Four Simple, Beautiful Words: “You Are with Me”

God with Us Martin Luther says that “the Psalter is a little Bible, and the summary of the Old Testament.”1 That’s a lovely phrase, for it shows how it’s possible to see the whole story of the Bible encapsulated within smaller parts of the Bible. And if Luther was right to say this about the Psalms, then I want to suggest that Psalm 23:4 is itself “a little Bible” within the little Bible of the Psalms within the whole Bible. It is a beautiful truth that the message of the whole Bible can be summarized in four simple words: “You are with me.”2 You are with me. In Eden, God lived with Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:8). On Mount Horeb, God promised Moses that he would be with him in Egypt (Ex. 3:12). At Mount Sinai, God came to live with Israel in a tent, and he spoke with Moses “face to face, as a man speaks to his friend” (Ex. 33:11). In the promised land, God came to live with Israel in a temple (1 Kings 8:11). In Jesus, God came to live with his people—as Immanuel, “God with us” (Matt. 1:23; John 1:14). When Jesus prepared his disciples for his departure, he promised to send his Holy Spirit so that he could come and live in us (John 14:15–17). Jesus promised his disciples, “And behold, I am...