Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Psalm 23:6

The Mount Everest of Psalm 23 is verse 6. What kind of person makes a statement like this: “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life”? Only a person who knows his Shepherd.

David is not naïve. He is not too young to understand. He knows, all too well, that life can be tough. Life can be unfair. Life can be cruel. He lost three kids!

But David knows that God is not life. God is never unfair or cruel.

Others may hurt us and do us harm. We may hurt ourselves with our own sin. But not God. God will pursue us in love.

God’s goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives. Not just some of the days, but all the days. Every single day we will experience God’s bounty. We will drink it in like refreshing water.

And beyond that, we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. There is no doubt about our future. No uncertainty or insecurity. We have a secure destiny – with God!

What an expression of trust! Every phrase of this final verse oozes trust. David had walked with God a long time. All his life. He had learned, often through painful experience, that God was good, that God could be trusted, that God’s goodness and love would follow him all his life. Surely,surely, this would take place.

What kind of person talks this way? Only a person who knows his God.