Scriptures: Psalm 23:6, 52:1, 145:9, 33:5, 27:4, Romans 8:28, John 10:11, 14:2, Acts 10:38, James 1:17, Matthew 5:45, Isaiah 60:10, Lamentations 3:22

In the most famous of all Psalms, Psalm 23, the final verse is perhaps the most loved. In this verse, King David talks about his final destination. The truth is, we all have a final destination, and that destination is eternity. In Psalm 23, the final word for that destination is "forever". Understand that no matter what your understanding of eternity is, no matter what word in your life goes before "forever", that final destination, somewhere, is going to be "forever". It's going to be for eternity, which is a long, long time. God wants your final destination to be heaven. When you come out of the valley of the shadow of death, He wants you to join Him in the House of the Lord.

Dr. Merritt concludes his study of Psalm 23 in thinking about our final destination, and the journey to get there. In this message he shares three wonderfully encouraging truths that ought to give all of us who know the Lord, victory over worry, depression, and anxiety as we face the future.

"Now I want you to notice that both goodness and mercy, we are told, 'follow us.' The Hebrew word 'follow' literally means, 'to pursue.' What this really says is God's goodness and God's mercy pursues us, runs after us, and stays right on our heels all the days of our lives. Remember this is a shepherd's song. Shepherds do not drive sheep. They lead sheep. Sheep are led from the front, so the shepherd would always be out in front. But what that shepherd would always have with him would be sheepdogs. Usually there would be two of them, and they would always be bringing up the rear. Their job was to follow behind the sheep, and if a sheep went astray or a sheep got hurt, or if a sheep started falling behind, they would bark for the master and alert the shepherd to take care of that sheep. David is saying that goodness and mercy are like divine sheep dogs in our lives. They are always following behind us, keeping watch over us, and helping us when we have a need." --Dr. Merritt

Keywords: eternity, Heaven, destination, assurance, salvation, mercy, grace, twenty-third, shepherd, Psalm, David, King, sheep, goodness, billion, trillion, quadrillion, quintillion, incomprehensible, lightning, Dr. Harry Ironside, death, ending, grief, keep the fork