From Lament to Hope: Wellbeing and Happiness in the Psalmsಮಾದರಿ

Psalm 23: Wellbeing Under the Good Shepherd

I wonder what your favourite Psalm is?

Psalm 23 is a well-known passage to turn to in darker times, though it is not a straightforward psalm. “The Lord is my shepherd”—and yet the shepherd leads the sheep through dark valleys. The dark valley of the psalm is bracketed by two hopeful pictures: first, green pastures and calm waters, then, a banquet. And yet in between, the “valley of the shadow of death” looms large. Why doesn’t the shepherd avoid the valley, and keep the sheep in the green pastures? If the leadership of the shepherd is to be trusted, then one cannot just focus on the hopeful shades of the picture.

Strikingly, we are never told that the sheep and shepherd emerge from the valley. The table “set before me, in front of my enemies” is set in the shadow of the valley where enemies are still present. Psalm 23 speaks of a different kind of wholeness or wellbeing than we often dream of. Often, we think that wellbeing and happiness are about the absence of struggle, or pain, or the shadows that death casts. The psalms tell us something radically different and far more hopeful. They tell us it is possible to know a good life, and wellbeing, even in the midst of difficult and uncertain times.

Psalm 23 does not say “everything is fine,” or “there is nothing to fear.” Psalm 23 acknowledges the fear, while giving us a roadmap for life within the reality of conflict and adversity: “your rod and your staff comfort me.” Rods and staves are perhaps not the first image that comes to mind for the word “comfort!” But both are associated with the leadership of the shepherd, who rescues trapped sheep with his staff and fends off beasts and robbers with his rod. Wellbeing is not found through the absence of struggle, but through the presence of the shepherd—even when we may not see the shepherd in the shadow of the valley. Verse 6 is particularly poignant: “goodness and mercy will follow me” is a pale translation; a better rendering is, “goodness and loving kindness will relentlessly pursue me.” It is the relentless efforts of the shepherd that make it safe enough for us to keep walking behind him—or be carried by him—as he leads us safely out.