Psalm 23
“THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD”
So, we are in the 23rd Psalm, “The Lord is my Shepherd,” and it is a very familiar passage, probably the most familiar passage in all of the Old Testament. It is a deeply personal psalm. It was beautifully written by David. It reflects his own experience with God. He obviously, being a shepherd, understood a lot of the shepherding analogies and about God’s protection and guidance. What I would like us to do to start out, since most of us have memorized this psalm – I want us to read the psalm through together. And as you read it, I want you to reflect meditatively on the words and what those words mean to you.
[Class reads Psalm 23:1-6 in unison]
A beautiful psalm!
It is always a special challenge as a teacher to stand up in front of a class and to teach a familiar passage (like this one). So, what I would like to do in this lesson is go through verse by verse, briefly explaining each one, but then giving you an opportunity to give testimony on what the verse means to you personally. I will share from my own heart as well.
READ Psalm 23:1
If you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, then He is your shepherd. You are one of His sheep. I believe Jesus had this psalm in mind when He spoke the words in John Chapter 10 (which is my favorite chapter in the Bible). And He says these words: “I am the good Shepherd. A good Shepherd lays down His life for His sheep… I am the good Shepherd. I know My own and My own know Me… My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of My hand” (John 10:11, 14, 27-28).
The Lord is MY shepherd and He is the GOOD shepherd who laid down His life for me. He knows me personally and I know Him. He loves me and provided a way for me, undeserving me, to have eternal life. And to me that is an amazing thought!
Now, this picture here [flock of white sheep with one black sheep], using the analogy of the sheep – there are the sheep. You know that black sheep right there, do you see that black sheep? That is me! Even if I am different from the other sheep; maybe I am not as beautiful or good-looking or as talented or have musical ability like some of the other sheep; or I am as kind or as loving as the other sheep – despite all that, my Shepherd still knows me and loves me and cares for me and protects me like He does the other sheep. He knows my needs. He knows my name. He is MY shepherd and I am HIS sheep.
It is your turn… [Comments, testimonies about v 1]
READ Psalm 23:2
One of the responsibilities of a shepherd is to lead his flock to their pasture. They move around from place to place and he leads the sheep to the various pasturelands. The shepherd leads, the sheep trust him and they follow him. And where does our good Shepherd lead us? He leads us to green pastures and beside the still waters. One commentary I read talked about lying down in green pastures meaning that we are at peace. He protects us. He leads us to where we can have our physical needs met as well as our spiritual and our emotional needs.
Now, this picture [aerial view of winding river in a lush green valley] is a picture from my life. Personally, the Lord has led me to many, many wonderful places. I have lived literally all over the world and met a lot of very interesting people along the way – many of whom I love dearly and I am still in contact with to this day – years and years and years later. The journey hasn’t always been easy. And certainly, the pathway has not been straight as this river indicates. Several times in my life (you can probably testify to this also), I came to some sort of a crossroads in my life where I did not know what to do. I had difficult decisions to make with my life about which way to go. And each time I was there, I sought my Shepherd’s desire and He clearly directed my path. And I followed Him. Even though I did not understand why am I doing this. But I really felt that is what God wanted. He reaffirmed to me later that that WAS the right decision to make. I shudder to think where I would be today if I had pursued my own path based on my own understanding. So, that is my testimony of the Shepherd leading.
It is your turn… [Comments, testimonies about v 2]
READ Psalm 23:3
Now, last week (in Psalm 78) we talked a little bit about how our sin adversely impacts our relationship with God. But God provides a way of forgiveness and restoration. First John 1:8 says, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” So that’s the bad news. As believers, we sin. The good news is 1 John 1:9: “But if we confess our sins, HE is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
So, I have this picture up here – the one on the right. A little girl. Now, she is a cute little girl but, you know, she has done something she should not have done. She has that devious look on her face and she clutches a Bible which tells us about God’s grace and His redemption. At some point, she knows she has done something wrong and she says “I’m sorry.” Now, how could we not forgive a sweet face like that? She says, “I’m sorry.” No problem, right? This sweet, innocent girl, no problem forgiving her – but what about us? Can God forgive us? What about that person you know who is not so sweet or innocent? Can we forgive them?
I love that verse in Psalm 78 (which we read last week): ”He [speaking of the Lord] remembered that they [those rotten children of Israel that we talked about, the unfaithful children] were but flesh” (Psalm 78:39). Then Jesus from the cross said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” God knows us, but He is such a gracious God. Psalm 78 says, “Yet He, being compassionate, atoned for their iniquity” (Psalm 78:38). He provided a way for their forgiveness. Did they deserve it? No. Do we deserve it? No. We don’t either. But He provided it anyway because He is a good God, “merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Psalm 86:15). And praise God that whether you are talking Old Testament or New Testament, He is still that kind of God!
The good Shepherd leads us, His sheep in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. The Lord leads us by His Holy Spirit, through His word, in the right path, to do what is right. And He does this as a testimony of His goodness. You see, the condition of the flock reflects the character of the shepherd. If you have a lost sheep or a malnourished sheep or a battered sheep, whatever, then it reflects on the shepherd, the failure of the shepherd. But if you have a well-tended flock who is growing and prospering and succeeding, then that reflects on the character of the shepherd being good. He is doing a good job. He is being successful as a shepherd. Your life, my life is a testimony, not so much to us, as it is to the goodness and the grace of our awesome God.
Talk to me… [Comments, testimonies about v 3]
The next picture I am going to share with you is one I took myself. It is deeply personal and I will explain it.
READ Psalm 23:4
Somebody made the comment to me about Psalm 23 – we always hear it at funerals. That seems to be the time we hear it the most. This is a picture of my dad (several years ago). My dad is a believer. He is a Christian and he is at the funeral of his sister whom he loved dearly. She was a sweet godly Christian woman and he and his sister were very close through the years. Other than my mom, his sister was the one he was the closest to. And here he is at her funeral. He is being consoled by one of his other sisters. I just thought this was a real situation of grief – a believer who has just lost his sister. And even though he is a believer, and even though he knows his sister is a believer, there is still that sting of death that we will experience or have experienced. We could probably all give testimony to that. Death is an awful reality in this life, isn’t it? It causes such sorrow and grief. This verse promises that we will not have to go through those dark, painful experiences alone. The good shepherd promises to be with us, to walk alongside us and to comfort us when we grieve for those we have lost to death – and when that time comes even when we will have to go through that experience of death ourselves. Unless the Lord comes back, that is something we will all experience one day. And the Lord, our Shepherd, promises to be there with us. He is not going to leave us alone. I wanted to share that with you.
Anybody else? [Comments, testimonies about v 4]
READ Psalm 23:5
God has richly blessed us, hasn’t He? Ephesians 1:3 talks about how He has blessed us with spiritual blessings: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us [present tense] in Christ with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places…” We have been blessed spiritually as Christians, as believers, right? No question about it. He has also lavished us with a lot of material blessings, hasn’t He? More than we deserve. And then, not only that, but He has blessed us with all those relationships – with family and friends, kids and grandkids, nieces and nephews. We are so blessed, aren’t we?
This picture is just a banquet table, just a large banquet table with all the best food, and the best drink – for us to enjoy. In a spiritual sense as well as in a material sense God has given us all of these blessings. And our enemies see it. They may not like it, but they cannot deny the blessings of God upon us. It speaks not so much about us as it does about God’s goodness to us. Because we do not deserve it.
Now, the anointing my head with oil and cup runneth over are further analogies of the same kind of thought – about how God’s rich blessings have been lavished on us. So, he is just reinforcing that same thought.
Comments about v 5 [Comments, testimonies about v 5]
READ Psalm 23:6
The psalmist speaks about God’s goodness now (“all the days of my life”) and in the future (“dwell in the house of the Lord forever”). We have God’s goodness and mercy which we can enjoy right now in this life. That is undeniable. But as followers of Christ, as believers, we have an even brighter future ahead… to dwell in the house of the Lord, to live with Him, forever, right?
This picture here [a rural scene showing sheep grazing; a stream runs between two hills; lush green grass and shade trees are on both sides], I thought about the perfect setting for a sheep… beautiful landscape, lots of green grass, protection by the hills and the trees. It is just the perfect setting for sheep, right? And Jesus has promised that He has prepared the perfect place for us. “In my Father’s house are many mansions. If it weren’t so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you [and He has], I will come again [and He will], and will receive you to Myself; that where I am, you may be there also” (John 14:2-4). To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, right? What a promise! The best is yet to come. We have a great future ahead of us. As good as life may be now (maybe it is not good, maybe it is terrible); but if you have a good life now, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. The best is yet to come. And this is a great promise.
So, I want to hear your comments about v 6…
We are going to close by reading Psalm 79:13, which goes right along with our lesson today: “But we Your people, the sheep of Your pasture, will give thanks to You forever; from generation to generation, we will recount Your praise.” We are going to sing, “Where He Leads Me,” one verse…
I can hear my Savior calling,
I can hear my Savior calling,
I can hear my Savior calling,
“Take thy cross and follow, follow Me.”
Where He leads me I will follow,
Where He leads me I will follow,
Where He leads me I will follow,
I’ll go with Him, with Him all the way.