The 23rd Psalm is one of the best-known and most-loved literary works in the world, and it may well be the best poem ever written. It is also a fine example of the power of figurative language: We read deep things into the vision of ourselves as sheep, led to green pastures and good water by a kind shepherd. It’s empowering to feel the confidence to go fearlessly into the valley of the shadow of death, and to feel the love and caring of a table prepared by the Lord and a cup so full it overflows.

What people don’t know, however, is that this language actually has precise internal meanings, and that when we see them there is an even deeper beauty in the poem. That’s because what it actually describes is the path to heaven, and the fierce desire the Lord has to lead us there.

The first step is to let the Lord be our shepherd – to accept His teaching and His leadership. The green pastures and the still waters represent the things He will teach us for the journey. Then He begins working inside is, setting our spiritual lives in order, so that we desire to do what’s good and to love one another. That’s represented by restoring our souls and leading us in the paths of righteousness.

But we will still face challenges. We still live external lives, out in the world, and we are subject to desires that arise in those externals, in our bodily lives. That’s the valley of the shadow of death. But the rod and staff represent truth from the Lord on both external and internal levels, ideas that can defend us against those desires.

And if we keep following, the Lord will prepare a table for us – a place inside us that he can fill with love (the anointing oil) and wisdom (the overflowing cup). Thus transformed, we can enter heaven, with love for others (“goodness”) and love from the Lord (“mercy”) and can love and be loved to eternity.

One of many beautiful things about this is the fact that it is the Lord who really does all the work. In the whole text, the only action taken by the sheep is walking through the valley of the shadow of death. Other than that, they follow the Lord, trust the Lord, accept the blessings of the Lord. And that is really true! In external states (in the valley) we might seem to be doing the work ourselves, but internally, spiritually, we simply need to give ourselves to the Lord and let Him bless us.

The underlying idea here is that the Lord created us so that He could love us, in loving us wants us to be happy, knows that our greatest happiness will come from being conjoined to Him in heaven, and Himself wants nothing more than to be conjoined to us. So everything He does, in every moment of every day for every person on the face of the planet, is centered on the goal of getting that person to heaven. He wants each and every one of us in heaven more than we are capable of imagining. We just need to cooperate.

(Reference: Apocalypse Explained 375 [34], 727 [2]; The Inner Meaning of the Prophets and Psalms 273)

10205. 'You shall not cause strange incense to go up on it' means no worship springing from any love other than that of the Lord. This is clear from the meaning of 'incense' as worship springing from love, dealt with in 9475; and from the meaning of 'strange' or 'a stranger' as those who are within the Church but do not acknowledge the Lord, dealt with in 10112. From this it is evident that 'you shall not cause strange incense to go up' means that no worship springing from any love other than that of the Lord is worship. The situation in all this is that acknowledgement of, faith in, and love to the Lord are the most important things of all in worship within the Church. For acknowledgement, faith, and love create a bond; acknowledgement and faith create a bond in the understanding, while love creates one in the will. And these two compose the entire person. Anyone within the Church therefore who does not acknowledge the Lord has no link with what is Divine; for everything Divine exists within and comes from the Lord. And when there is no link with what is Divine there is no salvation. So it is that worship springing from any faith or love other than faith in and love to the Lord is not worship. It is different with those outside the Church. Because they know nothing about the Lord their worship is nevertheless accepted by Him when, true to their religion, they lead lives marked by some kind of charity towards one another, some kind of belief, and some kind of love to God, whom the majority of them worship under a human form. In the next life, when taught by angels about the Lord, that He is Divinity itself in human form, they too acknowledge the Lord. And to the extent that they had led a good life they worship Him in faith and love, see 2589-2604.