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The Lord is My Shepherd
Text: Psalm 23
This psalm is all about the LORD’s leadership. This is a relationship David knows well. The relationship of a flock to their shepherd. The flock knows the voice of the shepherd and follows their shepherd. What the LORD provides is leadership.
Sometimes sheep wander away because they lose sight of the shepherd. The shepherd, like the LORD, will attempt to track them down. And if the sheep will listen to the voice of the shepherd, he will be rescued. But if the sheep will not follow the shepherd, it will lose all the benefits of the LORD’s leadership.
David says the LORD is MY shepherd. Personal. David is a member of God’s flock because the LORD leads and David follows.
His leadership controls the appetites of his flock (vs 1)
- Because of the Lord’s leadership, David says he has no wants. …I shall not want.
- It’s not that Jesus Christ gives me everything I covet after. I’ve found that in Jesus Christ I don’t even have the same desires as I did before.
- Give me, give me, I want, I want, I want, is the voice of someone who doesn’t have the Lord as their shepherd. Never satisfied. The cry of the covetous soul is a testimony that the LORD is NOT their shepherd
- But if something or someone else is your shepherd, meaning you take direction from another source than the word of God, then your wants will never end. And your wants will become fears. And your unfulfilled wants will make you angry and frustrated.
- Colossians 2:10 And ye are complete in him… Satisfaction is found in Jesus Christ.
- David said the Lord was his shepherd and because the Lord was his shepherd, he had no more wants.
His leadership provides safe nourishment to his flock (vs 2)
- He maketh me…
- The shepherd determines where the sheep graze because the shepherd knows where the nutrition is and the sheep follow the shepherd’s lead.
- Sometimes the Good Shepherd must make the sheep lie down. How appropriate it is that the world has been put on hold, the schedules have been cleared and at this moment you’ve been made to stop your life.
- I notice rest is where the food is. For the sheep of God’s flock, their bed is also their meal. They lie down amidst their food.
- But you aren’t stopping long enough to get the food because the Lord isn’t your shepherd. Distractions from God’s nourishment
- As a lamb hungers for grass to graze, a child of God hungers after righteousness. If you truly hunger after righteousness meaning you understand your sin, and you understand you don’t possess righteousness, then you have an appetite for righteousness. Matthew 5:6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
- The second benefit of the Lord as my shepherd is that leads me beside the still waters
- Satisfied thirst by gentle, calm waters.
- The Lord knows where the waters are.
His leadership allows his flock to rest (vs 3)
- He restoreth my soul
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- Fixes the broken parts
- He comforts the soul vexed by the world
- Jesus said I am the Way.
- Leads in righteousness
His leadership provides confidence (vs 4)
- If I’m afraid either I don’t trust His leadership or I’m not following Him.
- Rod and staff fight off predators and give the sheep comfort
- Death is not what it used to be with the Lord as my shepherd.
His leadership provides the care and sanctification I need (vs 5)
His leadership means goodness and mercy are my constant companions (vs 6)
- My friendships become goodness and mercy. These are David’s companions.
- Being a member of God’s flock means being a member of God’s household.
