The Lord is Our Good Shepherd!

(Overcomer Wu)

“The Lord is my Shepherd...” --Psalms 23:1a

This psalm and these words brings us great comfort and peace to us Christians in times of trials and anxiety. This psalm is certainty one of the most familiar, most quoted, and beloved passages in all of God’s Word is Psalm 23. It is a Psalm of David. We don’t know exactly what was going on in David’s life when he wrote this Psalm, but some commentators believe that it may have been written at the time in David’s life when his son Absalom rebelled and David had to flee from the throne (2 Samuel chapters 15-18 gives us more details on this period of his life).

Perhaps at this time of your life, you are looking for a place of refuge, a place of tranquility from the daily stress of life, or a place of relief from problems and pain. This may have been where David was when he wrote Psalm 23, probably in his latter years. As he reflects back on all that God has been to him, all that God has done for him, and the journey God has taken him on, he thinks back to the relationship that he had when he was a young boy, as a shepherd boy with his sheep. At the same time, he recalled how lovingly he cared for his sheep and lambs and defended them with all his might against the wild beasts and other elements that threatened their lives. He thinks that is a picture of what God has been to him over all of these years.

"The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside still waters [or as some of your translations say, ‘He leads me beside waters of rest’]. He restores my soul: He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake” (Psa. 23:1-3).

These three verses are crucial because if you haven’t been experiencing these verses in your spiritual life, and haven’t been living in the reality of that kind of intimate fellowship and communion with the Shepherd – being led by Him, letting Him lead you to places of rest, to green pastures, getting to know Him, His heart's desire, and quietly listen to Him – then when you get to the situation described in verse 4, you are going to be in trouble: "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death [or as some translations say, ‘the valley of deep darkness,’] I will fear no evil, for You are with me….”

If you have not been experiencing His presence in an intimate relationship with Him before you get to the "valley of deep darkness,” it is going to be hard to trust Him when you can’t clearly see the next step you need to take. But if you have been walking with Him, and have been experiencing that intimacy with Him, then when the lights go out, and the storms of life hit; when you find yourself in that valley of deep darkness, you will know and recognize your Shepherd’s voice to lead you through the deep darkness. You will know His heart of love for you has not changed. Furthermore, you will fully trust that He is there with you even when you can’t see Him. You can stand assured in His promise: “I will fear no evil, for You are with me.”

I have come to believe that if we can grasp and believe what is in the six verses of Psalm 23, it would radically alter our lives. If we could assimilate, personalize, and live by the reality of the provision, hope, peace, and the confidence of what we have read here, we would have unwavering peace, imperturbable joy, unshakable confidence, and unfeigned faith and courage in the midst of any circumstances in our lives. Even when our eyes are filled with tears, our spirit would be lifted up and sing this song of our Good, Loving, Caring, and Protecting Shepherd.

"The Lord Is My Shepherd”

Let us look closely at verse 1: "The Lord is my Shepherd.” Yahweh. The Jews were filled with such awe of God's name that they didn’t even dare to say it out loud. God who is the creator, the origin, the cause of all things, the God who inhabits eternity, the God who rules over heaven, earth, and the universe – this awesome, infinite, all-powerful God is my Shepherd. He has a personal, intimate interest in me. This is a Psalm about Christ, the Good Shepherd, who lays down His life for the sheep (Jn 10:14-15). He is the Chief Shepherd over His Church (1 Pet 5:4). He is the One who walked before us in the valley of the shadow of death, and because He went through it and came out on the other side, we too have hope that He will carry us through our valley experiences. We don’t walk through it alone or even walk through it at all, because I believe that our Shepherd-Lord will carry us through. He faced every enemy that we read about in this Psalm and more. He faced Satan in the wilderness. He crushed the head of the serpent (Heb 2:14); He conquered eveb the evil within our very sinful nature by being made sin on our behalf (2 Cor 5:21) and crucified it at the cross. That’s who our Good Shepherd is, our loving caring Christ Jesus.

When we encounter difficulties and hardships, our natural tendency is to look to other people, other methods, and other things to be our shepherd. We look to others to protect us, to provide for us, to meet our needs – a job, a husband, a counselor or therapist, a pastor or spiritual leader, friends, and even ourselves. Sometimes our stubbornness is tantamount to a toddler saying – "I can handle this by myself." We are prone to be independent, prone to leave the God we love. There is nothing wrong with our spouse, friends, brothers and sisters, family members, counselors and other people, but they ought not be the ones we turn to first, but to our Shepherd-Lord. The Lord wants us to depend on Him and lean hard on Him. Other helpers can help us, but they can also mislead us; they can fail us, neglect us or not care at all for us. Moreover, their help is very limited and they themselves are in need of the Shepherd as well. Thus, if we place our trust is in people or other things, we are setting ourselves up for disillusionment or a great disappointment. No one and nothing else less than the Lord Himself will do as our adequate and competent Shepherd.

"The Lord is my Shepherd.” The Lord is at this moment my Shepherd. He always has been since I became one of His sheep and He always will be, but I take great comfort in remembering that He is right now my Shepherd in this moment, in every moment. Whatever situation you may be in at this moment, He is (in the present tense) your Shepherd. When you are going through peaceful times of rest or times of trouble, when you are making decisions, choosing your path, which way you should go – He is your Shepherd. When you are lying down on your sick bed or simply resting, or when you are walking in your daily routine, or running from your enemies, He is your Shepherd. When you look to Him in the valley of deep darkness, He is at that moment your Shepherd.

When we are surrounded by enemies, every day of our lives, for all of eternity... thank the Lord He is our Shepherd! We are promised His provision, His protection, His presence, His companionship today, tomorrow, the next day and the following week, and every day until the day we meet Him at His second coming. Even then, He will be our Shepherd for all eternity! The Lord is the ever-present Shepherd always, in the present tense.

"The Lord is my Shepherd.” I am glad He is your Shepherd, but I am also glad that He is my Shepherd. It speaks of a personal relationship that He has with each one of us – with you and me – a personal care that He takes with my life, of His personal attention to the details of my life. The Lord is your Shepherd. He knows your situation, your needs, the challenges you're faced with, your family, your finances, your health, your sicknesses and weaknesses, what your future holds and what awaits you around the corner. Our Lord knows is attentive to and knows your needs before you ask. He has promised to care for you, to provide what you need, to keep you from predators, to protect, provide, and discipline you when you need it, to take you to the pastures you need just when you need them – if you will let Him. I am convinced that we sometimes don’t experience that kind of care and presence and provision because we rely on our own ability and resources, or we turn to others for help. If I will let Him, He will be my Shepherd in every situation and every season in life.

The fact that I follow Him is evidence that I belong to Him, that I hear Him as His sheep. We have to be careful about trying to shepherd ourselves or settling for lesser shepherds other than the Great Shepherd, and we have to be careful about resisting His leading. Many times I have gone to the place where He wanted to lead me, but I was dragging my heels all the way. Then I look back and I see He was so right. He knew where He was leading. It didn’t make any sense to me, but He knows what is best for me. He knows what is best for you. Trust Him.

"The Lord is my Shepherd.” The implication of that is that we are sheep. Sheep are pretty mindless and helpless in general. They have no sense of direction nor do they have any homing instinct like horses or cats do. They are totally defenseless and not very smart. The fact that we are liken to sheep in relations to the Lord as our Shepherd implies how much we need Him. Sheep cannot shepherd themselves, and "all we like sheep have gone astray\” (Isa 53:6). We are foolish and helpless like sheep. Thus, we need the Lord as our Shepherd.

Praise the Lord! As Christians, we have the Lord Jesus Christ as our Good Shepherd! He is not just a hired hand. He cares for us as His own sheep. He is good in His loving kindness, concern, and care for us. He is also a good Shepherd because of His unlimited abilities. All of our predators have been defeated by Him and all of our needs He is willing, ready, and more than able to meet. He is not only loving and caring, but also competent, thorough, mighty, faithful and the best shepherd in the whole universe! What a great privilege for us to have the God of the universe as our Good Shepherd! "The Lord is my Shepherd" also implies that we belong to Him. Therefore, we need to learn to listen to His voice and follow Him. We need to listen and obey His voice for Him to effectively shepherd over us. I am His sheep if He is my Shepherd, and that means that I am His responsibility. He is watching out for each one of us because it is His job as our Shepherd to care for us. However, He does need our cooperation in listening to His voice. The moment we stop listening to His voice is when we will go astray. He does indeed lovingly care for each one of us, provide and protect us, direct us in the paths that we need to go and seek us out when we are lost. Praise the Lord that "the Lord is my Shepherd!”