Psalm 23  

David's Grace orientation      song. [231-251]

God's grace policy in promoting David is stated in several places. In 1Sam.16:7, the prophet was mandated by the Lord to go and contact Jesse and anoint one of his son's. When he arrived, he was very impressed with all six sons. He thought it must be the eldest son, Eliad, a man of great strength and beauty. As he approached to anoint him, God told him not to look at his outward appearance. He went down the line until God had rejected all six. Samuel asked Jesse if these were all his sons and Jesse told him about David, the youngest, tending the sheep. When Jesse saw David God told him he was the one.

In the next chapter, the Israel was preparing for battle with the Philistines. Jesse told David to go down to Israel's Army camp and give rations to his brothers, who were junior officers and 10 special cheeses for battalion commander. When he arrived he heard Goliath, a 10 foot giant, standing in front of the Philistine camp shouting insults and challenging any Jewish soldier to a duel. When David heard this he asked who this uncircumcised Philistine was that he should come out and challenge the Army of the living God. His oldest brother heard him and became angry and asked him why he had come down and with whom had he left the sheep. He told David that he was arrogant [projection] and evil in his heart and accused him of only coming to the camp to watch the battle. When they took him into Saul's tent, Saul asked him what experience he had. David told him about how he was in charge of the sheep and had killed a lion who had taken one of the flock. He also told him of how he had killed a bear in defending his flock. So Saul had him put on his own armor, but David took it off. So he went out with his sling down into a valley and picked out 5 perfect stones. Goliath started laughing at David and heaping insults. David told him that he came bragging but that he came in the name of the Lord, who would fight for him today. David knocked Goliath out with a shot between the eyes. He then went over and cut the giant's head off. This was the introduction to Israel's new King.

David wrote this during his Absalom's revolution. He was out in the desert while his son was in his palace. He maintained a RMA and Grace orientation during this lowest point in his life. He sat down and wrote this short song expressing the PSD's on his soul and is analogous to Rom.8:28

 

 

 

David's Grace orientation song [Psalm 23]:

A song of David. Because the LORD [Jesus Christ] is the One shepherding me, I cannot lack anything.

He causes me to lie down in pastures of choice grass, He leads me to waters of refreshment.

He restores my soul [through rebound]. He guides me in ruts made by wagon wheels of [spiritual capacity] righteousness because of His person.

In addition to this, when I walk through a death shadowed valley, I do not fear any manner of death because You—with me! Your rod and your staff comfort me.

You deploy a table before me in plain sight of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, my cup— overflowing!

No doubt about it, only prosperity and grace will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the LORD forever.

 

 

 

Ps.23:1 A song of David. Because the LORD [Jesus Christ] is the one shepherding1 me, I cannot lack anything.2

1 John 10:11 I am the honorable shepherd, the honorable shepherd lays down His life as a substitute for His sheep.

2 The expression of the divine initiative of AG through logistical grace support. This applies to the winner and the loser alike, although the loser never utilizes his grace provisions.

Sheep-Shepherd analogies:

1. Sheep have no sense of direction. Our Shepherd has provided the word of God and the FHS to provide our spiritual direction.

2. A sheep cannot clean itself apart from the shepherd. We have rebound from the Shepherd to purify us from all wrongdoing.

3. A sheep relies on the shepherd for medical care. The LJC has provided means for failure recovery.

4. A sheep can't defend itself. God has provided for our soul's defense.

5. A sheep depends on the shepherd for food and water. JC provides our spiritual food and water [2 PO's]

6. Sheep are calmed by the shepherd's music. This is analogous to PSD extrapolation.

7. The wool the sheep produce belongs to the shepherd. All divine-good production is possible only because of God's grace provision.

Shepherd Metaphors:

 

The divine initiative of the Shepherd's dying grace:

 

John 10:11 I am the honorable shepherd, the honorable shepherd lays down His life as a substitute for His sheep.

The divine initiative of living grace:

 

Heb.13:20 Now the God of peace who brought back up from the dead the Great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, our Lord Jesus Christ, 13:21 equip you with every good thing to do His [post salvation] will, working in you what is pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

The divine initiative of the sheep's dying grace:

 

Ps.23:1…the LORD [Jesus Christ] is the One shepherding me, […through the death shadowed valley]

The divine initiative of eschatological grace:

1Pet.5:4 Then when the Chief Shepherd appears [at the rapture], you will receive the unfading wreath of glory.

 

Ps.23:2 He causes me to lie down in pastures of choice grass,3 He leads me to waters of refreshment.4

3 Tranquility resulting from doctrinal orientation

4 Doctrinal application from the PSD's on the soul's FLOT or gratitude gauge

Enduement:

David was one of the few OT believers who had a special relationship with the Holy Spirit called enduement, which could be lost due to sin. This was demonstrated when Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed David and the Spirit of the Lord [the deity of God the Holy Spirit] came powerfully on him from that day forward [1Sam.16:13]. In Psalm 51, after Operation Bathsheba, he prayed, "do not take your Holy Spirit from me." Other OT believers with the gift of enduement included Moses and the 70 elders [Num.11:17], Joshua [Num.27:18], the tailors who made the priest's garments [Ex.28:3], Bezalel and Oholiab--who built the tabernacle and all its sacred furniture [Ex.31:3, 35:30-35], Gideon [Judges 6:34], Jeptha, Samson [Jds.13:25, 14:6 & 19], and Daniel [Dan.4:8, 5:11-14, 6:3].

 

 

 

Ps.23:3 He restores my soul [through rebound]. He guides1 me in wagon tracks made by wheels2 of [spiritual capacity] righteousness because of His person.

 

1 Indirect divine initiative of Grace, emphasizing volition

2 Problem solving devices pioneered by the humanity of Christ in the hypostatic union. We follow in the ruts He made.

Sin principles:

1. Personal sin is what happens when the believer used his volition to succumb to temptation from the area of weakness. Human good, dead works, and evil are the result of the SN controlling the soul.

2. There are 2 differences between human good and evil. First, sin is a precise statement of Biblical hamartiology; second, human good, dead works and evil result from SN control of the soul

3. Evil is the accumulation of personal sins from the area of weakness, while human good and dead works are the direct result of personal sin [SN controlling the soul] and failure to rebound.

4. The longer the believer is out of fellowship, the greater the production of human good, dead works, and evil; therefore, evil is the result of perpetuating carnality in your life.

5. The area of weakness is the source of all temptation to sin.

6. The area of strength [of SN] only becomes operational when the believer is out of fellowship and the soul is under control of the SN.

7. The same volition responsible for committing all categories of sin can also function in the non-meritorious manner of rebound.

The basis for Rebound:

 

Heb.9:12 And not by through the blood of goats or young bulls,3 but by means of His own blood, one for all, He has entered the Holy of Holies4 having secured eternal redemption. 9:13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a red heifer sprinkling those who had been defiled sanctified them for the cleansing of the flesh, 9:14 how much more will the blood5 of Christ, who through the agency of the eternal Spirit6 offered Himself without blemish to God, to purify our conscience from dead works7 to serve the living God. 8

3 Atonement sacrifices

4 The presence of the Father

5 Representing His substitutionary spiritual death

6 His 1st power option

7 Rebound

8 A direct statement of divine initiative of AG related to HH

2 Categories of Divine Initiative:

1.      Direct DI: The initiative belongs to God. God provides for the winner and loser alike.

2.      Indirect DI: God provides the spiritual skills for us to attain spiritual capacity righteousness, which glorifies God in time and is a major factor in resolving the PAC. But we must use consistent positive volition [in a non-meritorious response] under equal opportunity to fulfill the conditions of the escrow in time by executing the PPG.

 

Categories of Capacity Righteousness:

1.      God's righteousness imputed at salvation. The basis for logistical grace in time and the capacity for eternal life and eternal blessings.

2.      The positional righteousness of Christ from being placed into union with Christ. This is our security factor and support in life.

3.      The only indirect category of capacity righteousness because it is the only category that involves volition. It is aquired through the function of the spiritual skills and is the basis for spiritual maturity and the capacity for the escrow blessings in the eternal state.

 

 

2Pet.3:13 But on the basis of His promise1 we are looking forward with confidence2 to the new heavens and the new earth, in which righteousness lives. 3

 

1Better things for the eternal state

2 [pras dikaio] a personal sense of destiny

3 [dikaiosune] providing +R for the believer in a RB--ultimate Sanctification in the eternal state, the basis for +C for all eternal blessings

Ps.23:4 In addition to this, when I walk through a death shadowed valley, I cannot fear any manner of death4 because You—with me!5 Your rod6 and your staff7 comfort me.

4 Capacity for dying grace results from spiritual capacity righteousness in living

5 Living grace

6 The protection of deserved suffering from divine discipline administered from His perfect justice

7 The object used by shepherds to rescue sheep from harmful situations, analogous to divine deliverance

In 1Chron.29:15 a person's life is compared to a shadow, in that it has no permanence and disappears rapidly. In Job.17:7, the word "death shadowed" is used to describe the failing condition of a person in their last illness; but here the word has a different connotation. A shadow is defined as a dark figure or an image cast on the surface by a body intercepting light. So for a shadow there must be a body and light. In our connotation, the dark side of the body is dying, while the interceptive light is our spiritual skills. For the SS are the means of attaining spiritual capacity righteousness.

Using this same noun, tsalmawep, Job uses it in his discourse on death:

 

Job 12:22 He reveals deep doctrines from darkness [dying] and brings the death shadow into light [he had enough doctrine to deal with death magnificently].

Job speaking of the unbeliever facing death:

 

Job 24:17 For the morning [brightness] is the same to him as the death shadow, for he is familiar with the terrors of the death shadow [total fright of dying].

Elohu agreed with Job about the unbeliever dying:

 

Job 34:22 There is no darkness nor death shadow where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves [they have no comfort from their reality of death].

 

 

The Lord speaks to Job about this subject:

 

Job 38:17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you Job? Or have you seen the death shadowed gates?

The grace deliverance of the loser believer related to this word:

 

Ps. 107:10 There were those who sat in darkness,
and in the death shadow, prisoners in stress and chains,
107:11 because they had rebelled against the doctrines of God,
and rejected with disdain the instruction of the Most High.
107:12 Therefore He humbled their hearts with labor,
they stumbled and there was no one to help.
107:13 They cried out to the LORD in their jeopardy,
he delivered them out from their distresses.
107:14 He brought them out from darkness and death shadows,
and He broke their chains apart.
107:15 Let them give thanks to the LORD for His grace,
and for His wonderful dealings with the human race!

 

 

No instrument of death can remove the believer from earth until God decides:

 

Job 5:19 In the 7 [representing the whole realm] adversities in dying. 5:20 In famine [economic disaster] He will preserve you from death. In battle, from the stroke of the sword 5:21 You will be hidden from the lash of the tongue [social disaster]. You will not be afraid of violent death when it comes. 5:22 You will have a relaxed mental attitude [sense of humor] about death and famine; even from wild animals of the earth you have nothing to fear. 5:23 You will be secure from the stones of the field [ammunition of the ancient world] and the beasts of the field will be at peace with you

Ps.23:5 You have deployed a table1 in front of me [for my benefit] in plain sight of my enemies. You have anointed my head with oil, 2 my cup3—overflowing!

 

1 PSD's which are extrapolated from Bible doctrine onto the soul's FLOT.

2 David's grace promotion to king.

3 Prosperity

 

The host - guest metaphor:

David, as a believer, is a guest of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Host. It was customary for distinguished guests to be met at the door and anointed with a fragrant substance. This represents God's grace promotion. The feast table is analogous to the spiritual skills with emphasis on the problem solving devices; and the overflowing cup relates prosperity in the form of conveyed escrow blessings.

 

The hospitality metaphor:

David, as the guest, is the recipient of grace blessing. He will not lose the table, the anointing or the overflowing cup. This is the divine initiative of grace: David the soldier will not lose the battle; David the king will not lose his throne; David the mature believer will not lose his escrow blessings for time; Likewise, the mature believer will not lose escrow blessings.

 

Ps.23:6 1No doubt about it, prosperity and grace will pursue me all the days of my life, 2and I will live in the House of the LORD forever.

1 Believer orientation to the divine initiative of AG in time.

2 Believer orientation to the divine initiative of EG in time.

Military metaphors:

The utilization of the divine initiative of grace [grace orientation] to become a winner-believer through the use of the 3 spiritual skills to attain the high ground of spiritual maturity. It is the only action that brings victory compatible with the objective. Defensive action only aviods defeat. Offensive action increases the effectiveness of the force adopting it. The DIG provides the momentum for spiritual offensive action fulfilling the principle of objective and mass. Mass is the military nomenclature for the concentration or combat power at the point of maximum effectiveness. Combat power for the SL includes the 2 power options. The spiritual power derived from DIG guarantees the greatest victories in human history, and those victories belong to the dispensation of the church. Economy of force is the means by which mass is employed in a main effort to achieve the objective. When the time and place of the main effort is determined, the combat power must be concentrated rather than dispersed or distracted from the objective. For us, economy of force is the consistent function of the spiritual skills. The decisive application of full combat power requires the unity of command. In our spiritual life, it relates to the use of volition and the spiritual values in conformity to God's plan. Unity of command is the coordination of all the soul's faculties under the filling of the spirit and the function of metabolized doctrine in the SOC; therefore, it is achieved through consistent function of the spiritual skills.