Love of the Shepherd

The Lord is my shepherd.

From the very beginning, this Psalm creates a powerful image in our minds of a Lord who cares deeply for the sheep of God’s flock and the love of the shepherd.

The Lord is my shepherd.  All of us—we are the sheep, and God, of course, is the Shepherd.  It is God who leads us, who we must submit to, who we lovingly and graciously submit to.  God is our Lord, our Sovereign, our King; we owe our hearts to God and willingly give our lives over to God’s eternal care.

Really let this sink in—you being the sheep and God being the shepherd.  No wonder Jesus also used the metaphor of the Good Shepherd.  Our Lord leads you, cares for you, feeds you and takes care of you when you are sick or frightened or in trouble.  God protects you; the Lord fights for you when wolves come after you.  And if you get lost, your shepherd is going to come and save you.  Like a kid who gets lost in the supermarket—God is looking for you; God is going to find you and rescue you.  Let’s face it.  You need a shepherd; we all do.  We can’t make it without a loving shepherd.

                The Lord is my shepherd,

                I shall not want. 

I shall not want!  Amazing.  Just think about that for a moment—all the ramifications of that simply phrase:    I    shall    not     want.  What does it mean to not want?  Quite frankly, our society is driven by our wants and we are taught to go after what we want, whether it’s that new car or bigger house or the latest iPhone.  We want a good career; we want a comfortable retirement.  We want good health care and insurance in case we run in to problems.  We want our lives and the lives of our loved ones to be free of pain and suffering.  We want safety—this is a big one, especially since the news media and the politicians major in fear and terror.  Is it so wrong to want a safe space for our children?  We want our freedom as well as our rights protected.  We want it all!

And yet, here we have a psalm that reminds us: I shall not want.  The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.  To want is to be first concerned with self.  Wanting is all about a me-first attitude and lifestyle.  But to say we shall not want, that God is our shepherd—that is to say that we are giving our lives over to our Lord.  We will leave it to God; we will trust our Lord.  To not want is to put God first in your life; to not want is to put another’s needs before your own.  How hard that is!

He makes me lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside still waters;

He restores my soul.

Again we have the images of a caring shepherd, who feeds and nurtures, who provides an abundance—green pastures.  There is peace and rest—real rest to be found in following this shepherd.  You can be restored; you can be rejuvenated; you can find out what it means to be alive again, a purpose to your existence.

He leads me in paths of righteousness

For his name’s sake.

God will lead us on the right path, my friends.  God’s way is the right way.  We might not always see it, but we know God cares about us.  God does not want to see us suffer because of our sins or walk a path that leads to destruction and death.  The Lord wants the best for you and me, wants us to make the right decisions.  God wants us to have a good life, a rich life, a blessed life.  And if we follow God’s way, we will.

Even though I walk through the

Valley of the shadow of death,

I fear no evil;

For you are with me;

Your rod and your staff—

They comfort me.

 

Even when you are in trouble, even when things look really bad, when you need God the most—the Lord is right there.  You can trust in the Creator—God is dependable.  You don’t need to fear—God will see you through.  And that fear—remember what I was saying how fear is so rampant today?  Put your trust in God.  God is the one that’s going to see us through.

You prepare a table before me

In the presence of my enemies;

You anoint my head with oil;

My cup overflows.

God has got your back.  Even when you are surrounded, when you are pressed in, when fear and grief and pain and despair are all around you, when all seems dark, God is right there.  God still provides.  How many of us can think of a time in our lives when we couldn’t have made it with God?  We know this to be true—this is who God is.  God will send the Holy Spirit; we are being anointed with God’s power; we are being set aside for God’s work.  And God is so good.

Surely goodness and mercy shall

Follow me all the days of my life,

And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Ron Trimmer is pastor of Hope United, a new church in Georgetown, Texas. Click here to visit Hope United's website.