Journals is a new book which is coming out about the life of Kurt Cobain, who was the leader of “Nirvana,” a post-punk band with a series of crunching, screaming songs that defined grunge music. The book gives a glimpse of Cobain’s tortured life. He was obsessed with heaven and looked to the eastern religion of Janism, with its seven heavens and seven hells, to provide answers for him. But evidently his religion brought him no peace, for he shot himself to death in his Seattle home at the age of 27. Cobain was at the top of his industry and had married Courtney Love. Their daughter was only 19-months-old at the time of his death. As famous and successful as he was, his mind was tormented and his body was addicted to heroin.
Cobain is perhaps an extreme example, but he represents countless numbers of lost people in this world who lead tortured and addicted lives. They may have attained success, wealth and even fame, but they have no peace or joy in life. There are countless numbers just like him among the Hollywood set as well as ordinary suburbanites. They may have some kind of religion, but they have not found the God who made them and the world in which they live. You cannot find peace while living away from the God who formed you. And you cannot have peace living against the laws of this God which are built into the universe. “‘There is no peace,’ says the Lord, ‘for the wicked’” (Isaiah 48:22). Peace is found in knowing God and living for him.
People are looking for peace today. I think this is why the 23rd Psalm is so popular. Just reading it breathes a kind of peace and reassurance into our souls. The 23rd Psalm is talking about the Great Shepherd of our souls, and how he cares for us. The first thing that the psalm says about the Great Shepherd is that: He provides. David is saying that God is the Great Shepherd. And because the Lord is his Shepherd, he will not be in want. He has the sense that God is watching over him and providing for him. The Lord is always beside him and looking after his needs. There is great peace that has come into David’s life, in spite of his many problems, because he has this overwhelming sense that God loves him and cares about him. He has enormous interest in him. God wants the best for him and leads his life in ways so that he will find God’s best. The Bible says, “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16). Imagine what it would be like to live and not be aware on a daily basis that God loves you and wants the best for you David had that assurance, and it was what kept him going through all the problems he faced in life.
David said that God was like a good shepherd that took his sheep to green pastures and led them to quiet waters. Human shepherds may be quite different. There are various personality types. There are those who don’t really care for the sheep and are rough with them. They don’t care for the sheep, they only care about themselves. They don’t make life pleasant for the sheep, they only make life easy for themselves. It is disastrous when that happens, because sheep are rather slow-witted. They wander off and get lost. They are in need of constant care. Let’s just say they are not the brightest animals in the food chain. They cannot take care of themselves. If they walk head first into the corner of a fence, they are not smart enough to back up. The shepherd has to come and lead them out. You can see that if they were left alone they would die. I remember visiting a member of one of my churches who had sheep. One of the sheep had laid down in the pasture and rolled on its side. The sheep was helpless and could not get up. This shepherd had to go out and get the sheep back on its feet or else it would have laid there and died, suffocated by its own weight.
Remember the story that Jesus told about the lost sheep? He said, “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?” (Matthew 18:12). This was not just an offhand statement by Jesus, it was a real life situation that shepherds faced on a daily basis. Sheep, like us, are dependent creatures and demand constant care, because they are forever running into trouble. Like us we need the Shepherd to come after us and rescue us. But we have the assurance that we are being watched and cared for by the Great Shepherd. Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns 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. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me” (John 10:11-14).
Even at night the shepherd guards the sheep at great personal danger. In biblical times the sheep were placed in a cave at night, or inside a fence sometimes made of dense hedge with a single entrance. There was no gate to keep the predators out, so the shepherd became the gate as he laid down at the opening of the cave or hedge. This is the imagery behind the statement of Jesus when he said, “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:7-10).
How marvelous it is to be in the care of the One who provides for us so wonderfully. The shepherd does not take the sheep into barren places, but pastures that have sufficient supply. This often means that the flock will have to stay on the move, and as the grass is eaten in one place, the sheep are led to another and then another. And when the sheep are thirsty, the good shepherd does not take the sheep to streams that are turbulent with rapids and rushing white water, because the sheep could be swept downstream. He takes them to the quiet waters where they can wade in and quench their thirst without fear or danger. Our Shepherd says to us: “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink” (John 7:37). And as we drink from him, he restores our soul. We come alive.
The second thing this psalm tells us about the Great Shepherd is that he not only provides: He guides. David said, “He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” The good shepherd guides, he never drives. Cattle are driven, but sheep must be led. The hymn says, “He leadeth me, O’ blessed thought.”
What we notice is that the reputation of the shepherd is at stake here. He does this for “his name’s sake.” If he is not a good shepherd to his own sheep, there will not be many others who want to be a part of his flock. The reputation of God is at stake, because he has promised to care for his flock and pledged himself to their welfare. He is the all-wise guide who takes the sheep where they need to go rather than where they want to go. If he did not guide them they would wander throughout the countryside and get themselves into all kinds of danger. But he guides them in the paths of righteousness, or the way of rightness. He shows them the right way. And because he is leading, there is no fear of the future. Even if he takes them through the valley of the shadow of death, they will fear no evil, simply because he is with them.
In the Spring and most of the Summer, the flock did not have to move about much, because the grass was plentiful. But when Fall and Winter came, the flock was constantly on the move. Often, as the shepherd took the flock from one grazing area to another, the way would lead through a valley. These were sometimes referred to as “the valley of the shadow of death,” because predators followed the flock and waited for one of the flock to stray. But the shepherd carried a rod, or club, to beat off any predator that would attack the sheep. If a sheep would begin to wander away from the fold, the shepherd would take his staff and move them back into the sheepfold. What a comfort the sight of the rod and staff were to the sheep. And as the sheep would feed in those valleys, it was literally a table spread before them in the presence of their enemies.
Philip Crosby, in his book March Till They Die, gives an account of a forced march which American and European soldiers who had been captured, and became prisoners of war, had to endure in Korea. It was November of 1950, and the North Koreans were being pushed north. As they went, they forced the American and European prisoners to go with them. It was a terrible march. They were driven as far as twenty miles a day at times, though it was cold and they were emaciated, hungry, suffering. When prisoners who couldn’t keep up would fall back, shots would ring out. They were executed on the spot. Crosby and several other Christians would pass close to the GI’s who were having a hard time keeping up. They would say slowly in a whisper, so as not to be heard, “God is near us in this dark hour. His love is real. His mercy is real. His forgiveness is real. His reward is waiting for us.” If it had not been for that hope, many more would have died. They were literally marching through the valley of the shadow of death, but they were trusting in the Great Shepherd to lead them through it.
We are all living in the valley of the shadow of death. We are a part of the land of the dying, until we enter the land of the living. In another psalm it says, “Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you. For you, O Lord, have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before the Lord in the land of the living” (Psalm 116:7-9). Notice that it is called the valley of the shadow of death. Death is only a shadow. It is a valley we pass through in order to get to the land of the living — where those who love God live forever in God’s eternity.
The third thing that the Great shepherd does is: He protects. Even though the sheep are surrounded by enemies, he protects them. He becomes the gate through which no enemy of the sheep can pass. He guards them from their enemies and from the greatest enemy of all — themselves. We are often our own worst enemy. But when we wander, God comes after us to bring us home. We are the lost sheep, for the Bible says, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way” (Isaiah 53:6). The apostle Peter put it like this: “For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls” (1 Peter 2:25). There is always a foolish sheep that wanders off. And when they wander they get caught in the briars. They fall from a rocky precipice and cut themselves. But the shepherd is prepared. He searches for them and brings them home. He carries oil to pour in the wounds of the sheep and anoints their head. He ministers to their every need. He gives them a drink from a cup that is overflowing. His supply is endless, and he is always happy to give what he has to those he loves.
Sometimes I hear people say that living for God is hard. But when you feel that way, look at the people who are not living for God. Look beneath the surface and see if living for the devil is not much harder. If you think it is hard living for the Lord, try living for the devil. He will use you and abuse you. He will fill your life with shame and destruction. He will get you to do things that you will regret for the rest of your life. He will beat you up and leave you for dead. Like the prodigal son you will find yourself in the pig pen, abandoned and in despair. It only looks like it is hard to live for God. Living for the devil is much harder — it is the beginning of living in hell.
But because of God’s guidance, provision and protection, a supreme confidence swells in our hearts. We know we are cared for. All we have to do is follow the Shepherd of our souls and our deepest needs will be met. God’s people are a blessed people. And so we can say with the Psalmist: “Surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life — and even afterward, as I dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Goodness and mercy follow us. They are our constant companions, because they are pursuing us in order to bless us. We can never get away from them. Our souls are at rest in God. We are in the arms of the Great Shepherd. We are cared for now and forever.
Two weeks ago, a truck driver, who was just five runs away from retirement, had a prayer meeting with 50 other truckers. The drivers met, as they often did, to pray. But his day they were praying that the Beltway Sniper would be caught. Ironically, they were only 20 miles from the spot where the snipers were finally arrested. Ron Lantz, who organized and led the prayer meeting, said, “We knew the prayer was going to be answered. One time or another. That’s the way we believe.” On that fateful morning, Lantz left Wilmington, Delaware on one of his final runs and pulled into the rest area at Myersville, Maryland. He spotted the Chevy Caprice with New Jersey license plates reading NDA 21Z immediately. When he mentioned it to another driver on his radio the man asked, “What are we going to do?” Lantz said, “ I’m going to call 9-1-1.” The 15 minute wait was a long one, but Lantz pulled his rig behind the car so it couldn’t move, and got the other trucks to block the entrance and exit of the rest area. The men in the car slept through it all until the police arrived and arrested them. Little did Lantz know that his prayer would not only be answered, but that God would use him to bring about the answer. For those very long minutes until the police arrived, he did not know whether or not the sniper would awaken and begin shooting, making him the final victim. But even though he was walking through the valley of the shadow of death, he did not fear evil, for he knew the Lord was with him.
That is the way it is with the people of God. They live with great confidence, because they know that they have a Great Shepherd who provides, guides and protects them.
“May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen” (Hebrews 13:20).
Rodney J. Buchanan
November 3, 2002
Mulberry St. UMC
Mt. Vernon, OH
www.MulberryUMC.org
Rod.Buchanan@MulberryUMC.org
The Great Shepherd
(Questions for November 3, 2002)
1. When you hear the stories of addicted, depressed and dysfunctional people who have all the money, looks, talent and fame they could want, what goes through your mind?
2. What happens to sheep when they are left to themselves? How does this relate to humans?
3. How does God provide for us? Can we really count on this?
4. How do we explain faithful Christians who have suffered deprivation, torture and death for their faith, in light of this psalm?
5. Share an experience of being guided by God?
6. Read Matthew 18:12. Does God give up on those who go astray or go after them? What security does this give you?
7. Read John 10:11-14. How do you know the voice of the Shepherd? Why is it important?
8. Why does the Shepherd lead us through the valley of the shadow of death instead of going around it?
9. Read 1 Peter 2:25. Why do some people wander away from, and resist, the Shepherd who cares for them?
10. How has God gone after you when you went astray?
