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.

• The psalmist did not turn to a government or a relative or a rich friend to provide for him. To whom did he turn?
• Experience teaches us that walking “in paths of righteousness” is not always the easiest way to go. Why does the psalmist celebrate God’s leadership?
• What does the psalmist “get” when he “gives” his submission to God’s leadership?

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.

• The psalmist is walking on righteous pathways. Why doesn’t he escape “the shadow of death?”
• What political and cultural evils do you observe every day? How do they affect your life?
• Secular thinkers believe that the things that make them happy must be considered good, even if they are made happy by things the Bible considers evil. How does calling good evil and evil good affect the society we live in?
• How did the psalmist respond to evil that surrounded him?
• Whom do you trust when you confront evil?

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.

• You are invited to a “table” overflowing and abundant every time you worship. Do you have the sense that enemies surround that table? Who are they?
• In what way are you “anointed” when you visit that table?
• How can it be said that you “dwell in the house of the Lord forever”?
• How do you explain to secular thinkers what you mean about “dwelling in the house of the Lord forever”?