Proverbs is about living wisely in this world, and at first glance, it might seem that wisdom is about the right action. Do this. Don’t do that. Instead, this book teaches that true wisdom begins with the heart. It’s not first and and foremost about knowing the right thing or doing the right thing. True wisdom begins with enjoying the right things: enjoying God, creation, and neighbor. Sin exchanges enjoyment for exploitation. Yet, for the joy set before him, Christ Jesus—who is the Wisdom of God—endured the exploitation of the cross so that we might come to enjoy life with God. As we behold the Jesus of the cross and empty tomb we will become like him. Welcomed into his joy, his joy will be poured into our hearts, and his joy will overflow in our lives. As we become like Wisdom himself only then can we enjoy God for his own beauty and the creation and neighbors he gave to us. This is true wisdom.

In Psalm 18, David is sharing with us, his fellow sufferers, the comforting mercy he received from God. He was as good as dead, but, in his suffering David called out to the Lord, the Lord heard him, and delivered him. David looks back, “In my distress I called upon the LORD; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears” (v. 6).  David comforts today’s sufferers by reminding us that God hears and answers our prayers. Like David, we should call upon the Lord for help in our distress. Some of us share experiences somewhat similar to David. We were on the verge of death or crisis, we prayed, and God delivered. We got to go home with a discharge note instead of a death certificate. These moments are truly of God’s mercy and a great comfort to us and others, but these moments of deliverance only delay the inevitable: death. So, we must remember to look beyond David to the comfort of King Jesus, the true and better David.

Jesus is the true King whose kingdom will have no end. His peaceful reign has no expiration date. His enemies, sin and death, have suffered a crippling blow. Jesus took to the cross. He was beaten, pierced, and forsaken on a cursed tree in the place of cursed sinners. On the third day he emerged from the grave taunting death: “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” Death has no answer. Death is dead. The eternal age of peace has begun and is coming still.

“I’ll be home for Christmas.” For many, this season brings thoughts of home to our minds—remembering the joys of the past or longing to feel at home in the present. Psalm 23 reminds us that these longings to feel at home will only truly be met when we find ourselves at home with God. Verse 6 describes a pilgrimage that ends at the House of the Lord. Along the journey goodness and mercy follows. The words “follow me,” as our English translations puts it, are a bit misleading. Derek Kidner points out in his commentary that the phrase most literally means “to carry.” Therefore, according to this psalm, the Lord, in his goodness and grace, is daily carrying him home.

Our daughter is 5 years old, and is as sweet as they come. Her favorite thing is to ride on my shoulders. One time we were walking to lunch and she really wanted me to carry her.  Honestly, I really didn’t want to. She asked me a couple times and I said, “no.” So then, she ran right in front of me, slammed on the breaks nearly causing a four person pile up, stuck her arms straight up in the air, and said, “Carry me!” So I did. The entire way to the restaurant.

In Psalm 23, the Lord carries us not to a restaurant, but to His house. The house of the Lord envisioned in Psalm 23 is picked up in the last book of the Bible.

The final book of the Bible explains that the house of the Lord is a new creation. That forever home will be more alive than anything we’ve ever experienced. Mountains will sing. Trees will clap their hands. The new creation will be like a Garden City where God will dwell with his people forever. For us who are trusting Jesus this is where goodness and mercy is carrying us.

Psalm 23 uses two metaphors to explain why we should always trust Jesus: Shepherd and Friend. As our friend, Jesus invites us to his table. At this table, Jesus is the one who secures victory, and invites us to celebrate. His is a table of grace. During Jesus’s life, we often find him at dining room tables eating and drinking. In every case Jesus’s dinner date is someone of questionable character. You see, at Jesus’s table we can bring our baggage, and he will bring the grace. Every time. We bring the sin, weakness, and enemies. He brings superabundant grace.

Psalm 23:4 says, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear now evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” According to this verse Jesus is the shepherd that leads his sheep through the valley of the shadow of death. Even through death he remains present with rod and staff. That is, he continues to protect and guide his sheep never forsaking them.