Psalm 23 and the Lord's Prayer: An Exercise in Providence

Psalm 23 and Jesus’s prayer from Matthew 6 are two of the most well known passages of Scripture in the modern world. For centuries, believers have memorized and recited these passages because of the comfort and insight they offer. Several years ago, I was fortunate to be part of a class led by Dallas Willard. During that course, a student asked him what had been the most beneficial Spiritual practice of his life. He answered that at morning and at night, he recited and meditated on the Lord’s Prayer or Psalm 23.

For the next year, I took up that practice. Every morning before getting out of bed and every night before going to sleep, I would pray through and meditate on one of these two passages. They proved to be more fruitful for my faith and overall sense of peace than I would have estimated from the beginning. With careful attention and prayer seeking for insight, I discovered that when taken together, Psalm 23 is actually a perfect answer to the petitions of the Lord’s prayer.

What follows is an exposition of this insight. What you will notice below is that every statement or petition Jesus offers in this prayer is answered, and even surpassed, by the confident assertion David makes in Psalm 23.

Jesus’ Prayer: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Psalm 23: The Lord is my shepherd; I will not be in want.

Here Jesus opens his prayer with the affirmation that God is Holy and the assertion/request that God’s will be carried out in our lives just as it is in the spiritual realm. The psalmist answers saying that God is Shepherd. The metaphor implies that as a sheep looks to the shepherd for protection, support, leading, and sustenance, God is the one who provides all these things precisely because he is all the things that Jesus asserts.

Jesus’ Prayer: Give us today our daily bread.

Psalm 23: He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.

This is the first direct request that Jesus makes in the prayer. The psalmist asserts that the answer, from his experience with the Lord, goes far beyond the simple request for daily bread. Continuing the metaphor of shepherd and sheep, David says that he lies down in green pastures. This is a clear reference to a sheep that has had its fill of good food, and feels safe and secure. No sheep lies down in a green pasture unless it has eaten all it wants and feels safe to lie down. The implication is clear. David, as the sheep, enjoys the protection and provision of a good shepherd. He also speaks of access to still waters, another reference to safety and having all his needs met by his shepherd. Finally, he goes beyond the physical needs to the deeper spiritual and personal needs “he restores my soul.” Jesus requests God’s provision. The psalmist asserts that in relationship with the Lord all these are met and them some!

Jesus’ Prayer: And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Psalm 23: He guides me along the right paths (or in paths of righteousness) for his name’s sake.

Here Jesus asks for the forgiveness we all need in order to be right with God. He qualifies it by asking that we be forgiven as we in turn forgive others. The psalmist answers that God goes beyond this request. God not only forgives, but leads him to be righteous in all his ways. He adds that God does this, “for his name’s sake.” In other words, God guides and empowers us to forgive as he forgives. He leads us to act rightly and justly so that others will see his influence in our lives and be drawn to God as a result. The right paths the psalmist speaks of are paths that draw us closer to God and others in the context of right relationships. The foundation is being gracious – forgiving as we have been forgiven – but beyond that, living in the righteous example of God in all ways. For the psalmist, God answers the request by shaping and directing us in all our relationships in such a way that His name is blessed in our lives.

Jesus’ Prayer: And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

Psalm 23: Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

So far, the psalmist has declared that God’s response goes above and beyond Jesus’s request at every step. This answer reaches the pinnacle of that insight. Jesus asks that God not lead us into temptation, and delivers us from evil, Psalm 23 answers with a treatise on God’s power and provision in the face of danger and the enemy. Temptation is the borderland of Spiritual danger. The psalmist asserts that even in the darkest, or most frightening place, there is no need for fear if one walks with God. The shepherd’s rod and staff in the hand of God represent both discipline and protection. God by the side of the psalmist means that he is not alone to face any trial or temptation that threatens to harm him. The next image is the most powerful. “He prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” It is as though the psalmist faces his enemies on the field of battle. God enters the scene, telling the enemy to stand back and watch, as God spreads out a banquet table in front of him. Then he calls David to sit and eat, while the enemy looks on. He anoints David’s head with oil, showing that he is God’s chosen one, protected and dearly loved. He is so greatly cared for that his cups overflows. All this is done with the enemy held in check and looking on! God’s provision is complete.

Jesus’ Prayer: For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen

Psalm 23: Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Jesus closes the prayer as he began, asserting that God is indeed Lord, and that power and glory belong to Him. The psalmist asserts that because this is true, he will benefit from the peace, goodness, and blessing that come from living under God’s rule.

Final Note:

When I first noticed this connection between these meaningful passages, I had the same thought that I am sure many of you reading this have: “Psalm 23 is certainly not intended to be the answer to Jesus’ prayer. David wrote the psalm out of his own experience, based on the times in which he was living, not as a prophetic word waiting for a prayer that would not be uttered for 1,000 years!” Certainly, there is a strong sense in which this is true. Psalm 23 stands on its own merit as a passage of assurance and peace completely independent of Jesus’ prayer in Matthew 6.

On the other hand, consider this. Scripture can have layers of meaning to different people at different times. This is evidence of the genius of the Spirit of God as he shapes and empowers us through His word. I believe that God was involved in the process that inspired David with insights that led to the writing of Psalm 23. It is God himself, in the person of Jesus, who spoke this prayer as an example of prayer for his disciples. The two passages work together so well. They each interpret and inform greater insight into the other. With God involved in both, this should come as no surprise.

David is the great King of Israel. God promises that his line will never end and that one will come in his line who will stand as the Christ, the Messiah, the one whose reign will never end. Jesus is that Chosen One. He speaks this prayer as example to all believers so we will know better how to structure our own prayers. In his providence, God inspires the answer to this prayer some 1,000 years before in the words of David. Only God could inspire the answer to his own prayer 1,000 years before it was spoken!

This is not out of character for God. It is right in line with what God has done all along. Consider another example, Paul writes in Romans 5: “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” In essence, before we ever knew we needed a way back to God, he had already made the way through the blood of Jesus. In a similar way, I am suggesting that Psalm 23 can be read as an insightful response to Jesus’ prayer, given before the prayer was ever spoken.  I am not saying that Psalm 23 must be only seen in the context of the prayer of Jesus. I am saying that putting these two together offers us great insight and food for our souls. The fact that God utters the prayer, in the form of Jesus the Messiah, and David, the first king in the line of Messiah, penned words in advance that would fill out the meaning of that prayer, seem to be the kind of providence and wisdom that bespeaks the power and grace of God.

If the insight I suggest does not make sense to you, or seems inappropriate, then let it go. If it feels more like a blessing, then be blessed. Either way, at the very least, consider making these two passages a more frequent part of your life of connection to God through prayer and contemplation of his word.