The Lord Is My Shepherd
Tom Shrader launches a series on Psalm 23, challenging the common assumption that it is a funeral passage by arguing it is entirely about living life under God's care in the present tense. Drawing on the imagery of David as a shepherd and the nature of sheep as helpless, directionless, and dependent, Shrader frames humanity's need for the Good Shepherd and grounds the psalm's promises in the character of Yahweh. He moves into John 10 to identify Jesus as the fulfillment of the shepherd metaphor, calling listeners to hear His voice and enter into the relationship of provision, protection, and eternal life He offers.
“The Lord is my shepherd — and because the Lord is my shepherd, I have supply and rest and refreshment and healing and guidance and purpose and protection and discipline and hope and abundance and blessing and security forever.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: Psalm 23
Recorded: 2007 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 44 min
Themes: shepherding, provision, protection, dependence on god, trust, comfort, god's care, following jesus, grieving a loved one, facing fear, feeling lost, new believer, questioning god's care, dealing with loss, seeking comfort, spiritual wandering
Scripture: Psalm 23:1-6, 1 Samuel 17:28, Genesis 48:15, Isaiah 40:11, Jeremiah 50, Ezekiel 34, Isaiah 53, Psalm 90:2, Psalm 139, Psalm 145:18, John 1:1-3, John 4:24, John 10:1-30, Colossians 1, Ephesians 1:4, 1 Corinthians 7:23, Hebrews 13:20
Theological Themes: psalm 23, divine providence, good shepherd, christology, jesus as fulfillment, attributes of god, eternal life, pastoral care
Full Transcript
Introduction: Why Teach Psalm 23?
I knew that I wanted to do Psalm 23 a year and a half ago when my father died. We were at Halligan McCabe Funeral Home, picking out the cards to hand out to people as they came into the room. They offer you cards that are blank on one side, and the other side has a picture of a stream or a bird or all sorts of things. I thought he wasn't going to like a bird — he didn't like birds when he was alive, and he's not going to like them dead. One of the cards had the 23rd Psalm on it.
You have it there in front of you: "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." We'll read through it and work our way through it in a bit. It is impossible — physically impossible — for me to read or even hear the term "the 23rd Psalm" and not think of Larry Wright. I've spoken to you about Larry before, but how many of you ever saw or heard Larry speak?
Larry is my hero outside of my family — my kids and their husbands and Susan and my immediate family. Outside of my immediate family, there is no person on the planet to whom I have ever had such an attachment, a fondness, a love, a bonding. I have never felt as close to a person in my life as I felt to Larry. When Larry died, he left a hole in my heart that will never be filled, partly because he played a unique role that could never be played again, and partly because people like him just don't come along very often.
Larry Wright on the 23rd Psalm
Larry was my mentor. I remember him coming back one day from a funeral, so frustrated. He had arthritis and would get worked up. He was grinning — a little thing — and he said, "Tommy, don't ever —" and he's lecturing me something about the 23rd Psalm, saying, "I'm so mad, I'm going to teach that Psalm." So he did. I remember sitting there as he unpacked that Psalm.
I want to play for you his introduction to the 23rd Psalm. This is audio only, so it's a little awkward, but I want you to hear it. A couple of things you need to know: his wife's name is Sue. And as you're listening, if you want to understand a little bit about me, you're going to learn a lot about me as you really hear Larry. So listen to this.
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*"Psalm 23. Why would you teach such a familiar Psalm to the Christian community? Well, let me give you the prime motivation for this, and it happened several weeks ago when I went to a funeral. I hate to go to funerals. This was not your ordinary funeral. I can sum up the funeral in one example. They closed the funeral service with that great old hymn — Joe Diffie singing 'Prop Me Up Beside the Jukebox When I Die.' I'm not making that up, that really happened. But what really got to me is that at the service they once again had everybody read and recite the 23rd Psalm. There's nothing wrong with that, except there is a general consensus, a general feeling about the 23rd Psalm, that it's a funeral Psalm. Sue was going to go speak to a group of women, and they asked what she planned on speaking on. She said, 'The 23rd Psalm,' and they said, 'Oh, please don't do that. We want to have a really upbeat, happy meeting. We don't want it to sound like a funeral, and that's obviously a funeral passage.' Friends, this is as far from being a funeral passage as there is any scripture in the book. It has nothing whatsoever to do with death. It has everything to do with life and the living of it right now, in the present tense. In fact, I turned to my daughter, who was also at the funeral, and I said, 'The next time I go to a funeral and somebody does the 23rd Psalm, I'm going to puke on the coffin.'"*
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That's my hero, and we understand him. I remember going to Larry and saying, "They're starting to ask me to maybe teach some stuff. How do you prepare a lesson?" He said, "Well, I read a bunch of stuff, then I get up and talk." So that's the training I've had for this.
Larry periodically got worked up, but I don't think I ever saw him more worked up over a passage of scripture than that. His deep desire was to take this passage that is associated with death and say, "No — it's not about dying, it's about living." When I sat at Halligan McCabe Funeral Home and said, "We won't be using that card," I knew then that I wanted to teach the 23rd Psalm as soon as we were done with our study in the life of Christ. So that's where we are.
David the Shepherd
I don't know how long this is going to take — we'll figure it out. The Psalm is written by David. First Samuel 17:28 tells us that David spent his youth, quote, "tending a few sheep in the desert." I want you to hold onto that imagery: David the shepherd, in the desert. God was, I think, using that experience in his life. David had an image so real that years later, at the moment he writes the 23rd Psalm, he goes back to that imagery of the shepherd and the sheep.
One author writes it this way: one day David was watching his sheep, and the idea came to him that God is like a shepherd. He thought of the incessant care that sheep require, their helplessness, their defenselessness. He recalled their foolish straying from paths and their constant need for a guide. He thought of the time and patience it took for them to trust him before they would follow him. He remembered the times when he led them through danger and they huddled close to his heels.
He pondered the fact that he must think for the sheep, and fight for the sheep, and guard the sheep, and find pastures for them. He remembered the bruises and scratches that he bound up, and he marveled at how frequently he had to rescue them from harm. Yet not one of his sheep was aware of all that he did for them.
The Shepherd Metaphor Throughout Scripture
David knew sheep. He was a shepherd, and he saw God in the midst of that experience. Yet David was not the first to use this metaphor of sheep and shepherd. Jacob, when he was dying — recorded in Genesis 48:15 — went to this metaphor: "God has been my shepherd all my life." Isaiah writes in Isaiah 40, "The sovereign Lord comes with power and His arms rule for Him. He tends His flock like a shepherd, He gathers His lambs in His arm and carries them close to His heart, and He gently leads those who have young."
Jeremiah looked at a time when the nation of Israel was lost and wandering. Jeremiah 50 records this: "My people have been lost sheep. The shepherds have led them astray and caused them to roam on the mountains, and they wander over the mountains and the hills and forgot their resting place, but I will bring Israel back to their own pasture." Ezekiel 34 returns to this same metaphor and imagery: "My sheep wander all over mountains and on every hill and they are scattered over the whole earth and no one searched or looked for them."
The passage in Ezekiel continues: "For this is what the sovereign Lord says, I myself will search for my sheep and look after them as a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them. So I will look after my sheep and I will rescue them from all the places where they are scattered on that day. I will tend to them in a good pasture. They will lie down in good grazing land and there they will feed in rich pasture. I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the sovereign Lord. I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak."
This imagery of sheep and shepherd runs all through Scripture. David writes this psalm for one very simple reason: to remind us who God is, and therefore we will be able to trust Him.
The Personal Pronoun: My Shepherd
The first word of the psalm is "the Lord" — Yahweh, the God we talked about last week. We spent a significant portion of that time talking about God and who He is. That Lord is not called "the shepherd" or even "a shepherd." What does David say? "The Lord is my shepherd." There is intimacy there, and it does no injustice to the text to see that idea at work.
Notice also that David does not use words like "us" or "we." He speaks of "me" and "my" and "I." This is personal. And because the Lord is his shepherd, look at what follows throughout these six verses. Verse 1: "I shall not want" — there is supply. "He makes me lie down in green pastures" — there is rest. "He leads me beside quiet waters" — there is refreshment. "He restores my soul" — there is healing. "He guides me in paths of righteousness" — there is direction. He has not left us alone.
Why does He do all this? For His name's sake — there is purpose in our lives. "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death" — there is testing — "I fear no evil" — there is protection. "You are with me" — He is faithful. "Your rod and staff, they comfort me" — there is discipline. "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies" — there is hope. "You have anointed my head with oil" — there is consecration. "My cup overflows" — there is abundance. "Surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life" — there is blessing. "I will dwell in the house of the Lord" — there is security — "forever" — there is eternity.
This psalm is not about dying. It is about living. Because the Lord is my shepherd, all of these things are true. Because the Lord is my shepherd, there is supply, rest, refreshment, healing, guidance, and all that goes with it.
The Shift from "He" to "You"
There is another interesting change that takes place in the psalm. Beginning in verse 2, as David talks about God, he uses the pronoun "He." The Lord is my shepherd. He makes me lie down. He leads me. He restores me. He guides me. But when David reaches verse 4, something shifts. He stops speaking about God and begins speaking to Him. It takes the form of a prayer.
Commenting on this distinction, John Piper writes: "I think this switch to the more intimate 'you,' precisely when he enters the valley of the shadow of death, is a universal experience among God's people — indeed, among all men in one form or another. The crisis of life draws us closer to God. We are more prone to talk about God when we are in the green pasture. We are more prone to cry out to God when we enter some fearful ravine."
Do you see the distinction? As long as things are moving along — passing classes, getting the scholarship, making the shot, closing the deal, relationships are fine, health is good — as long as all of that is in place, we want to talk a lot about God. But when things start to turn, we begin talking to Him. When the biopsy comes back clean, we want to talk a lot about God. But when the doctor says there is something there and it does not look good — in fact, it looks bad — all of a sudden, in that moment, we are talking directly to God.
There is a song we sing often: "Jesus is all you need." One author's observation cuts right to the heart of it: you really do not know if Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have. It is easy to say Jesus is all you need when you have everything else. But when everything is stripped away, all of a sudden that truth is tested in a way it never was before.
The Lord as Shepherd
That claim has meaning and power. When I'm weak, that's when I'm strong. Dave Roper writes this — and this is so good — "Our discomfort is God's doing. He hounds us. He hems us in. He thwarts our dreams. He foils our best laid plans. He frustrates our hopes. He waits until we know that nothing else will ease our pain. Nothing will make life worthwhile except His presence. And when we turn to Him, He is there to greet us. He's been there all along." Psalm 45, verse 18: "The Lord is near to all who call upon Him." Those are wonderful truths, and we want to unpack them.
What It Means to Be the Sheep
There is one observation I want to make first. It is so evident that we could miss it. If the Lord is the shepherd, what are we? Sheep.
Now, true confession time. I don't know anything about sheep. I don't know anything about livestock. I like to eat them, but I don't know anything about crops or any of that stuff. I moved down from Iowa in 1975 and got a job at Motorola.
In that day and age, if you wanted to buy a Motorola product, you had to buy it from them. Two-way communication was a big part of the business — walkie-talkies and things like that. That was also when you were just seeing car phones come into existence. What you had was an object about this size that went in the trunk, and then in the console somewhere in the front, they would put what looked like a handset. If you wanted to buy one of those car phones, it cost $3,300. When you called somebody, the first minute was two dollars, and every minute thereafter was a dollar. It was nothing like what we have now.
The man who hired me at Motorola saw Iowa on my résumé and said, "We're going to put you in the agribusiness part of Motorola." The office was over on Alameda there by the freeway, and all of this area where we sit right now was farmland as far as you could see. They gave me the files and said, "You're from Iowa — you do farm stuff." I didn't want to cold call, so I decided to call people who already had equipment and see if they'd buy more.
The first call I made was to a man named Dwayne Dobson — like Dobson Road, those were all his. He was a farmer and a fine fellow. I called him and said, "I'm the new Motorola guy, and I'd like to come meet you." He said they'd love to have me come and that they needed some new equipment. I asked where he'd like to meet, and he said they had a ranch house on the north end of Ocotillo. I suggested we meet the next morning for breakfast. He said, "Perfect — why don't you come by about 4:30?" I said, "Why don't I come by about 8:30 for lunch?" Because at 4:30 in the morning I'm just coming home — that is not a good time for a meeting. But they put me into agribusiness because they thought I knew farming, and the truth is I don't know anything about livestock.
The Nature of Sheep
So everything I have on this subject is what I've read about sheep, and everybody who writes about them says the same things.
Number one, they are stupid. They are dumb. Max Lucado observes that he has never met a sheep trainer — they are simply stupid animals. Number two, they are essentially defenseless. They won't defend themselves. No claws, no fangs. They can't outrun a predator. They are just defenseless animals.
Number three, they are dirty. Cats will clean themselves. Dogs will clean themselves. Birds will take a bath in a birdbath. But sheep are dirty animals. They are also stubborn animals. A woman at the earlier service who raises sheep said they are so stupid they will literally sit in the rain, not knowing enough to come in out of it.
And because they are stubborn, they are constantly getting lost — always going their own way. Isaiah 53 records what God says about the nation of Israel: "We are like sheep. We have all gone astray. We have turned to our own way." Sheep want to do their own thing. Forget about the best way, or the shepherd's way, or in their case God's way. They want to do their own thing.
So that's sheep. He is the Shepherd. Who are the sheep? Not just you — we are the sheep. We are dumb, defenseless, dirty, and prone to wander and do our own thing. That's us. We need a shepherd.
The Credentials of the Shepherd
In his classic work *A Shepherd Looks at the 23rd Psalm*, Philip Keller asks this: Who is the Lord? What is His character? Does He have adequate credentials to be my shepherd, my manager, my owner? And if He does, how do I come under His control? In what way do I become an object of His concern and His care? So let's break it down.
This is really part two of last week's message, in a way. The Lord — the word Yahweh. The Jew would not even say that word. If a Jew wanted to speak of the Lord, he would use the word Adonai. If a scribe reached a point when writing and copying text where he had to write the word Yahweh —
The Name Behind the Shepherd
He would first go and bathe and clean himself. When he came back, he would take his pen or writing instrument, write the word Yahweh, and then destroy the pen. That was the reverence they had for what this word meant. Though it is never defined — God never really gives us a definition — remember what we saw last week? "I am." That is what He says to Moses. Who are you supposed to say sent me? "I am." Literally, the verb to be.
I have been reading a great deal lately, and I am reading an author that many of you have read and I had not. I will give you his name and you are going to say, well, we all read him — I did not. I have been reading a lot of Max Lucado. And something happened to me, not unlike that Giglio book. Before the four o'clock service, a lady came up to me and said, "That message last week changed my life — that thought of God and who He is and pushing it out. I went and got that Giglio book." If you do not have it — *I Am Not, But I Know I Am* — you need to get it as soon as possible. She said she spent the entire week immersed in that book, and that God had transformed her life through that message and through that work.
Lucado writes this about God: "Yahweh is an unchanging God. He is also an uncaused God. Though He creates, God was never created. Though He makes, He was never made. Though He causes, He was never caused. 'Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God'" — Psalm 90, verse 2. God is Yahweh: an unchanging God, an uncaused God, and an ungoverned God.
Now, I could probably write something like that. But I could never write what Lucado adds next, and it is so good. You and I are governed. Give me an example: the weather determines what you wear. The terrain tells you how to travel. Gravity dictates our speed. Health determines our strength. We may challenge these forces and alter them slightly, but we never remove them. God, our shepherd, on the other hand, does not check the weather — He makes it. He does not defy gravity — He created it. He is not affected by health — He has no body. Jesus said, "God is spirit" — John 4:24. And since He has no body, He has no limitations. He is equally active in Cambodia as He is in Connecticut.
"Where can I go to get away from the Spirit?" David asked. "Where can I run from you? If I go to heaven, you are there. If I go to the grave, you are there" — Psalm 139. Unchanging, uncaused, ungoverned — these are only a fraction of God's qualities. But aren't they enough to give you a glimpse of your Father? Don't we need this kind of shepherd? Don't we need an unchanging shepherd?
That God Is My Shepherd
That is how the psalm begins. The Lord — this God who created, this God who does not change, this God who is the unmover, the cause of all things, the God who created the universe. Remember what we talked about last week? That universe that gets bigger and bigger and bigger. Whether there is life elsewhere — I personally do not think they are ever going to find life anywhere else in the universe, because He did not create the universe for us to live in it. He created the universe for us to see His glory. The massiveness of it, and the more we study it and see it, tells us who the Creator is.
The Lord — that Lord, Yahweh, that word they would not even speak aloud — that Lord is my shepherd. Now, when we think of that creator God, there is a potential that He could be a distant or removed God. But David takes that away immediately. No — the Lord, that God, is *my* shepherd. Personal. Intimate. And because He is my shepherd, all this other stuff is true. Because He is my shepherd, I shall not want. So if you and I are here today and we are in want, there are really only one of two possibilities: either he is not your shepherd, or you are not acting like He is.
The Lord is my shepherd — I shall not want. I have rest and refreshment and healing and purpose and testing and all the things we have already talked about. But who exactly is this shepherd?
The Lord Revealed in Christ
We see the Lord revealed in the person of Christ. Turn with me to the New Testament, to the Gospel of John. Hebrews 13:20 tells us that the Lord Jesus is the great shepherd of the sheep. That Lord whose character we have just barely scratched the surface of — that Lord is my shepherd. But does He have credibility? Is He worthy to be my shepherd?
John 1:1: "In the beginning was the Word" — speaking of Jesus — "and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God." Why does God have a legitimate claim on you as a sheep, as your shepherd? Because "all things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being." Paul says it this way in Colossians 1: "For by Him all things were created — things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities — all things have been created by Him and for Him." He created you.
He says to the prophet Jeremiah, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you and I set you apart." Is God worthy through Christ to be your shepherd? Yes. 1 Corinthians 7:23 — God bought you at a price. He has chosen you, Ephesians 1:4, before the foundations of the earth. Jesus made all things, and His claim is to be the shepherd.
The Good Shepherd Speaks
You are in chapter one — now turn to chapter 10. Let us take some time and unpack this. Verse 1: "Truly, truly" — and again, when Jesus uses that phrase and repeats it, truly, truly —
The Door and the Shepherd
Jesus is figuratively grabbing you by the throat and pulling you in, saying, "Listen up." Truly, truly, He says to you: "He who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is a shepherd to the sheep." That has been the whole discussion in John chapter nine. Jesus has healed a blind man, and the entire conversation centers on who Jesus is — the Savior, the Messiah.
Jesus says there is a shepherd, there is a door, there is one way in. When shepherds in that culture would pen their sheep, it was not like a corral as we think of today. It would typically be a wall, and there would be no door. The shepherd himself was the door. He would not let the sheep out, and he would not let anyone who might harm them in. If someone came into that pen by any other way, he was a robber.
Jesus is applying this directly to all the other false teaching, the false messiahs, and the false claims that had come along. He says they are all robbers. He repeats the point in verse seven: "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, and the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved."
The thief comes to steal and to kill. But here is why Jesus came — and how wonderful and sweet this is. He said, "I have come that you have life and have it to its fullest." If you say you want life, real life, Jesus said it plainly: that is why He came. "I am the good shepherd, and the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." That is His claim on you. Christ died for His sheep, and because He is your shepherd, all these benefits and this wonderful relationship flow to you.
Tell Us Plainly
The confrontation with the Jewish leaders comes to a head in verse twenty-four. The Jews gathered around Him and said, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, if you are the Messiah, tell us plainly." They were essentially asking: if you are the one spoken of, if you are the shepherd we hear about in the Old Testament, if you are the Lord that David calls his shepherd, if you are the true God come in the flesh — tell us plainly.
Jesus answers in verse twenty-five, and His answer is simply: "I told you, but you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father's name, these testify of Me. But you do not believe because you are not My sheep." Then He continues: "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me." Notice how these characteristics flow together — hearing His voice, being known by Him, following Him. These are nearly identical to what we will discuss throughout Psalm 23.
He goes on: "I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 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." There is the security and protection of the sheep laid out plainly.
Jesus and the Father Are One
Then Jesus says in verse thirty, "I and the Father are one." You do not have to wonder what He meant by that — the Jews understood it immediately. They picked up stones to stone Him. Jesus answered them, "I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?" And the Jews answered, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God."
So when you are sitting at a coffee shop or in a study hall and someone says to you that Jesus never claimed to be God, you go right here. John chapter ten, and this section in particular, is one you want to have marked, because you will return to it. Jesus said, "I and the Father are one." We are the same. If you have seen Me, you have seen Him. If you want to know the Father, look at Me. The religious leaders searched the scriptures trying to figure it all out, and here was the answer standing right in front of them.
My Sheep Hear My Voice
With that established, the focus returns to this image of shepherd and sheep. In verse twenty-seven Jesus says, "My sheep hear My voice." Here is something worth knowing about actual shepherding practice. Shepherds frequently traveled in groups, bringing two, three, four, or even ten flocks together and commingling them — especially at night, when there were not enough pens to keep every flock separate. Multiple flocks would be put into the same enclosure together.
When morning came, the shepherds would go to different spots and simply begin to call. Not necessarily by name, but making sounds — and even if different shepherds made similar sounds, each flock would move toward its own shepherd. The sheep knew their shepherd's voice. You can imagine the people sitting there listening to Jesus say this and thinking, "I get it." This is exactly what He is saying: I am the good shepherd. I am the one David was talking about. I am what all these Old Testament passages point to.
You Are a Sheep Who Needs a Shepherd
You are a sheep. You are dumb, defenseless, broken, and hurt. You wander around and you need a shepherd, and He is the shepherd. All the others are false shepherds — false gods. Everyone is a theologian. Everyone has a theology. For thirty years I had a theology that was a little bit Beatles, a little bit Bob Dylan, a little bit from a guy I met in a bar, another guy I picked up hitchhiking, and some other thing. That was my god. But there is only one legitimate theology, and it flows right out of Scripture.
Nothing Is More Important Than This
There is nothing you have to do in your life that is more important than this. I understand you have things to get done. There are students here who need to get through school, get out, get a job, pay taxes. That is noble. Some of you tomorrow have your phones going off — alerts, reminders, a big meeting at nine. You will not even sleep tonight. When your head hits the pillow there will be no rest, because you will be thinking about that deal, that meeting, what you should say when he says this, how you handle that.
There are statistics people always quote — you never quite know where they came from or if they are real, but they are widely used. Here is what they say: right now, seven out of ten people are hurting physically, emotionally, relationally, or spiritually. Maybe your tomorrow has a meeting in it, a confrontation, something you do not even want to deal with. How do you handle that? You hear His voice, and it gives you everything you need.
The Danger of Having No Need
Some of you are doing really well, and honestly, you are the toughest group to talk to. I was with a man who has become a wonderful friend, and his father is extraordinarily wealthy — no matter how you define that word, he qualifies. He has money, properties, homes worth millions that he has not visited in four or five years. When I first met this young man I asked about his father, and I had heard the son was a Christian. I told him so, and we had a wonderful conversation. When we were done I asked, "What about your dad?" He said, "My dad has no need. He doesn't need anything. If he needs something, he buys it."
That may be you right now. You are saying you have no need, you are cruising along fine. Every pass you throw is complete, every shot you take goes in, every deal works out. Let me tell you something — I know how it feels, and it feels like you are in a good place. You are actually in a terrible place. When everything is going well, it is very hard to see the deep need that you have. It is hard to tell the valedictorian that they are dumb and defenseless. It is hard to tell someone at the top of their game that they are needy, especially when they can buy anything they want, go anywhere they want, and do anything they want.
Hurt as a Spiritual Gift
I never had anyone close to me die until my dad died a year and a half ago. I had never been in a hospital a day in my life, and Susan had never been in a hospital a day in her life. Now, nearly three years in, we are in our fourth round of cancer with her. You would not expect me to say this, but these have been wonderful times — terrific times. I have had these kidney stones for three months now, and I cannot stop talking about them, so I must be self-absorbed. But it has been something.
I think part of why I have been reading, and why my heart is so tender, is because I am simply hurting all the time. I am not complaining — do not send cards, do not send food, I am fine. I am simply saying I would rather be hurting than feeling well, because I know that spiritually I am going to do a lot better when I hurt. And when you hurt, you are not hopeless. That is what He is saying. Do you see that?
Is the Lord Your Shepherd?
The Lord is my shepherd. Now we have to ask: is the Lord your shepherd? Do you know Him? Do you know the Good Shepherd? Do you know Jesus? Do you understand that you are lost and separated from Him, and that this separation is the result of your sin? And yet He is near. If you call upon Him, you will be saved and delivered.
It almost sounds too good to be true. You know what they say — if something sounds too good to be true, it is. This almost sounds like that, doesn't it? He will protect you, you will have no want, He will meet your needs, He will refresh you, He is faithful. And it all begins with acknowledging that you are a sheep, separated from Him by your sin, and that He is prepared and ready to be the Good Shepherd to you. "My sheep hear My voice." Do you hear it?
The Shepherd Who Knows His Sheep
"And I know them." This speaks of intimacy, not just knowledge. "And they follow me." The shepherd looks for sheep that have gone astray, but His sheep follow Him. This begins an unbreakable relationship: "I give them eternal life and they'll never perish and no one will snatch them out of my hands."
That is what the 23rd Psalm is about. I don't know if Larry is accurate when he says no passage of Scripture is more about living than this. But I will tell you this — I don't know of any passage that's more about living than the 23rd Psalm. I am so excited to see what God is going to do in your life and mine as we unpack this, and I don't care if you're a junior high student or a senior citizen — you need to settle this.
Hope for the Hurting
If you're hurting today, you don't need to hurt alone. He may not remove all of the pain. He may not remove all of the trial. He'll just climb right in there with you, and there is strength and there is hope.
In a dark world, I know what it's like — I've got problems. But we have hope, and not because we're anything special. What are you? Sheep. Dumb, defenseless, dirty sheep. This is probably not what people have in mind when they talk about building self-esteem, but that is what we are.
And in spite of you — not because of you — the Shepherd died so that you would have life. How rich is that? How sweet is that? Let that begin to sink in, because for you, now it is time to respond to that.
Closing Prayer
Father, thank You for this marvelous, wonderful truth — that You, Lord, Yahweh, the one true God, are my shepherd. God, thank You for that truth. Lead our lives and allow us to come to a place where we shall not want. We love You because You first loved us. And now, God, let us respond to this truth. We pray to You in Jesus' name. Amen.