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Newington Three Angels Church

Eric Walsh

Pandemic Prayer

We are recording again and just want to thank everyone who's been following along and listening in.

Our scripture reading tonight comes from the book of the Psalms, the 23rd division.

Verse 4, yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.

A message is entitled Prayer in Pandemic.

Father God, we thank you for this opportunity to study your word.

Lord, I ask that you just touch my heart and mind.

Make me a nail on the wall once again, Lord, and hang a portrait there.

And Father God, what I'm asking in a special way is that you speak through me to all those who are in pain as they listen to this and all those who need their faith strengthened.

Our prayer in Jesus's precious and holy name, Amen.

I've never even heard a sermon on the 23rd Psalm, I don't think.

And as I was dealing with my own pandemic fatigue from 1 of our previous messages, came across this Psalm and read it again and said, man, this Psalm is so soothing.

So I'm gonna read it in its fullness, we're gonna break it down, and I'm gonna give some pointers on how to pray during this pandemic.

I have another message on sanctuary prayer method on AudioVerse already, but I wanna give this 1 and just speak to what it is when you're hurting.

Psalm 23 says, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

He makes me to lie down in green pastures.

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, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.

Thou preparest the table before me in the presence of mine enemies, thou anointest my 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.

It's the 1 psalm that probably most people can recite.

It's probably the most recited, 1 of the most recited chapters in the entire Bible by Christians and non-Christians, Jews, non-Jews, I mean, everybody, lots of people know this Psalm.

Psalm twenty-three verse 1 says, the Lord is my shepherd.

When I was a kid, I couldn't understand this.

I didn't understand why, if God is my shepherd, I don't want him.

The Lord is my shepherd, because he is my shepherd, I will not be in need.

So the first, when you go to pray during a time like this, time of difficulty and pandemic, the first thing is to state who God is.

The shepherd was responsible for the sheep.

They could have to be safe from predators, snakes, thieves.

Yet David, who wrote, we believe wrote this Psalm, reflects on his time as a shepherd.

So some people say, well, David wrote this when he was a shepherd, but as you go through the Psalm, If David was still a shepherd, he probably wouldn't have had enemies and you know He probably wouldn't have been thinking about the valley of the shadow of death It's probably happened later on.

In fact 1 1 writer says it like this The probably the 23rd Psalm was written while David was at Mahana him Wondering how the battle was between his forces and those of his son Absalom during the Civil War caused by absolum's rebellion, of course David was grief-stricken and heartbroken It may have been the darkest hour of his life and this is where he penned the beautiful words out of his pain If this is a correct analysis, it may not have been made David had many pain points in his life And play at Zik lag After after what he did with Bathsheba, Nathan confronted him, many down times in his life.

But this was definitely 1 of the strongest.

Can you imagine David's own son rising up in rebellion against him?

Yet David loved Absalom so much, he did not want his son to die.

And when it was found out that Absalom was dead, David cried, Absalom, Absalom, oh Absalom.

Oh, it had been me instead of you, Absalom.

David was sick and I can imagine that as he looked back on his life, the pain That David must have felt as he had to recognize that it was his sin that caused this when he messed with Bathsheba, Uriah the Hittite's wife, and Nathan promised him that he would lose children because of it.

Just as he had said that the person in that parable that Nathan gave should pay back 4 times or whatever it was, fourfold what was lost.

And I can't imagine the pain that came across David as he probably had to agonize that he was the cause of his own son and other children, but in this case, we're thinking of Absalom, of their demise.

David in this dark hour, and I want you to get this, when you are at your lowest point, that is not the time to run from God.

That is the time to reflect on who God is.

And the shepherd loves the sheep, whether the sheep is perfectly obedient, whether the sheep looks perfect or not, whether the sheep is perfect or not.

The shepherd loves, protects the sheep no matter what.

Psalm twenty-three and verse 1 and 2, the lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

The second verse says, he maketh me to lie down in green pastures.

What's interesting about this is that I was reading 1 person's take on this.

And he speaks to the fact that when 1 of the little lambs would wanna get away too often, when they wouldn't obey and listen, sometimes the shepherd would actually gently break 1 of the legs of the lamb to make it lie down in green pastures, to keep it close to the shepherd, to protect it from predators.

Now, of course, if he did that, when it was time to move, he would have to pick that little lamb or that sheep up, throw it over his shoulder, and carry it to the next place.

So it wasn't easy on the shepherd to do it, But the shepherd wanted what was good for that lamb, that sheep, whatever animal, whatever it was.

And sometimes the brokenness that we have, the experience of feeling the pain of being broken, and I don't mean being broken like you're messed up on the inside but but life breaks you sometimes that is because God is saying listen I need you to light out in green pastures I need you close to me I need to be able to put you over my shoulder and carry you.

And if I, and in your own strength, you wanna, you think you can handle it and you'll run into danger.

And those who God loves, Jesus says it in Revelation 3, 19, those who I love, I, those who I love, I chasten and I rebuke.

Jesus says, if I love you, you're going to feel some chastening and some rebuke.

It is a part of the Christian growth process.

So he makes you to lay down in green pastures where you can be fed and nourished and rested.

Psalm 23 in verse 2, again, he makes me to lie down in green pastures.

He leads me in the path of righteousness for his name's sake.

So not only does this breaking process happen, you lay down in the green pastures, he takes you to still waters where you can be refreshed.

So that David says in verse 3, he restores my soul.

I want you to understand God does not allow any trial or difficulty to destroy us.

His goal is not to destroy but to restore.

Bible says he leads me in the paths of righteousness.

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Pandemic Prayer

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