The Lord is my Shepherd - Psalm 23

The title of this article is a phrase which is found twice in the Holy Bible, in Psalm 23.6 and Psalm 27.4. It is amazing that when we are looking forward we think of years, for example Luke 12.19: “And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry’”, but when we are looking back over the landscape of life we think of days that stand out in our memories. When the Pharaoh of Egypt asked the aged Jacob, “How old art thou?” his response was, “The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage” Genesis 47.8,9.

Perhaps now you are recalling some of the days of your life: the day you started school, the day you left school, the day you were married, the day you graduated from university; of course none of us remembers the first day of our life and eventually the last day will arrive for “life at best is very brief”. There have been happy days, of laughter, and sad days, of crying. There are days we recall with great joy and others are painful as we remember the passing of loved ones which left an aching void in our lives. What a variety of days we experience in a lifetime: days of success and applause, and days of failure and embarrassment. Life is the aggregate of all these days and God has numbered our days and set bounds to our fleeting lifetime. We too are advised to “number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom” Psalm 90.12. Let us never forget that we will not be here forever; for there is “a time to be born, and a time to die” Ecclesiastes 3.2.

There is, however, a day which is absolutely essential if ever you will be in Heaven; it is the day of your salvation. How tragic it would be if that day was missing when it comes to the end of life; to have the date of your birth recorded, and the day you died but no record of a day when you were saved by the grace of God. Salvation is not a process which requires days, weeks or months, but a conscious, definite decision to trust Christ, in moments.

In Hebrews 5.7 we read of “the days of His flesh”, reminding us of the Saviour’s peerless pilgrimage in this very world. He spent many days here so that you might be in Heaven eternally. He Himself said, “The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” Luke 19.10. All those days He spent here should have impressed upon all who saw and heard Him that He was unique and sinless. Only a sinless person could die for sinners; Christ alone could be our Substitute and bear the punishment we deserved. That dark day arrived for the Lord Jesus when, uplifted upon the cross of Calvary, He “bare our sins in His own body on the tree” 1Peter 2.24. “Oh, day of deepest sorrow, Day of unfathomed grief” (from a hymn by J.N. Darby). Before that day ended the Lord Jesus had done all that His Father demanded and paid in full the price of our eternal salvation. God is satisfied, Christ is all you need and His work sufficient to save you from Hell and bring you to Heaven. Trust Christ this very day and it will become the happiest day of your life.

O happy day that fixed my choice on Thee my Saviour and my God,

Well may this glowing heart rejoice, and tell its raptures all abroad.

Happy day! Happy day! When Jesus washed my sins away.

Used by permission of Assembly Testimony

All photos courtesy of Unsplash or personal photos