I was trying to recollect the first time I heard Psalm 23. It must have been at one of the first funerals that I attended. This passage of Scripture is so popular that

it's often referred to as the "23^rd Psalm," unlike other passages of Scripture, which are usually referred to as "Mathew 5:14," for example.  A little like "Fourth of July" instead of "July 4^th".  We have all heard this passage quoted at funerals and on TV.  It's printed on everything from coffee cups to bookmarks. So, why the fascination with this text? What's the big deal?  Is it more than a warm fuzzy slogan for trinkets?  Is it more than comforting words spoken during dire times?   

This Psalm begins with the words, "The Lord".  The Lord used in this passage is the Jehovah/Yahweh name for God.  The Names of God in the Bible reveal to us character qualities of God.  "Jehovah" was the holiest of names that represented the transcendent power, creative might, and authority of God.  This is the name that God gave Moses when he stood before the burning bush.  This is the "I Am" God, the One who created every aspect of life, from the cells in our body to the earth and the stars.  This name was so holy to the Jewish people that they would not even utter it aloud.  They would use a lesser name of God rather than say "Jehovah/ Yahweh" and risk breaking the commandment of God and blaspheming Him.  Yet this holy name of God is the one King David, the author of this psalm inspired by God, chose to use in such a personal poem.

It is most likely that King David wrote this Psalm in the twilight of his life.  He had experienced all the peaks and valleys that life had to offer.  He was the greatest king that Israel ever had.  He was a man after God's own heart.  He was a musician and poet. He had been the young hero who had killed a giant named Goliath.  He had been a devoted friend of Jonathan, the son of a prior king who had tried to kill David.  He had been an excellent ruler and a mighty warrior.  As a boy, David had been a simple shepherd caring for his father's flock.  He had been a fugitive from a powerful king.  He had been an adulterer who took another man's wife as his own.  He had been a liar and a murderer.  He understood the pain of losing a newborn child.  He struggled with pride and grief. 

In writing this Psalm, David shows that he "gets" life.  He does not write as a man who lives untainted and untouched by the horrors of life and the evil that can reside inside us.  Nor does he write as one who has never experienced all the wonder and pleasure that God's creation can offer.  David gets it. 

David was known as a Shepherd King and lived during a time when everyone would have understood the role and necessity of a shepherd.  As the great preacher Spurgeon explained, we understand this God, the Lord God, by setting Him up against things we know. The Psalms refer to God in a variety of ways -  as a King, deliverer, rock, shield, and strong tower.  All these descriptions are accurate and rich with meaning but none is as personal, gentle, and full of empathy as the picture of a shepherd.  More than with most Old Testament scriptures, there is an extremely personal nature to the God of the 23^rd Psalm. 

Unlike a king or an inanimate object, a shepherd lives and walks with the animals he cares for.  Shepherds, and the animals they cared for, were as common in biblical days as cars and trucks are today.  Though there are currently one billion domesticated sheep and over 800 breeds, we rarely run into sheep unless we attend a state fair or go to the zoo.  Most of us know an accountant or a salesperson, but few of us have ever sat down with a shepherd.  Let's discuss then what was obvious to the readers in biblical times.

Sheep need a shepherd.  I Google-searched "national animals" and discovered the national animals of 32 countries.  The USA has the eagle, Bangladesh the Bengal tiger, Finland the brown bear, Spain the bull, and England the lion, but no country had the sheep.  Countries want animals that are powerful, smart, agile, innovative and fast.  Sheep are none of these things.  In fact, sheep are weak, defenseless, foolish, and simply, dumb.  One modern day shepherd writes, "Sheep require, more than any other class of livestock, endless attention and meticulous care."  This is not going to be too flattering for any of us.  David, this great king, is saying that the Lord is his Shepherd which makes him like a sheep - weak, defenseless, foolish, and simply, dumb.  In the books of Isaiah and Peter we read:

            Isaiah 53:6

"We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way"

1 Peter 2:25

"For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls."

So we, according to the Bible, are like sheep.  This is proven day after day as we observe society.  In 2001, a woman hopped the fence at a zoo so that she could swim with a hippopotamus.  Her play time was cut short when the three-ton animal charged and mauled her, defending its offspring.  Zoo officials said that the woman's actions were far from unusual.  We are like sheep in desperate need of a Shepherd. 

What an amazing work this is, as we understand that though we are like sheep, wandering and often clueless, we have a Shepherd, the God of all creation who watches over us and is with us. 

David could have said, "The Lord is your Shepherd" or "our Shepherd".  In fact that was much more common in the literature of his day; the communal understanding of God was as the covenant-keeping God of a people group or a family unit.  But David uses the very personal word "My".  The Lord is MY shepherd.  That is a big deal!  I was walking in a large superstore with three of my boys while on vacation, when I was separated for a few seconds from one of them.  Within moments he began to cry out for his daddy.  And within moments we where reunited.  It would not have mattered if ten other daddies had gone up to him to comfort and secure him.  He was only concerned with his daddy.  The Lord is my shepherd; each and every one of us can have a connection with this incredible God, our Shepherd.  Do you have that connection?  Can you say "The Lord is my Shepherd"?  Jesus said,

"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

"I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me- just as the Father knows me and I know the Father - and I lay down my life for the sheep.

˙ John 10:11-15

For us to say with David, "The Lord is My Shepherd," we must listen to his voice and follow in what he instructs us to be.  If we can't say, "The Lord is My Shepherd," than all the bumper stickers and bookmarks that have the 23^rd Psalm on them won't amount to anything more than fuzzy feel good words in times of struggle.  In listening and following the voice of the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, you can experience all the Godly comfort of the 23^rd Psalm. 

On the Journey together,

Jason Esposito

Senior Pastor