The Lord is my Shepherd

All believers know the beautiful psalm of David. Psalm 23 may perhaps be the most memorized passage of verses from the Old Testament, and rightfully so. It is a wonderful passage filled with beautiful imagery of our Lord's tenderness to us. The entire psalm depicts the graciousness and goodness of God that we can enjoy all the days of our lives. From the moment we receive the Lord Jesus as our Savior until the moment that we see Him face to face, we can be assured that all the days of our lives will be filled with His mercy and goodness.

1 The Lord is my Shepherd [to feed, to guide and to shield me], I shall not want. 2 He lets me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still and quiet waters. 3 He refreshes and restores my soul (life); He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. 4 Even though I walk through the [sunless] valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod [to protect] and Your staff [to guide], they comfort and console me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You have anointed and refreshed my head with oil; My cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and mercy and unfailing love shall follow me all the days of my life, And I shall dwell forever [throughout all my days] in the house and in the presence of the Lord. (Psalm 23:1-6, AMP)

What does a shepherd do for the sheep? As the Amplified brings out above, the Good Shepherd feeds, guides and shields the sheep. The rod is for protection against enemies and the staff is for guidance. In essence, He does everything. All that is required of the sheep is to follow after the shepherd. As long as the sheep is following, they are safe and secure. They lack nothing.

I want to ask what is your definition of following the Lord? How does that look like each and every day? Does it place the focus on the Shepherd or does it place the focus on you? Is it religious service and sacrifice of yourself for the Lord? Is it trying your best to overcome a bad habit in order to please Him? If you may fail, is it filled with self-condemnation and regret? If any of these is the case, I want to offer to you that this is not God's desire of you and for you.

As I read through the gospels, I see our Lord Jesus being regarded in many different ways by many different people. Some regarded Him as a prophet. Others regarded Him as a rabbi, or teacher. His own countrymen regarded Him as just a lowly carpenter from Nazareth. Many even correctly regarded Him as the King. And to be clear, all of these are true about our Lord. His Being is so full and He is God of all. He is the King of kings. He is the Good Master. The same goes for Teacher and Prophet. He is the greatest in all regards. Many acknowledged and understood these things about the Lord. Yet, knowing the Lord in these manifestations did not mean that they knew Him in the manner that He wanted to reveal Himself to them. As we step through the gospels, I want to share how the Lord's desire for us is to know Him primarily as the Good Shepherd of Psalm 23 by looking at the way He reveals Himself to those that were lost and in need of a Savior.

34 When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd [waiting], and He was moved with compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd [lacking guidance]; and He began to teach them many things. (Mark 6:34, AMP)

The Bible tells us that our lives before Christ - no matter how good or bad that life was - "were like sheep without a shepherd". Without Jesus we were lost, whether we realized this or not. Notice how our Lord had such a tender heart that could be "moved with compassion". This was how Jesus saw the people and this is His heart towards us.

In Matthew 18, the Lord describes an extraordinary Shepherd who would do something that most other shepherds wouldn't think to do.

12 “What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them gets lost, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountain and go in search of the one that is lost? 13 And if it turns out that he finds it, I assure you and most solemnly say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that did not get lost. (Matthew 18:12-13, AMP)

Who is this extraordinary shepherd that would go after the one lost sheep? Let's go back to Matthew 5. Matthew 5:1 writes, "Seeing the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and when He was seated, His disciples came to Him" (AMP). What starts at this verse and continues through to the end of Matthew 7 is what is known as our Lord's Sermon on the Mount. The ensuing eighth chapter of Matthew, starting with verse 1, is a direct continuation of Matthew 5-7.

1 "When Jesus came down from the mountain, great throngs followed Him. 2 And behold, a leper came up to Him and, prostrating himself, worshiped Him, saying, Lord, if You are willing, You are able to cleanse me by curing me. 3 And He reached out His hand and touched him, saying, I am willing; be cleansed by being cured. And instantly his leprosy was cured and cleansed." (Matthew 8:1-3, AMP)

I love the account of the leper because the leper is a direct picture of our spiritual state before the Lord came down to us. Jesus directly revealed Himself to the leper as the Shepherd that would leave the ninety-nine (notice how He left the multitude on the Mount of Beatitudes and the crowd had to follow after Him, meaning the Lord went down the opposite side of the mountain) to go in search of the one lost sheep!

Another amazing miracle that the Lord performed was the feeding of the 5000. Here again, we get a glimpse of the Good Shepherd of Psalm 23 Who "lets me lie down in green pastures". The multitudes were tired and hungry with nothing to eat. Mark gives his account of the feeding of the 5000 in Mark 6.

38 He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go look!” And when they found out, they said, “Five [loaves], and two fish.” 39 Then Jesus commanded them all to sit down by groups on the green grass. 40 They sat down in groups of hundreds and of fifties [so that the crowd resembled an orderly arrangement of colorful garden plots]. 41 Taking the five loaves and two fish, He looked up to heaven and said a blessing [of praise and thanksgiving to the Father]. Then He broke the loaves and [repeatedly] gave them to the disciples to set before the people; and He divided up the two fish among them all. 42 They all ate and were satisfied. (Mark 6:38-42, AMP)

Again, in Chapter 11 of Matthew, we see our Lord Jesus offering the rest and refreshing of Psalm 23.

28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.] 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart, and you will find rest (relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet) for your souls. 30 For My yoke is wholesome (useful, good - not harsh, hard, sharp, or pressing, but comfortable, gracious, and pleasant), and My burden is light and easy to be borne. (Matthew 11:28-30, AMP)

If there is any load of burden on your shoulders, I offer to you the words spoken above directly from our Lord and Savior. Notice that the yoke that He offers us is "not harsh, hard, sharp, or pressing" as is the religious system of man. Instead, our Lord offers us His yoke which is "comfortable, gracious, and pleasant". A system of religion based on laws and good works presupposes that man can reach God. However, the amazing difference that Christianity has with all other religions is that God reached out to us and came to us Himself. Settle it in your hearts forever with the full assurance that the Christian life is a life of rest and refreshing because of what Jesus has done for us. We live on the other side of a finished work! We must follow God's pattern of resting when all the work is finished just as He did in the beginning.

If we stay in the book of Matthew and continue onto the very next chapter, we see our Good Shepherd all over again. It is the account of a time during the Sabbath when the disciples were hungry and they began to pick off the grain from the wheat to eat. The Pharisees came fault-finding and accusing the disciples and the Lord that they were doing something that was forbidden by the law.

1 At that particular time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples were hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat them. 2 But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.” 3 He said to them, “Have you not read [in the Scriptures] what David did when he was hungry, he and those who accompanied him— 4 how he went into the house of God, and they ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat nor for those with him, but for the priests only? 5 Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break [the sanctity of] the Sabbath and yet are innocent? 6 But I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. 7 And if you had only known what this statement means, ‘I desire compassion [for those in distress], and not [animal] sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” (Matthew 12:1-6, AMP)

Can you see the Good Shepherd preparing the table in the presence of their enemies by leading His hungry flock through the fields of grain where food is aplenty? And when the enemies came at them with accusations and blame, see how our Lord takes up His rod to defend His own. He does not condemn His own. Better yet, He pronounces them innocent! In the same manner, the devil will come and accuse you with the law but always believe that even though you may have failed, our Lord will pronounce you innocent because you have placed your faith in Him.

Even the calling of His disciples is also a beautiful picture of our Good Shepherd. He does not call them to serve Him, but to follow Him. Our Lord does not drive, instead He leads. Were the disciple perfect and always full of faith? We know that this was not the case. Yet, did our Lord ever desert them? Never.

The simple yet powerful revelation of what it means to follow the Lord is nothing more than this: to keep our eyes on Him. It is so simple yet so profound. If you want to follow somebody, the main thing is to keep your eyes on the person. When you keep your eyes on the person of Jesus, you will end up walking the same blessed path that He has prepared for you. Many religious people will turn following the Lord into a work. They will turn their performance as a measure of how well they are following the Lord. I'll tell you that if our Lord indeed had the same definition of following Him as the religious folks make it out to be, then all of His disciples would not have been worthy to continue as His. It's easy to single out Judas and condemn him for his betrayal of our Lord. But Peter also betrayed and abandoned our Lord. They both failed our Lord miserably. So then what was the difference between Peter and Judas? Why was Peter restored and Judas not? Luke's account reads the following.

54 Then they seized Him and led Him away, bringing Him into the house of the high priest. Peter was following at a distance. (Luke 22:54, AMP)

Many have spoken negatively about how Peter following at a distance is an illustration of a believer that has fallen away. They will make it seem that if you fail Him, then you are undeserving. However, I strongly, strongly disagree. I firmly believe that this was the crucial difference between Peter persevering until he was restored and Judas hanging himself. In the account of the grainfields when the accusers came on the Sabbath, Peter and Judas must have both been there. They both would have seen how our Lord defended them and pronounced them innocent when there was a real cause for accusation. Which one of them knew the Lord as the Good Shepherd? As we see above, it says, that though it was at a distance, Peter was still following the Lord. In his darkest moment, he kept his eyes on the Lord. We never see an account of Judas following the Lord. It is so important what we believe about the Lord in the darkest moments of our lives.

This brings us to a powerful truth and benefit of knowing the Lord as our Good Shepherd. Even when we have failed and fallen short, we must know without a doubt that our Lord pronounces us innocent.

21 He made Christ who knew no sin to [judicially] be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we would become the righteousness of God [that is, we would be made acceptable to Him and placed in a right relationship with Him by His gracious lovingkindness]. (2 Corinthians 5:21, AMP)

Amazing grace! To live out the high calling that God has for you, know God's goodness and lovingkindness towards you at all times. Especially when you have failed! To condemn yourself as Judas did is to say that Jesus' finished work at the cross is insufficient. To condemn yourself is the most wicked act of self-righteousness that one can participate in. Instead, continue following the Lord knowing that His love for you never changes and that He will pronounce you innocent in the face of real accusations because you have made Him your Shepherd. This is truly living by faith and not by sight.

I will wrap this post up by taking ourselves back to the very beginning of our Lord's ministry to show without a doubt why we can have this boldness to claim the innocence and righteousness that Christ gave to us. His earthly ministry all began at the Jordan River as He came to be baptized by John the Baptist. Straight away, we hear John proclaim the blessed words below.

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29, NKJV)

At the very onset of our Lord's ministry, He is immediately likened unto a tender and gentle baby sheep which in itself is a prophecy that points directly to the death that He would have to suffer as the sacrifice on behalf of the world. A wonderful and great prophecy indeed. And what is our part? To behold and to believe. It is all about beholding our Lord as the Lamb of God. The One Who took my place. When you continue to behold the Lord as your personal Savior, you will be following the Good Shepherd without even knowing it - effortlessly. It is a very personal and intimate relationship with the One Who loved you enough to die for you. I leave you with two final passages from John's gospel.

11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. (John 10:11, NKJV)

27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father,who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. 30 I and My Father are one.” (John 10:27-30, NKJV)