Psalm 23

Welcome

Good morning everyone! Today we are sidestepping the the narrative of the Gospel Story, just briefly, to look at a Psalm together. We have been reading about David and as a way to continue that, we are going to look at Psalm 23, a Psalm that David likely wrote and is perhaps the best known Psalm. Let’s read Psalm 23 together and then pray that God would be the one to teach us this morning.

Psalm 23 NIV

A psalm of David. 1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3 he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. 4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Prayer

Engage / Tension

As we begin this morning, I want us to consider a question. What do you want? Who has been asked that question this week? You might be talking about supper, what do you want to eat? About the weekend and the 4th of July, what do you want to do? Maybe you’ve been considering in the broad conversation of life. What do you want in your life? That leads to a pretty long, heavy conversation.

But I have another question for everyone this morning. You don’t have to actually answer, but consider it. Can anyone here confidently say that they want nothing else than what you have? That you don’t want or need anything else in life?

In Psalm 23 though, David says that there is nothing else that he needs in life, because of one very important truth. That the Lord is his shepherd. Psalm 23 is often a comforting Psalm for us when a loved one passes away, but it contains much needed truth for us in our everyday life. As we read it and study it, let us see why David was able to say that he lacked nothing.

Who is the Shepherd?

Psalm 23:1 NIV

1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

The opening verse of the Psalm paints the picture for everything else that follows. Everything that David talks about in verses 2-6, are possible because of the truth that David says in verse one. The Lord is his shepherd.

This is perhaps one of the most intimate metaphors used to describe God in the entire Bible. We see other great metaphors that demonstrate who God is, such as king, deliverer, rock and shield. But those are somewhat impersonal terms. Shepherd on the other hand, is extremely personal. We need to transport out thinking about shepherds back to the time of David, but at this time, shepherds were everything to their flock. The shepherd was the provider, protector, and physician for all of the sheep. The sheep survived and were able to live because of how the shepherd cared for them. This is the imagery that David is giving us about our Heavenly Father. This metaphor of God as shepherd demonstrates the truth to us that God is not a distant God who is uncaring for his creation. God as shepherd means that he is intensely personal with his creation.

And so because David recognizes this, he is able to finish that first first with, “I lack nothing.” The KJV version phrases it as, “I shall not want.” Since David has the Lord as his shepherd, he is able to confidently answer that question we considered. David has no other want. He has no other need in his life, he lacked nothing, because God is his shepherd. This idea goes completely against what we are told almost every second of every day. We have many many needs. You should want so much more stuff. All of these problems that you face, they can likely be fixed by buying some new kind of product. I know that I suffer from this! Our way of thinking is often centered around what we want. But David tells us that to have God as our shepherd means that we have everything that we would ever want and everything that we would ever need.

The God who is all knowing, all powerful, all caring, ever present, is enough. When we truly consider the grand scheme of life and the world, I think many of us would be able to agree with that. At the end of our days we probably won’t be lying on our death bed thinking about new things that we want to buy, products that we never owned, cars we never got to drive, houses we never lived in. No, likely our one and only desire will be to know the presence of God with us in that moment. If that is all we want in that moment, then why can’t we recognize that truth right now? We don’t have to wait until we are near death to desire the presence of God. We can know this morning that God is sufficient for everything that we need in life.

And we can know this, by looking at what the shepherd does for his sheep, as David continues in verses 2 and 3.

What does the Shepherd do?

Psalm 23:2–3 NIV

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3 he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.

Phillip Keller wrote a book called A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23. As the title suggests, he was shepherd himself for eight years and recalls his experiences while studying this psalm. Keller says concerning this verse,

“It is almost impossible for sheep to be made to lie down unless four requirements are met. Owing to their timidity they refuse to lie down unless they are free of all fear. Because of the social behavior within a flock sheep will not lie down unless they are free from friction with others of their kind. If tormented by flies or parasites, sheep will not lie down. Only when free of these pests can they relax. Lastly, sheep will not lie down as long as they feel in need of finding food. They must be free from hunger.”

David is able to find rest here, because all of his needs have been provided for by God. When God is our shepherd, we are given this very special opportunity in life to experience real, genuine, rest. With God as shepherd, we are able to give our burdens and our worries to God. Jesus talks about this in Matthew.

Matthew 11:28 “28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

If I had to guess, most of us in this room have some anxiety or worry of some kind. And even though we may know the answer to easy our anxiety is to place it in God’s hands, we need to be reminded of it. We need to see that we are not the ones in charge even of our lives, if God is shepherd he is the leader, the provider, protector. We give this worries and anxiety to God and experience the rest that is possible from having him as our shepherd. This does not mean that you won’t ever have worries again in life or feel anxiety, but when we do, we need to remember the Lord is our shepherd.

In verse 3 we then see that God is able to refresh David’s soul and guide him. This is what we need in our life as well. Once again we see that Psalm 23 provides more than just comfort when facing death, it provides comfort as we are living life! If you are weary and pressed down from the weight of everything happening in life, turn to God. Experience the rest that is possible through the ultimate shepherd who cares for you. Verse 4 points out to us that we will not be exempt from troubles in life.

Psalm 23:4–5 NIV

4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

David points out that there are times when he has to walk through the darkest valleys in life. The KJV calls them the valley of the shadow of death. These are not good times! Yet, even though David has to walk through those times, he is not afraid because of who is with him. The sheep do not need to fear because if something happens to them the shepherd could help them. If they got stuck the shepherd would lift them up, if they were attacked the shepherd would defend them. God does not leave us to face the troubles of this life on our own, but he also doesn’t keep us completely from them. Instead, we are able to confidently say that God is with us in the midst of the dark valleys in life.

Psalm 23:6 NIV

6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Verse 6 talks about the home that we have in God. When God is our shepherd, we have the best home possible. We have a home full of goodness and love shown to us by God every day of our lives. The end of verse 6 is often where I personally find comfort when facing death, but it is able to provide comfort in our everyday life. The house of the Lord isn’t talking about a physical place, like we mentioned last week God is not confined to a physical place. No, the house of the Lord is simply the presence of God, something that we have continually available to us through God’s Holy Spirit who dwells within us. We don’t have to wait until we die to experience the presence of God, we can experience it and depend upon it right here and now.

Do you know the Shepherd?

These are all good things for us to consider as we look at Psalm 23. But at the end of the Psalm, I have to ask you, do you know the shepherd? You can read about God being the good shepherd and hear how God gives rest and protection and provision to his sheep, but it can only change your life if you know the Good shepherd. In John, Jesus explains that he is this good shepherd who cares for his sheep.

John 10:11–18 NIV

11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”

Jesus is the good shepherd because he willingly laid down his life for all of us. He took our sin and shame on the cross, died for us in our place, laid his life down so that his sheep would live. Do you know Jesus as Lord in your life? Do you know him as your shepherd who died for you so that you might live? As we go into our closing song, before we receive communion together, I want you to reflect on that question. Do you know the good shepherd? Have you given your life to him? Do you believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins and was resurrected so that you might have a relationship with God for eternity? I hope that you would hear the good shepherd calling you by name to do that this morning. That you would give your life to Christ and experience the joy and peace of having him as the shepherd of your life.

Prayer

Song

Communion

Open Communion

Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.” Jesus says, “I am the One who goes to the cross, who suffers and dies, who is sacrificed as the Lamb of God, so that my sheep will not perish but have eternal life.” Calvary proves that this shepherd is the GOOD shepherd. At this time let us all think about the cross. Meditate on Jesus being the Good Shepherd who gives His life for the sheep. Take your mind back to Calvary and thank him for what He did for us.

Prayer for the Bread

Prayer for the Cup