All’s Well?



I want to share with you the story of the Shepherd’s Psalm. Perhaps it’s a familiar passage to you. If you were brought up in the faith if you went to Sunday school when you were young it may have been one of the first passages in the Bible that you memorized.

It was written by David who started out life as a shepherd and who later in life became the second king in Israel. Even with all of his sin God loved David and God described David as a man after his own heart.

Whenever I read the 23rd Psalm it is almost as if I am reading a map of one’s life. It could be your life. It could be my life. It was David’s life. Pretty much all of the ingredients in life are there. When David describes the Lord leading him through green pastures and beside the still waters he is describing a time in life when all is going well. We know what those days are like, don’t we? The sky is blue, the sun is shining, no storms on the horizon! Great days, fantastic days. “All’s well.”

But not every day is like that is it? The days are not always sunny and where we walk is not always green and the path we are on is not always smooth. Some days when people ask us; “All’s well?” We have to say; “Well, it’s pretty tough as of late.” “I’m not feeling so good. I lost my job. My bills keep mounting up and I just hope this whole economy turns around and we can go back to the good days of yesterday.” David experienced those days as well. The sun didn’t always shine for David and the grass wasn’t always green. Listen to how David would have replied to a Bermudian that approached him on such days and asked him; “All’s well?” David would have said; “I’m walking through dark valleys today. I’m surrounded by life’s enemies but my Shepherd is still leading me.”

Our days of green grass, still waters, dark valley’s and life’s enemies come and go. But there is a day coming for us all that no matter how hard we try we will not be able to bounce back from it like we sometimes bounce back from the valleys to the green grass. That day is called the day of our death and it will come for you and me and everyone else. David in his map of life as outlined in Psalm 23 describes what that day was like for him. In verses 5-6 he declares; “Lord, You have prepared for me a table in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.” David when he met the enemy called death was able to bounce back from the valleys in life not to still waters, green grass and blue skies but David was able to enter the glory of that place called heaven where Jesus went before him to prepare for his homecoming.

There is a common thread that ran throughout David’s life and which I pray runs through your life as well. The common thread was that Jesus his loving shepherd was with him by the still waters, was with him through the valleys and was there to welcome him home as he approached life’s greatest enemy called death.

You and I can walk through sunny days when all’s well and often we can survive the days that are not so well. BUT, we cannot walk nor can we even approach with any hope the gateway called death unless our Shepherd Jesus Christ is walking with us.

Some people will say; “Then I’ll wait until I die to meet Jesus.” But by then it will be too late. The Bible declares that now is the time now is the day to make certain that the Shepherd is with us in this life and preparing us for the life to come. When Jesus walks with us as our shepherd through all of life and someone approaches us with the question; “All’s well?” We can reply with a big smile, “I’m blessed because my shepherd is with me 24-7 “ALL’S WELL – PRAISE GOD!”



Rev. John