Is The Lord Your Shepherd?

¹The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. ²He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. ³He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. ⁴Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. ⁵Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. ⁶Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. (Psalms 23 KJV)

The 23^rd Psalms is perhaps the second most quoted passage in all of Scripture. It is quoted at funerals, by bedsides in hospitals, and to people in great need. The 23^rd Psalms is quoted as an encouragement, in a desire to comfort, and with the intent to lift someone up, to bear up the burdens of the soul.

But what is it that makes the 23^rd Psalms the central Bible passage for all of those things? Is it just the most poetic passage of the Old Testament that plucks at our heart strings? Does it hold any significance to any of the other well-known Bible passages? And if John 3:16 is the most recognized and the most quoted passage from the Bible, what is it we should understand from the two? Today, I’d like to see if we can answer some of those questions and in doing so see the 23^rd Psalms in a little different light than we have seen it before. And to do that I’d like to provide a diagram of the passage:

|1The Lord
|		|is my shepherd;
|		|               |I shall not want. (2He)
|		|maketh me to lie down in green pastures: (He)
|		|leadeth me beside the still waters. (3He)
|		|restoreth my soul: (He)
|		|leadeth me in the paths of righteousness
|                                                  |for his name's sake.
|4Yea, though I walk through the valley
|                                      |of the shadow of death,
|                                      |I will fear no evil: (for thou)
|		|art with me;
|		|thy rod and thy staff
|                               |they comfort me. (5Thou)
|		|preparest a table before me
|                                     |in the presence of mine enemies: (Thou)
|		|anointest my head with oil;
|                                     |my cup runneth over.
|                                     |6Surely goodness and mercy
|                                                                |shall follow me
|                                                                |all the days of my life:
|                                     |and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

I realize that the purists amongst us are going to want to immediately improve upon my diagram a little bit, well okay, a lot. I realize it is not proper sentence diagramming. I have taken some liberties with my diagram and broken it up by phrases so that we may see actions a little clearer. And what we see is that the majority of actions fall with The Lord:

All of these things that King David writes about in the 23^rd Psalms are attributes or actions of The Lord. But who is King David’s Lord? And how does his Lord act in this way on King David’s behalf? The first five words of the 23^rd Psalms are some of the most important words you may ever consider in your life. Consider what King David is telling us here:

“The Lord is my shepherd“:

THE – not “a“, not “some“, not “my“, not “your“, not “his“, “hers“, or “their“. Not “Allah“, not “Buddha” not “Mohamed“. No other lord but THE Lord. And King David could say THE Lord because he knew the one true God. THE God of Israel. THE God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob.

THE is a very specific article of speech. It is used to identify a unique thing or a particular member of a class. Consider that George Washington was the first President of the United States of America. But George Washington is not THE President. Abraham Lincoln may be the most favored President of the United States of America. But Abraham Lincoln is not THE President. John F. Kennedy is a past President of the United States of America. But John F. Kennedy is not THE President. At the time of this post, Joe Biden was the previous President of the United States of America. But Joe Biden is not THE President. At the time I am writing this Donald J. Trump is THE President of the United States of America. And that is true whether you want it to be true or not true.

There are many people in the United States who deny that Donald J. Trump is President. And they are certainly free to express that. You may walk around the streets of America and claim “not my president!” if you wish. However, the reality of the situation is that THE President is the one who occupies the Oval Office in the White House. THE President is the one who meets with and directs the Joint Chiefs of Staff. THE President is the one who has access to the nuclear codes. THE President is the one who gives the State of the Union Address before Congress. THE President is the one who has Marine One and Air Force One at their disposal. THE President is the one who the Secret Service protects with their very lives at all costs. These are all things that are unique only to THE President. And it matters not what you say, or think, or do. these are things that identify and define who THE President is.

God also gives you the same freedom to proclaim, “not my god!” and many in the world today do. But that has never once stopped Jehovah God from being THE God. Consider that THE God is the one who created the heavens and the Earth (Genesis 1:1). THE God is the one who created humanity (Genesis 1:27). THE God is the deliverer of the first commandment (Genesis 2:16-17). THE God is the one who knew of the first sin (Genesis 3:9-12). THE God is the one who had no choice but to drive Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:22-24). THE God is the one who sits upon the throne of Heaven (Isaiah 6:1-4). THE God is the one who died for the sins of the world (John 3:16). And THE God is the one who will one day judge and separate His sheep, from those who are not His sheep (Revelation 20:11–15 ). These are things that are unique to one Lord, one God. These are some of the things that define who THE Lord is.

You may deny THE President of the United States, and you may deny THE Lord, but that neither changes their position or authority. When King David says, “THE Lord is my shepherd”, he is saying “The one true God”. “The God in Heaven who sits upon His throne”. “The Lord who is Lord of Lords”. “The one and only Lord”. And when you make specific reference to “THE Lord”, no one else is able to come along behind you and insert their lord, someone else’s lord, or any other lord in the equation. King David has settled the matter once and for all … “THE Lord is my shepherd”.

LORD – not an “equal“, not a “peer“, not a “supervisor“. Not a “therapist“, or “doctor“, or even a “President“. But rather THE one who holds all authority over me. King David is identifying the one who holds all power, all authority, and who rules over him. The one whom he must rightly serve. The one whom his obedience is due. King David may or may not have been King when he penned the 23^rd Psalms, many scholars make a case for the passage being written years before he sat upon the throne of Israel. Whenever it was written during King David’s life, he makes it clear that he knows to whom his allegiance is due. He knows who it is that holds all authority and all power. It is “THE LORD“. You may not recognize “The Lord’ as Lord of your life today, as King David did, but that does not mean He is not “THE LORD“. This is because “THE LORD” is “THE LORD” by definition alone. “THE LORD” may not be preempted nor replaced. You cannot just insert “a lord” or “your lord” in here. Therefore, just because you do not recognize Him as Lord of your life, does not stop Him from being “THE LORD“. We have developed some sort of silliness disease in America today that causes those inflicted that just because we say, “not my president“, or “illegitimate president“, or any other set of phrases that seem to deny the status quo, that somehow makes THE PRESIDENT not THE PRESIDENT. Here on Earth that is just silliness, however before the Judgement Seat of God I assure you, it will be much more somber with much greater consequences.

IS – not “was“, not “will be“, not “can be“, not even “might be“, but IS. IS means right now. At this very moment in time. King Daivd is saying “in real time” “the Lord is my shepherd”. It is present tense. Identifying a current condition. King David is not saying that someday The Lord will be his shepherd. He is saying The Lord already IS my shepherd. The reason this is important is because if you are the lion seeking to steal the sheep, knowing that you have to negotiate your way past the shepherd in order to get to the sheep, you might just look for sheep that do not currently belong to the shepherd. And the sheep who do not belong to the shepherd, might wish they had the shepherd’s protection when the lion comes around. King David is announcing to the lion that THE LORD IS my shepherd. It is already a done deal. He is my Lord and I am His sheep. I am no longer prey for the lion. I am under the protection of the shepherd. And is it right now in this very moment in time.

MY – not “his“, or “hers“, or “theirs“, or “yours“. MINE. King David is saying I belong to The Lord and The Lord belongs to me. I have a relationship with Him. He is my shepherd; I am His sheep. King David wants you know who his shepherd is, and he wants the lions of the world to know as well. There is strength and resolve in knowing who your shepherd is and under whose protection you exist. When you say, “not my lord“, “not my god“, or even “not my shepherd” you are refusing to place yourself under the protection and care of THE LORD. If He is not your shepherd, then you are not His sheep. And if He does not belong to you, then you do not belong to Him. There is no relationship there. And where there is no relationship there can be no obligation of care. How can the shepherd care for sheep he has no relationship with? And how can the shepherd save sheep not under His care from the lion who would destroy them? King David is saying that I already belong to The Lord and The Lord belongs to me.

SHEPHERD – not “predator“, not “attacker“, not “molester“. But rather the one who cares for me. The one who guards me from the predator, attacker, and molester. The one who protects me. The one who finds great value in my existence. My shepherd. My mentor. The one who instructs me, leads me, guides me. King David is saying The Lord whom I owe my allegiance to, is My Shepherd who is the one who cares for me.

And herein is the message of the 23^rd Psalms: The Lord is my shepherd. In this one simple phrase we find a declaration (King David declares that The Lord is his shepherd). A realization (If The Lord can be King David’s shepherd, then He may be my shepherd as well). And a question (How may The Lord be my shepherd?). King David has just told us that The Lord is his shepherd, and in doing so told us that The Lord is in the shepherding business. And from this I may realize that The Lord can be my shepherd as well and I can be His sheep.

Please allow me to address a couple of points here. I realize there are some who would rather not be sheep. However, in the eyes of Satan, you already are:

⁶ Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: ⁷ Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. ⁸ Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: ⁹ Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. ¹⁰ But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. (I Peter 5:6-10)

You may want to be the big bad wolf in this world, but the Apostle Peter tells us that Satan, the Devil, is the adversary here. It is the roaring lion seeking whom he may devour that sees you as sheep. And the only shepherd that can offer you protection from Satan is The Lord. It is a given that if you are not under the protection of THE shepherd, then you are vulnerable to being devoured by the roaring lion. You may want to believe you are the wolf amongst the sheep, but I assure you, beyond any doubt, you are very sheep Satan is looking to demolish.

Secondly, I also realize there are some who want to find many paths into the shepherd’s care. “THE LORD” could still be “my lord” whether Allah, Buddha, Mohamed, the Hindu god, the gods of Samaria, Greece, Rome, or some “path to enlightenment“. There are those who want to say, “You have your way, but I have my way“. However, King David did not say this and neither did The Lord. If you think about it for a minute, if THE LORD is exclusive, then the given path to Him must also be exclusive. American Author Frank L. Baum understood exclusivity when he wrote “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz“. The only way that Dorthy was going to gain an audience with the Wizard was to follow the yellow brick road. And the only path to God is Jesus Christ His Son.

The actual phrase that King David used in the 23^rd Psalms in the Hebrew is literally: Yahweh my shepherd. Yahweh – the Hebrew word for God. The word is understood to mean “The one true God” and would have equated to the God of Israel, Jehovah. King David would have known exactly whom he referenced. And that would have been the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jospeh. And it is this exact same God whom Jesus Christ would equate Himself with in the New Testament. And King David said: Yahweh [The one true God] [is] my shepherd.

In the New Testament Jesus Christ would say:

²⁴ Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. ²⁵ Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me. ²⁶ But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. ²⁷ My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: ²⁸ And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. (John 10:24-28)

This was one of many times that Jesus Christ would make the claim to be God. Here he explains that the reason the people do not believe is because they are not His sheep. Any self-respecting Israelite would have understood this. They would have known King David’s Psalms. They would have realized that Jesus just said (even if by implication) that He was King David’s shepherd (and to be painfully obvious here – King David said “The Lord” [Yahweh] was his shepherd. The Jews had asked Jesus if He was the Christ [the Messiah] identifying Him as the one sent from God [Yahweh] whom Jesus had just answered by saying HE was the shepherd of the sheep). Jesus would also say:

⁴ And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. ⁵ Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? ⁶ Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:4-6)

Jesus says He is the only way. The unique way. THE WAY. He tells us that He is the shepherd. And if we go back to Chapter 10 of John we read:

²⁹ My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. ³⁰ I and my Father are one. ³¹ Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. ³² Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me? ³³ The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. (John 10:29-33)

Jesus claims equality with God [I and my Father are one]. The Jews want to stone him for this claim [thou, being a man, makest thyself God.] and Jesus that His sheep hear His voice [claiming He was the shepherd]. When King David wrote “The Lord is my shepherd” he was prophetically writing of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ would also tell Nicodemus:

¹⁶ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

How do you make The Lord your shepherd? Believe in Jesus Christ. Place your Faith in Him. Give Him your whole life, body, soul, and spirit and listen to His voice. Believe that He is the shepherd. That He came from God the Father. That He and the Father are one. That He lived a sinless life. That He was unjustly and wrongly accused in a court that had already determined his guilt. That He was put to death on a Roman cross between two thieves, and that His death and shed blood accounted for full atonement of the sins of the world. And that three days after He was buried in a borrowed tomb, he walked out alive and victorious. That He ascended into Heaven. And that He now sits at the right hand of God the Father where He intercedes for you and for me. That is the Faith, the belief, you must have if you want The Lord to be your shepherd.

That is the message of Psalms 23. The Lord is my shepherd. And He can be your shepherd as well. He wants to be. You just need to place your full Faith in Jesus Christ His Son.

[Come back for my next post … because we will finish with Psalms 23 before moving on to something else]