I feel no danger because of the Good Shepherd Psalm 23
1. One can feel no danger it’s the Good Shepherd that gives waters of Rest
• Psalm 23 The good Shepherd “leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul” (vv. 2-3). The original Hebrew words of the psalm say that God “leads me beside waters of rest; he restores my life.”
• We need quiet waters, still waters, waters of rest. Is that why folks love, salt life
• Years ago Martin Luther claimed it was the waters that helped Him. Luther “lived a turbulent life, he was endanger from the authorities he was often plagued with fear and anxiety, and with doubt and discouragement.”
• And how did he handle this stress? Luther had a unique strategy: “he would stand up, face down the devil that he believed to be tormenting him, and yell, ‘I am baptized!’ it was that waters of baptism that reminded Luther there is no danger I am Baptized”.
2. One can feel no danger because the Good Shepherd Provides food
• Psalm 23 is that God “makes me lie down in green pastures” that’s the promise of food 4 the sheep
• We can trust God, lean on God, rely on God, and have faith in God. God Provides
• One of the greatest of the miracles of Jesus, the feeding of the 5,000, occurred on a grassy hillside like the setting of the 23rd psalm. There, Jesus became a Good Shepherd, one who “had compassion on [the people] and healed their sick” (Matthew 14:14). Then he ordered the people “to sit down on the grass” so they could eat and be filled (Matthew 14:19-20).
• Jesus was like the shepherd of Psalm 23, who made his sheep “lie down in green pastures” (v2
• Isaiah 40:11 indicates: “[The LORD] will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in his arms, holding them close to his heart.”
3. The Good Shepherd Gives us Protection like the old Song “Living By Faith” and I feel no alarm no danger
• Yes living by faith In Jesus above, In Jesus above
Trusting, confiding In His great love;
Yes in his great love From all harm safe
In His sheltering arm, I'm living by faith I'm living by faith And feel no alarm.
• Sheep tend to wonder off and get into dangerous situations
• The Good Shepherd provides protection from predators, Provides adequate safe grazing areas and water, Good Shepherd Protects from circumstances and healing from wounds.
• Isaiah 53:6“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way.” In 1 Peter 2:25, we read, “For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls
4. I feel no danger because The Good Shepherd is Good, Gives rest, Provides, Protects, Walks with us I lack nothing I shall not want : The Good Shepherd is GOOD
• I feel no danger Because He leads me with care to gentle, safe waters which foster rest.”
• I feel No Danger “ He lets me lie down in green in pastures.” Provides Food
• I feel No Danger because The Good Shepherd “[H]e restores my soul” (3a) is better translated “… my life.” He gives breath and strength Protects us I feel no alarm
• I feel No Danger The Good Shepherd is with us Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, Tanakh has “a valley of deepest darkness.” Means “Even were I to walk in a ravine as dark as death I should fear no danger, for you are at my side.”
• The well-known Isaiah 9:2 “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness — on them light has shined” The essential meaning of the word is profound darkness, it means deadly danger, through which the Shepherd guides us, one step at a time.
• It is Jesus the Good Shepherd who is Good, Gives Rest, Provides, Protects, walks with us. And as a result “I Feel No Danger”
