Is The Lord My Shepherd?
Psalm 23
ORIENTATION:
• Have you ever taken a moment to reflect upon your life?
• To simply stop what you are doing, be quite and reflect?
• For some of us maybe this is too difficult (the hurts to great, and pain to unbearable) for others impossible (especially if you lived through the 60’s and 70’s) but for the vast majority it can be a very rewarding experience.
INTRODUCTION:
• Today this is exactly what we are going to find David doing, David writes this Psalm at the back end of his life and in it he is reflecting.
• Reflecting on the good, the incredible, the bad, the unbearable and the seemingly insignificant times that now have much emotional attachment.
• This psalm encompasses the whole of David’s life from the green pastures of his childhood youth, to the shadow of death which David must have understood was not far off.
• Within the process of reflecting, David notes one common thread throughout the entirety of his life, that common thread comes alive in this Psalm as we read “The Lord is my Shepherd”.
• David had realized that regardless of his situations God was always his shepherd.
• THE GREAT NEWS IS THAT THE LORD DESIRES TO BE YOUR SHPEHERD AS WELL!
PROPOSITION:
Today we are going to see that those who allow the Lord to be their shepherd will have three things in common with David…
PREVIEW:
1. We Will Experience Restoration (vs. 1-3)
2. We Will Experience Reassurance (vs. 3-5)
3. We Will Experience Rescue (vs. 6)
TRANSITION:
Let me show you what they are…
I. We Will Experience Restoration (vs. 1-2 green pastures, quiet waters, restoration)
EXPLAINATION:
• Sometimes we have experiences when, even in spite of physical health, we are IN A LIVING DEATH.
• Our will to live can fade and our hope can flee far from us…
Yet As David reflects back upon his life he remembers how the Lord has restored him from that place… (Bathsheba / Man after my own heart).
• Reflecting back upon His life, David illustrates this restoration with two pictures…
Vs. 2 – Green Pastures –
The Lord is a place of rest without fear or distraction – (Don’t we all long to rest in green pastures?)
o Vs. 2 – Quiet Waters –
The Lord is the fresh, quiet truth we drink for the sustenance of our lives.
o Vs. 3 – Restores My Soul –
• Regardless of what is transpiring in our lives we experience restoration when we rest in the shepherd and allow the shepherd to speak truth into our lives.
ILLUSTRATION:
• There is only thing better than seeing an old car or house being completely restored it is to see a life that is completely restored.
• God longs to take the beat up, dented messes of our lives and restore them to shine, God wants to make you the “light of the world”
APPLICATION:
• When we allow Christ to be our shepherd, the process of restoring the deepest parts of us, our souls begins. (Mt 11:28 “You will find rest for your souls”)
• Do you have that restoration that David is describing in those two illustrations (green pastures, quiet waters)?
TRANSITION:
But not only will we experience restoration we will also experience…
II. We Will Experience Reassurance (vs.4-5 I will not fear death, enemies)
EXPLAINATION:
• Like us, David’s life was not always green pastures but he experienced the reassurance of God during the difficult times as well…
• 1 Sam 17:39 David / Goliath “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head.”
• David had the reassurance of his shepherd, both against our enemies and in death.
o Reassurance in Death (which was not far off for David)
o Reassurance against our enemies (Of which David had many)
• The Shepherd gives us the reassurance to make it through this difficult life and the death that follows.
ILLUSTRATION:
The early American Indians had a unique practice of training young braves. On the night of a boy’s thirteenth birthday, after learning hunting, scouting, and fishing skills, he was put to one final test. He was placed in a dense forest to spend the entire night alone. Until then, he had never been away from the security of the family and the tribe. But on this night, he was blindfolded and taken several miles away. When he took off the blindfold, he was in the middle of a thick woods and he was terrified! Every time a twig snapped, he visualized a wild animal ready to pounce. After what seemed like an eternity, dawn broke and the first rays of sunlight entered the interior of the forest. Looking around, the boy saw flowers, trees, and the outline of the path. Then, to his utter astonishment, he beheld the figure of a man standing just a few feet away, armed with a bow and arrow. It was his father. He had been there all night long.
APPLICATION:
• When we live our lives apart from the shepherd we are like that boy in the dark. We are alone and scared.
• When we allow God to be our shepherd we have the reassurance of knowing He is close. Even in the presence of our enemies, even at our death beds
• When Christ is our Shepherd we have reassurance of heart, today do you have that reassurance?
TRANSITION: So we see that when we allow Christ to be our shepherd we find rest and reassurance but lastly we find…
III. We Will Experience Rescue (vs. 6 all of my life and forever)
EXPLAINATION:
1 Kings 9:4“I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, O LORD, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing.”
David understood that he had been rescued, rescued into a life of restoration and reassurance.
Look with me if you will at vs. 6…
• Surely Goodness and love will follow me all of the days of my life –
Does not mean no hard times, means that God’s love prevails in hard times.
David has been rescued in this life
• I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever –
David understands that eternal life occurs through the rescue of the shepherd.
David is rescued from the penalty of sin in the next life and forever
ILLUSTRATION:
• The thief had nails through both hands, so that he could not work; and a nail through each foot, so that he could not run errands for the Lord; he could not lift a hand or a foot toward his salvation, and yet Christ offered him the gift of God; and he took it. Christ threw him a passport, and took him into Paradise. (Dwight L. Moody)
APPLICATION:
• David like the thief on the cross had nothing to offer God and realized it. He had been rescued from himself…
• In this life we also are like the thief; We all have nails through both our hands and feet, those nails are sin
• Yet each of us has the opportunity to allow the Lord to be our shepherd, to allow Jesus Christ to rescue us as He did David from the penalty of our sin.
TRANSITION: So in closing…
CONCLUSION:
• Today David has been reflected with us and has come to the conclusion that the Lord has been his shepherd!
• As you reflect back can you say the same thing? (I am speaking to Christians as well, you can be a Christian and not allow the Lord to be your Shepherd…
REVIEW OF MAIN POINTS:
You know the Lord is your shepherded if you have experienced or are experiencing:
• Restoration: Have you laid down in the green pastures of Christ, rested in Him, trusted in Him, drank the quiet waters of truth that he offers? Have you placed your full weight in Him?
• Reassurance: Do you have the reassurance of the risen Lord? The reassurance that God is bigger than your circumstances? That God is bigger than you think and bigger than you can think? Do you have the reassurance that God is with you?
• Rescue: Do you know today that you have been rescued? Rescued from the penalty of your sin? Do you know today God is not angry and that your enemies will not prevail against you? Do you know today that you have been rescued from a life of spiritual poverty and have been given a white robe? The robe of the King!
CLOSING ILLUSTRATION:
The shepherds presence in your life guarantees that there will be no lack of any sort, that there will be abundant green pastures; that there will be still, clean waters; that there will be new paths into fresh fields, freedom from fear and quietness and contentment in your heart.
CALL TO ACTION:
• If you have never allowed Christ to be your shepherd today is the day of salvation!
• If you have received Christ and yet you can not say your experiencing these three things in your life then you’re not allowing Him to be your shepherd.
• If are allowing Christ to be your shepherd then you have a message that the world needs to hear! Go out and share it!
