PSALM XXIII. 5 • 469
trouble was in his life, he could still calmly see and realize God and the goodness of God. You do not find any weak repining, fretful crying out against God, morbid dwelling upon the gloomy events that darken his life. Anything but that. His trouble did not blind him to the Almighty guidance and love around him. His hands could still sweep the strings of his harp and draw forth tones of gratitude and hope. Faith, trust, and love, with their beautiful offspring, peace, joy, and serenity, were still strong in his soul. He could look out over the whole range of his life — back upon the past, around him upon the present, onward into the future — and behold, throughout it all, the hand of one who was as a shepherd. " The Lord is my shepherd ; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures : he leadeth me beside the still waters."
David was far more a victor than when he had slain Goliath and received the triumphant shouts of a rejoicing people. It is in times of trouble that a man is tested. That we see the good- ness of God when there is no trouble to darken our way is very well, but the difficult thing is to see God in His fatherly love when sorrow, like a mountain mist, envelops us and intercepts our view. How many fail in this ! They cannot recall how '^' they have been led in green pastures and beside still streams. They cannot feel that they are guarded as sheep by a tender Shepherd. They cannot hope that when they walk through the narrow, sunless ravine, where dangers lurk, they will feel a Divine rod and staff comforting them. Trial conquers them, and drives them before it as a dismasted, rudderless ship is driven before the gale. It is a great victory for the soul to rise above trial and pray, but it is a greater victory still for the soul to rise above trial and sing.^
4. There are three acts in one drama: (1) Entertainment — "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies"; (2) Enjoyment — "Thou anoiutest my head with oil " ; (3) Enrichment — " My cup runneth over."
^ T. Hammond.
470 ENTERTAINMENT, ENRICHMENT
I.
Entertainment, "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies."
i. The Table.
1. What a picture of peace it makes, this supper on the darkening wold, when the sheep feed richly on the guarded green ! For now the dew is again upon the earth. The grass is moist. The air is incense-laden from the flowers which all day long have been breathing forth their fragrance. And the fold is near.
The analogy holds true in the experience of Christ's followers. The Shepherd and Bishop of our souls reserves His choicest swards for the delectation of our later days. Beulah Land lies near the bounds of life. It comes after the long march on the roads and the adventures in the glen. Let those who face the " sunset of life " lay this comfort on their hearts ! The gospel is " a great supper," as well as a satisfying breakfast, for the soul. It opens into the richest enclosures toward the day's end. Our Shepherd surpasses Himself in the banquet which He spreads for His followers on the evening tablelands of life.^
2. Beyond question, the prepared table is an emblem of the provision divinely made and secured for the wants of our spiritual and immortal nature. The idea is expanded in those numerous passages, both in the Old Testament and in the New, which speak of the blessings of grace as a feast which the Lord of Hosts has prepared, and to which are invited even the poor and maimed and halt and blind from the streets and lanes of the city, and the homeless wanderers from the highways and hedges. " The meek shall eat and be satisfied ; they shall praise the Lord that seek him." Just as the body is nourished by appropriate food, so the spiritual being is up-built by those blessings which God's free grace provides and bestows, and which we include under the name of salvation. There is enlarging knowledge of truth and enlarging capacity of apprehending it, the blossoming of all
^ J. D. Freeman, Life on the Uj^lands, 92.
PSALM XXIII. 5 471
beautiful and holy affections, growing force and greatness of nature, deepening and expanding power.
3, There is fellowship at this table. You talk with a stranger on the highway, walking side by side in the same direction ; you shake hands with an acquaintance in the street ; you invite a friend to your table. The very eating of an ordinary meal together at the same table, even in our own country, is so far a seal of friendliness, and makes us feel nearer to one another ; and so it was to a much greater extent in old days in the East, and, indeed, is still. There was something almost sacred in the common meal ; and the guest felt that he could trust his entertainer's faithfulness to the utmost, as Sisera, after partaking of the hospitality of Jael, resigned himself to sleep in her tent with a feeling of perfect security. It was counted perfidy of the worst kind when one who had eaten another's bread proved unfaithful to him ; and so David says in another Psalm, " Mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me." ^