I have read Psalm 23 hundreds of times. It is definitely one of my favorite chapters in the whole Bible. I read it to my kids. I read it when I wake up in the middle of the night, and it helps me go back to sleep. I have made a melody to it and sing it. However, until recently I have never noticed how the psalmist shifts the way he addresses the Lord as the hymn unfolds.
In the first three verses David describes God as He — i.e. 3rd person. *He* says something about someone from a distance. We know something about *he*, that he leads us, that he is a source of rest and righteousness. But *he* still refers to someone ’out there’. We may know *he*, and tell others about *he*, but do we have a close relationship with *he*?
In verse 4 David changes how he describes the Lord:
“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I fear no evil, for you are with me.”
*You* refers to a personal relationship. More than knowing something about God, *you* testifies of an encounter with the Lord. In the valley of the shadow of death, David is in God’s presence. During the rest of the hymn, David speaks of the Lord in 2nd person. Let me propose that it was in the most difficult times and in the presence of his enemies that David more than ever saw the Lord as *you*. Could it be like this for us too?
As a young guy in his early 20s, who had only heard about God, I would think of the Lord as *he*. I had never had an encounter with his loving kindness. Then when I went through a personal crisis, God became real to me and I could give my life to Him. I got to know him as *you*.
These last few years I have struggled with chronic fatigue syndrom. It’s been tough, and my life has changed in many ways because of this sickness. Still, I have experienced that this season has given me an opportunity to know even better that Jesus and the Holy Spirit is God with me, and that he is in control. I have learned even more that I can trust him, that he is my strength in weakness, and that when I rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ, I am strong.
Perhaps this season is a time when *you* will reveal himself more and more to us. Perhaps this time is a time when we as the church can point people to Jesus and show others how to go from *he* to *you* in their relationship with him.