How could David say, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life" (Psalm 23:6)?

It is a simple thing, but not simple for us - at least we are not simple enough for it. (See Psalm 23.) Jehovah is my shepherd. In Psalm 30 he says, "I shall never be moved. Thou, Jehovah, by thy favour hast made my mountain to stand strong. Thou didst hide thy face" - and where was this fine mountain then? But in Psalm 23 he cannot say, Jehovah is my shepherd, till he has been through all the power of evil. Not Jehovah has given me abundance of green pastures (though He does give them), but He is my shepherd, and then come the green pastures and still waters, but he is not looking at that only. "He restoreth my soul," if he had got into trouble. Then he goes on to death: "I will fear no evil"; Jehovah is the shepherd. If he meets enemies, Jehovah spreads a table for him in their presence, as Joshua did when they went into Canaan. Then he says, "He anointeth my head with oil." He reckoned on Jehovah, and learned to reckon through all the difficulties of the way. For His name's sake He leads in the paths of righteousness, and goodness and mercy follow me all the days of my life; but he did not say that till he had been through all the power of evil. The point is, Jehovah is my shepherd, not, having good things.

But in the last verse, is put forth another effort of faith, not only in death, but through life: surely, says the believer, "goodness and mercy shall follow," even as water from the smitten rock followed Israel all through the wilderness. There is no promise of being delivered from this or that terrible event; but still into every want, every sin, goodness and mercy shall follow. When he falls, it shall be but into the arms of mercy. "I shall not greatly fall," says the Psalmist, "for the Lord upholdeth with his hands, mercy embraceth on every side." However afflicted, the child of God can say, goodness and mercy have pursued, goodness and mercy sought me out — goodness and mercy afflicted — goodness and mercy sustained — goodness and mercy shall follow into my Father's house . Here is the climax of it all, to "dwell in the house of the Lord for ever." Christ has said, "in my Father's house are many mansions, I go to prepare a place for you." The beauty and accommodation of that house shall be according to His means, His taste, our necessities. When we are about to visit a person's house, our expectations correspond with our knowledge of the proprietor; when we receive a friend to our house, it is customary to give ourselves to please them, our aim is their profit and pleasure, all the pleasure our house affords is brought forth for that end. So in our Father's house, we shall have intercourse with the owner, may I say, He will give himself to our happiness. Oh! what powers are in Him when he sets about blessing; when his aim is to bless, he blesses like a God; all that his house affords shall be brought forth, while the mind of the Great Original, as an unfathomable mine of wealth, shall be an ever-constant, ever-new delight. There is a vast difference in his visits to us here, and our being received into his habitation to go no more out. "In his presence is fulness of joy, at his right hand there are pleasures for evermore." This is what we cannot conceive; while in the flesh, joy destroys itself, immediately intoxicates; so frothy is the mind, it could not bear much even of spiritual joy. "The breath of heaven might swell the sails to inflation, and endanger the vessel, did not our Captain add the ballast of trials to steady her, and cause her to go on her way softly and with security." But when we shall behold his face in righteousness, when we shall wake up after his likeness, we shall be satisfied. Oh! what a burst of truth shall then rush upon the mind, when we shall be like our elder Brother, full of grace and truth; even in the believer, now falsehood is interwoven; never till then, shall the creature find in the creature a rose without a thorn. When the door shuts in the children with their Father, the enemy in vain shall knock; sighing even shall flee away. What a thought for his children! We shall be really there! as certainly as that now we are sitting here, we shall "sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of God." What manner of persons ought we to be? Shall we all meet in our Father's house? before we again meet, we may have all experienced what it is to pass through the valley of the shadow of death. Shall we all be able to say, goodness and mercy followed? What a thing to be able to face such a world, with "surely goodness and mercy shall follow me," etc. even till mortality is swallowed up of life.

Do think of this, O, my soul; here pause a little; meditate; let thy thoughts dwell on this blessed truth. Beware of thinking, too much of thine own condition — thine own circumstances; but think rather of thine heavenly attendants, "goodness and mercy:" and still more, think of Him who sends them and for so long a time — "all the days of thy life." Canst thou speak any more of feeling, as it were, alone in this world? Faith sees these messengers of love sent down from heaven to guard and follow thee all thy pilgrim days. But why, it may be asked, fix on goodness and mercy? Because "goodness" meets all our need; and "mercy" forgives all our faults. It is only with such that we can get along. The Good Shepherd has trod the sheep's path Himself, and He knows best what they need: not that He needed in all respects what we need; no, He was "without sin." But, as a man, He has walked the path, under Jehovah's care, along which His sheep and lambs are now passing. He goes before His flock; they follow Him.

With such a Shepherd what other conclusion can we reach? The Lord goes before, the sheep follow after, and goodness and mercy bring up the rear. How blessed that goodness and mercy should follow behind, just, indeed, where they are wanted; for there are weak sheep, and sick sheep, and lame sheep, and the weak and sickly sheep lag behind, and follow afar off, but goodness and mercy will pick them up. How do we deal with the weak and sickly sheep? Alas! too often like the shepherds of Israel, of whom the prophet had to say, "With force and with cruelty have ye ruled them" (Ezek. 34:4); but with goodness and mercy the Lord deals with them. If we cannot count upon the tender mercies of one another, this at least we know, the goodness and mercy of the Lord will follow us all the days of our life.

And when the days of this passing life have run their course, what of the far future that stretches into eternity? The Psalmist closes with an answer of ringing certainty, "I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever." This is the glorious end of a great beginning. For what can be greater, in this world, than to go through it with the Lord Himself for our Shepherd. And if "the Lord is my Shepherd" it must follow that not only He will lead me through this wilderness world, but He will bring me at last into the glory where He Himself is gone.

"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life."

Mark, reader, the very first word that follows upon such a cup, is, "Surely!" The expression of perfect and calm assurance. Assurance of what? Of the forgiveness of my sins? of salvation? of my acceptance before God? That must have been all settled before; it precedes the cup, but cannot be produced by it. This is the calm assurance of the goodness and mercy of my God and Saviour. The same quiet confidence that spoke at the opening of our Psalm, "I shall not want," after having said, "The Lord Jehovah-Jesus is my Shepherd," says at the close, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me;" after having fed, not upon His Word only, but Himself, at His Table; and having drunk of that cup of blessing given by His own dying hands.

There is something very affecting in the thought of goodness and mercy following me all the days of my life. I must remind my reader here of a remark, when speaking on the "Valley of the Shadow of Death." I said that a child going by night with its father through a dangerous place, would, in the sense of the danger, cling closer to his father. In our sixth verse, it is not so much the sense of the evil and danger around that makes me cling closer to my God and my Saviour, but rather the sense of His goodness. And just as the eye of a loving mother, passing with her weak little child along a rough road, would watch and follow every movement of the child, so the loving eye of our God, in His unchanging goodness and mercy, follows and watches over our every step. The same gracious eye that was looking out for the return of the prodigal, and recognized him when he looked but as a speck in the distance, follows every movement of the found, accepted, and beloved child, on the way to the Father's House above. And how many children are there on that way? poor and feeble as to themselves, though infinitely rich in Christ; and though marking their daily path with failures; yet, a loving eye, that has counted each hair of those numberless children, follows their every movement, and His "good hand" marks our every-day path with the way-marks of His "goodness and mercy." May grace be given to each beloved child to be guided by the Father's eye, as we know the voice of His blessed Son, our Good Shepherd; that we may not be like horses and mules whose mouths must be kept in with bit and bridle; but may we be kept very close to His good and holy eye, to discern at once whither it bids us to go; and may we have a deeper sense of His good hand upon us. I mean that sense of His good hand which we find in His two servants of old, Ezra and Nehemiah, in a "day of small things," when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin opposed, taunted, or tried to ensnare them in every possible way. Then, with perils and evil without and within, what was it that upheld and encouraged those faithful servants of God in their arduous path? It was the sense of God's goodness and mercy above all the evil around, so fully re-echoed when the foundation of the Temple was laid and the song arose, "Praise ye the Lord, for He is good, and His mercy endureth for ever!" It forms the grand theme of so many Psalms, especially towards the close, anticipating the praises of Israel when, restored to their land and temple, they, on their part, will own and praise the goodness of Him Whose mercy endureth for ever.

And do not say, Ah! that was when he was a mature Christian; it was very well to say it at the end of his life. If he had not found Christ thus sufficient from the beginning right through to the end, he could not have said what he did at the end. It is that faith reckons on Christ from the starting point of Christian life. It is the principle I was referring to in Psalm 23. When the Psalmist had gone through everything, he says, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever." Full or hungry I shall always find that He is enough. But to be able to experience this at the end it must be experienced by the way.

We get something, in its measure, like this in the Old Testament in Psalm 23. The psalmist says, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." He does not say, "Thou hast made my mountain to stand strong" — I have great blessings, but it is the Lord Himself who blesses me. What is the way he learns that? His soul is restored, the Lord spreads a table for him in the presence of his enemies. He had learnt Him through all this, and he is not afraid of the power of death, or of the enemy: "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me": and he knows that God will keep him to the end, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever."

(v. 6) Sixthly, there is the future path, that may cause apprehension. The experience of what the Shepherd has been in the past gives unquestioning confidence as to the future. “Surely,” says the psalmist, “goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.”

If we have proven the Lord Jesus sufficient for our present need, are we not thus encouraged to have fullest confidence also for the future? "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life" (v. 6). Thus, our future even on earth is secure in the reality of His unfailing goodness and mercy. But the eternal future is not only secure, but full of the greatest blessing imaginable, — "I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." David had not been privileged to build God a house, and though the godly in Israel in a future day will greatly enjoy the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, both David and we shall dwell in the Father's house in glory for eternity. The blessing of this will be beyond our present ability to even understand. What a contrast to "the valley of the shadow of death"!