves into the delusion of neutrality, thinking that we are not so bad because we aren’t doing anything.
So my friends, we must ask ourselves, is the Lord God, Eternal Spirit the one who crafted you in love, your shepherd?
See, in an age where following is a little too easy on social media, we can lose sight sometimes that actually following God requires our attention, our consistency, and also, and often, a community of people to remind us to come back when we inevitably get distracted.
Following God looks like hope against despair.
It looks like community when isolation could be easier.
Justice even when it feels like the very valley the psalmist talks about.
Following God is knowing God to know where God might lead. What I love about the Psalm is that the writer shifted from God in third person, to you - talking directly to a God that he knew and the one that he followed. Who are you following?
Siblings, I don’t know why the world looks like it looks. I don’t know why injustice feels like the norm and pain seems so inevitable. But I do know that The Lord being our shepherd is not a following of doctrine, it is a following of radical love, communal responsibility, deep togetherness, and abundant faith into spaces and places that contribute to our individual and collective well-being.
Is the Lord your shepherd?
The second question that came up for me is, Will you lie in green pastures and be led to still waters?
My whole life I have read the green pastures and the still waters as a place separated from the valley of the shadow of death. But a google search helped me out yall. I love a little google search. You see I googled, “valley” and all the pictures that came up had green pastures and what appeared to me to be still waters. They were very much still valleys with shadows, and other places in the photo that looked a little more suspect, places that I might be weary of, but in the midst of it were green and lush pastures and what looked like easeful and still waters.
You see, I always thought the psalm writer was telling us sometimes you may find yourself in sticky situations but you will know God is with you or that you are following God when God brings you out of it and you know when everything is perfect. I just assumed I had never found these green pastures and still waters yall because perfection was not achieved. But what I realized is that perfection is not a qualifier to follow God and commune with God, and quite honestly all of us would be out of luck if it was.
You see, all of the things that David names in the psalm weren’t outside of the valley of the shadow of death, but they were in it.
When we are following God, we don’t always leave the valley, but we find places to be refreshed, restored, and replenished within it.
I learned a pasture is a place where the shepherd lives. So, God says come lie in my dwelling place and be restored. The situation and the circumstances around don’t always shift the way we envision, but we walk differently through them, we talk differently through them, because we know in the midst of it all that there are green pastures and still waters.
Well what does that look like preacher? I think we’ve been taught too often to think that God can only show up in the things marked “spiritual” by institutions but if God created us in love that which brings us into more love, more peace, more joy is indeed spiritual and God is in all of it.
Your green pastures might be times of meditation where you give yourself permission just to be a person, in a world trying to force you to be a product.
Your still waters might be therapy, where you see God operating through the gifts of a mental health professional who connects you more deeply with the sound of your own genuine.
Your green pastures might be a delicious homecooked meal, sitting around with family bio or chosen, grateful for the gift of love surrounding you even if just for a moment.
Your still waters might be your favorite song in the car that can bring a smile on your face in any day or a bop to your shoulders just what you need.
It can be prayer, it can be praise, protest, yoga, brunch, and rest.
Whatever it is it’s that which will restore you, replenish you, nourish you and give you enough to move through the valley one more time.
What I love about this poem is the invitation doesn’t leave us hanging. See if you read a little further, you see the benefits of these green pastures and the gifts of these still waters. It’s right in the text.
Green pastures and still waters, give you space for your soul to be restored when it has grown weary.
Green pastures and still waters give you the energy to keep walking, when giving up might feel more convenient.
Green pastures and still waters, make you aware enough to even see the way God’s shepherds staff is guiding you and God’s rod is protecting you.
Some time in green pastures will have you shift like the psalm writer, from talking about God, “He restoreth my soul” to talking to God, “You preparest a table before me.”
And since we are talking about table, beloveds sometimes in green pastures and still waters, will grow your character enough to handle a table being prepared before you in the presence of those who did not wish you well. You will have the wisdom not to make them your footstool and to focus on the gift, instead of wasting energy on the haters.
It will give you space to be still enough for your cup to run over, so that when you’re moving you’re not on empty and you have some to share with others as well.
Receiving the gift of following God to the places of your restoration will also make you aware of your surroundings. And guess what beloved, you might just look around and see that goodness and mercy haven’t just been casually following you, but they have been actively pursuing you each and every day of your life.
Well preacher that’s just two questions… You’re right and I’m so glad you asked for the third one.
The last question that postures us to the possibility of this psalm is simple… are you ready to witness a miracle?
My pastor, Lisa Yebuah of the Southeast Raleigh Table opened up my wedding with this question. It startled me when I heard it, reminding me that we were doing something that was astounding, stunning and grounded in divine possibility.
This question has found me more than once when I wanted to sink into the pits of exhaustion and despair and while my heart palpitated to the panic of the news and my mind trying to figure out what we can do, what we must do, to inbreak something new.
See when she asked this question, she was inviting those in attendance to posture themselves to see something that was the work of the divine, through our choice in love. She was inviting them to be delighted, perhaps even surprised, that even as they showed up to support us,
there was something for them too because to witness a miracle is to be reminded that miracles are possible.
Miracles are for the person and the collective. Miracles are not just the impossibilites that feel far reaching, but the everyday graces that we forget about when we aren’t looking for them.
Your mirror beloved shows you a miracle, someone that moved through things that were impossible. I come from a people who are miracle, crafting beauty out of ashes, community out of violence, an identity from the attempt to take it completely.
Miracles are all around us - that people are still loving, still laughing, still holding each other. that people are disrupting their lives to stand in streets and demand their neighbors safety. Miracles that monks would walk across the country, just to show what peace might look like. Miracles that animate in the smiles of children, and the wisdom of elders. Miracles… every day… .
Psalm 23 asks us this question - are you ready to witness a miracle and be a part of its manifestation?
A world where no one will have to want for what they need?
Are you postured to receive the restoration in the spaces when weariness tries to set in?
To know that when misalignment tries to deter you from your best and you next - that God’s wisdom and guidance will realign you with yourself
Miracles … That God, who knows you, is you, is present - comforting - preparing life for you - pursuing you with grace and mercy.
Beloveds, friends, it is here, following God, leaning into green pastures and restoring in still waters, that we position ourselves to see, to notice, to remember the abundance of miracles… and those things… are found in the valley. May we make sure not to miss them.
Amen.