My Shepherd
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want (Psalm 23:1).
In six short verses Psalm 23 brings home to us so many vital spiritual blessings which always fill our hearts with the wonder of God’s salvation. The Psalm begins with the Person of the Shepherd. David must have often looked up at night to see the star-filled sky and to worship God as the Creator. At the same time, He knew that glorious Person as his Shepherd. This filled his heart with holy confidence: “I shall not want.” He knew that God was the source of every spiritual and material blessing.
David applies his experience as a shepherd to his own spiritual experience when he writes about the Pastures of the Shepherd:
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters (lit. waters of rest).
David understood the importance of fellowship with God, and he teaches us a fundamental lesson. We think of communion as something we initiate. But David saw it as something God initiates. The Lord wants to have fellowship with us, and He leads us into His presence. Communion is essential to discipleship, and being in the presence of God is restorative:
He restores my soul.
David then writes about the Paths of the Shepherd:
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.
We are empowered to follow the Shepherd in righteousness in order to witness to Him. God has a pathway of righteousness for each of us. There are things we experience which are familiar to us all, but we also need personal direction and guidance. This leading is needed each day: “I being in the way the Lord led me” (Genesis 24:27. AV).
We are not exempt from the dangers of this world or the circumstances of life. But our times are in His hand. Peter, James and John were the Lord’s closest disciples, with a rich spiritual experience of enormous benefit to the Church of God. Why was Peter rescued from Herod? Why was James executed? (Acts 12). We don’t know. But we do know the Presence of the Shepherd. That is why David writes:
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
We have the presence of the Shepherd throughout our discipleship. Peter experienced this as he slept in his prison cell between the soldiers, and I am sure James experienced it as he was executed by Herod. God’s presence is not passive, but is characterised by His pastoral care. His rod guides us and His staff comforts us.
In verse 5 David writes of the Provision of the Shepherd:
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
We have the fellowship of the Shepherd in a world which is often hostile to our faith in Christ. We are in the world but not of it, and the Great Shepherd provides all that we need. The key to this is the blessing of the Spirit of God – the anointing (1 John 2:20). And our blessing is intended to overflow and reach out to others.
Finally, we have the Promise of the Shepherd:
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
Forever.
David traces God’s goodness in joyous times, and God’s mercy in times of need. The Shepherd’s presence is forever: “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). And He promises to bring us into the Father’s house (John 14:1-3).
This morning, as we come together, may our hearts be filled with worship to the Good Shepherd.
