Life Group Discussion Guide
1.24.21
Magnify Series
Surrender
Psalm 23
4b I will fear no evil,
for you are with me.
OPEN
How easy is it for you to follow instructions? Follow a course that someone else has chosen?
Why do you think so many of us resist being led by another?
NEXT
Do you see the “two stanzas” of this song? Verses 1-4 sing of Yahweh as shepherd and guide.
Verses 5-6 look to a time when a human being is honored at a banquet table.
What about the early life of King David was background for the first stanza? You might want
to read from 1 Samuel 16:1-13 to frame Psalm 23:1-4.
Sheep are not bold, aggressive animals. Neither do they have horns or claws with which to
defend themselves. They need tending, guidance to pasture and water, and protection from
predators. What does this tell you about the danger to one that wanders off? Refuses to
follow a shepherd? What is the “surrender” lesson from this metaphor?
Read Psalm 49:13-14. The “shepherd” imagery is there, too, but with a radical difference from
Psalm 23. Those who “trust in themselves” rather than surrender to God as their shepherd
have a fixed destiny before them. What is it? How does this fit with the biblical emphasis on
life as a choice between life and death, a narrow way and a wide way, light and darkness?
John 10:11-15 has Jesus placing himself in the role of The Good Shepherd to his disciples.
How would this identify Jesus with this psalm? King David? The disciples’ need for someone
to guide and protect them?
What is the emphasis of the second stanza of Psalm 23 (vs. 5-6)? How does it expand and
complement what has gone before? What is the point of saying this banquet table is set “inthe presence of my enemies”? Who or what are the “enemies” threatening you?
These two verses are designed to emphasize the security that comes to God’s people. The
Hebrew word translated “follow” in v.6 probably has a more active sense of “chase after” (The
Message) or “pursue” (New American Bible). Read the verse and substitute these options.
How does it strengthen the message of security?
CLOSING
While we may think of Psalm 23 as a comfort psalm for funerals, it is more correctly a direct
life challenge to surrender “our own understandings” to God’s shepherd guidance into the
“paths of righteousness.” Close your study by praying for a yielded, surrendered heart.