In The Good Shepherd, You Have All You Want!

“The LORD is my shepherd,
I shall not want.”(NASB)

Psalm 23 is the most beloved out of all the Psalms in the Bible. It is a rich, charming, soothing, and comforting Psalm. David spent most of his young age as a shepherd boy watching and caring for his father’s flocks around the rural town of Bethlehem which had hills and valleys around it. He took care of his flocks well by watching, resting, providing, and protecting them from wild animals. David’s sheep enjoyed the goodness and strong protection continuously from him.

David said how he protected his father’s flocks to King Saul in 1 Samuel 17:34-37. He said, “When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it, and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it, and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear.” Young David he went after the predators and even rescued his sheep from its mouth. That need extraordinary courage and strength. He seized it by its hair, struck it, and killed it. It is uncommon goodness and devotion to the sheep, don’t you agree?

David says The LORD is his shepherd. He takes care of his sheep faithfully. He makes the metaphor and applies it to his relationship with the LORD in heaven. The Psalm expresses David’s total assurance and confidence in his Shepherd, the LORD, who will take care of him and protect him here in this life and the life to come. In those days, the Jews used to address God as ‘our’ convent keeping God.  However, the LORD is not just ‘our’ shepherd. More than all, David says He is ‘my shepherd.’ Lord is not just our LORD in the covenant community, but He is ‘my’ LORD.

The imagery of God being your shepherd is full of rich meanings.

First of all, God being your shepherd, you would lack nothing in his life. It says I shall not want in NKJV. It means you would have everything you need or He cares for you always-every day, month after month, year after year. If Lord is your shepherd, His care and provision are not only when you live in this life. Listen to what David says, “Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the LORD forever.”

Dearly beloved, He will provide and protect you here, and then when you close your eyes here in death, you will be welcomed to the house of the LORD, heaven, to live with Him forever.  His unfailing love will pursue you all the days of your life here on the earth. Then you will live in His house forever and ever.

Beloved, Like David said with no doubt, could you also say the LORD is your LORD? If you can, you are the most blessed person here and in the afterlife. If you are not sure, may I introduce to the good shepherd today, so that you will live in His goodness in this life and the afterlife? Jesus said and it is recorded in John 10:11-14. Please listen very carefully. Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep. A hired hand will run when he sees a wolf coming. He will abandon the sheep because they don’t belong to him and he isn’t their shepherd. And so the wolf attacks them and scatters the flock.  The hired hand runs away because he’s working only for the money and doesn’t really care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep.”

The good shepherd is not like the many hired shepherds. The employed person runs away because he cares only for the money and not you personally. The good shepherd sacrificed his life and shed his sinless and divine blood to save you from the power of the predator. By coming and accepting Jesus Christ as your savior and Lord you have all the care and protection from the good shepherd. Jesus did not say, I am a good shepherd, or I am one of the good shepherds. He said I am the good shepherd. There is no other good shepherd out there. The good shepherd sacrificed His life to rescue you and make you His own forever-here now and forever in eternity in heaven with Him.

Got a moment for today’s prayer? “Father in heaven, I thank you because you are my shepherd who cares, provides, guides, and protects me when I live on this earth. Later you will take me to heaven where you are when I close my eyes in death. I worship you, my good Lord. I believe Jesus Christ is the good shepherd who gave his life as a ransom for my sins and shortcomings. I accept Him as my savior and Lord today. Please save, protect, guide, and care for me. I offer myself into your faithful, eternal, and trustworthy hand. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.”