There is no question as to who wrote it, David's autograph is on every verse. But when and where did it first utter itself upon the ear of man? Was it sung first amid the hills of Bethlehem, as the sheep were grazing over the wolds, dotting them like chalk-stones? Or was it poured first upon the ear of the moody king, whose furrowed brow made so great a contrast to the fresh and lovely face of the shepherd lad, who was ,,withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to?" It may have been. But there is a strength, a maturity, a depth, which are not wholly compatible with tender youth, and seem rather to betoken the touch of the man who has learned good by knowing evil, and who, amid the many varied experiences of human life, has fully tested the shepherd graces of the Lord of whom he sings.
These words were surely first sung by one who had suffered deeply; who had tasted many a bitter cup; who had often been compelled to thread his way through many a dangerous labyrinth, and beneath many an overhanging, low-browed rock.
We are told, in Persian story, of a vizier who dedicated one apartment in his palace to the memory of earlier days, ere royal caprice had lifted him from lowliness to honour. There, in a tiny room with bare floors, was the simple equipment of shepherd life,- the crook, the wallet, the coarse dress, the water-cruse; and there he spent a part of each day, remembering what he had been, as an antidote to those temptations which beset men in the dazzling light of royal or popular favour. So David the king did not forget David the shepherd boy. There was a chamber in his heart whither he was wont to retire to meditate and pray; and there it was that he composed this psalm, in which the mature experience of his manhood blends with the vivid memory of a boyhood spent among the sheep.
This only we say further, as we close this meditation: that as this psalm hath virtue, which streams to heal those who touch, so it is true that its power lies in dwelling so little upon man, and so much on God. See how every verse-tells us what He is doing. This is the true policy of life. Unbelief puts circumstances between itself and Christ, so as not to see Him; as the disciples did, through the mist, "and they cried out for fear." Faith puts Christ between itself and circumstances, so that it cannot see them "for the glory of that light." Unbelief fixes its gaze on men, and things, and likelihoods, and possibilities, and circumstances. Faith will not concern herself with these; she refuses to spend her time and waste her strength in considering them. Her eye is fixed steadfastly on her Lord, and she is persuaded that He is well able to supply all her need, and to carry her through all difficulties and straits.
O trembling heart, look away, and look up! Your sorrows have been multiplied indeed by looking at difficulties and second causes. Now cease from all this. Talk no more about the walled cities and giants, about the rugged paths and dark valleys, about lions and robbers; but think of the love, the might, and the wisdom of the Shepherd. Love that spared not its blood! Might that made the worlds! Wisdom that named the stars! Your salvation does not depend on what you are, but on what He is. For every look at self, take ten looks at Christ. Cease using the first pronoun, and substitute for it the third.
Tell us no more of your tears, your failures, or your 'sins; but tell us, oh, tell us, of the all-sufficiency of Jesus, and how your needs have been the foil of His deliverances; Sing again the old song of how all wants are swallowed up in the shepherd love of God. And emphasise each "HE" as you say again the psalm of childhood and of age.
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