Thou Art With Me

The title is the central verse and central thought of beautiful Psalm 23. It stands out in relation to six views of the Christian life which are given in the psalm:

MY NEED AS A SINNER

“I shall not want.” His work on the Cross is the pledge of my salvation. Green pastures and still waters speak of rest, security, and satisfaction–rest of conscience by the pardon He bestows, rest of heart by the peace which He gives, and the rest of assurance as the Spirit witnesses with our spirits that we are children of God. “The Lord is my Shepherd.”

Mine by covenant, mine forever,
Mine by oath and mine by blood,
Mine–nor time the bond shall sever,
Mine as an unchanging God,
My Redeemer, my Redeemer,
Oh, how sweet to call Thee mine!

MY WEAKNESS AS A SAINT

His advocacy is the pledge of my restoration. What mistakes we have made in the past; what failures we have been. So many of us have been vessels marred in the hand of the Potter, but let us take courage: “He restoreth my soul.” “He made it again; another vessel, as seemed good to the Potter to make it” (Jer. 18:4) Oh, to be like clay, passive in the hand of the Heavenly Potter, responsive to His gentle touch! If we will only let Him, He will fashion us according to His own blessed design.

Poor, weak and worthless though I am,
I have a rich, Almighty Friend:
Jesus! the Saviour is His Name–
He freely loves and without end.

PERPLEXITIES ON THE WAY

“He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” We need the unerring guidance of the Shepherd, and His presence is the pledge of that guidance. The Shepherd goes before the sheep and they follow Him (Jn. 10:4). Some He will lead into private paths of service, others into public paths, but it is always His to lead and ours to follow. In His life down here He left us a perfect pattern in His service. He sought all kinds of people in all sorts of places and saturated His whole life’s work by prayer. Paul cried, “That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings” (Phil. 3:10). The paths of service into which the Shepherd leads the sheep holds trials and difficulties, but His unerring guidance and care is never denied.

He always wins who sides with God;
To him no chance is lost.
God’s will is sweetest to him when
It triumphs at his cost.

TRIALS ALONG THE PATH

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…” His priestly sympathy and power are the pledge of my comfort and succor. “Many are the afflictions of the righteous;” yet “in all their affliction He was afflicted” (Isa. 63:9). Hearts may be torn, crushed, and bleeding, and doubts may fill the mind as to why, yet behind the inscrutable wisdom which permitted it all, there is the gracious ministry of our Great High Priest.

With what understanding and sympathy does He enter into the sorrows of His own! “Every” branch that bears fruit He purges, yet never is the husbandman so near the vine as when He is tending it. His loving aim is “more fruit”–fruit by union, more fruit by purging, much fruit by abiding (see Jn. 15).

In the dark valley of trial “clouds and darkness round us press.” Like the disciples on the holy mount, we fear to enter the cloud. Its melancholy gloom frightens us, yet when the cloud is past we see “no man save Jesus only.” “Thou art with me. Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.” In the green pastures the psalmist talked about the Shepherd; but in the valley he talked to Him.

Be still, my soul; the Sun of life divine
Through palling clouds shall but more brightly shine.

MY DAYS OF CONFLICT

“The power of His might” (Eph. 6:10) is the pledge of my victory. A table spread in the presence of my enemies for divine satisfaction, derived from His fullness, is the pilgrim-warrior’s portion. Here, too, in the field of battle, and not in the green pastures, we find the anointed head and the overflowing cup, “for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

Three times in Romans 8 the gauntlet is thrown down in the face of the enemy: by the Father (v. 33), by the Son (v. 34), and by the Spirit (v. 35)–no accusation, no condemnation, no separation. Three times in that grand chapter of victory we read “for us.” The Father is for us in justification (v. 32); the Son is for us in acceptance (v. 34)–“accepted in the Beloved”; the Spirit is for us in intercession (v. 26). No wonder the chapter closes with the triumphant doxology of the saints: “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loveth us” (v. 37).

He who has never a conflict,
Has never a victor’s palm;
And only the toilers know
The sweetness of rest and calm.

THE DAY OF MY DEPARTURE

His blessed promise is the assurance that the Father’s house becomes the home of the saints. “I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.” Here is the end of our pilgrimage. No more wanderings. No more perplexities in our anxiety to discern the mind of the Lord. Our sorrows and trials will all be over for “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.”

Our conflict with the forces of evil will then be at an end. The Father’s house becomes my heavenly home forever. It is guaranteed by our Saviour’s word on the Cross (Jn. 14:2) and confirmed by His own prayer in John 17:24, “Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory.”

May we live in the light of the Cross and the glory “until the day break, and the shadows flee away” (Song of Sol. 4:6).

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