The Lord Is My Shepherd
Notes
Transcript
Doxology:
This is my Bible. It is God’s Holy Word. It is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path, and I will hide its words within my heart, that I might not sin against God. Amen!
Scripture Reference: Psalm 23
Context
Context
As you all well know, we just finished up with VBS week. It was a fantastic week. We had a great turnout. The kids had a blast; the adults had a blast. We had a ton of volunteers who showed up and put in the work this year, which was absolutely fantastic. And we have a baptism today!!!
Each year after VBS, I always like to do a follow up message to simply recap what we have been discussing all week during VBS.
This year, the theme verses were none other than Psalm 23. These are well known verses. Many of us know them by heart. Let’s say them together.
A Psalm of David.
1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.
3 He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.
4 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.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.
Praise God!
Let’s pray!
Content
Content
1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
The psalm starts by David explaining what his relationship with the Lord is like. David says, “The Lord is my shepherd.”
It’s a beautiful illustration. The role of a shepherd is one David was all too familiar with. He too was a shepherd of his father’s sheep. He knew what all was involved. He knew what all it entailed. And as he sat and thought about his own role as a shepherd when he was younger, it finally struck him that God was also much like a shepherd to Him.
The rest of this psalm breaks down the various ways God shepherded David throughout the years, but before we get to that, notice how David ends this sentence: “I shall not want.”
He doesn’t just claim that God had been a shepherd to him throughout his life, he is claiming that God has been the perfect shepherd to him. Though he has faced much heartache, pain, and suffering, trials, tribulations, and challenges, God has always provided what was necessary.
According to David, he has never been in need or lacking anything:
25 I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread.
David claims that he has lived a long life, he calls himself old here, but in all of his years, God has proven to be faithful. He says that based upon what he has seen and experienced for himself, God has always taken care of His own.
As David acknowledges the Lord as his shepherd, he is also acknowledging himself as a sheep. If there is one thing that David knows for sure, it is that if sheep are left to themselves, they will most definitely perish. By their very nature, sheep are stubborn and defenseless. They are prone to wander and have a horrible sense of direction. They are nervous and uneasy and easily excitable and frightened.
David probably recognizes all of these same qualities in himself. He was most certainly not flattering himself by admitting this. Before we can ever enjoy the marvelous blessings of this psalm, we, too, should accept and admit that we are like sheep. It is only when we recognize our own helplessness and our desperate need for a Shepherd that we can enter through the gate (the door), the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and become one of the Great Shepherd’s flock.
Notice how he continues by sharing with us some of the ways that the Lord has shepherded him along the way:
2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.
3 He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.
David shares with us that in his life, God had continuously provided for both his physical and spiritual needs.
Green pastures - meadows with newly sprouted grass - were not abundant in the land of Palestine. A shepherd had to work tirelessly to find a place where the grasses were lush. Also, notice that it says, “He makes me to LIE DOWN in green pastures. Did you know that sheep will not lie down when they are hungry?
It is only when the sheep has been completely filled that it will lie down to rest. We found out this week during VBS, that some breeds of sheep eat up to 12 hours a day. That’s a lot of grass.
Also, sheep are so jittery that they will not drink from running waters. After finding a stream, the shepherd would have to gather some rocks, dam up the stream to create a pool, and only then would the sheep feel comfortable to drink from the waters.
David is telling us that there is a lot of work that goes into being a shepherd, and the Lord is willing to do it all. He leads unto green pastures to the point that our bellies are full and we can lie down for rest. He also puts in the work to bring us to still waters, so that we might drink to our fill.
God will truly supply our every need!!!
But then David goes on to speak on how the Lord had provided for him spiritually throughout his life.
This word “restore” means “to bring back”.
The idea here is that when the sheep goes astray, as it is prone to do, the shepherd continuously brings it back into the fold.
Like sheep, our souls are prone to wander. We are easily distracted by the flesh and the things of the world, but the Great Shepherd comes after us each time, doing what is necessary to bring us back into spiritual alignment with Him.
He leads us, not of the paths we desire, but on the paths of righteousness. These paths are more difficult to travel, but it is these paths that keeps us in alignment with Him. And notice the reason that He leads us on these paths… “For His name’s sake.”
His reputation as a Shepherd is at stake. How He tends the flock will bare much weight to whether or not more sheep want to join the fold.
So He leads us down these more difficult paths, so that His sheep remain dependent upon Him. He does so, that we might constantly look to Him for guidance and help along the way. It is not punishment. It is grace.
Sometimes the path we must travel is of the most dangerous sorts:
4 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.
Psalms I: Chapters 1–41 (King James Version) Psalm 23: How to Have Every Need of Life Met, 23:1–6
For many people, the word valley calls forth an image of a flat, grassy expanse lying peacefully between mountains, like a dale or a meadow. However, this is not what the word means or what Old Testament valleys were like. A valley was a deep ravine or gorge. It was narrow, dark, and damp and usually encased by steep stone walls, making it virtually inescapable. Valleys were frequently located at the foot of towering cliffs. They were extremely dangerous: snakes, wild beasts, and criminals lurked in their darkness.
Since grass grows in Palestine during a very short season, shepherds struggled to feed their flocks the rest of the year. Often, it became necessary to lead their sheep into valleys where green plants grew in the cool, damp soil at the bottom. Passing through valleys was also necessary at times in order to reach pasture on the other side. Some scholars think the valley of the shadow of death was the name of an actual valley, an extremely dangerous one, through which shepherds and their flocks were forced to cross.
Valleys are symbols of the darkest times of life. The valley of the shadow of death speaks of life’s gravest circumstances, fearful occasions when death is a real possibility, such as …
severe illness or disease
a sudden attack on your health
a serious accident
deadly weather conditions
a violent, criminal attack
war
a terrorist attack
famine or extreme poverty
a collapsing marriage
the loss of a loved one
But David testified that he was not afraid to walk through life’s darkest valley’s. Although he was defenseless in himself, he was not alone in the darkness: his Shepherd was with him. The Lord would protect him and keep him close to his side.
David was comforted - or turned from fear and terror - because his Shepherd ws skillfully armed with His rod and His staff. The rid was a club the shepherd fashioned and carried to fight off wild animals and thieves. It was a deadly weapon. The staff was the instrument the shepherd used to deal with his sheep. It was not a weapon but a tool. The shepherd leaned on it for support as he journeyed across rough ground and rocky crags. Most staffs had a hooked end that the shepherd used to catch a sheep’s leg or neck to pull it out of a hole or back into the fold. The shepherd would nudge a sheep with his staff when it began to stray or when it was hesitant to move along with the flock.
David was fearless in the valley because he knew his Shepherd would protect him from all deadly threats, including his own waywardness.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.
The image of the psalm now shifts slightly from the strict comparison of a sheep’s life over to a human’s experience of encountering and dealing with enemies.
David had experienced opposition his entire life. Not long after Samuel anointed him with oil and declared him as the next king, David was pursued by King Sual for around 10 years. After becoming king, he had to battle against invaders and enemy nations throughout most of his reign. And sadly, there was Absalom, his own son who tried to seize the kingdom from him.
David testified that his Shepherd was with him in every battle, strengthening and refreshing him throughout.
When we think of a table before us, we think of a great feast with every imaginable food before us. But what would a spiritual feast prepared for us by the Lord look like. There would be:
Bowls of mercy
Dishes of grace
Platters of love
plates of wisdom
cups full of self control
and saucers filled with patience
dishes of peace and joy.
I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a feast that I would truly want to be present at. Amen!!!
He said that the Lord also anointed his head with oil. Oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, which we know that God granted David… so much so that David claims, “My cup runs over.”
David truly never went anywhere that the Lord was not with him.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.
As David looked back on his life and journey with the Lord, he makes this final statement. He says, “Based on my experience, I am fully confident that goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.”
Why would it stop now? That is what David testified as to what had taken place for his entire life and he saw no reason or logic to why it would change now. He had experienced the Lord’s mercy and goodness every step of the way. God had been so good to him and blessed him abundantly thus far, so David fully believed that this experience would carry on for the rest of his days.
As a result, David claimed that he would dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
4 One thing I have desired of the Lord, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord, And to inquire in His temple.
1 I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go into the house of the Lord.”
The tabernacle in the OT represented the presence of the Lord. David was saying that even after his death, he would dwell in the presence of the Lord forever. He was fully confident, based upon his relationship to the Almighty, that he would be with the Lord forever.
As we come to a close today, I ask you that very question: based upon your relationship with the Lord, are you fully confident that you will be with the Lord forever. Do you share in David’s confidence? Do you long for the moment that you stand face to face with Jesus, your Savior and your Lord?
Commitment
Commitment
1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
Notice that David calls the Lord “MY” shepherd.
As we have seen, this was deeply personal for David. He was not just writing about some distant God somewhere far off in the universe. No...No. He is writing about a God who has been with him every step of the way; A God who has shown up, been faithful, provided David with answers, food, shelter, protection against the enemy, strength to fight the enemy, and so much more.
David shares this experience with us so that we might also come to know the Lord as he did. He wants his readers to know that God is a deeply personal God. He wants his readers to know that God wants to be a part of their lives, to help them through this journey called life. He wants his readers to know that God cares for them, more than they could ever even imagine. He wants them to know, that God can be the greatest friend and companion that they would ever know.
Now this was David’s experience, but it could be yours also. You can know the Lord the same way David did. You can experience the Lord the same way David did.
But in order for that to happen, He has to be your Shepherd. It must be personal.
1 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,
2 “This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you.
3 Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: ‘On the tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household.
4 And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons; according to each man’s need you shall make your count for the lamb.
5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats.
If you want to know the Lord like David knew the Lord, He can’t just be a shepherd… He can’t even just be the Shepherd… He must be Your Shepherd.
Have you ever truly surrendered your life to Him? Have you ever truly fully committed your life to Him?
If not, let me ask you this question, do you feel like you need to? Are you convicted on that very point… that it’s time for you to make the main thing… the main thing; That it’s time to get serious about this thing called life?
If so, you need to take care of that today. God has brought here to hear His word. This word has revealed that something is missing in your life. This word has also showed you how to fix that.
What will you do with that today?
