Psalm 23's Grammatical Twist That Every Believer Misses!

You've heard Psalm 23 your whole life. You've seen it on hospital walls. You've heard it read at funerals. You've probably memorized it as a kid. But here's what nobody has ever told you. There is a hidden grammatical shift buried within those six verses that you have never seen before. And that's not clickbait, stay with me. I promise you, if you stay with me to the end, you will never read, teach, or meditate on Psalm 23 the same way again. So stay with me, this should be a good one. Welcome back to Get Into the Word, my name is Robby Gality. Most people think they know what Psalm 23 is about. The reason is because they've heard it so many times. You grew up reading it, you've memorized it, you know it well. And that's actually what the problem is. Familiarity is the enemy of discovery. Think of it this way. When you see wallpaper in your house since you were a child, you stop seeing it. And that's exactly what has happened with the Psalm, Psalm 23. We've heard it so many times that we stop hearing it. We stop being excited about it. We stop being enamored with it. So I wanna start with something most preachers skip right over, and that is this.

David, the author of the Psalm, actually wrote this Psalm at the end of his life. This is not a young shepherd boy daydreaming about green fields and pastures, no. This is a battle-tested warrior who's looking backward over the course of his life. And by the time David writes these words, he has already killed lions with his bare hands. He has fought bears. He's faced Goliath. He's outrun a jealous king and buried good friends that he's loved. When David says, the valley of the shadow of death, look at this, he's not waxing poetically, he is writing autobiographically. He's writing from the posture of a man who knows what he's talking about. Now, the first line tells us everything in Psalm 23, so I wanna read it together. Notice what it says. The Lord is my shepherd, I have what I need. Now, that's interesting there. The Lord is my shepherd, I have what I need. David opens up with the one image every first century Jewish reader would have immediately understood, and that is a shepherd and his flock. And the setting of this Psalm matters enormously. Why? Because David is writing, as we read,

from green pastures and quiet waters. Now, our Western minds start to visualize and picture rolling hills or mountain streams or maybe some kind of peaceful valley in the Swiss Alps, but that is not what David is describing. David is writing this Psalm from the wilderness. Correct your thinking. This is not a forest, this is not a park. A Middle Eastern desert is where he's writing from, an arid, sun-scorched, steaming heat, barely survivable landscape where water is scarce and shade is precious. The wilderness was always in the Bible, you're gonna love this, a place of testing. It was a stripping away of radical dependence upon self and making us dependent upon the Lord. Most of us have assumed, and I used to as well, that when God sent Israel into the wilderness after the Passover in Egypt, it was mainly for their punishment. And partly, God was teaching them and punishing them for their rebellion, but the consequence wasn't for their rebellion. This is not how the rabbis saw the ancient time in the wilderness. The rabbis actually believed the wilderness served a greater purpose than just punishment. The wilderness was a place where God spoke to his people. Now, this is gonna apply to you in a moment, so stick with me.

Think about what God gave to Israel in the wilderness. He gave Israel the Torah, or the word of God in the wilderness. He gave them the tabernacle that they were able to worship and connect with him. God formed the priesthood in the wilderness. They received the Ten Commandments in the wilderness. Moses saw the burning bush, where? You know it, in the wilderness. God even revealed his name to Moses. I am who I am in the wilderness. And here's the piece that's going to change the way you read and see the wilderness or even desert seasons in your own life. Notice this. In the Hebrew, the word for desert or wilderness is midbar. Midbar, M-I-D-B-A-R. And it's directly connected in the Hebrew to another word that sounds really similar, Dabar, D-A-B-A-R, which means the word. The ancient Hebrew culture understood something we have largely forgotten. God speaks the clearest, feel the weight of this, God speaks the clearest in the dry. darkest places. You hear, in a sense, the dabar, the word of God, in the midbar. You find God's word in the wilderness of your life. So before we go any further, let me just pause here and ask you a direct question.

Are you in a wilderness season right now? Because if you are, if prayer feels difficult, if the Bible feels dry when you read it, if it seems like everyone is against you or no one's there to support you, if it feels like you're struggling to get ahead, I want you to know something. You are not being abandoned by God. You're being positioned by God. The wilderness is not a waiting room. The wilderness is a classroom. And friends, don't miss this. God's silence in your life is not absence. Just because you can't sense or feel or hear the voice of God at times in your life, it doesn't mean that God has abandoned you. It's probably God doing his deepest work within you. But here's where this gets even deeper, because buried inside, don't miss this, that you're gonna wanna get this, buried inside the grammar of Psalm 23 is something most English speakers or readers completely miss. And it changes everything when you understand it and apply it to your walk with God. I wanna show it to you again in the text, but I want you to look carefully here. It says, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want, or I have what I need. He lets me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me besides still waters. He renews my life. He leads me along the right paths for his namesake. Do you see it? He makes who? Me lie down. He leads me to still water. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness. If you're taking notes, you will notice five times in three verses, David refers to God in the third person. He's speaking in a sense about God, describing God from the outside, almost like someone giving you a good review of a restaurant that they read about, but they've never actually eaten there or even been inside the building. David in those first three verses knows about God. He knows what God does. He knows that God is a good shepherd. He knows God provides green pastures and still waters. He knows that God restores. He knows that God guides. All of those things are true, but he's talking, get this, about God. He's not talking to God. Now let's go back to the text and this grammar shift, prepare yourself, is going to shock you. Watch the shift in the pronouns or the shift in the grammar.

Notice what it says. Even when I go through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil. Why? Because you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Prepare a table in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows. Did you catch what I'm trying to teach you? David moves from he to you, third person to second person, from talking about God to talking to God. Five times here, five times before, five times in verses four and five, the pronouns shift. The distance between David and his creator, don't miss this, collapses entirely. What happened between verses three and four? What moves from a third person address to a second person personal intimacy? Well, I'm glad you asked. Let's go back and see what is nestled between those verses. Notice what it says from verses three to verses four. Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no danger. What happened? The valley happened. Everything changes when you move from knowing about God to knowing God, and that happens when you walk through the valley.

And I wanna be honest with you right now, because some of you have been sitting in church for your entire life, for years, if you look back. You know the stories about God. You can quote verses of scripture from heart. You know God parted the Red Sea. You know that he fed Israel with manna in the Old Testament. You even know Jesus rose from the dead and died on the cross and on the third day came back. You know all those things. You know he's a good shepherd, but you've been talking about him. You haven't been talking to him. You know theology, but you haven't had an encounter with God. And the bridge between those two things, follow me here, between the third person pronoun he to the second person pronoun you is going through the valley, going through trials, going through difficult seasons. Now here's the part nobody wants to hear, and I have to share it with you. David doesn't say, if you will walk through the valley. No, he doesn't say that. He says, even when, and those words matter more than you and I understand. Let's look at it again. Even when you walk through the valley, I will fear no danger. Not if, when.

The valley is not optional for the follower of Christ. Jesus never promised to his disciples, come follow me and I'll make you happy. I'll make you famous. I'll make you rich. I'll make you sick. I'll make you healthy. The rest, and he doesn't say that. Jesus never promises a comfortable life free from suffering. In fact, he says just the opposite. In this world, you will have trouble. Paul told Timothy in 2nd Timothy, he said, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will promise, suffer persecution. Paul listed his credentials as an apostle, not by his miracles, but by his hardships. Remember in 2nd Corinthians chapter 11, beatings and imprisonments, shipwrecks and sleepless nights, pressure from churches, pressure from robber, pressure from the river. I mean, everything. Here's the point. The valley is not a detour from the path of discipleship. The valley is the path of discipleship for your life. But there's something critical about the valley that most people really overlook. And I don't want you to miss this. David doesn't say the valley of death. He says the valley of the what?

Did you catch it? The valley of the shadow of death. Now think about that for a moment. How is a shadow produced? If you were gonna try to produce a shadow. A shadow is produced when something stands between you and a light source. The shadow itself, if you think about it, can't really hurt you. It has no weight, it has no teeth, it has no power, it has no strength. It mimics the shape of the real thing. It's not the real thing, but it gives a portrayal of the real thing. The shadow looks like death, it may even feel like death, but it cannot kill you. That addiction you're fighting right now may feel like death. That marriage that's falling apart right now may feel like death. The financial collapse in your life may feel like death. But David is telling you something, and this is the heart of this entire psalm, that the shadow that reveals the light shows that there is light on the other side. Let me say it another way. A shadow in your life, a dark season, reveals that there's light on the horizon. A shadow cannot exist without a light source behind it. And if there's a shadow, that means there's a sun.

And if you keep walking by faith through the darkness, not giving up, when you fall, you get back up, eventually you will walk into the light. Your circumstances may not change overnight, but your perspective will. And sometimes that subtle shift in perspective is exactly what God is after in our lives. Let me ask you something. And if I asked you this right now, what would you say? What was the most defining moment of your life? When you look back over the landscape of your life, where did you learn the greatest lessons? Where did you learn the most important lessons in your life that you still carry with you today? Now, I promise you wouldn't say, well, it was a time we went on the vacation at the beach and we were listening to country music by the water, probably not that time. It was the time we were hanging out in the mountains and we were skiing with friends, probably not that time. You wouldn't say it was the most comfortable season of your life when things were going smoothly or things were easy. No, you would point right now, just like me, you would point right now and put your finger on a hard season. It was that time of loss. It was a broken relationship, a failure that really brought you to your knees. See, this is where God does the deepest work in our life.

Now, the apostle James, or the half-brother James of Jesus, he wasn't an apostle, he was Jesus' half-brother and didn't come to faith till later. James says in chapter one, verse two, right out the gate, "'Consider it great joy, my brothers and sisters, "'whenever you live on Easy Street.'" Is that what he said? No. "'Whenever you face or experience various trials.'" That word whenever tells you that James expected trials just like David did in the book of Psalms, trials that were recurring, and this was a common feature of the Christian life, not a rare exception. Let me give you another one. What about 2 Corinthians 12, seven through 10? It's Paul's encounter with the Lord and how God broke him down and taught him grace and strength. Notice what he says. Paul says, "'Because I've learned to be weak "'and because I've learned through difficulty and trials, "'I will most gladly boast in my," what? "'Weaknesses, so that Christ's power may reside in me. "'For when I am weak.'" Notice what he says down here. When I'm weak, then I'm what? Strong. They both understood something that is counter-cultural to the Christian life that many of you have been taught. And this runs against everything our comfort-driven world tells us.

The world tells us if you're being persecuted, something's wrong with you. If you're being attacked, you're in sin. No, listen to me. Trials do not define you. Trials refine you. Say that again. Trials don't define you. They don't make you who you are. They actually refine you into the person God wants you to be. Green pastures, in a sense, are a gift from God. They are. Still waters are a blessing. But you can't live there. Why? Because you'll never become the person or God or who God wants you to be. God's goal for your life is not comfort. God's goal for your life and mine is calibration. He's not leading you into the wilderness to abandon you. He's leading you into the wilderness to restore you, to speak to you, to reshape you from the inside out. Somebody needs to hear this message today. And then comes the moment in the psalm that most people rush past, because the valley, God doesn't just say, hang in there, like white-knuckle it. No, what does he do? When you walk through the valley,

God sets a table right in the middle of enemy territory. Let's look at it again. Pretty fascinating what God says here. After you go through the valley, God prepares a table before my enemies. He anoints my head with oil. My cup overflows. What does God do in the most difficult season of your life? He prepares a table in enemy territory. And then what does he do, something else? He anoints you with oil over your head. Now, this is where most people think that the psalm takes a triumphant turn. This is where your enemies will watch you while God blesses you, and that's partly true. But there's more here than meets the eye. In the ancient Near Eastern world, a table was set by a host in order to agree to a covenant. It was a covenantal relationship. That's how you showed we were in intimate relationship with one another. When a host set a table for a guest, he was saying, in a sense, I am responsible for you. Another way to say it, you are under my protection. Nobody and no one can touch you. The table, if that's the case, is not a victory lap. The table is a declaration of ownership. It is God declaring, this one is mine. God's not just blessing you while your enemies watch. He is publicly claiming you as his own.

He's saying, this one is untouchable. He's announcing to every adversary in our lives, every fear, every accusation, every lie, every bit of guilt and shame, here's what he's saying. He's saying, this one belongs to me. And that changes how you and I face opposition, why? Because you and I are not defending ourself at the table. We're not fighting this battle. God is actually fighting it for us. That's why you and I can rest as the guest of honor of the Most High God. And then when David says, you anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows, in the context of shepherding, anointing with oil was applied to the wounds and scrapes of a sheep. A lot of people don't know this. It was a healing, if you think of it this way, a healing protective covering. But in the priestly and kingly context of oil, the anointing was the mark of being set apart. It was being called out. When Samuel anointed David, he was setting him apart. He was commissioning him for a purpose. David is both a shepherd and a king. He is a wounded sheep being healed and a king being anointed for the mission. And here's where the psalm lands. After the wilderness, after the valley, after the table, it says only, this is gonna speak to somebody, don't miss this, only goodness and faithful love

will pursue me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for what? Forever or as long as I live. That word pursue there in the original Hebrew is remarkable. It's the same word used elsewhere in scripture for a hunter chasing his prey or for an army pursuing their enemy. David is not saying that God's goodness is just waiting for you at the finish line. No, he's saying it is actively chasing you down through every wilderness season, through every valley, on every mountaintop, through every dark night of your soul. Goodness and mercy are after you, strolling behind you everywhere you go. They are in hot pursuit. And here's what I know about God. You cannot outrun God, why? Because he never gets tired. Somebody say amen to that. So let me bring it home. Some of you are watching right now and you're in green pastures. Praise God. Things are good. Life is comfortable. You're grateful. Enjoy it. But don't get anchored there. The shepherd is going to.

leads you forward and some of you know what it's like because you're right in the middle of a dark valley right now. It's a deep, difficult situation. It's disorienting. You're disillusioned. You're not sure what direction to go, which way is forward, which way is backward. Listen to me. The shadow you feel right now cannot touch you. Keep walking. Don't give up. There's light on the other side of that. God has not left the room and God has not left you alone. And some of you right now are saying, well, I just got out of that season. I was in a wilderness season, but now I'm on the other side. You're starting to catch your breath now. What you've learned in the desert is some of the most valuable material in your life. So don't waste it. So if you're in the midst of a battle, what I always tell people is don't pray for God to get you out of the situation. Pray for God to teach you the lesson in the situation so you don't have to repeat it again. And wherever you are today, the invitation of Psalm 23 is always the same, right? Stop talking about God and start talking to God. Move from the third person to the second person, from he leads to, to you are with me. That's the shift that collapses the distance between you and your creator. It is the hinge point of the entire Christian life. He's not out there. Amen. He is not far away. He's not on the fringes. He's not looking out inside from the outside. No, he is right here right now. And his goodness is still in hot pursuit of you and me. If this video helps you see something new, do me a favor and share it with someone who's going through a tough time, or maybe a friend or a family member who feels disillusioned or disoriented. Also subscribe to the channel. Over 75% of you who watch all of the videos are not subscribed. Shame on you. I'm playing, but seriously, subscribe to the channel and like that video. It really helps us if you hit the like button, get the word out. Until next time, get into the word and to the word gets into you.