Welcome to the Daily Blade . The Word of God is described as the sword of the Spirit , the primary spiritual weapon in the Christian's armor against the forces of evil . Your hosts are Joby Martin and Kyle Thompson , and they stand ready to equip men for the fight . Let's sharpen up .
All right men , welcome back to Psalm 23 . Again , one of the most famous psalms in all of the world . Even if you're brand new to Bible study , you've heard this one . And today we're going to talk about why so many people probably like this song psalm , why so many people love it and why we're probably very , very wrong .
Again , we're going to read the first three verses . Again , we're going to read the first three verses . The Lord is my shepherd . I shall not want . He makes me lie down in green pastures . He leads me beside still waters . He restores my soul . He leads me in paths of righteousness . And there's a little bit more to that verse we'll come back to .
I think this is why so many people love this psalm , because you get to this point of the psalm and you begin to think , wow , god's really into me . Now let me be perfectly clear . God loves you , god is for you . Anybody that dies for you is for you . But it's not all about you and you're like I don't know .
Pastor , if you look at the psalm , he's really into me . I mean , he's making me lie down by green pastures and he's leading me besides still waters and he's leading me in paths of righteousness . Isn't God doing all of these things for me ? And the answer is no , absolutely not . God does not exist for you . God exists for God .
God exists for the glory of God . The reason that the Lord is your shepherd , the reason that you shall not want , the reason he makes you lie down in green pastures , the reason that he leads me beside still waters , the reason that he restores my soul , the reason that he leads me in paths of righteousness , is for his name's sake .
This may be the most shocking thing you've ever heard , bro . It's not about you . Again , god is for you . It's just not all about you , and one of the worst things that you can do when you come to study the scriptures is to insert yourself into the scriptures . It's not about you .
My friend Matt Chandler , who will be on the Daily Blade at some point , so mark your calendars for that , he is most famous for saying you're not David , that so often we misread the scriptures . We like to insert ourself into the scripture as if we're the hero and we're not the hero in the story of David and Goliath .
You're not the little guy out there that can overcome the giant . Jesus is the one that overcomes the giant of sin and death on our behalf , for our sake . So do not get confused . God does not exist for your pleasure , for your comfort , for your ease , to meet all of your dreams . That is not why God exists .
God exists for the glory of God , and for God to glory in anything other than himself would be idolatrous , because God is ultimate and what God knows is what we need more than anything . Is God not a better version of ourself ? And for God to put anything above himself would be the worst thing that he could do .
When the Bible says that God is a jealous God , this doesn't mean that God is jealous of us . That is silly . Do you think God saw you get up this morning and put your pants on and think , man , I wish I had some pants like that ? No , you dummy that he owns everything , he has everything . He has no use of the things that we have .
God is a jealous God because God is jealous for us . He is not jealous of us and he knows that for us to worship anything other than him will not lead to life , but it would lead to death and despair and destruction . You see , I know we're talking to a bunch of men , but one of the greatest illustrations of this .
The bible says that god is long-suffering . The word there is has said it means that that that he is , that he is love towards us . Some people translate it blessed kindness and it is a word picture . That word , has said , is a word picture of a baby crying out for its mom and then the mom lactating and giving the baby what the baby needs .
When you and I cry out , what we actually need is God , and for God to give us anything other than himself would kill us , would lead to our destruction . You see , the reality is that the Lord is our shepherd and that he is our green pastures .
He is our still waters , he restores our soul , he is our paths of righteousness and when we follow him , we follow him for his glory , for his namesake . The reason we follow after Jesus is not because he makes our life better , but because Jesus is better than life .
Peace . Thank you for listening to today's episode Before you go . If you want to help equip other men for the fight , share this podcast around and leave us a five-star rating and review . Stay sharp .