Below is what I plan to submit for my next article, which is due in April. One of the requirements is that it be less than 600 words, which, at least for me, is not always easy to do. Let me now what you think.
Many, many years ago the story was told of a celebrated
actor/orator who was doing a reading, as such people used to do, in a theater
in New York. He was very eloquent and dramatic in his delivery and the audience
gave him a standing ovation for his performance. Having the time, and wanting
to please the audience even more, he asked if anyone had a request.
A gentleman several rows back stood and asked if the great
speaker would read the 23rd Psalm. The actor said, “Yes, I know the
23rd Psalm” and proceeded to recite it from memory.
When he concluded, there was great applause for this too.
But as it died down, the man in the audience stood again and asked, “I have
with me an older gentleman who also knows the 23rd Psalm. Would you
mind if we hear him recite it?” The older man was embarrassed and reticent, but
after much enthusiastic encouragement from the audience and the famous orator,
he was persuaded to take the stage.
The old man spoke with a depth of feeling seldom heard in
public:
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to
lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me beside the still waters.
“He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of
righteousness for his name’s sake. Ye, though 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 preparest a table before me in the presence of mine
enemies: Thou anointest mine head 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 forever.”
He finished and returned to his seat. This time there was no
applause, but many wet eyes. The great actor stood and said. “I know the words
of the 23rd Psalm, but this man knows the Shepherd.”
The 23rd Psalm is one of the best known verses,
and perhaps the most oft repeated, in all the Holy Scriptures. It takes an
average person little more than a few minutes to commit the entire passage to
memory. But the purpose of this Psalm, or indeed any passage of scripture, is
not so much to know the words, as it is to come to know the Master through them.
The older gentleman had obviously come to know the Shepherd
through years of worship. But more than that, there was an incredible depth to
his knowledge that had been obtained through years, and even decades, of
suffering and struggling to overcome physical and spiritual weaknesses,
temptations, and afflictions. His knowledge and understanding came by wading
through and overcoming trials and adversity. It was not an easy road, nor was
it a short one. And the place it brought him to was not merely a place of
words, but a place of knowledge, feeling, and understanding. He understood the
23rd Psalm deeply because he had experienced the desperate need for
the comfort the Shepherd gives, and which is voiced in these verses.
While nobody needs to go looking for hard times and trials,
perhaps we should concentrate more on how to overcome them rather than trying
to completely purge them from our lives. Certainly our trials give us the
opportunity to increase both the frequency and amplitude of our contacts with Deity.
They help us come unto Christ.
