The Psalm 23 Challenge

This week our Pastor challenged the congregation to recite Psalm 23 the last thing before falling asleep.   Personally, I hope it calms me down as right now I am wound up like the Tasmanian Devil!

Our History Together

Psalm 23 and I have a history.  Shortly after Joe passed, I was desperately searching for comfort and where better to go than Psalm 23 – or so I thought.

Upon reading ” The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want” (that is what my NIV version states), I said “Yeah, right!”, closed my Bible and threw it on the floor.  It landed with a resounding “thud” that probably registered a 9.5 on the Richter scale. My maternal grandmother in heaven threw a major league temper tantrum because I threw my Bible.  God told her to take a “chill pill” as he understood why I did it.

The Here and Now

I will admit I have not paid much attention to Psalm 23 during the past 5 1/2 years.  So reciting this every night will be very interesting.  Maybe I can start to make peace with the psalm during this week and get back to appreciating it more.

Tonight as I fall asleep, listening to the waterfall sound on my kindle, I will recite Psalm 23.

Call To Action

Do the same thing.  Don’t remember the psalm?  Here it is, courtesy of BibleGateway.com. It is the NIV version but differs from my NIV Bible.  Guess the NIV got a makeover.

Psalm 23

A psalm of David.

1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2     He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3     he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,[a]
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.