=_The Location of the Psalm_=

Have you ever noticed just where this Psalm is located? It lies between
the Twenty-second and the Twenty-fourth Psalms. A very simple statement
that--but how deep and wondrous a lesson lies hidden therein!

The Twenty-second Psalm. What is it? It is "The Psalm of the Cross." It
begins with the words uttered by Christ on the cross: "My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me?" It ends with the exclamation of the cross:
"He hath done it," or, as it may be translated, "It is finished." The
Twenty-second Psalm, then, is the Psalm of Mount Calvary--The Psalm of
the Cross.

What is the Twenty-fourth Psalm? It is the Psalm of Mount Zion--a
picture of the King entering into His own. How beautifully it reads:
"Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting
doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory?
The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory." The Twenty-fourth Psalm,
then, is the Psalm of the coming Kingdom of Glory.

There you have the two mountains; Mount Calvary and Mount Zion. What is
it that lies between two mountains? A valley with its green grass, its
quiet waters, its springing flowers, with shepherd and grazing sheep.
Here, then, is the lesson we learn from the _location_ of the Psalm: it
is given to comfort, help, inspire and encourage God's people during
this probationary period of our life, between the Cross and the Crown.

Is not this the reason why the tenses of this Psalm are _present_
tenses? "The +LORD+ _is_ my shepherd"; "He _maketh_ me to lie down"; "He
_leadeth_ me." Even the last verse, "_I will_ (not I shall) dwell in the
house of the Lord for ever," describes the _present_ attitude of the
soul of the Psalmist, who determines by no means to miss participation
in the fellowship of the saints in heaven.

We love _the Christ of the Cross_. We may not yet fully understand that
cross; may not yet have found any particular theory of the atonement
which completely satisfies our intellect. But we have learned to say
that we believe in the atonement and in the vicarious death of our
Redeemer. Somehow or other we have come, by faith, to throw our
trembling arms around that bleeding body and cry out in the desperate
determination of our sin-stricken souls to Him who hangs on that cross
to save us by His death. We have come to express our faith in that
divine sacrifice in the words of the hymn:

Other refuge have I none,