"The Lord is My Shepherd"

 

Introduction

          The phrase “The Lord is my Shepherd” is certainly one of the most recognizable Scripture verses in the Bible, perhaps second only to John 3:16.  But who is the Lord?  What is His character?  Does He have adequate credentials to be my Shepherd—my manager—my owner?  And if He does, how do I come under His control?  In what way do I become the object of His concern and diligent care?  As we look at Psalm 23:1, these are the questions that deserve honest examination. 

          David, the author of the Psalm, himself a shepherd, and the son of a shepherd, later to be known as the “Shepherd King” of Israel, stated explicitly, “The Lord is my Shepherd.”  Our treatment of this verse is rather exhaustive, but then again this is one of the most pivotal statements of the Bible.

 

I.                  Who Is the Lord?  What is His character?  Does He have adequate credentials to be my Shepherd—my manager—my owner?  And if He does—how do I come under His control?  In what way do I become the object of His concern and diligent care?   If the Lord is my Shepherd, I should know something of His character and understand something of His ability.

A.  God the Father—the Author of our Salvation

1.    God is the originator of all that exists

2.    There is nothing in the world that is outside of God

B.   God the Son—the Savior of our Souls

1.    The Son is the artisan—creator of all the universe        (Colossians 1:15-20)

2. All that was formulated in the mind of God the Father was brought forth by the Son

3.    Christ the Creator of an enormous universe of an overwhelming magnitude calls Himself my Shepherd and invites me to consider myself His sheep—His special object of affection and attention. David confidently states, “The Lord—He is my Shepherd!” 

4. In Christ He demonstrated at Calvary the deep desire of His heart to have men come under His benevolent care.  He Himself absorbed the penalty for their perverseness, think of it every sin we committed nailed to the Cross.

C.   God the Holy Spirit—the Comforter who leads us to the Savior

1.    The relationship of the Lord as my Shepherd is made real to me through the agency of the Holy Spirit—His witness speaks to my heart

2.    The Holy Spirit makes it real and relative to us.  Truly, the Holy Spirit marks us out as belonging to Christ.  When a shepherd gets his own flock, he has to right away know which are his own sheep if they get lost.  Since you can’t brand them, as sheep grow lots of wool, you have to mark them in another way.  So, they make a distinctive cut with a sharp knife on the ear of each sheep.  Perhaps that is where we get the term earmarked.  It was an unpleasant experience both for the sheep and for the shepherd who sees the sheep bleeding and in pain.  In the Old Testament, when a slave in any Hebrew household chose of his own freewill to become a lifetime member of that home, he was subjected to a certain ritual.  His master and owner would take him to his door, put his ear lobe against that door post and with an awl puncture a hole through the ear.  From then on he was a man marked for life as belonging to that house.  For the man or woman who recognizes the claims of Christ and gives allegiance to His absolute ownership, there comes the question of bearing His mark.  The mark of the cross is that which should identify us with Himself for all time.  The question is—does it?  Jesus said:  If any man would be my disciple, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

To think that God in Christ is deeply concerned about you as a person gives great purpose and enormous meaning to your life!

 

II.               Why Will We Lack Nothing if God in Christ is our Shepherd?

A.  Christ created us as the object of His own affection

1.    It is He who brought us into being and no one is better able to understand and care for us.

2.    It is He who sustains and maintains the universe, which includes us.

B.   Christ demonstrated at Calvary the deep desire of God’s heart to have men come under His benevolent care.

1.    Christ took the penalty for us: “all we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all”

2.    Because Christ has bought us with a price, we are not our own and He is within His rights to lay claim to our lives.  He could say: “I am the Good Shepherd, the Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep” (John 10:11).

C.   With Christ, “I shall not want” becomes a statement that not only will we lack nothing in care, but that we also will not crave or desire anything more than what is provided by Christ.

1.    We will not lack because Christ says: “In this world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer--I have overcome the world” (John 16:33)

2.      We will not lack because Christ says: “I am come that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

3.      We want to remember though that it does not always mean that we will always have financial prosperity.  Elijah, John the Baptist, and Jesus Himself did not have much of this world’s goods and yet were in a right relation with God.  In fact, some who have everything may need to examine if they lack something.  In Revelation 3:17, it says:  “Because thou sayest I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.  The rich young ruler thought he was pretty good, and Jesus said that there was one thing that he lacked. He had to sell everything and give to the poor. 

  4. For this very reason the Christian has to take a hard look at life.  He has to recognize that as with many of God’s choice people before him, he may be called on to experience lack of wealth or material benefits.  He has to see his sojourn upon the planet as a brief interlude during which there may well be some privation in a physical sense.  Yet, amid such hardship he can still boast, I shall not want.  I shall not lack the expert care and management of my Master.  Always men are searching for safety beyond themselves.  They are restless, unsettled, covetous, greedy for more, wanting this and that, yet never really satisfied in spirit.  By contrast, the simple Christian, the humble person, the Shepherd’s sheep can stand up and say: The Lord is my Shepherd, I sahll not want.   Why?  Because No trouble is too great as He cares for His flock.  He will provide for us. Blessed be the Lord who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation.