The Names of God - YHWH Ro'i
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The Lord is My Shepherd
The Lord is My Shepherd
A Psalm of David.
1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
3 He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.
4 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.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
This name for God, YHWH Ro’i, the Lord is my Shepherd is found in the first verse of the 23rd Psalm. Written by David, who of course spent his younger years as a shepherd boy, speaks of God as a shepherd.
In fact David wasn’t the first to call God a shepherd. In fact it was Jacob in Genesis 48:15
15 And he blessed Joseph and said,
“The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked,
the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day,
In fact rulers and religious leaders are also spoken of as being ‘shepherds’ in scripture. A title which speaks of their responsibility to tend and to care for those entrusted to their care. That’s what is so special about this name for God; it speaks certainly and clearly to us about His relationship to His people. It tells us what kind of God He is, what it’s like to know Him. It also tells us something about those who belong to God - they are sheep!
God’s People are Sheep
A shepherd doesn’t herd dogs, or wolves, or lions, he herds sheep! So what is a Christian? A Christian is a sheep belonging to God’s flock. Being called a sheep isn’t a very flattering comparison! Sheep are notoriously stupid animals! If there is a nook or cranny that they can get stuck in, they will get stuck in it. If there is a gap or a hole in a fence, they will get through it. They are easy prey for predators, since they aren’t particularly fast or agile. And they have a tonne of ailments - blue tongue, foot rot, black quarter, that if you don’t tend to will kill them. Essentially, sheep need a lot of looking after. They are dependent upon the shepherd for life.
So if you want to have God as your shepherd then you have to know that you are a sheep, not a lion, strong and ferocious, or an eagle, solitary and regal, but a lowly sheep. This is something that is repulsive to the world. It flies in the face of the image most people in the world want to have of themselves; strong, independent, erudite, cool. But the God of the Bible only tends sheep. He shepherds followers, not leaders. So how do you see yourself? Are you happy to identify as a sheep, as one who needs shepherding? Are you willing to be led, or do you need to be doing the leading?
When you say, “The Lord is my shepherd,” no proper grounds are left for you to trust in yourself. - Augustine
Sheep belong
Moreover, sheep aren’t like lions or bears, or other wild animals, sheep are property. They are the property of the shepherd, they belong to him, they are not their own. So a Christian is a sheep who is owned by God, who is his Shepherd. The sheep doesn’t have rights over it’s own destiny, it can’t pick and choose who will or won’t own it, it is the property of it’s shepherd, and it’s shepherd determines how it will live. And so a Christian is someone who is the property of God, He has purchased them with the blood of His Son, He has the rights over their life and they belong to Him.
If God has purchased His sheep with such a high price do you think He is ready to let them go for any less?
39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
The Shepherd
Now, to understand all this language about sheep and shepherding it’s best that we understand something of what shepherding looks like in the Holy Land where this text was written. It’s difficult to fully grasp the particulars of this metaphor when all we understand is farming in the UK, where a farmer might have 1000 head of sheep and 200 acres of his own pasture land, he would use sheep dogs and maybe quad bikes to do his herding and wouldn’t have to worry too much about wolves and other predators attacking the flock. This is a very different type of shepherding to the type practiced by the writer of Psalm 23.
Shepherding in the holy land has changed precious little in the 3000 years since this Psalm was written. You can go to the hills above the Jordan valley today and still see shepherds tending their flocks in much the same way as David would have. So how was it different?
The shepherd would have fewer sheep than we find on a farm today
He personally leads the sheep from pasture to pasture since finding good fodder is harder than here
The sheep follow the sound of the shepherds voice. They are actually able to distinguish between the sound of their shepherds voice and that of another. John 10:2-5
2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”
The shepherd would be equipped with a heavy cloak to keep warm, a staff to navigate difficult terrain and guide sheep, and a rod or sling for fending off predators. In David’s time there were lions and bears in Israel, as well as wolves and other smaller predators. So a shepherd would have to be brave and physically strong enough to fend off ferocious predators.
The shepherd would have to have excellent geographic knowledge as well as an understanding of regional weather cycles
So we can see how serious it would be for a sheep to get separated from it’s shepherd in David’s time, it would either become food for a hungry predator or starve to death within days, chances of survival were slim. The sheep’s survival was really totally dependent on them following the shepherd.
The same is true for the Christian, to get separated from the flock and from the shepherd is an extrememly perilous situation. We don’t live in a neutral zone, there are real predators in the spirit realm looking for any opportunity to attack God’s sheep.
We can also see how personal the relationship between the shepherd and his sheep is, he calls them by name, they know his voice. The Old Testament name; The Lord is my Shepherd is the closest thing to Jesus’s ‘Our Father’ of the New Testament. To be a Christian is to be known personally by God, to be called by name.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
To be a Christian isn’t just to know God, first and foremost it’s to be known by God.
29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
A Christian is one of God’s precious sheep, one who has been foreknown by God, who has been predestinated by God, who has been called by God, who has been justified by God and who will be glorified by Him too at the end of this world.
When we think of this it seems utterly illogical that God would ever suffer the loss of any of His beloved flock. It seems foolish to think that He is just going to let His precious sheep wander off to get eaten up by predators, or that He’ll let them die out in the wilderness of thirst or starvation!
14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.
God isn’t just a shepherd, He is the Good Shepherd. Christ came to lay His life down for His sheep, for their salvation!
What’s the picture here? Well, when we think of the word salvation we have already in our minds something about conversion, but lets just think about it for a moment in another context. When a goalkeeper makes a save, what is he doing? He is saving his team from conceding a goal. When David fought off the lion and the bear what was he doing? He was saving his flock from being killed by these predators. When Christ lays down His life for the sheep what was He doing? Was this just a notion of self sacrificial love? Or just a terrible accident? No! He was laying down His life in place of the sheep, dying to save them from death and separation from Him. Just as David’s sheep could do nothing to ‘help’ David fight off the bear and the lion, so God’s sheep can do nothing for their own salvation, it is all the work of Christ!
I shall not want...
The very next words David pens after exclaming, The Lord is my Shepherd are ‘I shall not want.’ Or in modern English, I will have no lack or in the positive the CSB puts it like this; The LORD is my Shepherd, I have what I need. Can you imagine how much peace would crash into our lives if we really understood this? No matter what the news says, no matter how my body feels today, no matter what my finances are looking like; the LORD is my Shepherd, I have what I need. The sheep who belong to the Good Shepherd always have what they need, they never lack.
One of Satan’s greatest tricks is to get us to doubt this promise. We begin to worry on the shepherds behalf; how will God possibly get me through this valley? Hmm it feels like we’re going the wrong way, I can’t see any green pasture over there, maybe the Shepherd has taken a wrong turn? Perhaps I should strike out on my own?
One thing you will never see out in the holy land is a sheep worrying about the direction the shepherd is taking them, they just keep their heads down and follow, they trust Him that wherever He is leading them, the destination will be good. It’s the shepherd’s job to get them safely from pasture to pasture, and the sheep don’t worry about it, they trust the shepherd.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
3 He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.
You may have to walk through barren valleys on your way, you might see danger, you might see death but in all this you have everything you need so long as you keep following the shepherd.
4 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.
The Good Shepherd’s provision for His sheep is never in doubt, Psalm 23:5
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Nor is His provision meagre or stingy. David says, my cup overflows. Does your cup overflow? God is always ready to give His sheep more than enough.
32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
For His Name’s Sake
So if you are a sheep, if you are God’s sheep, you shall never want, never! And He will lead you, He will take you and make you lie down in green pastures, He will lead you beside still waters, He will restore your soul. How many of you need a restoration in your soul? That Hebrew word for soul is nephesh, which can also mean life. The Good Shepherd is a restorer of life. He gives us new life in the salvation of our souls, but also there is a daily restoration of life for the believer, He is constantly able to bring restoration to our souls if we will come to Him.
The text says that He leads us in paths of righteousness! So as we follow the shepherd through life, He takes us on the right path. Our life begins to overflow with love, kindness, good works, generosity, grace. Why? Because we are just a super extraordinarily wonderful sheep? No, because the shepherd led us that way!
And get this; He does all of this not for your own sake, but for His names sake. God stakes His own reputation on His ability to take care of His sheep, He does it for His own glory! Do you think then that God is going to allow His sheep to come to ruin seeing that He is doing this for His own glory? Will God fail in glorifying Himself? Is the Good Shepherd actually bad at His job?
Some will say, ‘ah no’ He isn’t bad at His job, it’s just that the sheep stop listening to His voice and they drift off, so it’s no fault of God, the fault is on the sheep. My friends, if God’s sheep stop listening to God’s voice, or can’t hear His voice they were never His sheep in the first place.
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
So do you hear God’s voice, do you know the voice of the shepherd? I’m not talking about the inner voice, the small whisper that you have to listen closely for inside your heart. I’m talking about the clarion call of the word of God; the scriptures, the gospel, the whole counsel of God. Do you hear it? Do you obey it? Do you meditate on it? Do you love that voice? Is it music to your ears? Are you being transformed by it? If you love and follow His voice in the scriptures, then you know Him, then you are one of His sheep.
“He who begins by seeking God within himself may end up confusing himself with God.” - B. B. Warfield
Let’s examine ourselves afresh today, let’s evaluate our lives. Are we one of His sheep? Is the LORD our shepherd as well as David’s?
And let’s come to our Good Shepherd this afternoon, come as you are, with all your hurts and hopes, with all that you are, but let’s come in faith, believing that He is who He says He is. And as we come, rest assured, He will restore our souls.
Pray
