THE SHEPHERD PSALM.
Psalm 23:1-6.
I. The LORD is my Shepherd.
Psalm 23:1-3.
When King David was a boy, he used to look after his father’s sheep - so he knew what he was talking about when he spoke of the LORD as his shepherd. As we all know, a “shepherd” looks after sheep. David led the sheep, but the LORD led David.
Yet one day the LORD called David away from that life of looking after sheep, and after many adventures David became king of Israel (Psalm 78:70-71). Instead of leading sheep, he was to lead God’s people. Now, more than ever, King David needed to follow the leading of the LORD God.
King David could look back on his life as a shepherd boy, and remember the times when God had helped him. One time a lion tried to steal a lamb. Another time a bear tried to steal a lamb. Both times the LORD helped King David rescue the lamb (1 Samuel 17:34-35).
Psalm 23:1. “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not lack anything.”
Another Psalm tells us that there is ‘no good thing that the LORD will withhold’ from the people who walk in His righteous way (Psalm 84:11).
Jesus said that when we seek God’s kingdom, and His righteousness, He will provide for us all that we need (Matthew 6:33).
Psalm 23:2. “He makes me lie down in green pastures.” For a sheep, this means delicious green grass.
“He leads me beside still waters” – rather than scary noisy fast-running water in which the sheep might drown.
Sheep sometimes do silly things. I can remember seeing a sheep that had wandered onto the shore because it saw a nice piece of grass in the shallow water. When the tide started to come in, that silly sheep nearly got drowned.
God does not give us permission to go into silly places.
Psalm 23:3. “He restores my soul.” The shepherd rescues the sheep from dangerous and forbidden places. The LORD restores the life of His people.
“He leads me in the paths of righteousness” – the shepherd knows where the right paths are, and leads the sheep there. The LORD has given us His Word, the Bible, to guide us and to teach us in His ways.
“For His name’s sake.” The shepherd looks after his sheep properly so that people do not think that the shepherd is silly. When we disobey God, we dishonour His name.
Jesus is the good shepherd, who gives His life for the sheep (John 10:11). The shepherd calls His own sheep by name, and He leads them out. Those who hear the voice of Jesus will follow Him, and He leads us beside the still waters, and into the paths of righteousness (Psalm 23:2-3).
Jesus is the Shepherd of Israel (Psalm 80:1): but His flock (His people) includes those out of every nation, throughout all of time, who follow Him.
II. A Sheep's Response to the Good Shepherd.
Psalm 23:4-6.
‘All we like sheep have gone astray’ (Isaiah 53:6). Yet when we know Jesus as our Good Shepherd (John 10:14), we have full bragging rights (Psalm 23:1-3). One of the distinguishing marks of the Good Shepherd is His compassion towards an otherwise leaderless people (Mark 6:34).
Having told the other sheep about the Good Shepherd, the sheep now addresses Him in person. “You” are with me; “your” rod, and “your” staff comfort me (Psalm 23:4). “You” prepare a table before me; “you” anoint my head with oil (Psalm 23:5).
Finally, just in case the sheep still has fears in the dark valley (Psalm 23:4), the Psalm ends with the reassurance of a personal reflection (Psalm 23:6). The Lord is our Shepherd (Psalm 23:1), we might say, and His compassions they fail not (Lamentations 3:22-24). ‘Thus far the LORD has helped us’ (1 Samuel 7:12).
In the valley, death is only a shadow (Psalm 23:4). Since I am walking in the paths in which the Good Shepherd is leading me (Psalm 23:2-3), I need not yield to fear, for He is with me; His rod, and His staff they comfort me (Psalm 23:4). Countless times in the Bible we hear the LORD, His angel, and Jesus saying ‘Fear not’ (e.g. Isaiah 41:10; Luke 2:10; John 16:33).
The “comfort” of the rod and staff is that they ward off enemies, but also keep me on the right path (Psalm 23:4). We have the ‘comfort’ of the Holy Ghost (John 14:26). This includes both direction and discipline.
The “table” is a place of feasting (Psalm 23:5). For the sheep, this is a plateau, previously prepared by the good shepherd. Cleared of noxious weeds, it is lush with the best grass.
There are both literal and spiritual applications of this concept for the believer. Just as the LORD provided manna in the wilderness (Exodus 16:31), so He provides our daily bread (Matthew 6:11). Yet in the Bible He also feeds us with His words, and they are a delight to us (Psalm 119:103); ‘the words that I speak,’ says Jesus, ‘they are spirit and they are life’ (John 6:63).
Enemies (spiritual predators) can only look on when I am in the care of the Good Shepherd (Psalm 23:5). Our adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, is pacing up and down, seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8). Yet he can come no nearer than the Lord allows (Job 1:12; Job 2:6).
“Anointing” (Psalm 23:5) is salve for healing, and the application of oil to deter parasites. It is also grease for the rams’ horns, to stop them from battering each other to death! The Lord tends to our spiritual injuries, and daily applies the ministry of the Holy Ghost to our individual situations.
The “overflowing cup” (Psalm 23:5) speaks of the kind of medicine that the shepherd might administer to the sheep in times of chill. It is a metaphor for the abundance that the sheep finds when it rests under the good shepherd’s care. The concept of blessings ‘running over’ appears also in the New Testament, as a response to our obedience to Jesus (Luke 6:38).
The cup of Christ’s suffering, which he drank to the full (Mark 10:38; Mark 14:36), fills our cup with an abundant overflowing of spiritual blessings (Ephesians 1:3). Whatever we are suffering, He has been there already: rest in Him!
In the final verse, the sheep reassures itself that the mercy and love of the good shepherd have ‘got my back.’ David is saying, on our behalf, “my dwelling will always be with Him” (Psalm 23:6). This is a response of faith to all that has occurred so far, a response of confidence in the present, and a response of assured hope concerning all that is yet to come.
Let us pray (Hebrews 13:20-21).
