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Psalm 23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

For David, the Lord is his shepherd, and he is His sheep. To know and believe this truth brings great comfort, safety and protection. The Good Shepherd is always with us, but we need to respond to this Gospel with faith so that we know it and we can rest in comfort.

Through the course of our life we often find ourselves in the valley of the shadow of death. The threat of death and the effects of death loom as a shadow over our life as we walk through this vale of tears. But alongside this ever present shadow is the stronger presence of Jesus, who promises to be with us always even unto the end of the age. With that promise of His Presence in us we will fear no evil. We do not need to worry about bad times nor be afraid of impending threats against body or soul, for the Shepherd is with us.

Romans 8:31, 35, 37: “If God is for us, who can be against us?….Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?….Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” We are in Christ and He is in us. What evil have we to fear?

Psalm 22:25 My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him.

David praises the Lord in public, in the great congregation. He pays his vows, makes a thankoffering, in front of the gathered believers. He is not quiet and shy about his faith relationship with the Lord. He wants the world to know he believes, loves, and praises the Lord for His great goodness and salvation. He wants his fellow faithful believers to know he will keep his promises.

Our response to the gospel of salvation is to do the same thing, every week. By worshipping in regular church services and by fellowshipping in group Bible study we praise the Lord and keep our vows. We do not hide our faith under a bushel, but we let our light shine so that the world knows how great and good our God is.

And God is good all the time, so we live a life of praise and keeping promises.

psalm 22: 22-23 I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee, Ye that fear the Lord praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all the seed of Israel.

David would praise God among the people because his private deliverance deserved a public testimony. He offered public praise for His care.

We, too, can praise the Lord daily for the Gospel of His eternal salvation; we can thank Him always for particular helps and answers to prayer; we can often declare His name among the brothers and “tell everyone what He has done.” This kind of testimony and witness strengthens both the speaker and the hearer. The Good News is too good to keep to ourselves. We let our light shine not to draw attention to ourself but that others may glorify our Father in heaven. We respond to God’s great goodness to us by declaring, praising and glorifying God our Savior.

Psalm22:19 But be not thou far from me, O Lord: O my strength, haste thee to help me.

David feels humiliated and stripped of everything, even clothes (like the Messiah on the cross). But he still enjoys the presence of the Lord nearby, and prays for His closeness and strength to come and help him. He is in such dire straits he asks the Lord to hurry up and help him. We may lose goods, fame, child, and wife; let these all be gone they yet have nothing won.

When we feel empty, alone, and losing things, we can always call upon the Lord, who is nearby, for help. He is there, He hears, He cares, He helps. Our sin and sin in the world causes extreme distress, but by our side is the Lord Jesus who helps. Even though God the Father has forsaken His own Son because the sin of the world was upon Him, He carried Him through even unto resurrection and glory.

Because of what Jesus did for us, we can be assured that the Lord will come and help us when we are in suffering, in need and loss. When we are weak and oppressed, then our Lord is strong and uplifting. In any and every situation our loving Lord is there to come and help and strong to save. Ask!

Psalm 22:4-5 Our fathers trusted in thee: they trusted, and thou didst deliver them. They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.

David tells God, and us, that his fathers, like Abraham, Jacob, and Moses, trusted in the Lord when they were in dire need. They cried out to God in trouble and He heard their prayer; they believed, and He delivered them. David holds up the fathers’ faith as an example and an encouragement for us to trust God in our need. God answered their cry, and he will do the same for us, too.

We are encouraged to follow their example and believe a delivering God. The Lord did also deliver us in our most urgent and eternal need by sending His Son to give us forgiveness, life, and salvation. We will not be confounded, ashamed, or disappointed for trusting Him. He will do it. Romans 10:11, 13: “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame…Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Cry, pray, trust. God hears, answers, delivers. You will not be disappointed or let down. He guarantees. Trust Him. Jesus has earned and freely given to us the deepest deliverance. Believe the Gospel.

Psalm 22:1-2 My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not, and in the night season, and am not silent.

David, in his pain and agony, feels that God is not present to help. He cries out to God, but He is absent, not listening. He cries day and night, but God has forsaken him, left him alone. Where is God? Why has he allowed this suffering to happen to me?

There are times in our own life when we feel separated from God, bad things are happening, and we ask “Why?” Where is God? The truthful answer is that our sins have separated us from God. It is our own fault. God can have nothing to do with sin. Yet we live in a sin-ridden body in a sin-filled world. Of course, God must forsake us, since He can have nothing to do with sin. So we cry.

Jesus quotes the first verse of this Psalm while in agony on the cross. Because He was at that moment bearing the Sin of the world in His suffering body He felt separated from God. This spiritual separation from God was far more intense than the physical suffering, as bad as that was. This is a mystery: even though He was God, Jesus as the Son of God felt the extreme pain of separation from God because of sin, though not His own sin.

In that severe moment, we can personally sense the unbelievable love of God; for the Son of God was experiencing forsakenness from God the Father in order to bear our sin and its punishment, thereby taking away Sin and Death from us and bringing us back to a living relationship with God. Now we know the answer to Jesus’ “Why” plea. Because God loves us more than we can ever believe.

Psalm 21:13 Be exalted, Lord, in thine own strength: so will we sing and praise thy power.

David’s response to God’s great salvation, deliverance, and answered prayer is to sing and praise the Lord. He exalts the Lord, that is, lifts Him up to the highest position in Creation. But it is not that the Lord needs our exalting to be lifted up; He is already exalted to the highest whether we believe it or not. However, we need to lift Him up in our own minds so that we might see the reality that is already there.

We exalt His strength and praise His power, so that we know He is the Almighty God, Creator, Owner, and Ruler over all things. As we build up the Lord in our own awareness so we build up our faith. We praise God and sing His praises before we pray and ask. We thank Him after we pray.

We open our prayer with “Our father who art in heaven,” to strengthen our faith to believe that He can (He is in heaven) and that He will (He is our father who loves us. Our prayer needs may appear difficult, even impossible, to us, but we exalt Him for the strength and power to do the impossible. And we know that He loves us like the ideal Father. With that kind of faith in the heart we pray. Our limited minds cannot grasp the awesome strength and power of Almighty God our Father, so we respond to trouble by exalting, singing, and praising God our Savior, so that we might believe what an awesome God we serve, who loves us.

Psalm 21:7 For the king trusteth in the Lord; and through the mercy of the most high he shall not be moved.

Because God is so great and so good to him, because God has blessed him forever, and because God has made him exceeding glad, David the king trusts in the Lord. And through the mercy of the Lord he shall not be moved. David responds to God’s great salvation, grace, and blessing with trust. He has saved me from my enemies before, and I am most secure in the knowledge that He will do it again.

Just as the Lord has saved David from his enemies and granted mercy and blessing, so also the Lord has done the same thing for us by the mighty deliverance from and defeat of our spiritual enemies, sin, death, and the devil. God did this once and for all at the Cross and the Tomb. And He continues to grant the blessings of that great salvation every day. We respond to this wonderful Gospel with trust. The Spirit uses this gospel to create a secure faith in our heart every time we hear it.

The outcome of faith in His mercy is that we shall not be moved. Nothing in all the world or under the world can shake us from that position in which we stand. Lies, doubts, and accusations will assault us daily, but we will not be moved off that solid foundation. The promise is sure, and we believe it. Trust is our response to grace. “God said it; I believe it; and that settles it for me.”

Psalm 22:4 He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever.

The Lord God grants eternal life to all people because of Christ. “He died for all.” “God so loved the world….” But that gift must still be believed and received: “whosoever believeth in Him should…have eternal life.” We respond to His promise by asking life, and He gives it. The asking is done in the faith implanted by the Holy Spirit through the Gospel. We would not ask unless we believed it; we would not believe unless the Spirit calls. Since we cannot by our own reason or strength believe, the Spirit moves the heart by the Gospel to believe, ask, and receive.

We may have already once asked and received Life, but we need to ask every day to renew and reassure the heart, because the devil, the world, and the flesh are always about tempting and accusing. Thus, to keep our faith strong and our life full of joy and peace in believing we ask and receive.

All people want to live a long life and not die for a while, but the believer knows he will pass through death into a life that never ends. Just ask. John 11:25: “Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.” Jesus loves you; do not be afraid to ask.

Psalm 21:1 The king shall joy in thy strength, O Lord, and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!

David describes all that he had as gifts from God: his heart’s desire, success and prosperity, a crown of gold, long life, splendor and majesty, eternal blessings, and mostly, joy. These gifts make him happy, but mainly his joy is in the Lord and His strength. All these gifts remind him of the giver and blesser.

We, too, look upon all we have, family, talent, positions, possessions, as gifts from God. Then in joyful response we use them to give glory back to Him, and help and bless others.

We can rejoice in the Lord always, every day, for we have received freely the greatest gift, salvation and life. We hear the Gospel regularly and respond with great joy. And no one and nothing can take that away, ever. The believer reflects the joy of the Lord in all circumstances, for He is always there, no matter how sad or bleak it feels around us and in us. The circumstances, the surroundings, and material gifts do not produce this kind of joy and rejoicing, but they point our thoughts to the Person who Gives. Our inner joy is in the Lord Himself, in His strength and salvation, in His character and eternal love.