Psalm for Today = 23:1-4
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.
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.
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
Comments:
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| Hook's "Jesus the Good Shepherd" |
We should all know this psalm by heart not merely from memory. In his
presence, we "want" for nothing (in the old-fashioned sense of not “lacking”
anything), and we fear nothing. This psalm uses the shepherd metaphor to great
effect in the worship life of a people steeped in a herding culture. From the
time that Jacob’s family first moved down to Egypt that was how they were
known. In Genesis 46:34 we read that the Egyptians despised all herdsmen/shepherds
and we see this prejudice play out through the pages of the Bible as the
Shepherd God’s shepherd people are repeatedly persecuted by those who glory in
the ways of the world.
In this psalm we see God relating not just to the collective “nation” or “people”
but to individuals. As westerners, we tend to over-emphasize the individual to
the detriment of the group, but to the Hebrew, this was a remarkable passage
where the psalmist says, “The Lord is my shepherd,” heavy on the “my”. As Americans, we are almost insulted
to be referred to as “sheep” aren’t we? It’s not a stretch to think of someone
getting an attitude about it, “If you call me a sheep again I’m going to give
you a piece of this!” We like to think of ourselves as competent, capable, and
in control of our lives. So, I think that this psalm must—for us—must be a personal
confession of need before it can bring comfort. It must be our statement of
trust before it becomes our testimony…and God wants it to be our testimony.
The subject in this passage is the Lord,
the Shepherd, the God who consistently acts for the good of his people. Re-read v. 2-3. He
provides just what I need at just the right time and in a gentle way that I can
receive it without anxiety... if I am one of his sheep.
The key to this psalm, as in life, is not found in the peace of perfect
circumstances, but in the relationship with, and presence of the Shepherd. It is
all based on the foundation that he is my
Shepherd, which implies that I am one of his sheep. There is a wealth of biblical
imagery to develop to show just how relational—and dependent—this image of sheep
and shepherd is. Here are just a few...
- He will carry his lambs in his arms (Isaiah 40:11)
- He will punish abusive and selfish shepherds and feed his flock himself (Ezekiel 34)
- He will rescue his sheep (Ezekiel 34:22)
- Jesus told the parable about leaving the 99 sheep safe to go out seeking the one sheep that was lost and the joy in the shepherd’s heart when it is found. (Luke 15:3-7)
- Jesus refers to himself as the Good Shepherd, or literally, “the Shepherd, the good” (John 10:7-20)
I am glad that I can know that
the Lord is my shepherd and that
the Lord knows me personally as his sheep, not merely an anonymous part of the
large flock.
Do you know this by heart, or just from memory?
My next post will look at the rest of Psalm 23.
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