The Lord is MY Shepherd (Psalm 23)

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by

Robert Piña
in

Introduction: Psalm 23 is a Psalm of David. This Psalm shows us how much trust David had with the LORD and how personal David knew God. Perhaps one of the greatest Psalms in the entire Bible is this one. Quoted in many movies, read and preached in funerals, shared with those that are grieving or need encouragement, etc. 

When the Lord is Your Shepherd: 

  1. You Have Eternal Life– Vs 1 “The Lord is MY Shepherd”. John 10:26-28 “I know them.. I give unto them eternal life”. Do you hear his voice, do you follow Him, do you have eternal life? 

Illustration: 14 year old shepherd boy, took the sheep out to the pasture but never came home. They found the sheep gathered in a safe place but he was buried under the snow and he was holding his index finger with his left hand. 

If you don’t know Him, today is a good day to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and make Him your shepherd so you can boldly say, the Lord is MY Shepherd!

  1. He Supplies All Your Need– Vs 1 “I shall not want”. When we have all our needs supplied, we don’t have a want of anything else, God is sufficient. Philippians 4:19 “shall supply all your need”. Matthew 6:33 “all these things shall be added unto you”. Food, shelter, and clothing will be supplied by God vs 31. Psalm 84:11 “no good thing will he withhold from the that walk uprightly”. 
  2. He Goes After Us– Vs 2 “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures”. God knows us better than anyone else and sometimes we like sheep will stray. God wants his sheep to lie down in green pastures but they want to lie down in the filth and muck of the world. The same is true with us, we choose the bad and ugly instead of green pastures.  Luke 15:4-6 God is faithful to go find us and bring us back to the green pastures. 

Illustration: A woman stopped by a Shepherd fold in Switzerland, looked in and saw a shepherd with his flock in and one single sheep in pain. This one was wayward, wandering to the verge of perilous cliffs. It was constantly disobedient and consistently leading the rest of the sheep astray, so I broke its leg. Now it will be a model sheep, quick to hear my voice and closest to follow me. 

God will do anything and everything, to include breaking our leg to inflicting some pain, to get our attention when we wonder off so that he can get us back to Him. 

  1. He Gives You Peace in the Storm– Vs 2 “he leadeth me beside the still waters”. God is leading and we are following Him. Psalm 107:29 “He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.” Mark 4:36-39 “And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.”  
  2. He is With You During Tough Times –Vs 4 “thou art with me”. Jesus Christ is personally with you during your most toughest times. Not only with you but He has been through there before, John 10:11 “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.”  Hebrews 4:15 “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” 
  3. He Comforts and Protects You– “Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me”. The rod is a long piece of wood to keep the sheep in line. The staff has a hook for support or defense/ comfort or protect. That’s to keep the sheep close or out of trouble and to use it against an intruder. Hebrews 12:5-7, 11 Knowing that God cares is a great comfort to us.
  4. He Gives You a Lifetime of Goodness and Mercy- Vs 6 “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life”. If we got what we really deserved for our sin and disobedience toward God, we would all be consumed. But yet God is good and merciful. Because the Lord is good and merciful, only He can give us His Goodness and His Mercy. These we get when we don’t deserve it. Vs 6 Lamentation 3:22 “It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not”.

Conclusion: Two actors auditioning for a part in a movie had to quote Psalm 23. They were impressed with the first but cried with the second. They asked him what happened, and he said, “I know Psalm 23, but he knows the Shepherd of Psalm 23. Do you know him, are you trusting Him.