Youth Teacher: 2nd Quarter 2017

By R.H. Boyd Publishing Corp.

Youth Teacher is a quarterly publication used to help the Sunday school teacher discuss issues pertaining to youth ages 12-17. Sections such as Biblical Emphases give background knowledge of the lesson. All lessons include relevant life concerns and lesson applications to help the teacher relate the Bible to the lives of young people.

• Language: English
• Publisher: R.H. Boyd Publishing Corporation
• Release date: Jan 23, 2017
• ISBN: 9781681672434

Book preview

PSALM 23

RESOURCES NEEDED

• New National Baptist Hymnal, 21st Century Edition, #235 (NNBH, #209)

• God’s Promises Bible

• Boyd’s Commentary for the Sunday School

UNIFYING PRINCIPLE

People face challenges that may seem too difficult to endure. Where can they find the support and reassurance to face these challenges? The psalmist promises that God’s love provides what is necessary to confront any difficulties and to live in a fulfilling and intimate relationship with God.

BIBLICAL EMPHASES:

1. We understand that the Lord God is the Good Shepherd who takes care of us.

2. We can appreciate God’s care for us in both good and bad times.

3. David illustrates a picture of God’s provisions for human beings.

4. He shows divine favor as an inheritance for those who name God as their Savior and Lord.

TARGET EMPHASIS

SEEKERS FOR JESUS: Younger teens are coming to understand the value of true and trusted leadership and guidance. They start to develop a solid foundation for leadership and accountability for others.

TEEN SCENE: Older teens discover his or her leadership abilities and to learn to appreciate being nurtured, valued, and guided in the appropriate way.

LESSON OVERVIEW

This lesson includes a whole range of things. First, it makes an emphatic statement about God’s care and concern for those who express faith in Him. David, the psalmist said confidently, The Lord is my shepherd. Second, it speaks of God’s provisions for believers. Third, it refers to God’s great leadership ability in challenging times. Fourth, it alludes to God’s protection and the elevation of those who serve him faithfully.

The text reveals that God is concerned about human need, in general, and the believers’ needs in particular. Who among us does not have needs? If you were to make a list of your needs, what would they be? As human beings, many of our needs are the same things: food, shelter, protection, peace, and love. In the beginning of creation, God has shown us that He is aware of the common needs that all of us possess. However, in this text, we are also shown that God will tend to our individual needs, as well. The psalmist asserted in this text, The Lord is my shepherd. He places stress and emphasis on the personal pronoun, my. It shows God’s individual attention to the issues David faced as a human being and as a believer. Let’s examine the psalmist’s declaration of faith and discover why he made such a bold assertion. In doing so, hopefully you will discover how God has provided for all of your needs as you journey through life, as well.

I. God Provides Provision and Peace (Psalm 23:1–3)

As the most revered and probably most decorated king of Israel, David had quite a unique relationship with God. Out of a poverty-stricken past, he emerged as the Lord’s chosen one to lead Israel to a level of prominence. As an old man, he had experienced the depths of God as David articulated words the world would long remember and treasure in Psalm 23. In his life, the warrior became king, and had experienced great tragedies and disappointments. Yet, God’s love for him and his love for God had become the foundation in which he came to know the Lord as the Good Shepherd. Just as a shepherd provides for his sheep, God provides for believers. David recognized God as One who had given His children much more than they deserved because of His great love.

Verse one begins with a declaration. It is an emphatic statement of what God is to the one who has served as a shepherd and knew the ends and outs of this pastoral duty. The Lord is my shepherd, David concluded. He continued by saying, I shall not want. Youth can interpret this to mean that because God is our shepherd, we will not want for anything. This truth might sound contradictory, especially if you have ever felt as though you don’t have everything you need, or have felt dissatisfied with the things you have. But when God is the center of your life, you will find that He is good and faithful, and He does provide for you. David made the claim that God is all that David needs to find fulfillment and joy in this world. The phrase, I shall not want, is predicated on the fact that God is his shepherd. It is out of God’s abundance that all of David’s needs will be met and supplied. David had confidence that even his future needs would be met as indicated by the word shall. God who sees into the future would summon His omnipotence to work in the future king’s behalf, whatever the circumstance. King David had full confidence in God’s deliverance of promised provisions. It is important for us to have this type of confidence in God as well. This text challenges us to recognize what are needs and what are merely wants. God will place people and create circumstances in believers’ lives who will be able to help them to receive what they need, whether these are the basic necessities like food and shelter, or more complicated needs such as the resolution of life related issues, like medical care, family problems, and other things youth face on a daily basis.

God provided for David in non-physical ways, also. He knows life is difficult at times, and He offers rest from one’s weary journey. The descriptions of resting in green pastures and laying beside still waters offer peaceful imagery, allowing us to see that God offers daily peace, and He wants us to reach out and take it. When hurting or troubled, God can restore their soul. That goes to say, King David found God to be a resource. In fact, the text implied that God is the initiator of the out pouring of His resources upon the faithful. He leads, He guides, He provides direction and nourishment that was never before experienced by the youthful lad who would become king soon after.

Also, God will lead us down the path of righteousness. When we aren’t sure about our future or what might happen, we can trust that God is good, and He has made a righteous way for us.

II. God Provides Protection and Paradise (Psalm 23:4–6)

There is a scene shift in the next several verses. The imagery visualizes, humanity’s greatest enemy as a mere shadow enclosed with a valley wherein the psalmist walked. Yet on the journey with Him, He is the One who takes the fear out. The psalmist then introduced instruments of guidance and protection that doubled as weapons against wolf-like intruders that seek to discourage and destroy the tranquility of his life.

It is a foregone conclusion that the fear of death and its finality can shatter one’s hopes and aspirations, but the young shepherd was not rattled. He was given a sense of extra comfort because of his faith. First, death is reduced to existing as only a shadow effect. The modern-day preacher might argue that the rationality for this conclusion is because the heartache of death ran over Jesus and all that runs over believers is the death’s shadow. That goes to say death’s sting has been stolen and the grave has been robbed of its victory (1 Cor. 15:55–56). Death and the grave have been totally disarmed and their ability to inflict permanent pain and hurt eliminated. Second, David knew that shepherds use a rod and a staff to guide the sheep. Therefore, He could easily picture God as the Good Shepherd, who would guide and protect Him with His rod and shepherd’s staff. This is the equivalent of icing on the cake.

Not only does God offer us comfort when we are struggling or frightened, but He also prepares a table before [us] in the presence of [our] enemies (Ps. 23:5, NRSV). In this context, God offers us abundance, and our enemies can only look on with envy. We are protected from them as God gives us everything we need, and celebrates and loves us fully. Because we are His blessed children, He anoints our heads, further displaying His acceptance of us into His family. The ritual of anointing the head with oil indicates both divine acceptance and approval (see 1 Sam. 10:1, 16:8–16). The reference to the cup runneth over means more blessings had been bestowed upon him than the psalmist could even think or imagine.

The psalms are filled with affirmations of God’s love for us. For instance, David wrote that God’s goodness and mercy will follow him for all the days of [his] life (v. 6, NRSV). God’s love flows out of a tender mercy for His children, not out of His duty. His love is kind and gentle because God’s nature is to love. Because of His great love for us, He has prepared a paradise for us: the house of the Lord.

There