The Pronouns That Make Psalm 23 Even More Powerful

Author’s Note: This article is adapted from the final point of a sermon I preached in 2019. I was reminded of this message as I read a magazine article alone in my bed. My wife was in a hotel over 100 miles away because she was sitting vigil at her father’s hospital bed. Today, my family has been in this valley for more than a month. Yet, we cling to the hope that, on the other side, our faith will be strengthened and our intimacy with God that much deeper. This article is dedicated to my father-in-law Alan, my mother-in-law Karol, and my wife Nicole.

Every few months, I look forward to receiving my copy of Bible Study Magazine. As the title suggests, this magazine is dedicated to the science and art of studying and interpreting Scripture, and there is always something good among its pages. In the latest issue, my attention was drawn to an article by Matt Morton entitled, “The Pronouns That Make Psalm 23 So Powerful” (July/August 2022). This provocative piece explained how the first-person pronouns used throughout this familiar psalm remind us of the personal relationship that we can have with God and the power which God delivers through this relationship to sustain us through the troubles of this world. Yet, there are two other pronouns in Psalm 23 which are at least equally powerful.

Specifically, in verses 2-3, David five times referred to “the Lord” (vs 1) using the third-person pronouns “he” and “his.” Then, after going through the valley, the psalmist in verses 4-5 referred five more times to God using the second-person pronouns “you” and “your.” These mirrored pronouns highlighted for the original readers and us the transformative power of the valley. David was no longer talking about God. He was talking to God because, somewhere in the valley, David encountered the Lord, and that encounter catapulted his relationship with God to a whole new level of intimacy.

Now, please understand. David was already the man after God’s own heart before he wrote Psalm 23. He already had a deep and intimate faith long before he entered the valley, and this faith enabled him, like a sheep, to trust the Lord as a shepherd to provide for his material needs, protect him in the good times, and lead him in the right direction. Indeed, if he had entered the valley with no faith, he may have been broken by the experience.

In fact, we all know people of faith who have emerged from the valley broken. When they found themselves in the shadow of death, surrounded by enemies, and wanting for everything, they began to question the goodness and power of God, and when he did not immediately respond, they revoked their trust and took it upon themselves to find their way out. Now, haggard and hobbled, they limp through life, cynical and lifeless.

Yet, David’s shift from third-person to second-person pronouns suggests that it need not be this way. We can pass through the valley of the shadow of death and emerge on the other side with our faith intact and even bolstered by the experience.

The reason for this is aptly illustrated by the first-time rock climber. Even after the climber dons the protective harness and hooks into the ropes, she will not fully trust her gear until that moment when she slips, her life is literally hanging by a thread, and that thread holds. So also, it is only as we traverse the valley and are stripped of our security, strength, and supply that we will finally know for certain that God will never fail us.

While our faith may advance gradually in the green pastures, this discovery will launch us ahead in grace. For David, looking back from this side of the valley, his previous faith seemed small, his previous degree of intimacy remote. In this way, his shift in pronouns brings to mind Job’s revelation in Job 42:5: “I had heard reports about you, but now my eyes have seen you.”

Indeed, we see similar transformations in numerous biblical passages where people’s lives were disrupted. Jacob encountered the Lord in Genesis 28 after fleeing from his brother to Bethel, and his life began to change. Elijah fled from the murderous threats of Jezebel into the desert, and the Lord addressed his depression and lack of direction. The disciples’ lives were thrown into a blender when Jesus went to a cross, but through that trouble they learned so much about Christ’s divine nature and mission.

In Psalm 23, David’s stroll through the valley of the shadow of death bolstered his confidence in God’s direction and discipline, provision, protection, calling, and more. It reinforced the sense that God was his, and he was God’s. Yet, the most significant result of his time in the valley was shifting from knowing about God in an abstract, theoretical sense, to actually knowing God so that David could speak directly to him.

Moreover, David’s shift from third-person to second-person pronouns promises that our time in the valleys of life is not in vain. Rather, the valley is often where God finally proves and reveals himself to us in new and exciting ways, and whenever we encounter God, we cannot return unchanged.