Reflections on Psalm 23 and God’s Namesake

Bryan Rayner
Aug 23, 2017 · 2 min read

A few years back, I was struggling against what I believe to be OCD — They say you never should diagnose yourself, but after I spent a month battling with the question of whether or not I had OCD; I think it’s safe to say there’s a greater than 70% chance!

Now, my particular worry was about what direction to choose in my life. In my early 20s, this was a recurring theme. This was amplified by my desire to follow God, to do what He wanted me to do with my life, not necessarily what I wanted to do.

It was when I stumbled upon the teaching style of Dan Mohler, that I was freed from this never-ending conundrum. It’s along these lines; Instead of just looking at what scripture says, also look at what it does not say by implication.

For example: “I’m strong” — By making that claim, I’m also claiming that I’m not weak.

You have to be careful with this line of reasoning, because when you do it, you are adding words to the Bible. This can be good, if you’re correctly interpreting things, but disastrous if you get it wrong. For example, let’s look at John 3:16

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believes in Him would not perish, but have everlasting life

If you were to try and figure out the implied statement based on that verse alone, you might get the impression that “God hates no-one, ever, and He is never angry with anyone.” Doing so would be a grave mistake, because just a little further down in the chapter is this passage:

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.

While the interpretation style isn’t infallible, it did help me immensely when I saw Psalm 23 in a new light:

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures:
He leads me beside quiet waters
He restores my soul
He leads me in paths of righteousness, for His namesake

I’ll stop right there, and show you the line of reasoning that set me free from doubt.

It does not say “He leads me in paths of righteousness for my ability to follows sake”. No — explicitly, God leads us in the right path for His Name’s Sake.

I’ve seen a lot of glorious things in my short life, and every time I do, I look at the hand of God in the middle of it. Truly, He has led me, in spite of all my shortcomings and faults, into righteous paths, and the only explanation I have is “God did it!”. I no longer look towards the future, anxious about which path to choose; I know He will lead me, and make the correct way abundantly clear.

)
Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade