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As with all Scripture, the decision to write a psalm about his shepherding
days as a young man was not of David’s own
making but that of the Holy Spirit alone (cf. 2 Pet 1:20-21). The metaphor of the
shepherd and His sheep is rich and unmistakable in its meaning, or is it? This
is one of the most familiar passages in the Psalms, if not the OT, and
ironically, one of the most misunderstood because the mind is focusing on the benefits
rather than the Provider; it was for me for some time (WIIFM syndrome).
We learned Old 23 when we were knee-high to a grasshopper;
though I didn’t become a Christian until nearly two months shy of 24. Isn’t it
easier to memorize a verse than to know its meaning? Psalm 23 captures the
essence of something dearly missed in the life of many of us – a personal relationship
with Yahweh, not from a salvation point of view but from a practical perspective,
experiencing fellowship on a day-to-day basis (cf. Amos 3:3); David’s
admittance that Yahweh was His Shepherd implies that he was already a sheep
belonging to the Shepherd and Overseer of his soul (cf. 1 Pet 2:25).
Verse one is pivotal because everything that follows in the
psalm flows from it. So, let me throw something out at you; then I will return
to verse 1. I would love to give credit to this statement, but I can’t remember
for the life of me its source. It was said, “We cannot call Jesus Lord until we adorn Him as Shepherd in
our lives.” Now in order for us to do
that we would have to already know about Shepherd life and that is not a
condition to accepting Jesus as Lord. This imagery does, however, provide us with insight and a better understanding of the role of Jesus as our Shepherd and our role as
sheep following the Shepherd. When we recognize Jesus as Lord and submit ourselves to His
authority, whether we realize it or not at the time, we are consenting for Him to
be the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls. He is our authority figure.
All that follows past verse 1 for the sheep is a direct result
of such an adornment from the soul or how we look at the LORD. What can we
expect of the Shepherd and what does that mean being a sheep? I realize
thinking of Him as a shepherd in the 21st century is a little odd
but graphically powerful. There are some
characteristics of sheep you may or may not know about but fits us to a tee spiritually.
These poor creatures have no way of defending themselves; they have no sense of
direction and will do dumb things like straying from the flock and getting into
precarious situations. Actually, it sounds
a bit like us; doesn’t it? We think we are so good, and yet we are so baahhd. Thus,
we can see why we need the Shepherd to guide, provide, and protect us through
life’s journey. For us to receive these benefits, we must be under the watch care of the Shepherd.
Now, what the Shepherd does for us is pretty amazing, but
something far greater and richer precedes all of the good stuff that comes with
the Shepherd! The greatest benefit of all is a personal relationship! It’s not
the pie in the sky and the celestial benefits in the sweet by and by that make
heaven what it is; it’s Jesus. If Jesus wasn’t in heaven, would you still want
to go there…? I know heaven is literal, but Jesus makes it heavenly. Wherever
Jesus is that is the place to be.
Yahweh’s leadership, guidance, provision,
and protection as the Shepherd of our souls are awesome blessings, but there is a greater blessing than all of that! It’s the presence of the Eternal One who desires to get involved
in the myriad details of our lives like a shepherd in the field would! The Creator God of the
Universe desires a relationship with us and to be intimately involved in the daily routine of living with us and in the
not-so-routine of things! This is what makes Psalm 23 so splendorous.
In my humble opinion if this psalm was comprised of only verse one;
we wouldn’t have missed out on a thing (cf. 1 Cor 2:9)! Now, I’m not suggesting
verses 2-6 are irrelevant, only to illustrate a point of how powerful the truth
of verse 1 really is in isolation; what follows in the rest of the verses is merely
icing on the cake. I know; sheep don’t eat cake! But this one does! Often when we
approach this psalm we quickly springboard off the platform of verse 1 with
little thought of its meaning and diving right into the pool of benefits with
an entitlement mindset with total disregard for “who is paying for all of this?”
Before plunging into verse one, let’s take a quick look at a
couple of contemporary paraphrases that offer some variations in the reading,
·
A psalm of David.
The LORD is my shepherd; I have all that I need (NLT).
·
A David psalm. GOD, my shepherd! I don't need a thing (The
Message).
·
(A psalm by David.) You, LORD, are my shepherd. I will never be
in need (CEV).
·
The LORD is my shepherd; I have everything I need (GNB).
·
A Davidic psalm. The LORD is my shepherd; there is nothing I
lack (HCSB).
You have probably heard many variations of the story about a
little girl who was asked to quote Psalm 23. She got up on stage and cutely said,
“The LORD is my Shepherd that’s all I want,” and stepped down. This
illustration reminds me of the story of Jesus overthrowing the money changers
in the temple. Then he healed the blind and the lame while the children sang
addressing Jesus as the Messiah, “Hosanna to the Son of David!" The chief
priests and scribes were apoplectic and pressed hard in questioning Jesus.
So Jesus simply quoted from Psalm 8:2, “Yes [I hear what the
children are singing, added]. Have you never read, 'OUT OF THE MOUTH OF BABES
AND NURSING INFANTS YOU HAVE PERFECTED PRAISE' (Mt 21:16)?'” Jesus was claiming
the right to receive worship as God, and He was using Scripture to do it!
Jesus is Yahweh and David’s Shepherd here in Psalm 23. This little girl nailed
the central truth of this psalm, and those kids at the temple had it right
about Jesus, too, unlike the spiritual rulers of Israel! We have need of
nothing else if our Shepherd is Yahweh.
These words of David are not “piety in the midst.” His testimony
was born from past experiences reflected in the psalm. He has walked His
theology and made the declaration without reservation, “The LORD is My
Shepherd; I shall not want.” Do we realize what an incredible theology David had
ascended to, lofty yet grounded, hands raised and following (not paying lip service), soaring but still!
Only a man after God’s own heart can truly make a statement as in verse one
without exaggeration, without hypocrisy; he lived it. The Holy Spirit who knew
David’s heart would not inspire a lie in verse 1. This is as good an
illustration as it gets of living life even with imperfections (cf. Rom
15:4; 1 Cor 10:11).
When I read this passage I am blown away by how the spiritual
leaders of Israel missed this connection between Yahweh and David and made it
unrelatable to the spiritual life during Jesus' day. The Jews had this psalm in
the Writings (Kethubhim) for centuries but were blinded by their own ambitions and
traditions; they promoted and peddled a rigorous religion of traditions/commandments of men among the people. In their hubris and spiritual blindness, their traditions voided the very commandments of God (Mk
7:9)!
In so doing, their religion had no traces of God ever desiring a personal relationship with man created in His image. It was unthinkable, preposterous, blasphemy! God was interpreted by the rabbis as unapproachable. People were not looking for Him in fear of perishing if they saw the face of God (Ex 33:20; cf. Gn 32:30; Deut 5:24; Jdg 6:22; 13:22). Just to be on the safe side of any misinterpretation, people did not want to get up close and personal with God, but this passage was speaking in figurative language (cf. Jn 4:24).
Since God doesn’t have a body, He is referring to people
being unable to see His unveiled glory. God is so holy; an unglorified body
would dissolve in His glorious radiance. They “worshiped” a God whose name they wouldn’t
pronounce or even write His name in order to guard against taking it in vain (Ex
20:7)! Have you ever experienced a personal relationship with someone who you don't even call on a name-by-name basis? That isn’t piety; it’s pitiful.
It is one thing to be reverent, but this whole idea of an unapproachable God was a hyper-extended assumption of Yahweh. He wanted a personal relationship based on His terms: holiness. Their fear of Him and their brand of reverential trust was based on non-relational religion of self-preservation. The relationship of the Son of God with God the Father was deemed impossible and blasphemous. Have you ever noticed that the more
distance people put between themselves and the Word, the greater the truth is blown out of
proportion, resulting in people responding to falsehood rather than the truth?
As believer-sheep we must ever stick close to the Shepherd-Source, the Word of God! We cannot
follow and serve God on hearsay (Jn 4:24).
The interpretation was devoid of a basic understanding of God’s revelation
of Himself to man. He wants to be known! He wants us to call out His name
in worship and ask for help in times of need. Yahweh’s desire is to be the personal
Shepherd of every human being on the planet, but that is not how the Jews saw
it in the days of Jesus. Sometimes I wonder if that is not how we see it with our
coldness toward the Word and being a witness (Mt 28:18-20)? Yeah, Adam’s disobedience
ruined walking with God in the cool of the day in the Garden, but if sin is
under the blood by faith, God is approachable, accessible, and still desires fellowship
as much as He did in David’s day, as much as He does today (1 Cor 1:9; 1
Jn 1:3, 6).
You know when the translator puts “LORD” in all caps this has
reference to the personal name of God, Yahweh. This was the name He revealed to
Moses if you recall (Ex 6:2-3). Most scholars are in agreement that the primary
meaning of Yahweh (spelling debated) should be understood in the context of
God’s existence “I AM WHO I AM (Ex 3:14), “the One who is and who was and who is to come”
(Rev 11:17). Naturally, the precise meaning of Yahweh is still debated. But
this name is associated with God’s chosen and covenant people. David’s Shepherd
was Yahweh, the great “I AM WHO I AM.” Selah.
The personal pronoun “my” makes it a personal possession. The Jewish leadership sought to extract the “my shepherd” out of worship and service to Yahweh because intimacy and holiness were viewed as incompatible! And the verses of Psa 23:2-6 indicate that God was well
pleased with such a personal, intimate relationship with David.
“Shepherd” is very rich in imagery of pastoral care. Jesus
identified Himself as “the good shepherd” (Jn 10:14). He is also called “the
great Shepherd” (Heb 13:20) and “the Chief Shepherd (1 Pet 5:4). The primary role
of the shepherd is to meet the needs of the sheep – “I shall not want.” David’s
needs were met because the LORD was his Shepherd. If we could talk to David he
could probably relay a story or two relating to verses 2-6. His physical and
spiritual needs were met because David adorned Yahweh as his personal Shepherd.
Even as great a warrior king and a godly man as David had become, he
acknowledged his dependence upon the LORD for everything! God honored such a submissive
and humble spirit coming from a man that was rich and powerful because of God. David never lacked anything because he saw
his need for Yahweh to be his personal
Shepherd – “my!”
In order for Yahweh to be the Shepherd in our life, we have to
become sheep through faith in Jesus Christ (Jn 10:9; Eph 2:8-9). How do we
know if we are His sheep? (1) We hear His voice, and (2) we follow Him (Jn
10:4). When the LORD is our Shepherd good things happen because of it (Psa
23:6; Rom 8:28). When we stray from the flock and fail to follow the lead of
the Shepherd we miss out on the blessings of the LORD. Like sheep who take
their eyes off the shepherd in the natural realm, stray sheep become vulnerable to the predators of the soul: the flesh, the world system,
and the devil. Sometimes I think these guys run in a pack at times like wolves
and split up in a three-pronged attack. They are like a thief or a false
shepherd with only one evil purpose, “to steal, and to kill, and to destroy”
(Jn 10:10a). Jesus declared, “I have come that they (you and I) may have life,
and that they may have it more abundantly” (Jn 10:10b). Boy, we see that in Old
23, don’t we! “I shall not want.” That sounds like abundant life to me!
Now, when we become sheep, we know who the Shepherd of our
souls is for He has given us His Holy Spirit. Also, by becoming a sheep we are
acknowledging our need for the Shepherd in our lives for we don’t have any sense
of spiritual direction and have no way to protect ourselves against the flesh,
the world system, and the devil! Why? Look in the mirror! We are herbivores
with no fangs or claws, figuratively speaking, not to mention sheep are not the
smartest animals on the block. Do we sense the need here for Yahweh to be our
Shepherd? We cannot live the Christian life apart from the Holy Spirit.
Unless you and I adorn Christ as our Shepherd, we cannot call Him
Lord (cf. Jn 10:4; Lk 6:46). There is one smart thing the sheep do; I might add,
“They will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do
not know the voice of strangers" (Jn 10:5). That voice of the Shepherd is
found in His Word. The LORD is our Shepherd if we hear His voice and follow
Him. Ain’t we baahhd to the bone!? Thanks to Jesus, we shall not want under His flock
management. As sheep, we may be dumb, but we’re not stupid because Yahweh is our Shepherd! <><
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