“The Lord is My Shepherd”
Psalms 23:1-6
RECITE Psalm 23:1-6
INTRODUCTION “The Life of David”
•I memorized these verses in Caravans over 30 years ago.
•The author of the 23rd Psalm is David.
•When we think of David’s life several things come to mind.
•We think of David the shepherd boy who protected his sheep by killing wild animals.
•We think of David who took food to his older brothers who were on the battlefront.
•We know that God instructed Samuel to anoint David.
•We see David fight and defeat the giant Goliath.
•David becomes friends with Saul’s son Jonathan.
•Saul wants to kill David out of jealousy.
•David becomes king of Israel in spite of Saul.
•David sins against God with Bathsheba.
•God forgives David but he lives with the consequences of his past sins.
•David’s son Absalom rebelled and is trying to take over the throne.
•David leaves Jerusalem because his life was threatened.
•It is in this setting that David writes the 23rd Psalm.
•Over the years we have all come across the 23rd Psalm
many times.
•I want us to look for new lessons of what David’s words meant to him then and to us today.
VERSE 1 “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.”
ILLUSTRATION “Guidance”
•When I was in high school I had a co-op job at a small hardware store.
•The purpose of a school co-op program was for students to get a job in a vocation that interested them.
•I was interested in business so a family owned store would be a great experience for me.
•The student would be mentored or guided on how the
business operated.
•Most of the time it was pretty simple I would stock the shelves or unload trucks of merchandise.
•I did whatever they asked me to do from helping customers to sweeping the floor.
•Unfortunately most of the tasks I performed had very little supervision so I learned a lot of things the hard way.
•One day when I first started the owner had me assembly
a gas grill.
•I still remember it very well to this day.
•Getting all of the pieces out of the box and laying them out on the floor.
•Attempting to go through the instructions step by step was difficult because they made very little sense to me.
•It was a tough task to do by myself.
•By the time I finished 3 hours later there were extra parts on the floor I started to think “what if I assembled this wrong and somebody lights it and it blows up?”
•Then I started getting nervous because no one had guided me through the project.
•The only comment my boss had was why did it take you so long.
•My boss didn’t lead me or show me what to do.
•I pretty much was on my own.
•A shepherd gives direction on which way to go.
•I needed a shepherd to guide me through the process.
TRANSITION
•The shepherd was a very well known character in bible times.
•The shepherds represented the common everyday man.
•Most of us have never personally met a shepherd.
•Yet we feel like we understand the position of shepherd.
•What does a shepherd do?
•A shepherd cares for the needs of his sheep individually.
•Making sure that each sheep gets what they need to
thrive not just to survive.
•The shepherd provides protection from the things that
can harm the sheep.
•There is a personal emphasis here it says “The Lord
is my shepherd”.
•David had experienced God presence in the past and he
is calling for his help again.
•The verse also says “I shall not be in want”,
doesn’t mean we’ll have everything we want.
•It’s David’s way of saying God knows what I need and when I need it.
VERSES 2 & 3 “He makes me to lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters.” “He restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name sake.”
•Let me share something about sheep. Sheep are not very smart on their own.
•Sheep are helpless and tend to wander off and get hurt.
•Sheep want to go their own way and do their own thing.
•The green pastures David was talking about only were available during the winter and spring times of the year.
•During the summer and fall the shepherd had a tough task trying to find grass to feed the sheep.
•The waters that came from springs was more easily accessible for the sheep to drink from so that once the sheep were feed and drank they could lie down and rest.
•We need times of refreshing with God daily, weekly, seasonally.
•God wants us to slow down and be lead by him.
•Not like sheep trying to go off on our own way.
•God has a plan for each one of us and knows what’s best for us.
ILLUSTRATION “Maps”
•There are all kinds of programs out there like Map Quest for you to prepare directions for anywhere you might want to go.
•All you have to do is put in your starting location and your ending destination.
•Click on a button and your driving plans are mapped out for you.
•I’ve learned that even though the map will get you from point A to point B it is not always the best route to take.
•The directions of the map may be longer in miles.
•The directions of the map may be longer in time traveled.
•Some would say as long as it gets you there what’s the
difference.
•The journey is the difference.
•There are dangers along the way that God would like to
protect us from.
•We may not loose our faith but we may weaken our relationship by going the wrong way.
VERSE 4 “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
ILLUSTRATION “Visit to the Dentist”
•For many people experiences like going to the dentist
may seem like the valley of the shadow of death.
•Not the case for our son Jeffrey at an early age he enjoyed going to get his teeth cleaned.
•When I would take the boys for cleanings Jeff would always want to go first.
•That’s not the way it was when I was growing up.
•I remember going to the dentist and finding out I had to get some cavities filled.
•I couldn’t stand getting a shot in my mouth to numb my gums so they could drill.
•One time after I had been numbed they came back and began to drill and the pain was incredible.
•I thought I was going to go through the roof.
•They stopped and numbed me for a second time and came
back a few minutes later and tried again.
•Again the pain was terrible.
•Eventually they filled my tooth that day but for years I avoided the the dentist office whenever I could.
•Only in recent years have I come to be relaxed when I visit to the dentist.
•A few years ago I had to get root cannel and I heard so much about the procedure I did not want to go through it.
•I came through the experience fine.
•Then I had to go back to have wisdom teeth removed.
•I was doing pretty good and even a little on the brave side.
•Things seemed to go well until the dentist told me he
had never had this experience before.
•I asked what he was talking about and he said he pulled the wrong tooth.
•He put the tooth back in and the roots reconnected.
•Memories from childhood were quickly returning.
•The next time I went to the dentist just to have my teeth cleaned another dentist broke the exploratory instrument on my teeth.
•It cut my lip but it was minimal damage.
•I just got a reminder card in the mail a few days ago it’s time to reschedule my next dentist visit.
•I’m planning on doing just that.
TRANSITION
•Even though we I don’t want to go through the experience of going to the dentist it’s a part of life.
•We all have different things we are afraid of.
•It may even seems like the valley of the shadow of death at the time.
•The valley of the shadow death is different for all of us.
•For a child it may be a bully on the bus everyday.
•For the student it may be struggling through final exams.
•For some it may be financial pressures.
•For others it may be a boss who makes life tough to work with.
•For some it may be problems with our families.
•For others it may be a physical struggle.
•When we go through a tough experience and realize that
God was with us it can give us peace when we face
the next major obstacle in our lives.
•David knew what he was talking about.
•He had gone through difficult times in the past and now he was going through another one.
•David had learned in the past to call on God.
•The reason David had confidence is he knew what the Rod and Staff represented.
•The shepherd would use the Rod to beat away the wild animals.
•The Staff would gently guide the sheep in the direction they needed to go.
•God wants to protect us and to guide us.
VERSE 5 “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.”
ILLUSTRATION “My Enemies”
•I remember learning this verse as a child and trying to picture a table full of food and who the enemies would be sitting around it with me.
•It was difficult to grasp because we all have been hurt by by someone but the idea of them being our enemies?
•For the Christian our table is surrounded by the thing
that separate us from God.
•The temptations in our lives that can cause a battle within us.
•Think of the areas that cause you to struggle the most
these are your enemies.
•Our sinful nature, impure thoughts, putting things before our relationship with God, hatred, arguing, jealously,gossip, rage, selfish ambition, envy.
•These enemies will rob the peace that God wants us to have.
•We can enjoy the banquet of life even in the midst of the distractions around us.
•The host of a banquet would put oil on the foreheads of the guests when they entered the house.
•It was a mixture of olive oil and perfume.
•The cup represented more food and drink than the guest could ever desire or need.
•The Lord is the host of the banquet for us.
•He offers a life in him with our cup overflowing.
VERSE 6 “Surely goodness and love shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
•Not only are we offered the relationship with God as
he originally planned for us to have with him.
•We get Heaven too.
•The emphasis on this part of the passage is on life.
•A life that is shepherd lead and God blessed.
•A life of following Christ each and every day.
•Experiencing God’s love for years to come and eternity.
•David is not asking to be taken away from the experiences
in life but that God is there to protect and care for him.
CLOSING “What will you do with this truth today?”
•Just as sheep desperately need a shepherd we desperately need a Savior.
•There are several things that we can respond to in this passage.
•You might need to trust that the good shepherd will care for your daily needs.
•You might need to slow down and get some rest from the
craziness of everyday life and ask God to help you to do that.
•You might need guidance in your life today.
•You may have some pretty big decisions make in the future.
•You might be in the valley right now and you feel alone.
•You may be struggling with spiritual warfare and you feel like your enemies are surrounding you.
•You just need comfort today from the Lord.
•You know what God has done for you in the past and
you are ready for him to do it again.
