“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.” (Psalm 23).
Psalm 23 (Part 1).
Psalm 23 is the famous Psalm among all the Psalms. The Bible depicts the church as a family, fellowship, and flock. Psalm 100:3 says, “Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture.” We are the sheep, and He is our Shepherd.
John 10:11-14 “I am the good Shepherd. The good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. I am the good Shepherd, and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.”
The Lord repeats that He is the good Shepherd. I don’t know whether you know much about sheep, but a sheep can’t do much without a Shepherd. We are all sheep, and we need a Shepherd, and He is a good one.
Characteristics of a Good Shepherd.
- He provides.
Psalm 23:1 “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” The Hebrew word used for want means lack. I shall not lack. I will not need anything because the Shepherd provides everything I need, not want. We want so many things, but God will not provide all our wants, but we give us all we need. Therefore, some prayers are not answered because we want something we don’t need. For example, the people of Israel wanted a King; they wanted a political and military leader but what they needed was a Saviour.
He provides Green Pastures and Still Waters.
Verse 2 says, “He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.” Green pastures represent contentment; still water represents peace, and a sheep with green pastures is content. A believer’s life should be characterised by happiness and peace. If you are not content and do not have peace, you are not following the Shepherd because the Good Shepherd makes us lie down in green pastures and leads us beside still waters. We come to church for these reasons; we come for green pastures and still waters. We come to church, and we experience still waters in worship. We can come to church upset, anxious, worried, troubled, or fearful, and suddenly the presence of God comes, and we are at peace despite the problems. Then we come for green pastures, which is the Word of God. God has provided us with many teachers of the Word to give us green pastures.
It also says, “He makes me lie down.” Sometimes, God will make you take a nap. We get overwhelmed with many things and therefore cannot concentrate on God. Things shake our faith and make us question God. At that time, God will “force” you to sleep. He will make you lie down.
- Healing and Restoration.
Verse 3 says, “He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” Has your soul ever been crashed? Restoring is bringing life to something injured. Has your heart ever been broken? When I had my first broken heart, I never thought I could fall in love again, but God restored my soul. When you lose your job, a family, a friend, a relationship or anything that breaks your heart, God can fix whatever was broken. Quoting from Isaiah, Jesus stated one of His purposes was to heal the brokenhearted. (Luke 4:18). Matthew 12:20 says, “A bruised reed He will not break”. If you are bleeding inside, He will not come to break you. Jesus doesn’t come to worsen our situation; He comes to restore and heal us.
The Pharisees were mad at Jesus for healing someone on the Sabbath. To them, He is not supposed to heal people on the Sabbath because that is work. He replied to them, “Which of you if you have an ox that falls in the ditch that you will not pick it up on the Sabbath?” But this time in Matthew 12, He says something different. Verse 11 says, “Then He said to them, “What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep?” If they would rescue a sheep, then a human being is more important than a sheep. Yet, they complained when a human being was healed on the Sabbath. If you have ever fallen into a ditch not your fault, the Shepherd will pick you up. If someone throws you into a pit, like Joseph and his brothers or if you dug the hole yourself, God will pick you up. I have ended up in many pits that I dug myself. There are many pit-digger-Christians; we all dig pits in our lives. Even if you dug the hole yourself, the Shepherd would pick you out; that is how good He is.
Psalm 51:12 says, “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation.” When we genuinely repent, God restores us with joy.
- Path of Righteousness.
The second part of verse three says, “He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” Righteousness means right standing with God. We are put in the right place with God by grace through faith. It is not grace plus works that saves you. It is evident in the Scriptures that we are saved by grace through faith; it can’t be both. If your life doesn’t have a foundation of grace, you will not go anywhere with God. You don’t lose your salvation when you sin; otherwise, we will all lose it daily. If grace depended on our works, we are all in trouble. Grace puts us in right standing with God. But sin affects us in our proper standing position. In the eyes of God, Jesus has done the work, so we are righteous, but when we sin, it affects us in our stand with God. It doesn’t affect God but us. We get in trouble receiving from God due to sin. The person who doesn’t receive God’s grace is the one who judges you typically. He doesn’t receive God’s grace, so they believe they need to pay for their sin. Such people are judgmental people.
A classic passage in Psalm 32 teaches us how sin affects our relationship with God. “Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit. (The word “not count” is the root word “imputed”, an accounting word. God takes our sin from our account and puts the righteousness of Jesus into it.) Verse 3 says, “When I kept silent (when I refused to confess and admit my sins), my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night
Your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to You and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin.”” (Ps 32:1-5; illustrated). The word “guilt” in Greek means “weight”. When he confessed his sins, David said that God took their weight from him, and he had peace.
Conclusion:
Shepherds do not drive sheep. Cattle and camels drive, but you will never see a sheep drive. Shepherds lead sheep. Are you ready to follow the Shepherd? To be a sheep, you must give your life to the Shepherd; you must be part of the flock. The Shepherd is calling you today. Will you follow Him?
