To Know Him
To Know Him
Guided By The Shepherd: Courage, Rest, And A Soul Restored
What if the most famous psalm is also the most practical survival guide for a restless soul? We step into Psalm 23 not as a pretty wall hanging, but as a lived map: green pastures for commanded rest, still waters for mental clarity, and a soul restored where the mind, emotions, and will stop fighting each other. We talk honestly about being sheep—easily misled, quick to sprint in the wrong direction—and why admitting that is the doorway to provision, guidance, and courage.
From there, we trace how God leads on paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. That line changes the stakes: our choices do not only shape our consequences; they reflect the One we represent. We unpack what fearless trust looks like in the valley of the shadow—how the promise is not an evil-free life but a fear-free heart because the Shepherd is present. And we get real about the rod and staff: correction that stings yet comforts because it proves investment and pulls us back from cliffs we didn’t see coming.
We also explore the table prepared in the presence of enemies and why overflow often shows up before circumstances change. Anointed heads, full cups, and public favor do not require swagger; they require gratitude. We name ungratefulness as a thief that blinds us to daily mercies and turns help into insult, then show practical ways to notice the good that is already spilling over. Finally, we reimagine goodness and mercy as more than blessings we receive; they become traits we carry, a steady shadow that follows us and touches others wherever we go.
If you’re hungry for rest you don’t have to earn, courage that doesn’t deny danger, and guidance that brings your whole self into alignment, this conversation is for you. Listen, share it with someone who needs a reset, and if it helped you breathe a little easier, subscribe and leave a quick review—what truth will you carry into your week?
Uh no help. The powerful of the collective of the topic. If you're hungry for rest, you don't have to earn. Courage that doesn't deny danger and guidance that brings your whole self into alignment. This conversation is for you. Listen, share it with someone who needs a reset, and if it helps you, breathe a little easier, subscribe and leave a quick review. What truth will you carry into your wheat? Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He needeth me beside still waters. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, do I walk through the valley of the shadow of death? I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou prepares the table before me in the presence of my enemies. Thou anointest my hair with oil. My cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord. The Lord is my shepherd. That means on his sheep. Being called a sheep may not be the greatest description of ourselves that we can hold. Because sheep has some character traits that are flawed. Sheep can be easily led astray. Sheep can easily go their own way and think they're going the right way. And they're confident that they're going the right way. So they're full speed ahead and they're ignorant. Sheep have prey prey on them. And they're totally helpless against defending off. Totally helpless without the intervention of a shepherd or a guard dog. The demise is certain. But at the end of the day, we're God's sheep. And he's our shepherd. That's the only saving grace in being God's sheep. And for that I think I wear that name probably. I'm his sheep. He says first one, I shall not want. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. Like for nothing. All my needs are met. I stay close to the shepherd. He will take care of me. Mentally, physically, and spiritually. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. Now notice we say he maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He tells me when I should rest and take it easy. And if I don't do it voluntarily, he will recommend it. If I don't know to do it, he'll recommend it. By any means necessary. Get me to calm down, relax, and just chill. Cause naturally I just want to keep on going. Because naturally I want to work myself mark my head off. For the sake of earning income for me and my family. Not that any of it that is wrong. But that's what I naturally want to do. Long hours in the office, working through the night on construction sites, because I want to make sure my ends meet at the end of the day. Because I have a family to take care of. Or I got a car note to pay. Or a mortgage to keep up with. Or a cell phone bill. And I think that if I don't do these things and I don't put in all this extra time, overwhelming time that worries the soul, I'm not gonna make it. Or maybe I'm just chasing the dollar sign. But the Lord make up make us need to lie down in green pastures. The pastures green. Take a chill, catch your breath, relax a little. Enjoy the green pastures. Enjoy what you have right now. There's plenty of pastures ahead, but right now, the pasture that you're in right now, enjoy it. Appreciate it. And be grateful to the one that brought you here. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He leads me beside still waters. Picture yourself walking along a still waterbed. It's calm. Beautiful. Signs of life all around it and inside of it. You know the meaning of my name. It says Dweller by the Ash Tree Meadow. When I think of that, I can't help to be amazed of how true that is of me. I love landscaping. I love greenery. I love bodies of water. I could just sit there and just bathe in the beauty of nature. Just sit there for hours by myself. Just just sit there and just think. Just relax. Just soak it all in. It's the only reason why I love driving through scenic places in the country. And I can drive for hours just soaking it all in. But he leads us beside still waters. He restoreth my soul. He restoreth my soul. The word restoreth means to turn back transitively or intransitively, literally or figuratively, not necessarily with the idea of return to the starting point, generally to retreat, often adverbial again. Restore may even involve breaking and building, lodge, make, rejoice, bring again, back home again, carry again, cease and certainly come again. Convert, deliver, deny, draw back, fetch home again. He restoreth my soul. As I read the definition in the original Hebrew, gives me an idea that he hits the reset button in our souls. In our minds. That's what consists of our souls. The mind, the heart, the will. The mind where all your thoughts are conceived, where your ideas are entertained, your fondest memories are stored. Your heart is where is the the bed of all your emotions. What makes you happy? What makes you sad? What makes you content? What makes you grateful? It can also be applied to the opposite as well. What makes you angry? What makes you mean? What makes you lustful? What makes you deceitful? And then our wills. Our actions. What we carry out. What we actually do. You know there's a huge separation between the mind and the will, right? Because the mind can think one thing, but you actually do it something totally different. That's the will. Fighting against the mind. Or it could be the will and the emotions fighting against the mind. Well, you want to do one thing because it feels good, but your mind says, you know what? I don't think that's a good idea. But your will and your heart says, Man, it feels right. And somehow convinces your brain to think, okay, it is right. And you carry it out. He restores my soul. He leads me. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. That is interesting. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. We're the sheep, remember? We follow the shepherd. And he's leading us in the paths of righteousness. Showing us the right things to do, not leaving it to us, but giving us a guide to the right things to do, leading us and guiding us paths of righteousness. Not for our sake, not just for our sake, but for his namesake. His namesake. For his namesake. He wants us to do right so we can properly represent him. Of course, we benefit in the process. Because we will reap what we sow, what we plant in the ground. That's what we're going to get out of the ground. Whatever actions you take, that's what's going to be, you're going to experience the consequences of those actions, whether good or bad. Of course, we're going to reap the benefits, but he does it not only for our sake, but he has vested interests as well. He said we can properly represent him in this world. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. So that tells me that when I stray from that path, I not only make myself look bad, but I make God look bad. Wow. That was all that way. I make God look bad. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Verse 4. Yea, do I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For thou art with me. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Valley. Hmm. Deep hole. In the midst of mountains. You're down there. Way down there. For you to get an idea of what a valley looks like, you have to go to places like the Blue Ridge Mountain. Blue Ridge Parkway. And when you're standing on the main road that goes through the parkway, on the parkway, and you look down and you see a valley, you see towns all, I mean thousands and thousands of feet below you. That's a valley. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, dangers all around, possibility of dangers. Physically, spiritually, demonic influences, fear of witches and curses. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. And notice he said, I will fear no evil. He didn't say evil will not come upon me, but I will fear no evil when it does. Because you're with me. And I know that no matter what I go through, and what do we face, you're with me. I'm your sheep. You're my shepherd. You're gonna handle that. You will take care of that situation for me, or show me the way out of it. You will carry me through. I'm your sheep. You're my shepherd. Thy rod and thy staff. Get this. They comfort me. When you see a shepherd handling the sheep, you may shoot see that he may tap the sheep with his staff or his rod. Depending on how ignorant and unruly or uncooperative the sheep may be, that rod or that staff impact may increase. But that's the only to get the sheep back on the path of righteousness. Get that sheep to lay down in green pastures. That tells me we have to accept God's times of discipline in our lives. And it should bring us comfort. Because He has investment, He has vested interest in our lives and what happens to us. He cares so much that He would tap us with that rod or staff, or hit us with that rod and staff if need be. To get our attention, to get us right. Should comfort us. It might sound foolish. Don't sound like that rod and staff is gonna feel good all the time. It won't. But get us on the right path. If we take heat. God is always trying to get our attention. And that rod and that staff impact will only increase until we submit and realize what's going on. Firm believer that everything happens for a reason. Everything. Firm believer of that. Thou prepares it. Verse 5, thou prepares the table before me in the presence of mine enemy. Thou anointest my hair with oil, my cup runneth over. And that's interesting. Picture a shepherd with his sheep going through a pasture land, and then they're laying down in that pasture land, and the wolves are just looking from afar. You can only imagine what they're thinking to themselves. Man, I can't wait until that sheep rebels from that shepherd. Man, I can't wait for that sheep to stray away from the fold. That is gonna be the perfect time for me to strike. That'll be the perfect time for me to strike. Perfect time for me to hit him. I can't wait. Look at him getting plumped. Look at him. Being nicely taken care of. Look at him. Oh, I hate that sheep. But your minds, the moment you stray, your minds. Or when that shepherd goes to sleep, I'm coming in that pen. Better hope you got watchdogs out there. Because if you don't, I'ma get you. Do you imagine that happening in your physical life as well as your spiritual life? Spiritually, the demons and the devils just waiting for you to stray that they could pounce on you. Stray away from that path of righteousness. Get you out of that green pasture. Take you away from that still water that restores the soul. Just so they can pounce. The devil and evil is just as real as good and God. Don't get it confused. But we not need to worry about the devil element when we have God on our side. We don't have to worry about that. Because the Lord is our shepherd. The Lord is our shepherd. Sheep don't waste this time worrying about where the wolves are at. No, they don't worry about that. They minding their business, living a good life, being taken care of. When the wolves show up, the shepherd takes care of that. Sheep ain't gotta worry about that. Physically. Your success and God's blessing will be apparent to all in the presence of your enemies. The anointing of God in your life cannot be ignored by those that hate you because you just do good things all the time. Or your intentions are always good. Or they can't understand why you talk the way you talk, why you act the way you act, why you walk the way you walk. And they just brew in anger. They may not even make it obvious to you. But God prepares the table in the presence of your enemies. And not only that, but he anoints your head with oil. He makes you look good. You be stunting on your enemies and not even know it. In your eyes, you think you're struggling. In their eyes, you're like, man, who he thinks? He thinks he got it going on. In your eyes, you think, man, the sky is falling. In their eyes, you're like, man, that boy got it made. What's he into? And these are your enemies. And if you do it right, God makes your enemies your friends. He's capable of doing that. He anointeth my hair with oil. My cup runneth over. He gives you more than what you need in this life. The greatest evil that we can do in this life is to be ungrateful. It's to be ungrateful. That's the greatest evil. Ungratefulness is the murderer of all gifts and kindness. Ungratefulness is the evil lurking in a closet and you're trying to go to sleep at night. You're always thinking something is wrong. There's a snake under every rock. Ungratefulness is the spit in the face of someone that rescued you. Or push them away. And they're trying to pull you out of a drowning water. Ungratefulness is the lowest place you can be in life, man. That, my friend, is one of the roots of all evils. Is ungratefulness. The love of money, they say, is one. It's not the only one. But I'm here to say that ungratefulness is another root of all evil. My cup runneth over. He not only fills my cup, but it spills over the top. Spills over the top. When you ask someone to pour you a drink and they fill your cup, and it just keeps going. It keeps going and keeps going. It overflows. In the last verse, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. Should I need to explain that? Think about it. Goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. It shall follow me. It shall follow me all the days of my life. You know, Jesus tells us to follow him, right? It says here, goodness and mercy will follow you. And in that following, a couple things have to take place. When you decide to follow someone, one of the things that takes place is that you identify with that person and you choose to follow. You're synonymous with that person. You trust that person. It takes you where you need to be or lead you to where you need to go. But it said, goodness and mercy will follow you. So everywhere you go, there will be goodness and mercy. Not only being shown to you, but also being shown to others. Meaning you will embody goodness and mercy. When people see you, they will say, That's a good guy. That's a merciful person. That's pretty kind of you. You will embody goodness and mercy. Not only that, it will be shown you, but you will actually embody it. Shall follow me all the days of my life. You will embody goodness and mercy when the Lord is your shepherd. Or you should. You should embody goodness and mercy if you're following the great shepherd. How have we been doing in that goodness and mercy category? Do we embody it? Because you will receive it, but do we embody it as well to others? And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. And that's a difficult one for me. Out of all these verses I looked at in the entire topic. Because when I think of dwelling in the house of the Lord, I think of going to church. Right? Going to the building. But it doesn't mean a physical house, it means a family. A house is a family, like the house of David. In this case, I can say the house of Ashley. It's not my physical house, but it's my family. My family tree. My sons, my daughters, my wife, my grandbabies, my grandsons, great-grandsons. I will dwell in the family of God. Forever. Forever. I'll be part of this family, not temporarily. Not only when I'm on good behavior. I still belong to the family if I do something wrong. But remember that Rabbi Nastab want to correct me. And I'm supposed to consider it as comfort. I would dwell in the house of the Lord forever. But the consoling thing is that I am his forever. I'm his family forever. I'm a part of him forever. Nothing can take me away from his eyes and his love. And scripture says, what can separate me from the love of God? Nothing. At all. I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. I'll be a part. The family of God forever. House of God. House of Jesus Christ. Family of God. Family of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. My cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. I hope this little talk and study has blessed you just as much as it has blessed me. And I hope and pray that the Lord is your shepherd. I guarantee you, you shall not want. You will lack for nothing. And I'm not talking about physical possessions. I'm not talking about money. But you will have everything you need to have joy in this world. Filled with evil. Let him be your shepherd today. The Bible says that if we confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God has raised him from the dead, we shall be saved. That's all. Just accepting him into your heart and your life as your Lord and Savior. Acknowledging that you shall be saved. There's no magic trick. There's no magic trick. You shall be saved. You'll do the rest. You're just gonna have to maintain that relationship by reading your Bible and praying every day. And follow his leading. It's your leisure. Just ask him. He will help you. Anytime you find it difficult, pray and ask. And ask God for help. And he will help you. Just be ready when he sends that help. God bless you guys. You have a wonderful week. Bye bye. What if I told you that the most famous song is also the most practical survival guide for a restless soul? I step into Psalm 23 not as a pretty wall hanging, but as a live map, green pastures for a commanded rest, still waters for mental clarity, and a soul restored where the mind, emotions, and will stop fighting with each other. It's all honestly about being free, easily in the quickest point in the wrong direction, and while admitting that it is the doorway to provision, guidance, and courage. From there I choose how God leads on paths of righteousness for his makes it, for his main thing. That line changes the thing. Our choices not only shift our consequences, but they reflect the one we represent. We unpack what furless foot looks like in the valley of the Shadow of Death. Our promise is not an evil free life, but a fair free heart because the cupboard is present. And I get real about the rod and style, correcting that things that comfort because it proves investment and pulls us back from cups we didn't become. I also explore the table, the table spread in the presence of my enemies, and why overflow often shows up before circumstances change. Anointed heads, four cups, and public favor does not require swagger. They require gratitude. I name ungratefulness as a thief that blinds us to daily mercy and turns health into insult. The insult practical way to notice the good as always spilling over. Finally, we will recognise goodness and mercy as more than blessings we receive. They become traits we carry, a study shadow that follows us and touches others wherever we go. In the fellowship of the stuff.