The Lord Is My Shepherd

“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.