The LORD Is My Shepherd, I Shall Not Want

Today’s Daily Cross is a devotion shared by Brad.

He provides for me. 

It goes without saying that the 23rd Psalm is the most famous of all the Psalms. Many Christians know it by heart. It is often heard at funerals and murmured to people in their hospital beds. It has provided comfort and hope to millions of stressed believers over the centuries. Its author, King David, wrote it from his own personal experience as a teenager when he was put in charge of tending his father’s flocks. He knew sheep. He knew their needs, their value, their vulnerabilities, and their weaknesses. It is just possible that he pastured and watered his flocks in the same Bethlehem hills that heard the Christmas angels. Though David was a king and the head of a mighty army, he had vivid memories of his days as a lonely fugitive, running to stay alive, one step ahead of his enemy Saul. David drew great comfort from knowing that his God provided the same value for him that David himself had once provided for the sheep he tended: “The LORD is my Shepherd, I shall not want” (Psalm 23:1). David knew fatigue, hunger, fear, harsh living conditions, and intense disappointment. But he found that God always got him what he really needed, one day at a time. We are not alone as we make our way through our life. Our hardships and fears are known to God who has committed himself to us as our Shepherd. He will see to it that we get what we really need, one day at a time.

He restores me. 

One of the risks of reading those metaphors in the Bible is the difficulty of knowing exactly how the ideas in the written word apply to our own life. The Shepherd Psalm is shrouded almost entirely in images, and we can imagine the happy pictures of sheep and their shepherd in a meadow and not get the point of our life right now. Right now, we might be underwater financially, in danger of losing our job, struggling with poor health, afraid of being left alone, and our thoughts miserable and depressed. Our recent efforts at making things better may have failed, and we feel surrounded by dream crushers who make us feel small and insignificant. We are also sadly aware of how we have disappointed God with sinful words and actions. That’s why we are glad to have Jesus in our lives. He brings refreshment to the weary: “He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside still waters, he restores my soul” (Psalm 23:2,3). After David’s hardships, God gave him relief. After we have struggled, our Shepherd will send us kind words, a new friend, helpful medication, a financial boost, or new insights into the significance of our accomplishments. When we are dragging because of our guilty knowledge of our own sins, his words of unconditional love and forgiveness will refresh our souls. We still matter to him! Watch for these moments! They are not coincidences; they are our loving Shepherd’s acts of restoration.

He guides me. 

The farther south we go in the land of Israel, the less rainfall there is. As farming gets more difficult, people’s lives depend on the raising of smaller livestock–sheep and goats. One of a shepherd’s main tasks is to find edible grass and a water supply for his animals. It is part of the job to stay on the move, always searching out the next day’s food and water. Sheep are not naturally good at foraging–they depend on guidance from their shepherd. I don’t think we need any help from God to find a path to our nearest grocery store. But we know how many times we’ve lost our way morally and spiritually. Satan is an absolute wizard at weaving a spell of deceit and confusion and self-delusion so that we get all turned around. Wrong turns into right, white to black and black to white, and suddenly other people hear you arguing that 2+2=5. We need our Good Shepherd and his solid and changeless Word: “He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake” (Psalm 23:3). How should I conduct myself in the business world? Are there different rules for church and marketplace? How is marriage supposed to work? To walk “righteously” means to be right with God, both in our spiritual status before him and in the way we talk and act. The Bible is our map and our headlamp so that we will know how to walk in God’s ways, for example, live in such a way as to please him.

He protects me. 

The physical world that our eyes can see and the incredible world that scientific instruments can “see,” are not all there is. The Bible reveals what is going on behind the scenes in the very real spiritual world. God, Satan, angels and demons, are in constant conflict, warring for control of earth and its people, including control of us. Nervous sheep like you and me are worried about physical breakdowns like illness, injury, and death, but far worse is the danger of evil, of falling into Satan’s clutches, of selling our heavenly inheritance for some cheap and temporary advantage in the here and now. Our Shepherd Jesus is mightier than Satan, and his angels are mightier than the demons. We don’t have to be afraid: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me” (Psalm 23:4). Because Jesus has already gone through death into the grave and back out again, alive and glorious, we know that we will too. Death for us is nothing more than a doorway that we will pass through on our way into heaven, and whether it comes sooner or later doesn’t really matter. Our Shepherd’s protection also keeps us safe from the dark lord and his corruption. When you pray for Christ’s help in the Lord’s Prayer, “Deliver us from evil,” you can have absolute confidence that he is up to the task.

He corrects me.    

Sometimes we like to see pictures of our country’s military technology–it gives them a feeling of security to see those sleek jet fighters and battleships and know how we are being protected. In the same way, sheep are comforted by their shepherd’s rod. The rod is his weapon, a club chosen and shaped carefully for balance and power. It can be swung or thrown, and though used mostly as a defensive weapon, shepherds will use it on the ribs of balky sheep who are disrupting the march. The staff is a long, slender walking stick, often with a crook at the top end. The staff is helpful for lifting newborn lambs to present to the ewes; this avoids getting human scent on the lambs and risking rejection. As he stands in the middle of the flock, that long staff is an extension of the shepherd’s touch, nudging, steering, getting attention. The crook end is also most helpful in disengaging a sheep’s wool from brambles or thistles. “Your rod and your staff, they comfort me” (Psalm 23:4), says David. Repentant Christians are glad not only for divine protection from satanic wolves but glad also for correcting pokes, nudges, or even whacks. Sheep stray, get tipped over helplessly, and eat potentially poisonous plants; we “human sheep” have our own ways of drifting off, living carelessly, and committing spiritual suicide. What a comfort it is to know that our Shepherd is watching over us and will reach into our lives to warn and avert!

Most of the 23rd psalm is about the journey; the last two verses are about the arrival. Christ is portrayed no longer as Shepherd–now he is Host, throwing open the doors of the mansion, welcoming his weary travellers home: “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever” (Psalm 23:5,6).

In heaven there will be no enemies. We will eat in peace; Satan, who will be permanently gnashing his teeth in hell, will not be able to torment us anymore. We will be given heavenly welcomes, just as oils used to be provided for honored guests’ dry skin. After a life journey marked by hardship and deprivation, our new life will be abundant, symbolized by an overflowing cup.

Our earthly lives are always marked and driven by our fearful realization that time is short. We feel the pressure to get it now, get it fast before the game is over. When we enter Paradise, we can exhale once and for all and relax, since we will be in the Lord’s presence forever. The Lord’s goodness and mercy that we have sensed and tasted on earth will surround us completely in heaven. Sin, guilt, fear, and death will trouble us no more.

Becomelects Ministry