The Lord Is My Shepherd - The One Year Book of Discovering Jesus in the Old Testament
The Lord Is My Shepherd
When we read the Twenty-third Psalm, in which David wrote, “The LORD is my shepherd,” we might think that David was writing from his personal knowledge of shepherding. But David was not the first person to call God his Shepherd. In fact, David was likely drawing on the words of Jacob, who at the end of his life said to Joseph’s sons: “May the God before whom my grandfather Abraham and my father, Isaac, walked—the God who has been my shepherd all my life, to this very day, the Angel who has redeemed me from all harm—may he bless these boys” (Genesis 48:15-16).
Jacob had walked through many dark valleys—for the most part made dark by his own deceit. But at the end of his life, he could look back and rejoice that the Lord had been his Shepherd—pursuing him like a lost sheep, providing for him, caring for him. David, too, lived in a world full of dark valleys and sinister enemies. In Psalm 23, David was saying that, like Jacob, he had found himself in dark valleys and discovered there that the Lord was a shepherd to him. But while Jacob and David experienced the presence of the Lord as their Shepherd, protecting and caring for them, a far greater revelation of God as Shepherd was to come.
In Jesus we see the sacrificial nature of “the good shepherd” who “sacrifices his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). In Jesus we see the ongoing work of “the great Shepherd of the sheep” who will “equip you with all you need for doing his will” and “produce in you . . . every good thing that is pleasing to him” (Hebrews 13:20-21). In Jesus we see the generosity of our great Shepherd from whom we will receive “a crown of never-ending glory and honor” (1 Peter 5:4). We see the worthiness of our Shepherd—the “Lamb that looked as if it had been slaughtered,” the Lamb who sits on the throne and gives us shelter so we will never again be hungry or thirsty or scorched by the heat of the sun. “For the Lamb on the throne will be their Shepherd” (Revelation 5:6; 7:15-17).
My good Shepherd, because I have you, I have all that I need. You lead me into rest and empower me. You guide me to live in ways that honor you. Even when I walk through darkness and difficulty, I don’t have to be afraid, because I look up and find you right there. Your Cross has drawn me to you, and your Word keeps me close to you. You have invited me to feast on you, and you have poured out your Spirit on me. My life is overflowing with your goodness and mercy. Forever I will live safely within your fold.
