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

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.”—Psa. xxiii. 5, 6.

It is a very delightful thing to be able to say “Surely” when we look forward. Now, this sureness for the future depends on our present relationship to God, and the confidence expressed in verse 6 is the blessed result of the unspeakably precious gifts described in the earlier verses of the Psalm. It depends on the connection between the present and the future, a connection resulting from the unchangeableness in the character of God. In order, therefore, to understand the last verse which relates to the future, let us study the one preceding it, which describes the present. We may thus combine the present and the future, and I think the result will be what our Church describes as a “sure and certain hope.”

THE PRESENT

As I have just said, our confidence for the future depends on our present relationship to God; and, accordingly, the Psalm opens with the words, “The Lord is my Shepherd.” The holy relationship between the Shepherd and the flock is described as being already established, and by both parties recognized, and all that follows is the result of that relationship. We have not time to study the whole Psalm; but look at the three results taught us in verse 5.

I. All Wants are Supplied.

Even if there are enemies, they cannot interfere with the full and sure supply which God has provided for His servant. When he reaches the end of his journey, he will find that the Lord has prepared a place for his rest; and now that he is in the midst of it, he may rejoice in that the same most blessed Saviour has prepared a table for his daily supply.

This refers, doubtless, to our daily wants, and it describes His fulfilment of our supplication in the Lord’s Prayer. We pray day by day, “Give us this day our daily bread;” and when we really enter into the spirit of this Psalm, we as much as say that the prayer is answered, the bread provided, and the table spread.

And may we not apply it still more to the bread of life? Is it not our sacred privilege, when the soul is hungered, to feed even on Him; when the soul is athirst, to drink of the pure river of the water of life? And are there not many amongst us who know, by their own experience, the truth of the promise, “They shall be abundantly satisfied?” [92]

II. The Spirit is Refreshed.

This is taught in the words, “Thou anointest my head with oil.” The words refer to the custom of anointing the weary man with ointment or oil. It was poured sometimes on the feet and sometimes on the head. The object in both cases was the same, namely, refreshment; and surely we must thankfully acknowledge that our Heavenly Father does not merely give us the bare necessities of existence, but softens, refreshes, and cheers the spirit. He prepares not the table only, but the joy. “He giveth us richly all things to enjoy.” [93a]

III. The Cup Overflows.

The mercies are so rich, the grace so abundant, the loving-kindness so bountiful, the living fountain so free, that the little cup of human capacity cannot hold it all, and it runneth over. God describes His people as not merely satisfied, but abundantly satisfied; and speaks of the Holy Spirit as not merely bestowed, but as “shed on us abundantly.” [93b] Why, then, are we content with a little water hardly perceptible at the bottom of our little cup? Stephen was “full of faith and of the Holy Ghost,” [93c] and we are told to be “filled with the Spirit;” [93d] why, then, rest content with only a few drops in our own soul while there is the deep, broad river of the water of life able to fill, to overflowing, every vessel that can be found to receive the free supply? Why do we not realize more the truth of the promise, “Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it”? [93e]

So much, then, for the present. A table prepared, a head anointed, a cup running over. These are present gifts—the present and indescribable privileges of those whose joy it is to be able to say, “The Lord is my Shepherd.”

THE FUTURE

Let us pass on to the future as taught in verse 6. We may observe two things—

I. The Assurance.

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” The idea seems to be that, in the poetry of this beautiful Psalm, Goodness and Mercy are represented as two persons, just as we find first Mercy and Truth as two persons meeting each other in Christ Jesus, and then Righteousness and Peace, two other persons, kissing each other in Him. [94a] So here we have the two persons: Goodness, the bearer of every gift that can possibly be required, and Mercy dealing most graciously even with sin; the two following the servant of the Lord, and never leaving him all the way through. And you may observe they follow him, so that he does not always see them, and may not even know they are there. He may sometimes imagine that he is forsaken and alone, but he is strangely mistaken, for Goodness and Mercy are close behind, the one to supply his need, and the other to deal graciously even with his sin.

If we are in Christ Jesus, we may be as sure of the future as of the past. We may be perfectly certain of the truth of the words of the Good Shepherd, “They shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” [94b] That promise is so sure that it can never fail, that hand so strong that all the powers of hell cannot pluck the weakest little one from its grasp, that heart so true that we may be perfectly certain He will never abandon one whom He has called by the Holy Ghost into fellowship with Himself.

II. The Determination.

“I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.” David delighted in the house of God; and clearly we must explain these words as referring to the holy worship of the sanctuary. But in order to enter into the full spirit of the passage, we must rise from the Church on earth to the sanctuary in heaven; to the heavenly home and the presence chamber of God. There, indeed, is the table spread, there is the anointing oil, there the cup runneth over; and now, through the rest of our pilgrimage, though the journey may possibly be through the Vale of Baca, [95a] though sometimes the soul may be bowed down, and that even when the heart is fixed, yet in the midst of it all, and through it all, we may live in a close intimacy with Him. We may quietly rest in His love, we may dwell in Him and He in us; and while He gives the gracious promise, “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out,” [95b] we may resolve, God helping us, that we will never go out, and that, to the last day of our lives, we will hold fast by Him, till at length the veil shall be withdrawn, and the heavenly home open before us, and we realize what it is, in the highest possible sense, “to dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.”

THE END

PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,
LONDON AND BECCLES.