The Lord is my Shepherd (past, present, future)

Psalm 23 (ESV)
1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
3 He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake.

4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.

As I read this Psalm I was aware of what I was bringing to it: grieving over the past, anxiety over the present, and dread for the future. I heard the Lord respond to all three in different ways. The Psalm definitely focuses on David's present experience of God's sweet care, but the past and future are there too.

The past is assumed in the affirmation that God "restores my soul," implying that the past has left me weary and fragmented and in need of healing and restoration. The past has left me hungry and thirsty, in need of life-giving waters and green grasses.

The present is David's primary focus as the arena in which we experience the grace and lovingkindness of God; the present is the context in which we live, though we try to live in the past or future at times, to our detriment. I cannot receive grace for living in any other place than in the present moment.

The future is particularly in mind with the beauty of the last verse,
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.

As God restores, cares for and leads me in the present, I can look toward the future with seeds of hope that the future is not filled with dread but with the pursuit of God. Not primarily my pursuit of God, but the far more important story of God's pursuit of me. By his grace, may the dread dissipate in the glory of the light of his love.

This verse is also eschatological, pointing me to the final reality of living free and fully in the unmediated presence of my Abba. Come, Lord Jesus.