Psalm 23 – “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.”
In Psalm 23, God is portrayed as our shepherd. The job of a shepherd is to tend to his flock. To ensure they are fed, watered, sheltered, healthy, safe, and without worry. If a good shepherd does everything necessary to look after his flock, they will be lacking in nothing. They will not crave the grass on the other side, which always appears to be greener. But they will be satisfied with what their shepherd provides for them. Much like our lives, we can look at the things we don’t have, the life someone else may be living and wish that for ourselves. We think it would be so much better if we just had this or that. But the truth is, none of that will satisfy us. We will continue to keep wanting more. God has to be our satisfaction and fulfillment because only He can give us what we truly need.
God is not only our shepherd, but He is the Good Shepherd. He provides exactly what we need in His perfect timing and protects His flock. Not only does He feed and water us but He Himself is our Bread of Life and Living Water. In Him, we will never hunger or thirst. He has shown us where we will be fed and watered, and we just need to continually show up and receive from Him. The first verse of Psalm 23 makes it clear that we have everything we need from God and He withholds nothing good from us (Psalm 84:11). When our life is surrendered to Jesus as our Shepherd, we will have confidence in His ability to lead us in the paths of righteousness. We will not have to worry about our enemies because He invites us into His presence and protection even in their midst. Our Good Shepherd knows how to keep us safe and from harm, but are we entrusting our lives to Him? Verse 4 shows us that no matter what we are going through, He will be the one to lead us through it. He does not mislead us, but if we choose to run away from the path He has set before us, He will still be there ready to guide us home. Sometimes in the dark times and the trials of life, that is where we see God’s character the most. We tend to pay attention to Him the most when we are in need rather than when everything is going “smoothly”. But God’s character remains the same through the valley of the shadow of death as it does in the green pastures and by the still waters. He is our Good Shepherd where our needs are provided for and our souls are satisfied and restored.
By: Makena Sowers
