Followed By Mercy

Overcoming Stinking Thinking With Psalm 23

• W. Austin Gardner

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Fear creeps in fastest when the room goes quiet. That’s where our story begins: sickness in the body, slander in the air, and a mind racing in the dark. We open up about stage four cancer, sleepless drives, and the ache of betrayal and then trace the turning point that changed everything. The shift didn’t comes from rethinking our inner script through the lens of Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd is not a funeral line; it’s a survival line for anyone walking through real danger.

We unpack how negative self-talk hijacks our days, why identity must lead before confession, and how David found steady peace in a cave while enemies gathered. Green pastures and still waters become the blueprint for how God provides what we need in forms we can receive. Paths of righteousness for his name’s sake reframes guidance in crisis, and the banquet table in the presence of enemies shows how joy can exist right in the middle of opposition. We also explore God’s self-revealed character merciful, gracious, slow to anger and why that matters when shame bows your head.

You’ll hear practical ways to renew your mind: memorizing Psalm 23, naming the lies, replacing them with truth, and practicing gratitude until it reshapes reflexes. We talk about the lifter of my head, no condemnation for those in Christ, and how goodness and mercy have followed us farther than we realized. If your thoughts have been a battlefield, this conversation offers language, tools, and hope to find calm in the storm.

If this encouraged you, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs courage today, and leave a review to help more listeners find these conversations. What line from Psalm 23 anchors you most right now?

Thanks for listening. Find us on YouTube, Substack, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

Austin Gardner:

First, I want to tell you, I love your pastor. I love and he has been a friend to me. When I needed a friend so desperately, he's been a friend of me, and he is a tremendous guy. But I would like to say something to you. As a church, you're doing what very few do. You're acting like a church. The church is never meant to be this group of sactimonious Pharisees that come together to figure out who they could judge and pick on. They're a body, and one part of your body hurts. You don't kick it out. You love it and you take care of it because it's you, and we're together. Amen. And so I am so grateful to God that you are doing just exactly that. That thrills me. When I heard that you were doing that, I just want to congratulate you and thank you. Now I won't take you to Psalm 23, because what I'd like to talk to a bit to you about and to your pastor is how to have success over stinking thinking. The Bible says in Romans chapter 12 and verse 2 be transformed, be you transformed by the renewing of your mind. I have stage four renal renal cell carcinoma, kidney cancer. It has taken a testicle, two adrenal glands, a kidney, and it's now in my lungs. That scared me a little. I got up while I go and went out because I have to take pills at certain times because my body, without the chemicals, I will be dead in two days, they say. So I went out. If my alarm goes off on my watch, I go take my pills. I got attacked and accused and lied about. Exonerated by the investigation, but it doesn't matter. When it's done, you're marked.

SPEAKER_01:

And I would lay in my bed at night. I've been married 52 years to my Betty.

Austin Gardner:

You may clear here at this church, I can't be married to Betty, I gotta be married to my Betty, amen. And the lights would be off and uh dark, and I could feel the tubers. I could feel them right now. There's two of them right there, and I could feel them. And I'd be laying there and panic would hit me. I'd feel like I've got to get up. And I would run down the road. I'd get in my car and drive and park in church parking lines after riding around for two hours. I would just feel fear. Where are you, God? Why is this happening to me? I've been in the ministry 50 plus years. I've been preaching, I've been a missionary, I've started churches in America, churches overseas. Where are you? And along the way, the Holy Spirit of God took me to Psalm 23. And it changed my life. Before I read that, I want to I need you to understand because I really believe this is for you too. See, we never stop thinking. We never stop thinking. Scientists say that you think approximately 6,000 thoughts a day. How about that? They say that it's five to six thoughts a minute. You know how that is. You know who you talk to more than anybody else in the world? You. I mean, I mean, honestly, there's something weird about you, you know, because you're sitting there going, hey, how you feeling? I'm feeling fine. No, I'm not feeling that good. What? We got this. Come on, don't we do it? Amen. I mean, we're all we're all nuts. We're all nuts. And the scientists, a secular scientist, say that 75% of those thoughts are negative. So you, in fact, I'd like to say this to you. If somebody talked to you, like you talk to you, but if they talk to your best friend the way you talk to you, what would you do? You know how you think about yourself. You're too old, you're fat, you're too short, you're too tall, you don't know nothing. You always mess everything up. You this is that's come on. I mean, if you have that conversation in your head, and if somebody was talking to your best friend like that, you'd say, you know, hey, back off. That ain't true about him. But you say, when you go, you're a loser. You say, amen. Well, and Psalm 23 radically changed my life because what ends up happening is King David is in a cave. He has been run out of his kingdom. His son, Absalom, is ready to take over the kingdom. He has already slept with ten of David's wives. He has gone around lying and slandering David for months. The whole community has turned against David. And David's best friend, Ahithophel, has been working with Absalom to get rid of David. His best friend, his familiar friend. The one guy the king could talk to has turned on him. The one guy the king went walking in the afternoons with and telling him what he was feeling and sharing his heart and being transparent and vulnerable with him has turned against him and wants to kill him. Now, David has really messed up. You need to understand this is what really helped me. Because you know, can I tell you what I think? Why'd all this happen to me?

SPEAKER_01:

There's something wrong with me. I'm wicked.

Austin Gardner:

God doesn't love me. Nobody cares about me. And all that's coming in. And I'm amen in myself. And nobody's saying that out loud to me, but me and me are having a big discussion. And so David is now in a cave. He's got a handful of guys, and they know they're about to be killed at any moment. And David will be no longer. But David goes in a cave and he gets victory. And I want you to go with me to the 23rd Psalm right now, and I'll read a little bit of that with you. And I just want you to understand what he's saying. Now listen to me. Thinking is imagining. Thinking is seeing it in front of you, you know? Like everything we do starts with a thought, and we imagine it. So David's got to be in that cave, and he's got to be thinking, any moment they're going to come get me, any moment they're going to kill me. He is in trouble. Now, he's going to go to God in Psalm 23 that we're about to read. This isn't a psalm for funerals. That's where we left it for. But it's really a psalm when David, David is about 65 years old when he writes this, and he's in a cave and he's about to lose everything. And he goes to God, and look what he says. Now, stop a second. That's a crazy start. Because if he was a good Christian in America today, he'd start off and saying, Oh, God, I'm a failure. Oh, God, I've really messed up. He'd start out groveling before God. Just say, God, I know I didn't do a good job. Let Enon rape Tamar, my son, rape my daughter, and I didn't do anything about it. God, I messed up. And God, I did kill Uriah, and I took his wife, Bathsheba. I'm not a good guy, God. God, please, in your mercy, forgive me. Isn't that a good way to start praying? Come on. That's how you go to God. But see, what you're doing is you're kind of compounding what the devil's wanting to do to you. You see, you are what you think, and you think you're a loser, and God thinks you're a son. You think, you think you mess up, and God's like, You was a mess when I got you. I knew you were a mess when I got you. I just fixed messes. And it ain't really about you, it's really about how good I am at fixing you. Don't worry, I got this under control.

SPEAKER_01:

So David starts off with this. God, I'm a failure.

unknown:

No.

SPEAKER_01:

God, I messed up.

unknown:

No.

Austin Gardner:

God, you are my shepherd. The God of heaven who sought a relationship with me. By the way, in the shepherd idea is you go through the shepherd idea. Shepherds lead sheep. Sheep are dumb. You know, a dog, it's a lot smarter than a sheep. God could have picked a lot of animals to use here. He picked a sheep. Because he said, I'm the smart one. I'm the leader. I'm in charge here. And you're kind of dumb. But if you get lost, I'll go looking for you. If you get off track, I'll come find you. And he said, The Lord is my shepherd. He's my shepherd. That's really kind of funny. Sheep don't usually call a shepherd the shepherd. But David says, I know who I am. See, that's where we got to start. We got to go back to truth. We got to go back to truth. And truth is, the Lord is my shepherd. Then it says, I shall not want. Now, I'll just be honest with you. I did a lot of deep study. I looked up every meaning of these words. I checked it out. Do you know what I shall not want means? In the original Hebrew when that was written, it meant I shall not want. And what that means is I won't want tomorrow. I won't want today. I never have wanted, because it's a verb in the Hebrew that says, it's always the fact. The shepherd always meets my needs. Now we could stop right now, and this would be a good place for some gratitude. Look how God's blessed you. You think about the times you messed up, the times things weren't where they ought to be, the times you didn't know what you was going to do, but he took care of you. Can I get an amen? The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. Then the verse goes on. This is one of my favorite. He makes me lie down in green pastures. Now, people they look at me and they say, What's that mean? I tell you what that means. How many of you have ever had a Thanksgiving meal? You know, and you eat way too much. How many of you eat too much at Thanksgiving? Say, Amen. And you are so full, the table is still about to bust with all the food, and you are so full, your big old belly sticking out there. And you say, I gotta sit down, I gotta lay down. And see, that's what God. Now, what is that? Where is David? Where is David? You see, David's changing his thinking. Where is David? David's in a cave. David's about to die. People are about to come kill him. He said, It's over for David. In any moment, David's gonna be dead. And David's like, I ain't gonna think about that. I won't think about how good God's been. And see, God laying him down. He said, I'll make you lay down. I'll give you all you need. I mean every need you have, I'll be there. Then it says he leads me beside Still Waters. Still waters? We're in the middle of a battle. His men are shuffling around outside. His robe is tattered and torn and dirty. He doesn't look like a king. He looks like a beat-up loser on the run. He looks like Maduro getting captured and brought in on the plane. You don't see anything presidential. And David, it's over. But he says, you know what my shepherd's always done? I've never had a need he didn't meet. Not only did he meet my need, he abundantly met my need. He's been super gracious to me. He's been super kind to me, and he has led me even to peaceful, still, quiet waters. He knows what I need and he knows what I like. Now you might not understand this still waters analogy, but here's the deal. I had a horse when I was a kid, a Tennessee walking horse, massively tall stallion, and he would not drink from water that was moving. Would rear up and just pick me up. I'd be holding on the lead, he'd just pick me up off the ground. But if I took him to steel water, he drank. And the sheep are scared of the water. He said, Oh, you don't have to worry about that. The shepherd knows what I need. And in the middle of all the chaos, he leads me to steel water. Then it says, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Now, he is in the it it death is real. Don't try to diminish this. I mean, he sees the problems. There are problems all around him. His whole life is falling apart. He's in the shadow of the valley of the shadow of death, the place where you go to die. But he says, you know what? He leads me there. Excuse me, I didn't, I got I can't skip. I'm doing about 50 hours of preaching in 20 minutes. Watch this. He leads me, it says he leads me in the paths of righteousness. You know what really got a hold of me there is I don't know what to do now that all this junk went down. I mean, now that I got cancer. I mean, I I wake up in the morning and I think, Lord, I'm still alive. I'm waiting on hospice. I'm waiting on this. I'm already in the palliative care, getting ready for the hospice care. And Lord, I don't know what to do. And David says, I'm in a cave and they're about to kill me, and I don't know what to do. And he said, But my shepherd does. My shepherd does. And I never have to worry about that, because he always takes care of me and he always meets all of my needs. And it's for his name's sake. That's a whole message. But listen to this. You know why God leads you and takes care of you?

SPEAKER_01:

Not for your name, for his.

Austin Gardner:

Because he's good. He is kind. Did you know God is love? That's the point that he said, you don't know who I am. God is love. I didn't take time today because I don't have time today. I'll do it another time. But Moses asked God one time, What's your name? And God said, I am. And then another time in Numbers, he says, What's your name? And God says, Well, if you want to know who I am, and he lets Moses start walking, and he walks in front of him. He said, The first thing he says, I am merciful. No, he didn't say I'm judgment. He didn't say I'm angry. You serve a God you think is just looking to hurt you. But David knew better than that. He's a merciful God. The next word it uses in the definition is gracious. So I studied gracious. Guess what gracious is? It's a synonym for merciful. So basically, when you say to God, you don't say, see, I've always been a big guy. I come to this church where everybody's as big as me. I've been walking around amongst y'all. I feel normal. I usually feel like a giant. But anyway, anyway, if people, if you want to know me, why don't you ask me instead of listening to the rumors? Why don't you let me tell you who I am? And God says, if y'all want to know who I am, I'll tell you who I am. I'm merciful. Merciful. Merciful. And I take a long time to get upset. That long time to get upset. He says, slow to anger, long suffering. That actually in the Hebrew is an idiom. It's called long nose. God said, I'm long-nosed. And you know why that's, I didn't understand that. It didn't make a bit of sense. But you ever notice when somebody gets mad and when they're really angry, they breathe fast. God said, I'm not like that. I'm not like that. You can tell, my mother, you can tell my mother she's in heaven now. But when my mama was getting ready to be set off, you could tell she's changed the way she breathed. Amen. And God looks at you and says, I know you and I love you. He sets a table before me in the presence of my enemies. My enemies are still there. People are still attacking me. I'm still hurting. And I need to let you understand something. You're not under attack from people. Because we wrestle not against flesh and blood. And when you stand for God, and when you've been used of God, and when God is using you greatly, the demons of hell rise up, and that's who your enemies are. And they would attack this church. They would attack this preacher. They would attack any of us. They would destroy us. And you know what God said? David said, But God is, I'm in a cave, but right now I'm enjoying God so much. I feel like I'm in a banquet hall. He said, Do you prepare a table before me in the presence of an enemy? And the demons are standing around going, How in the world? We have defamed him, we have blasted him, we have discouraged him, we put him in a pit, we've got him whipped. And David said, No, you don't. Because right now, I'm at a banquet table. Right now I'm at a banquet. He said, Thou prepares a banquet, a table before me. It's a banquet table in the presence of mine enemies. So in the middle of, I love this. I I prayed, kill them, God. I was going to be honest with you. God's like, nah, I don't do that. That ain't me. I'm merciful, remember? I'm like, well, sometimes be merciful with me and not with him, huh? I'm just telling you how Austin thought. He said, but I will let him watch. We bless you in the middle of it. And in spite of all the attacks, we'll win. And I'm going to give you the last thing. My my whole life right now revolves around this. Surely goodness and mercy doth follow me all the days of my life. If you look back over your life everywhere you've been, God's been taking care of you. But let me give you this last one. He anoints my head with oil. That one thrills me the most. In Psalm 3, that same word is translated, He's the lifter of my head. Now wait a minute. When you suffering, or maybe like David, you've messed up. Because David did mess up. There's no the Bible's clearly messed up. We hang our head in shame. God, I'm not worthy to talk to you. I'm not worthy to serve you. I'm nobody. But he anoints my head with oil, it was refreshing. There's a whole lot there. But one of the meanings is God reaches over and says, look at me. Face to face. Cheek to cheek. Intimacy and closeness. Because there's nothing wrong between us, David. I know you messed up, but I fix mess ups. I know you sinned, but I fix sin. There's no need to ever hang your head before the God of heaven, because the God of heaven cleansed you, saved you, removed that. Did you know we don't have to hang our head in his presence? You know why we don't? Because there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ. Jesus, why? Because yes, I messed up. And if anybody ought to be embarrassed, it's me. And David would have said that in a heartbeat, but what David would have said on top of that was this He took care of it. My shepherd took care of it. So this morning, I know you've led a little Thinking, thinking, work in your head. You've been beating yourself up. You've been feeling unworthy. You've been feeling like God can't use you. All of that comes from your enemy. Reject it. Memorize Psalm 23. Father in heaven, bless your people. God bless Pastor. God bless him. I pray that your face would shine on him. I pray, God, that in everywhere he goes and everything he does, it would continue to be blessed. I pray for the sweet church. I pray that you'd let love, that the whole world would say, I know they're his disciples because they have loved one for another, and I'll give you praise for it all. In Jesus' name. Amen.

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Austin Gardner

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