The Lord Is My Shepherd

We live in a world of posturing and pretend. When someone asks how we're doing, we default to "fine" or "great" even when we're barely hanging on. But the Psalms give us permission to be raw and honest before God. Today we explore the most intimate declaration David ever makes about God.

Psalm 23:1 "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want."

Notice David doesn't say "The Lord is a shepherd." He says "The Lord is MY shepherd." This is deeply personal. We can get so caught up in corporate faith – "our God," "our Father" – that we miss the stunning reality that the God of the universe wants an intimate, personal relationship with each of us.

But let's not miss who David says his shepherd is. When you see "Lord" in all caps, that's God's covenant name – Yahweh. This is the name God gave Moses at the burning bush: "I am who I am." It's a name that speaks to God's self-existence, His complete self-sufficiency. God owes His origin to nothing and no one. Every creature has a link to what precedes them – they're derived, dependent, and will one day die. But God's name itself declares He is self-sufficient, self-sustained, and eternal.

Here's what's beautiful: the only reason God can meet all our needs is because He Himself has none. David Gibson puts it perfectly – God is not self-absorbed, He's self-sufficient. This means when David says "I shall not want," he's not claiming he'll never experience lack or difficulty. He's saying that whatever God withholds, because He's a good and kind shepherd, it's not something we really need.

Look at how this plays out practically. David says in verse 2 that God "makes me lie down in green pastures." Sheep are so unintelligent that they'll just continue to eat what's there, and then they'll eat through the dirt and eat worms and get an infection and die. But the shepherd leads them to green pastures – the right kind of nourishment.

And "He leads me beside still waters." Sheep can't drink from stagnant waters or they'll get sick and die. They can't drink from waters moving too quickly because they're so weak they'll be swept away. So the shepherd has to intentionally lead them to still waters – not stagnant, not swift, but still.

One of the things that jumps out from the beginning of this psalm is that taking care of the sheep is the dominating thought of the shepherd. Sometimes we think God meets our needs when we really need them. But the shepherd is proactively thinking through the sheep's needs and taking care of them. He's giving them rest even when they're restless. He nurtures them when they need sustenance.

Scripture is beckoning us to train our sense of need to the tune of what God provides. "I shall not want" comes after the recognition that our shepherd knows exactly what we need and exactly what we don't. One of the things I always want to articulate is that God's glory and our good are not at odds – they're companions.

When you belong to this shepherd, you lack nothing because you have everything you need in Him. True freedom isn't found by following our own path, but by following God's path as revealed in His word.

Stay dialed in.