Psalms 23:1
When I was a kid I would often pretend to be a preacher. My father was a pastor so, as most boys do, I emulated his movements and his style. I used a clothes hamper for my pulpit and I opened my Bible and read a passage before shouting and yelling at a room full of imaginary people. I can’t tell you what all I preached or from what passages I read, but I do remember attempting to preach the 23rd Psalm once, and it has always stuck with me.
In my young mind I could not fathom why the writer of Psalms 23 would not want the Lord to be his shepherd. I was reading it as, “The Lord is my shepherd and I shall not want him”. I was making a simple mistake, assuming that the “shall not want” applied to the previous statement instead of coming as a result of it. Because the Lord is our shepherd, we never have a reason to want. What is so simple now caused me such confusion then. I am not sure why I remember that, but I do and I think I know now why I ever felt that way at all.
When you are a kid you never want for anything. That doesn’t mean that you never want anything, it just means that you never find yourself without the necessities of life. That is not universal of course, as there are children all over the world who want for the basic needs of life, but for the most part a kid need never think of how the rent is going to be paid or whether or not there will be dinner on the table at night.
If you never face the wolves you may not understand how important the shepherd is. When you have been provided for and taken care of, it is a little difficult to appreciate the power of that protection and provision. As we grow up we are forced to do for ourselves what our parents or guardians always did for us before. Having faced a few wolves, fallen off of a few paths and been stabbed by many thorns we find such rest and comfort in a good shepherd.
Jesus called Himself, “the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). He is so good because He gladly gave His life for all of us. The prayer of little children, “God is good, God is great” is an awesome testimony to who God is. God is good and He is great, and He shows us just how good and great when He shows us His finished work at Calvary.
David is the author of the 23rd Psalm and he knew a thing or two about being a good shepherd. He defended his father’s flock on the hillsides of Bethlehem, once killing a lion and another time stopping a bear that was trying to harm the sheep (1 Samuel 17:34-36). Actually, David said that both of these predators actually grabbed a sheep and David went and hunted the beast down, pulled the sheep from its mouth and then killed it. David was a good shepherd, but Jesus is even better. He will never even allow the lion and the bear to get to you!
Sheep need a shepherd because they are basically defenseless and totally dependent. Thank God that we have a shepherd who watches over our every move, always quick to defend us and who provides us with all things, so that we “shall not want”.
When I was a kid I would often pretend to be a preacher. My father was a pastor so, as most boys do, I emulated his movements and his style. I used a clothes hamper for my pulpit and I opened my Bible and read a passage before shouting and yelling at a room full of imaginary people. I can’t tell you what all I preached or from what passages I read, but I do remember attempting to preach the 23rd Psalm once, and it has always stuck with me.
In my young mind I could not fathom why the writer of Psalms 23 would not want the Lord to be his shepherd. I was reading it as, “The Lord is my shepherd and I shall not want him”. I was making a simple mistake, assuming that the “shall not want” applied to the previous statement instead of coming as a result of it. Because the Lord is our shepherd, we never have a reason to want. What is so simple now caused me such confusion then. I am not sure why I remember that, but I do and I think I know now why I ever felt that way at all.
When you are a kid you never want for anything. That doesn’t mean that you never want anything, it just means that you never find yourself without the necessities of life. That is not universal of course, as there are children all over the world who want for the basic needs of life, but for the most part a kid need never think of how the rent is going to be paid or whether or not there will be dinner on the table at night.
If you never face the wolves you may not understand how important the shepherd is. When you have been provided for and taken care of, it is a little difficult to appreciate the power of that protection and provision. As we grow up we are forced to do for ourselves what our parents or guardians always did for us before. Having faced a few wolves, fallen off of a few paths and been stabbed by many thorns we find such rest and comfort in a good shepherd.
Jesus called Himself, “the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). He is so good because He gladly gave His life for all of us. The prayer of little children, “God is good, God is great” is an awesome testimony to who God is. God is good and He is great, and He shows us just how good and great when He shows us His finished work at Calvary.
David is the author of the 23rd Psalm and he knew a thing or two about being a good shepherd. He defended his father’s flock on the hillsides of Bethlehem, once killing a lion and another time stopping a bear that was trying to harm the sheep (1 Samuel 17:34-36). Actually, David said that both of these predators actually grabbed a sheep and David went and hunted the beast down, pulled the sheep from its mouth and then killed it. David was a good shepherd, but Jesus is even better. He will never even allow the lion and the bear to get to you!
Sheep need a shepherd because they are basically defenseless and totally dependent. Thank God that we have a shepherd who watches over our every move, always quick to defend us and who provides us with all things, so that we “shall not want”.
