Lent Week 4 - Psalm 23 - Christ, The Good Shepherd

Foundations Church Weekly

During this chaotic time, we seek refuge in the words of Psalm 23. Michael Livingston shows us how the Shepherd is actually Jesus Christ the Good Shepherd as described in John 10.

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Full Transcript: Psalm 23 - Christ, The Good Shepherd

Author: Michael Livingston

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. 3 He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. (Psalms 23 ESV )

David was someone who knew a little bit about sheep, he was after all a shepherd before becoming a King. He grew up around a flock, he raised them, guided them, and provided for them. David, like many great musicians, was channeling his life experience in this Psalm to convey something about the nature of the God in whom he put his trust.

We know that David didn’t always have an easy life. He was blessed and consecrated by Samuel but ultimately had to wait before becoming king. He had a strange and somewhat tumultuous relationship with King Saul. He spent some of his days in the King’s court soothing his soul with his songs of praise, and another part of his time he was on the run hiding in exile from death threats in a cave. David truly knew and understood what it meant to be both favored and a shut-in.

In his, well documented, moments of despair he cried out to God, surrendering himself to the will of the Father. He put his total trust in the Lord’s hands. He viewed God not just as an omniscient being, but as a personal shepherd who could lead him through times of darkness to greener pastures.

Let us take a close look at David’s Psalm in our time of darkness. As the world around us seems to be in utter chaos and we are exiled in our own caves we can lean into the promises of this Psalm to find true peace in God.

“The Lord is my shepherd”

David, breaking away from the tradition of “our Lord” claims God as his own, or better yet says that God claims him as his own. The Lord, Yahweh, is David’s personal shepherd. While He looks over the entirety of the flock David establishes that He also gives special attention and care to the individual. He sees us in both our time of despair and comfort and knows how to help accordingly. Because he is our personal shepherd we shall not want.

A sheep traditionally stays with a flock and a Shepherd. They are not generally known for going at it on their own. Because of this, they are aware of only one thing, the Shepherd will provide. He will give them everything they could want and need. We are God’s sheep. We are those that he provides for if we trust in him… Truly trust in him, he will provide for us everything that we need.

Jesus says in Matthew 6

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (Matthew 6:25-34 ESV)

If we seek first God’s kingdom and righteousness all of the necessary things will be provided for by God. He will lead us through times of terror into greener pastures.

The Lord God leads us in these ways:

1. He makes us lie down, giving us much needed rest

2. He leads us to still waters, places free of turmoil

3. He restores our souls, he comforts us in times of grief, he corrects us in times of sin, and he replenishes our spirit with his grace and love.

4. He leads in paths of righteousness… He gives us the means to find the right way and follow it. He does so by becoming the Good Shepherd, by laying down his life for us. He will leave behind the safety of the flock to find the 1 whose gone astray.

5. He does all of this for his namesake.

Even though we may walk through the valley of the shadow of death we have nothing to fear. A shepherd would often lead their flocks through danger to get them to a place of refuge. The times may seem dark, death may seem to be all around, but he is leading us to our ultimate home with him in his Glory.

His rod and staff are our comforts. This instrument was intended to correct a wayward stray, lead the flock, and keep out enemies. His word is our comfort it is our rod and staff.

He has prepared a table for us, he’s anointed us and called us sons and daughters. He is ready to dine and commune with us in his house not temporarily but forevermore. He did all of this by laying down his own life so that we could be made right in his kingdom.

“I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.” (John 10:14-18)

Jesus is our good shepherd. He knows you, and he has sought you. He laid down his life to bring you back into his fold. Even though we go through times of darkness temporarily we must remember that he has descended to the darkest depths of death to overcome it. No matter what toils, pestilence, famine, or persecution we face He has already conquered it. Because of this, we should be anxious for nothing, we should count it all joy that the Lord our God is our shepherd. He is our guide, our helper, our corrector.

Jesus told us in a parable from Luke chapter 10 just how much he rejoices when he finds a sheep that is lost.

“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” (Luke 10:4-7)

No matter where you are today surrender yourself to Christ. Allow him to carry you on his shoulders home. He has promised us and he will truly bring us through the darkest of times, and for that, we must repent and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. For you were at one time in darkness but now through Christ, you are light in the Lord (Ephesians 5:8)

Let us pray these words from St. Clement

We beg You, Lord, to help and defend us. Deliver the oppressed, pity the insignificant, raise the fallen, show Yourself to the needy, heal the sick, bring back those of Your people who have gone astray, feed the hungry, lift up the weak, take off the prisoners’ chains.

May every nation come to know that You alone are God, that Jesus Christ is Your Child, that we are Your people, the sheep that You pasture. Amen.

– St Clement of Rome, c. 100 A.D.