Psalm 23 – “The LORD is My Shepherd”
This is part of our summer Psalms series in 2009, where we are preaching through some of Pastor Duane’s favorites Psalms. This week is an exegetical sermon on Psalm 23 and is about how The LORD is My Shepherd. This sermon looks at God, the great I AM, provides for us, protects us, and promises us eternity with him. This sermon was originally preached June 21st, 2009 at The Resolved Church in San Diego, CA.
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The Resolved Church
Pastor Duane Smets
June 21st, 2009
Psalm 23 – “The LORD is My Shepherd”
He Provides, He Protects, He Promises
I. The Shepherd’s Provision (v1-3)
II. The Shepherd’s Protection (v4-5)
III. The Shepherd’s Promise (v6)
Introduction
Good morning, Happy Father’s Day! Probably been the happiest years of my life yet.
My name is Duane for those who don’t know me. I’m a pastor here and I get the joy of preaching most weeks here under our head Pastor Jesus Christ. For those of who know me well good morning, I consider it such an honor that you allow me to be an undershepherd in teaching you the Bible and pointing you to Jesus week after week.
Well we’re in our summer sermon series going through some of my personal favorite Psalms and this week is probably the most famous Psalm, Psalm 23. It shows up everywhere…Songs, TV, Books, Poems…you name it.
Some of you might remember that movie from 1995 “Dangerous Minds” where Michelle Pfiefer becomes a teacher in this hard core, gang filled school. The theme song of the movie is from Coolio, a song called “Gansta’s Paradise,” it’s chorus quotes part of Psalm 23 as a self-reflecting look at a wasted life saying: ” As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I take a look at my life, And realize there’s nothing left.”
If your not into hip hop and are more into punk rock then you might be familiar with Offspring’s song “Hammerhead” where “The Lord” is allegorized as a gun in it’s quote of the Psalm. They sing: “I am the one, camouflage and guns…Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of Death, I will fear no evil: for Thou are with me…Locked and loaded…I’m busting through. Bang, Bang.”
Or maybe if you’re just into the more mainstream radio action, you’ve got to be familiar with U2 song “Rescue Me.” It quotes part of the Psalm in resentment suggesting God was not any help in the valley of the shadow. Here’s it’s words: “Yea, though I walk in the valley of shadow,
Yea, I will fear no evil…I have cursed thy rod and staff, they no longer comfort me…(so instead) Love rescue me.” Pretty strong accusation. I’ve heard that song a thousand times and never really thought through what it was actually saying.
This Psalm is huge in movies and TV too. In the original War of the Worlds, the preacher in it is praying this Psalm before he gets killed by Aliens. In Pulp Fiction, Jules quotes a mesh of Psalm 23 along with a passage from Ezekiel right before executes his victims…I guess it’s supposed to comfort them.
There’s a whole Episode of Lost in the second season titled “The 23rd Psalm” because in it a man named Eko quotes it while his friend Charlie find a crashed plane full of drugs and burn it.
In literature, this Psalm is infamous. Kurt Vonnegut’s “Cat’s Cradle” suggests the 23rd Psalm is just a nice pain killer for people who are dying…to give them a false hope. In Edgar Allen’s Poe
“Edlorado” he cites the valley of death as something one must go through in the supposedly inescapable search for happiness.
This Psalm is everywhere. Easily the most popular and most famous Psalm of the Bible.
For me personally this Psalm has been a treasure. It was the very first Psalm I ever memorized the whole thing of word for word. I’ve known it as long as I can remember. When I was a little kid I can still remember my mom or my dad reciting it’s words to me as they tucked me in for bed. I still find myself rehearsing it’s words often when I’m going to sleep. It has ministered to me in good times, difficult times, and has been an immense tool in ministering to others.
Right now it’s one of Adina’s favorite parts of her picture Bible we read to her every evening. Her favorite is the picture snake in Genesis…she likes to hit it and say “bad, bad snake.” Then we turn to the page with baby Jesus and say “nice, nice Jesus.” But next to that her favorite is the “hoo, hoo” on page 192… Psalm 23 because on it is a picture of an owl up in a tree along with David and some sheep sleeping under it at night.
So…all that to say, that we all probably have some sort of relationship to this Psalm. Maybe it’s a close personal one like mine, or maybe it’s just a passing knowledge due to some book, film, or song that is popular in the culture we live in. Today it’s my hope that we’ll be able to really reach into the meaning of this Psalm that God intends for us…that we’ll understand some stuff about it which will enable it to help better inform us who God is to us and how relevant he is to very stuff of life.
That’s my introduction…let’s read it, pray over it and get into it. (read and pray over text).
“The LORD is My Shepherd”
I’ve just used the first five words of this Psalm as the title for my message today, ‘The LORD is my shepherd.” And before we get into each of these three things in our outline today: The Shepherd’s Provision, Protection, and Promise…I want to say some things about these first five words just so we feel the weight of this claim about God…before we even get into how he is a shepherd.
So first look at the word “LORD” in your Bibles. It’s in all capitals huh? There’s a reason for that. The reason is that there is no real English word to translate the Hebrew word for God that is behind LORD here.
The Hebrew word is YHWH. YHWH is the name God gave to himself. Most of you are familiar with the story of Exodus, if you’ve read it or seen the classic Ten Commandments movie with Charles Hestone. God permorms these mighty wonders in Egypt in order to deliver his people…there’s the ten plagues of Egypt: the water turned to blood, swarms of frogs, gnats, wild animals, pestilance, boils, massive hail, locust, darkness, the passover protected fristborns, and the the parting of the Red Sea.
Each one of these mighty miracles both attacked the supposed gods of the culture who were said to have control over these things AND they demonstrated God’s sovereign ability to exercise power over nature. Before all that stuff happens God first calls Moses and tells him to go and ask Pharaoah to free the Israelites from slavery. Moses is scared, doesn’t want to do. God pretty much say, sorry I want you to do it anyway. So Moses is like fine, who do I tell the Pharaoh sent me. And God’s reply is, YHWH, which means literally “I AM.”
This revelation of God is breathtaking. The I AM. He is greater than any name can encapsulate! He is always existing and the only God who truly does in fact exist. He is the one that no one has any right or ground to question him. He simply is. I AM.
The Jews held this revelation of God’s name in such high regard that whenever they would be reading their Bibles, to this day, and they come across YHWH, they do not pronounce it but instead say “Lord” which in Hebrew is “adonai.” So what you’re seeing here in English is essentially adonai in captials in order to let you know that the real word behind this is not adonai but YHWH.
Thus, if we wanted to be totally legit here, we would read “The I AM is my shepherd.” Which is astonishing. You’re going to call the great I AM a lowly shepherd! Being a shepherd is low class, low pay, junk job that nobody wants…about the equivalent of working at MacDonalds. Sorry if you work at MacDonalds, you know you’re job sucks…but I’m glad you have a job.
So this claim that God is a shepherd is huge just in and of itself, and then it is so personal…he is “my” shepherd. That word my brings in this tone of affection and love and adoration. David, the author of this Psalm, says straight out that God has this huge personal role in his life. There is an intimate connection between him and God.
I wonder today…how many of us could say that, truly say that from the depth of our souls…”The LORD is my shepherd.” Maybe you can’t. It’s my prayer today that God will become a shepherd to some of you who really don’t have a shepherd in your life or your not following God as your shepherd. Or God is just some distant reality or idea.
This acknowledgement of God as a shepherd is also a hugely humbling thing because it is saying I am a dumb sheep who needs a shepherd. Modern day shepherds will tell you that they are probably one of the dumbest animals around. They cannot do anything for themselves and are simply prone to all kinds of dangers which can easily lead to their death…which we’ll learn about today. Rats really are probably smarter than sheep.
Well with that…let’s get into it and see how the I AM as a shepherd provides, protects, and promises. First, The Shepherd’s Provision.
I. The Shepherd’s Provision (v1-3)
The Psalm starts of “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.” The phrase “I shall not want.” Everybody today seems to want something. More of this, bigger this, better that. The grass is always greener somewhere else than where we are. I read a quote this week from Paul Tripp who said, “the things that disappoint us the most, show us what we treasure most” …the things we really want.
David here says, if we treasure God the most and trust him above all, we will never be in want. In Psalm 34:10 he says that those who “seek the Lord lack no good thing.” If there is a thesis to this Psalm we’re looking at today that is what is on the table. If we trust and seek the LORD above all else will we still have any want or need.
David is going to take us through physical needs, spiritual needs, and eternal needs and tell us no in every one. With God as our shepherd we will not be lacking in any of these areas.
First let’s look at these physical needs that are mentioned: green pastures and still waters, food and drink. These are things David knew well. Some of you who have read the entire story of David’s life will remember that he was the youngest of 8 boys. We are first introduced to him in 1 Samuel 16 when Samuel is looking for the next King of Israel.
Samuel has seven of Jesse’s sons presented to him as potential kings. Many of them tall and strong, dudes who look like kings. But Samuel says nope, it’s none of these dudes…do you got anymore sons? And Jesse is all, yeah I got one other one but he is this small scrappy red haired kid who is out being a shepherd taking care of the sheep…he got stuck with the crap job.
David is a hero for all you unpopular guys who didn’t make the varsity football or basketball team. David spent years hanging out, outdoors, taking care of sheep…it was the first job he ever had. He knew about being a shepherd.
Who knows how many hours he spent with sheep leading them to green pastures and still waters? Now the interesting thing here is that shepherds lead sheep. My wife Amy’s grandpa used to be a shepherd out in Colorado and I talked with my mother in law for a while this week asking her some questions about things she remembered from when her dad was a shepherd. I found out some interesting stuff.
One, you don’t drive sheep you have to lead them. With most other herds of animals like cows, you drive them. Cowboys get behind the herd of cows and push them. Sheep don’t work like that. The shepherd has to go out in front and the sheep follow. The shepherd names every one of the sheep, usually from a very young age and calls out their names and they come to him and follow him as he lead the way.
Some of you don’t like being led. You want to blaze your own trail and go where you want and do what you want and you get all bent if anyone tries to speak into your life and tell you different. The truth is that we are all following someone or something and it matter who and what where following after…the voice of God telling you where to go and what to do or another voice.
The reason we should follow the voice of God the Shepherd is because only he can lead us to green pastures and still waters. A few other things I found out from my mother in law is that sheep really are dumb. They have to be led to green pastures for food because they if they stay in one place they will just keep eating and eating and eating even when all the grass is gone, they will start eating the dirt…and when that happens they start getting sick from too much bugs and other things and they die.
Sheep have to be led away to where there is fresh food. Are there some things in your life you’re eating the LORD wants to lead you away from so that you can eat real food that’s not going to kill you but nourish you.
What about drink. Sheep also have to be led to where there is water. They have no ability to find it on their own and then on top of it they are super picky about it. They will not drink from running water. It freaks them out or something. So a shepherd has to find a place where the water is not moving too much or if he can’t find that the shepherd has to either cup his hand or use a bowl that he fills up to take to the sheep for them to drink out of.
The shepherd has to do everything for them. Often in the middle east shepherds would have to lead sheep through a lot of mountain and hill country, along narrow ridges and ravines in order to get to places where there was food and water. But a shepherd would never take the sheep on too treacherous of a path, nothing like the kind of paths that an animal like a billy goat could traverse.
And if per chance a sheep fell or got injured…the shepherd would take care of it, sometimes carrying it on his back if needed be. One funny thing is that sometimes sheep fall over and if they end up on their back they simply cannot get up. The shepherd has to come and lift the sheep up back onto its feet.
David most likely thinks of these times and remembers how the LORD has picked him up…he restores the soul, he leads through safe passages, paths of righteousness and when we fall and fail he picks us up. Are you struggling today with direction and you just need the LORD to lead you? The LORD will lead you. Are you just beat up and you need to be restored? The LORD will restore you.
The overall picture here is that God is the one who provides physcially and spiritually for his children. We probably experience this or realize this most when the physical provision looks stark or when we are in an especially dark or difficult spiritual season.
I know for us…it’s when the finances get really tight, which is where some of you may be right now with your job and the economy, that’s when it gets hard to trust and easy to worry. Sometimes it just doesn’t look like God is going to provide. Green pastures, still waters…that’s a long way off…and we can’t even see or imagine how he will provide. It’s then that we begin to think, God is not going to do anything for us. God is completely irrelevant. It is up to me. That’s the temptation.
Instead of going down that road, we are to call upon God and remember how he has provided in the past and how he is committed to taking care of us in the future. In Matthew 6 Jesus addresses our fears and lack of faith concerning God’s provision. He says, “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.” He points out birds in the air and how God takes care of them and says God knows what our needs are and we are more valuable then the birds (Mt 6:25-33).
Now that doesn’t mean, “Awesome! Now I can go rack up my credit card bill because God said he’ll provide…it means seek God, put him first, and he’s going to take care of you…he’s a good shepherd…he’ll lead you to a job so you can buy food to eat and water to drink. He will provide, just seek him first above all things. It might not be the way you want or expect it but he will provide. You see the danger is attempting to pay God off…where you’re like, “Okay I’ll pray and appease God so he’ll do for me what I want him to do and perform for me correctly.” That’s not trusting that manipulating. God knows best.
Our job Jesus says is to seek first His Kingdom and righteousness and trust God with the results…he will lead us in a safe path. What we can’t see are the pitfalls and cliffs and dangers God is often protecting us from by not answering our prayers in the ways that we want him to or think he should.
The last thing here in God’s provision is his spiritual healing…God restores our soul, sometimes he even has to carry us when we’re hurt. When you’re weak…when you’re tired and worn out…when you’re bruised and beat up by life…God will restore your soul. We live in a world where sin and pain and suffering run rampant and you will get disappointed and hurt and if you’ll have him and turn to him, God will restore your soul. And the truth is only he can…all other forms of healing really end up leaving you more hurt or messed than you were in the first place. Only God can heal and restore.
God is the shepherd who provides for us, he leads, feeds, and heals us. And he does it all for His name’s sake. That means, he does it so that we will see how great and good he is. So that his name, the I AM will be revered and loved…so that we will be able to know and call the I AM as my Shepherd.
II. The Shepherd’s Protection (v4-5)
Okay, let’s move on and consider, “The Shepherd’s Protection.” This is part of this Psalm that usually gets quoted in all the books, TV shows and movies…”the valley of the shadow of death.” There’s just something about that phrase.
Most the ideas about it are off…it’s not a gun, it’s not a wasted life, it’s not part of a death sentence in excution. It’s a place where there is threat…a shadow has cast and you find yourself seeming stuck in it.
If you’ve ever been in that valley you know right away exactly what it’s talking about. You could actually even translate the Hebrew phrase here, “the valley of deep darkness.” Have you ever been to that valley? Many of Godly people throughout history have gone through periods of deep depression and through it have grown close and strong in the LORD.
The picture here is of the shepherd leading the sheep through ravines, narrow, often precarious slopes that they needed to go through in order to get where there would be green pastures and water. In these types of places there would often be caves and hiding places for threatening beasts like wolves, bears, and lions. Dark dangerous places.
Yet the Shepherd would intentionally leads his sheep through there, in order to take them to places of provision that they could not get through unless they went that way. It’s through going through those places that sheep come to know and trust in the Shepherd’s rod and his staff.
Here’s what the rod and the staff are. They are traditional tools of a shepherd. The rod is like a billy club that the shepherd would stick into the belt tied around his waist. The staff doubled as both a walking stick but a weapon to ward off attacks from wild beasts.
Some of you know the story of David and Goliath. Goliath is this huge Shaquille O’Neal like dude, who back in times when there were no guns, was like having a nuclear bomb in a war. If all there is is hand to hand combat, size usually wins out.
There’s a war and none of the soliders in the Israelite army want to fight Goliath. Little Shepherd David wanders to the army’s camp to bring his older solider brothers some food to encourage them. When he gets there and finds out that the Israelites are losing because of Goliath, David says “I’ll fight ‘em.” Everyone sort of laughs at him at first…oh silly David.
But listen to David’s words in response: “Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” And David said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine (1 Sam 17:34-36).”
I like David. Ever since I read that story as a kid I’ve wanted to fight a bear. You see David knew how to use his rod and his staff. In Psalm 23 David is speaking from experience. He’s not presenting some high and lofty theological ideas he has.
When he says, “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.” He’s saying that because he’s been in the valley and used his rod and his staff.
I don’t know what it’s like to be a sheep and see the rod and the staff of a shepherd and whatever comfort that brings. But do know that if I’m walking outside in the dark in an unknown place…I feel a lot more comfortable with a bat in my hand.
Now, obviously David is talking about our spiritual security in God. This Psalm isn’t telling us that we should all go out and buy guns and keep ourselves strapped so we won’t fear any evil. Not that there is anything wrong with owning guns. But the point here is that what makes the fear dissipate is that the presence of God. Look at the words in verse 4, “I will fear no evil for you are with me.”
What dispells fear is the presence of God, knowing that he is able and willing to protect us from any and all threats. Here’s a good paraphrase: God has a big bat and a big stick. No one is bigger or more powerful than God. So there is no one to be afraid of but him.
Much of our fears in life is more about fearing other people and situations than a fear of God…it shows that deep down we really do not believe God is powerful enough to do or stop anything that he wants. But if we truly believe that he is then we have nothing to fear anything that happens because it is all under his control and his power! Whatever happens is because God has allowed it and has a reason for it.
Now verse 5 switches gears, I think. Some have tried to tie in the table and the oil with shepherding but those interpretation seem forced and awkward…I just can’t see the Shepherd’s practice of rubbing oil on a sheeps face to protect it from bugs really fits here. What makes more sense is this:
Most scholars think that David is writing this when he’s on the run from Absalom, his third son. If you’ve read through the Bible and know a little bit of history then you know that David is the one who really put Israel on the map. He is the one who united the kingdom together, built the city of Jerusalem, defeated all Israel’s enemies, brought in all kinds of riches and wealth and established Israel as a major world power.
Absalom was an evil man. He desired to be king in his father’s place. So he would go out in and among the people and basically trash talk, saying the king didn’t really care about them and did not really want to listen to their complaints. The Bible says in doing this Absalom “stole the hearts of the men of Israel (2 Sam 15:6).
He is so successful at this that he stages a successful coup take over and King David has to flee the palace and city for fear of his life. He ends up back in the wilderness, hiding in it’s mountains and valley, probably in those same areas where he had shepherded sheep so many years ago. Now this time his life being threatned not by lions, bears, and wolves but by his own son. At one point he even has to climb down into well of a guy who lived out in the country and hide in it.
Perhaps it was that night when he was in that well that God inspired this Psalm in David and he writes this words. In verse 5 of Psalm 23, it seems that David is considering the palace and remembering the fine feasts he would have there. The table, a table full of food and friends. The oil, the perfume and frangrance they would wear during these great feasts. The cup, the abundance of good wine they drank and enjoyed together.
David considers his situation and looks forward to and longs to be in the palace again…free from the presence of his enemies. Now, I don’t think David is being presumptuous here. Last week we read from him another Psalm where he prays against presumptuous sins. I don’t think he is presuming he is going to make it through this alive and get back to the palace…maybe, but I think he is looking beyond that and recognizing that God’s protection goes beyond this present life, as we’ll see here in a second in verse 6.
But first, here is the point: even in the face of perhaps certain death, God is with us, there is a comfort and a protection and a hope which trying people and situations, enemies, cannot overcome. The Shepherd’s protection is sure.
You want to talk about a dark depressing season in life. Imagine this, you are king, your own son wants to kill you and take the throne, you are on the run camping out in the wild, and you get stuck down in a well for fear of your life. Most of us despise tough seasons. Instead we are to turn to our protector, The LORD, our shepherd. In such a situation as this would you turn to the comfort and assurance of the LORD? I pray today that many of us learn from David’s example that God can be trusted as a comfort and protector in time of trouble. The shepherd’s protection is sure.
III. The Shepherd’s Promise (v6)
Okay, let’s finish out this Psalm with the very last verse here. The Shepherd’s Promise: “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” It’s short, sweet, and immense.
With God in our lives as our shepherd, goodness and mercy are daily ours the whole length of our life and beyond. It’s one of the interesting things about this Psalm, is it’s clear assertion of eternity. There’s not a lot of talk about heaven and hell in the Old Testament, very rarely. But here David explains where is hope lies…in being with and in the house of the LORD forever.
You see, this is why I don’t think David is just looking toward the comforts of his palace…he’s looking toward the goodness and mercy of God which go beyond death for those who have God as their shepherd. He is looking toward the dwelling place of God, forever.
Sure David wishes to be home again but he recognizes that his earthly palace and it’s feasts are only a small picture of the true and greater house of God and feasts that will take place in God’s coming kingdom.
What we get here is an eternal perspective. Have you ever been in a tough spot and turned to the Lord? I’ve never been in a situation like David’s but I’ll tell you what, his words here have been an immense blessing to me in some of the most trying times in my life. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
When I was preparing my sermon I stopped here and asked myself how do those words function in my soul? I think this is how. They are a promise to me. When I hear those words, however great the obstacle or challenge or difficult thing that is in my way is…the goodness and mercy of the LORD is greater!
And when I remember that, you know that the goodness and mercy of God I am experiencing is not a temporal thing, it is an eternal thing and that there is a day coming when my life and this world will be free all of all sin and evil once and for all and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever!
Okay, I can’t hold back anymore here. I have been trying so hard to keep Jesus out of this Psalm for the majority of this sermon. The reason is because I wanted us to feel the full weight and power of how amazingly Jesus fulfills nearly every word of this Psalm. There is a promise here, but it is open ended…how is the great I AM a shepherd, what about death, what about eternity?
Here we go, Psalm 23 and the gospel. It starts like this.
Isaiah 53:6 “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way.”
For everyone here, the Bible says that we are like sheep. We are foolish, wandering off into dangerous ways that lead us astray, leading us away from God because we think we know better, we think that we can live however we want to or that we have the power to live right.
The truth is none of us are able to find green pastures or still waters…instead we are simply stuck, eating things that kill us. We’ve fallen over onto our backs and have no way to get up. We are sheep in need of a shepherd to pick us up, to restore our souls, and to lead us.
God is first called and identified as a shepherd in the first book of the Bible, Genesis. One of the amazing things about Jesus is how he consistently takes on the names and roles of the great I AM. Listen to Jesus words in John 10:11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”
How and why did he lay down his life? Back to Isaiah 53. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth… he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt (Is 53:6-7,9-10).
Jesus lays down his life for his sheep in order to deal with sin, death and evil…our going astray and rejecting God. Jesus makes a way so that we may find true comfort for our souls.
Here’s Jesus’ concluding word in John 10, “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. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one (Jn 10:27-30).”
Jesus lives the life we’ve failed at. He doesn’t go astray. No deceit is ever in his mouth. Then he dies the death for our deceit in our place…our iniquity is laid on him and he offers up his life on the cross as penalty for our guilt before the great I AM.
The reward? He takes up his life again, rising from the dead, in order to give us eternal life. What is eternal life? Goodness and mercy all of our days, dwelling in the house of the LORD forever. Revelation 19 says that in that house there will be a great feasts in honor of Jesus, feasts called the “marriage supper of the Lamb” where we will drink new wine and eat rich food, enjoying the presence of our great king and shepherd.
The Shepherd’s promise in Psalm 23 is ultimately a promise that looks forward to Jesus to fulfill it. David doesn’t see and know exactly how at the time, but he knew that God would provide…because came to know him as a good shepherd.
Conclusion
My conclusion today is this. Jesus is the Shepherd. In him you will find rest for your souls. Jesus is the provider. In him you will find the victory over sin, death and evil. Jesus is the Protector. In him is hope for both this life and eternity. Jesus is the Promise.
So look to Jesus today. The Great I AM and have him as your Shepherd. If you need provision today, look to Jesus. If you are in a dark place and need some protection today, look to Jesus. If you need hope and a promise for the future, look to Jesus.
It’s my prayer that you would know him so lovingly and so closely that you could say as the first words of this Psalm, “The LORD is my shepherd.”
Let’s pray.
