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Psalm 23:1-6

The Lord Is My Shepherd

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Psalm 23:1-6

The Lord Is My Shepherd

Dr. Philip W. McLarty

I’d like to take a few moments this morning to think about the 23rd Psalm. It’s, by far, one of the most familiar passages of scripture in the Bible. Most of us learned it as children in Sunday School, can say it by memory with a little help, have heard it at virtually every funeral service we’ve ever attended and often recite it to ourselves for comfort and reassurance in difficult times.

It’s an old friend we’re all familiar with. Yet, familiarity has its downside: You can become so accustomed to the rhythm and meter of the words that you miss the meaning altogether. And so, this morning I’d like to take a closer look at these six short verses of scripture and ask you to listen to them as if you’ve never heard them before. Like the Kellogg’s Cornflakes’ and, I’d like to invite you to “taste them again for the very first time.” The passage begins, “Yahweh is my shepherd…”

The metaphor of the shepherd is used sixty times in fifty-four verses of the Bible. I got that from the Bible program on my computer. It speaks of God’s compassion – how God provides for our needs, protects us from danger and steers us along safe paths, and how, in his mercy, God seeks us out when we go astray and brings us back to the fold.

“Yahweh is my shepherd…” It was an image the people of Israel could relate to. Many of them were shepherds. They knew what it meant to go out in front, to lead the way, to be the one who had to decide which path to take. They knew the responsibility the shepherd had to watch over the sheep and guard them from predators. And so, it didn’t take much for them to make the connection, to confess the Lord as your shepherd is to place your trust in him, to surrender your will to his will and to follow obediently wherever he leads you.

This brings up the first question we ought to ask ourselves as we consider this great passage: Is the Lord your shepherd? Are you willing to follow his lead and seek his will, or are you determined to chart your own course and say, in the words of one my children when he just a toddler, “My do it my way!” E. W. Blandly had the right spirit when he penned the words,”Where he leads me I will follow … I’ll go with him, with him, all the way.”

The psalm goes on to say, “Yahweh is my shepherd: I shall lack nothing.”

Now, there are two ways of understanding wants. One is having what you desire, and the other is being content with what you have. The psalm doesn’t say that God will satisfy our insatiable appetites; only that God will give us the things we need for a full and abundant life.

In his book, Faith Quakes, Leonard Sweet talks about how, in our affluence, what we used to think of as wants we now think of needs, and how, even more recently, we think of needs, not simply as things we’d like to have, but as things we deserve. The Apostle Paul warned Timothy about the dangers of excess and counseled him to seek a simple life. He said,

“But godliness with contentment is great gain.
For we brought nothing into the world,
and we certainly can’t carry anything out.
But having food and clothing,
we will be content with that.” (1 Timothy 6:7-8)

Jesus taught his disciples to pray, “Give us today our daily bread.” He said, “Don’t lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth.” (Matthew 6:19) What this says to me is, God would have us trust him to supply our needs and be grateful for what we have. The psalm goes on to say,

“He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.”

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As you know, I used to live in Odessa, and I can tell you there’s a lot of similarity between West Texas and the Judean wilderness, which is the setting for the 23rd Psalm. The Judean wilderness is mostly sand and rocks with a little scrub brush here and there. It’s rugged terrain, hot and dry and forbidding. And yet, there are wadis in the wilderness – creek beds, we’d call them – where, often, a tiny stream of water flows. Around these wadis you can find trees and green grass and fertile soil. And so, it’s these lush gardens in the wilderness the psalmist pictures as he sees the good shepherd leading the sheep across the jagged hillsides to a place that’s peaceful and serene, a place where they can graze and drink and be sheltered from the storms.

Well, I don’t have to tell you, we all experience seasons of barrenness in our lives, times when it takes all the strength and stamina we can muster just to keep going. What we need to remember is that it’s at times like these that God is especially there for us to see us through.

Do you know the little poem called, “Footprints”? It’s about a man walking across the sands of time, looking back over the course of his life. He sees two sets of footprints, his and the Lord’s. Then he notices that, at the most troubled times of his life, there is only one set of footprints, so he asks,

“Lord … I don’t understand why, when I needed you the most,
you would leave me.”
The Lord replied, “My child, I love you,
and I would never leave you.
During your times of trial and suffering,
when you see only one set of footprints,
it was then that I carried you.”

The truth is, God’s grace will sustain us through the difficult days of our lives, and all we have to do is lean upon his everlasting arms. The psalm goes on to say,

“He guides me in the paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.”

Underscore the phrase, “for his name’s sake.” The shepherd leads the sheep along right paths, not for the sheep’s comfort and pleasure, but because it’s what a good shepherd does. A fine, healthy flock is a testimony to his good name. After all, it’s the shepherd’s reputation that’s on the line, not the sheep’s. If the sheep become lost, it’s the shepherd who’s failed. If the sheep prosper and grow, it’s the shepherd who’s succeeded. As Christians, when we fail to live up to our calling as children of God, we give the Lord a bad name. But when we keep his commandments and share his love with others, we reflect the image of God in which we are created, and his name is glorified through us.

When I was growing up, one of the highest compliments a young man could receive was for someone to say, “Boy, you’re a spitting image of your father.” When I’d hear that, it’d make me want to stand a little taller and hold my head a little higher. Well, wouldn’t it be nice if others could say something like that about us in our relationship to God? “You’re just like your father.”

What sweeter words could our heavenly Father ever hope to hear? The psalm goes on to say,

“Even 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.”

Let’s be honest, the valley of the shadow of death is a place we’re all a little squeamish about. Death is a mystery we cannot fully comprehend. It’s a reality of life over which we have little control. No one who’s died has ever come back to describe the experience. I think this is why we’re so fascinated and intrigued with so-called, “near-death experiences.” We’d like to know what to expect. Is it painful? Is it scary? Do you simply wake up on the other side?

We don’t know the answers, but we do know that it’s an individual experience. Others can be with us and hold our hand and assure us that we’re not alone, but they cannot share the experience of death with us. It’s between us and God alone. Ironically, those who’ve walked through the valley of the shadow of death tell us that it’s precisely at these moments that we come the closest to knowing that we’re not alone. God is with us. His grace is sufficient for our need. The psalm continues,

“You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.”

We all have enemies. If not people who don’t like us, we have enemies such as sickness and aging and declining health. God’s promise is that, through faith, our enemies will not prevail against us. They won’t have the last word. On the contrary, in the face of our enemies, God throws a party in our honor. We’re able to feast on the riches of God’s grace, even as our minds fade and our bodies grow weak and frail. The psalmist continues,

“You anoint my head with oil.
My cup runs over.”

In the Bible, anointing refers to the practice of sealing a covenant and bestowing a blessing. In the Old Testament, for example, the prophet, Samuel, poured oil over Saul’s head to signify that God had chosen Saul to be king of Israel. (1 Samuel 10:1) In the New Testament, Luke speaks of Jesus as the anointed one of God, the Christ (Acts10:38). And, in his letters, Paul encourages the early Christians to carry on Christ’s ministry as those who are anointed in his name (2 Corinthians 1:21; 1 John 2:27).

The Good News for us today is that we are God’s anointed! We are the ones God has chosen to share his grace and love. The 1st Letter of Peter puts it this way,

“But you are a chosen race,
a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people for God’s own possession,
that you may proclaim the excellence of him
who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:
who in time past were no people,
but now are God’s people,
who had not obtained mercy,
but now have obtained mercy.” (1 Peter 2:9-10)

The psalm concludes by saying,

“Surely goodness and loving kindness shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in Yahweh’s house forever.”

And this is the bottom line: God did not bring us into this world to abandon us and put us out on our own. God created us in his image and bestowed upon us the gift of life in order that we might live in a loving relationship with God and each other. God is love, and the love of God is from everlasting to everlasting. Wherever the Spirit leads us, for however long we live, we have the assurance of God’s blessings along the way. What’s more, we have the promise of eternal life through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ who said,

“In my Father’s house are many homes.
If it weren’t so, I would have told you.
I am going to prepare a place for you.
If I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come again, and will receive you to myself;
that where I am, you may be there also.”

(John 14:2-4)

Well, here’s what I hope you’ll take home with you today: The 23rd Psalm is more than just a pretty passage of scripture; it’s a reminder of who we are and whose we are, of where we’ve been and where we’re going. I hope you’ll read it often. Commit it to memory, if you will. Let it remind you of the love of God which enfolds you, the peace of Christ which surrounds you and the power and presence of the Holy Spirit within you which promises to give you victory over sin and death, now and forever more.

In closing, let’s say the words of this beautiful Psalm together once more:

“Yahweh is my shepherd:
I shall lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.
He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Even 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.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil.
My cup runs over.
Surely goodness and loving kindness shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in Yahweh’s house forever. Amen.”

Copyright 2004, Philip W. McLarty. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (WEB), a public domain (no copyright) modern English translation of the Holy Bible.