The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing. (Psalm 23:1)
There is such an interesting relationship between the sheep and the shepherd. So much is written about sheep and shepherds in commentary on Psalm 23.
I called my brother because after his wife finished a rigorous veterinary school, she went to England to study sheep. I asked my brother to tell me something your wife learned or experienced about sheep and shepherds when she traveled and lived overseas to study sheep. He apologized because he said it was not as dramatic as when David using his bare hands rescued a lamb from the mouth of a lion or a bear.
He said that when bloodthirsty coyotes were attacking the sheep the shepherds would shoot them. The animals attacking sheep may have changed and the ways to protect them are more advanced. One thing remains the same. That is shepherds provide protection and leadership for their sheep.
This study, The Lord is my Shepherd, is part of our studies on the names of God. We will look at Jehovah-Rohi. The Lord is my Shepherd.
Some of the other names:
Jehovah-Jireh: The Lord is our provider. (Genesis 22:14)
Jehovah-Rapha: The Lord is our healer. (Exodus 15:26)
Jehovah-M’kaddesh: The Lord is our Holiness. (Leviticus 20:8)
Jehovah-Nissi: The Lord is our banner, our victory. (Exodus 17:15)
Jehovah-Shalom: The Lord is our peace. (Judges 6:26)
Jehovah-Tsidkenu: The Lord is our righteousness. (Jeremiah 23:6)
Jehovah-Shammah: The Lord is present (Ezekiel 48:34)
The name Jehovah-Rohi. The Lord is my Shepherd has brought comfort to the hurting. It is the go-to verse in a funeral to help the grieving. It has been used to sooth the troubled souls. The name The Lord is my Shepherd, Jehovah-Rohi goes beyond all other names in communicating the tenderness and intimacy of God to his people.
What the shepherd is to his sheep, God is to his people. It begins the most beloved Psalm of all; the 23rd Psalm, the shepherd psalm. The Psalm of David as he writes through his own experience as a shepherd. David spent his youth caring for his father’s sheep.
The shepherd and his sheep become a beautiful and fitting analogy of the relationship between God and his people. The imagery of shepherd conveys both the tenderness and strength characteristics of God.
David himself had put his own life on the line to rescue one of his own sheep from the mouth of a lion or the mouth of a bear. It was when David demonstrated the strength God gave him. David told this when he was about to face Goliath.
But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. (1 Samuel 17:34-35)
David demonstrated tenderness as he watched over the sheep with a pure heart. The occupation of Shepherd dates back to the second son of Adam and Eve. Able is recorded as keeping flocks.
Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. (Genesis 4:2)
Being a shepherd is good training for leadership. Moses was serving as a shepherd tending the flocks when God called him to lead his people.
Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. (Exodus 3:1)
We see God as our shepherd. To be a shepherd primarily means leading the sheep to feed the flocks and lead them to pasture. The context of where David was shepherd in Israel was a dry and rocky land. He must lead his sheep to water and to the green pastures. It is a fitting picture of God caring for us.
The image of God as shepherd stands in contrast with the set apartness of God and his unapproachable glory. The glory aspect of God is seen when Moses can scarcely stand to see a passing glimpse of God.
But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” (Exodus 33:20)
The image of the Lord is our shepherd portrays how, by the grace of God, he puts himself into a relationship with his people who he has redeemed.
He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young. (Isaiah 40:11)
There is a profound intimacy between the shepherd and his sheep. This is even more so with God and his people. It is amazing that God offers himself to such a relationship. We need to know the depth of God’s love for us that we can say, “The Lord is my Shepherd.”
We have a personal experience with a personal and loving God. We should never take for granted that God offers us a relationship.
The shepherd leads his sheep. The shepherd often leads the sheep through dark valleys of the mountain pass. Why does the shepherd do this? To reach the new pastures that benefit the flock.
Sometimes God leads us through troubled and dark times. The times and places where the shadows of death press down upon us. We cannot always see God’s purposes, but we know God is wise.
The shepherd knows how to avert the danger for the sheep. Whether it was crushing the head of a snake with his staff or pelting away a pack of wolves the shepherd would protect the sheep. In the time of danger God cares for us. Our Lord never forsakes us.
God walks with us stretching out his loving arms in times of trouble. With his guidance we have no want. We are made to lie down in green pastures. We are led beside quiet waters. Our soul is restored.
There is no reason to fear evil because the rod and staff of the Lord gives us comfort. Goodness and mercy follow us. The Lord’s house is our eternal home.
Jesus is the Good Shepherd. Not only do we have the beautiful Old Testament picture of God as our shepherd, but in the New Testament Jesus specifically refers to himself as shepherd.
When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. (John 10:6)
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. (John 10:11)
The shepherd leads the sheep through the dark valleys where the dangers lurk. The shepherd only leads the sheep where he himself is prepared to go. Our Good Shepherd Jesus Christ was willing to give his life for his sheep.
Jesus did something that no other Shepherd has done. Not Abel or Moses or David or any other shepherd at any other time. Jesus our Good Shepherd himself became a lamb and was sacrificed on behalf of the sheep.
Jesus was led like a lamb to the slaughter. Jesus went to the cross as a sheep silent before his shearers.
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. 13 The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— (John 10:11b-14)
Jesus as the Good Shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.
Paul in Acts 20:29 gives some serious warnings to the sheep.
I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. (Acts 20:29)
Be assured that the wolves are ready to pounce upon the sheep. It is important that you listen to the Good Shepherd. You need to be able to recognize his voice.
“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— (John 10:14)
We need to know that we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. When we listen to the voice of Jesus he says,
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. (John 10:28)
We need to take comfort in the strength and the tenderness of the good shepherd Jesus Christ.
“What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? 13 And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. 14 In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish. (Matthew 18:12-14)
Are you one who has wondered off? The shepherd cares. He will leave the ninety-nine sheep and search the hills for the one who has wondered off. If he finds that sheep, then the shepherd is happier about that one than the ninety-nine.
The one who wandered off was lost and is now returned. The shepherd has a passionate tender love for the lost. The heart of the Good Shepherd seeks and saves the lost.
Poem by Elizabeth Clephane The Ninety and Nine
There were ninety and nine that safely lay
In the shelter of the fold;
But one was out on the hills away,
Far off from the gates of gold,
Away on the mountains wild and bare,
Away from the tender Shepherd's care.
'Lord, Thou hast here Thy ninety and nine-
Are they not enough for Thee?'
But the Shepherd made answer, 'This of Mine
Has wandered away from Me;
And although the road be rough and steep
I go to the desert to find My sheep.'
But none of the ransomed ever knew
How deep were the waters crossed;
Nor how dark was the night that the Lord passed through
Ere He found His sheep that was lost.
Out in the desert He heard its cry,
Sick and helpless and ready to die.
'Lord, whence are those blood drops all the way
That mark out the mountain's track?'
'They were shed for one who had gone astray,
Ere the Shepherd could bring him back.'
'Lord, whence are Thy hands so rent and torn?'
'They were pierced tonight by many a thorn.'
And all through the mountains, thunder-riven,
And up from the rocky steep,
There arose a cry to the gate of heaven,
'Rejoice, I have found My sheep!'
And the angels echoed around the throne,
'Rejoice, for the Lord brings back His own.'
Are you a stray sheep?
Are you not of the Lord’s fold?
You can dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Trust in the Lord who died for you. You can say, “The Lord is my Shepherd.”
