Posted on July 12, 2019 by Eliece Rybak
Psalm 23
Seven of the times the name Jehovah is combined with another word
in scripture, they are either used directly or exemplified in the
23rd Psalm to further display Who Jehovah is.
“The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely Goodness and Mercy shall follow me all the days of my life;
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
Jehovah (Exod. 6:3 “Yahovah”) means: the self-existent One; the Eternal One.
Meditate on that fact for a moment:
This Jehovah, not only has always existed and will always exist in the future, but He is dependent on nothing else (no one else) for His existence.
He has always been self-sustaining, and always will.
He does not need anything…air, food, the right environment …nothing.
He does not need us.
We, on the other hand, need Him. Job 12:10 reminds us,
“in Whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.”
1. “Jehovah-Rohi – The LORD our Shepherd
2. Jehovah-Jireh (Gen. 22:14) The LORD provides;
“I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside the still waters.” Trusting /resting in the Jehovah that provides for us, for our soul and spirit means that “I want nothing else. He is all I need and provides all I want”, as a shepherd does for his sheep. We have the Good shepherd who knows all that we need in our soul and spirit, as well as physically. The still waters signify peace/rest. A sheep will not drink out of rushing waters. It always looks for a calm pool from which to drink. The shepherd provides that. Do you have the calm, quiet “pools” in your life provided by the Good Shepherd?
This also signifies a satisfaction, a satisfied soul. Are you always longing for something that you do not have? Is there some kind of “unrest” or “a searching for something that you cannot find or grasp” in your life? If we come to the Good Shepherd, yielded to Him completely, we shall not want. It is He who satisfies our soul. Not just in what He gives, but it is He who fulfills.
He says that He “will satiate (fill to the full) the soul…, and my people shall be satisfied with my Goodness. For I have satiated (filled full) the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.” (Jeremiah 31:13, 25) Are we only looking for the physical to be satisfied? This Shepherd is the Shepherd of our soul. Don’t be satisfied to only have your physical needs met. Go to the Shepherd for the satisfying of the soul. We are complete in Him.(Colossians 2:10a) Look no farther. He is the “completer of your soul” emotionally and spiritually, as well as physically.
3. Jehovah-Rapha (Exod. 15:26) The LORD who healeth.
“He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” Jehovah is the healer. He is the One who restores our soul. Restores our soul to what? He restores our soul to Himself. He restores it from the ravages of sin through the redemption on the cross. But He restores it for Himself through sanctification (a present setting apart to holiness, and a future sanctification/perfection in Heaven). The Lord is the healer. He does not always promise to heal us physically in this life. At times He chooses to do that, but only promises total physical healing in Heaven. In the path of righteousness here in this life, we are restored to Him so that we can reflect the righteousness of Christ in our life now. For His name sake we bring glory to God.
4. Jehovah-Shalom (Judges 6:24) The LORD our peace.
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies;” We are walking in a world that is the domain of Satan. He is the prince of the power of the air. Death and evil are all about us. But our Jehovah God is our peace, because He is present with us; His perfect love casts out fear. He is our comfort. He literally prepares for us what we need in the presence of all that could hurt us and the evil that is around us. Peace in the midst of the enemies of our soul.
5. Jehovah-Tsidkenu (Jere.23:6) The LORD our righteousness.
“Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.” The picture of anointing in scripture is a picture of God’s acceptance and blessing. It is a picture of the Lord setting apart someone to Himself. This picture is of Jehovah the self-existent God blessing us so much that we are satisfied to overflowing with His abundant blessings (John 10:10b). He gives us His righteousness (11Cor. 5:21), which is all we need, totally sufficient for eternal life in Heaven, but also the fullness of His righteousness is extended to us now.
6. El-Shammah (Ezek.48:35) The LORD is present;
“Surely Goodness and Mercy shall follow me all the days of my life;”
Ever-present, the LORD is there; the Presence of the LORD is always there, an abiding presence with His own. His Goodness is beyond measure and His mercies are new every morning (Lam. 3:23-25) to His own. David knew the abiding presence of the Jehovah God. We too can know and sense through the inner witness of the Holy Spirit the Lord’s abiding presence in our lives. He never takes His eyes off us. (Job 36:7)
7. Jehovah-Nissi (Exod. 17:8-15) The LORD my banner;
“and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
The Lord my banner: literally our standard, where we stand; “an altar in the wilderness”….an altar showing ownership and protection. David knew he would one day be with the One who had set His banner over him. The self-existing Jehovah was his, and he was the Lord’s. The promise of eternal life through the Savior to come was extended to Old Testament believers, and many expressed their knowledge of that fact.
Posted in Daily Treasures for the Soul and Spirit, Encouragement for the Heart, His Presence….