Psalm 23
Psalm 23 is about the Lord. Every line is about who He is and what He does. It is also about us. Every line is about us and about what is ours when we belong to the Lord.
Verse 1
The relationship between a shepherd and his sheep is one of ownership.
The shepherd owns the flock.
When we say, “The Lord is my shepherd,” we are saying, “The Lord owns me.” This is true of you if you are a Christian. You are not your own.
You have been bought with a price. The Lord Jesus purchased you at the cost of laying down His life.
What will the Shepherd do for the flock that He owns?
He Lead us
He Restores us
He Provides us
He Protects us ( guards us )
He Sustain us ( loves us )
When the Lord is your Shepherd, you have all that you need.
Verse 2
David states, He leads you.
There is not something you have to do in order to make this happen. If you are in the flock of God, this is true of you. This is what God does for you.
Where does he leads you ?
v2 he leads us into "Rest"
Green Pastures provide grazing for the sheep.
Sheep will not lie down if they are hungry, fearful, or plagued by pests. The shepherd creates a safe environment where they can finally rest.
Leads me beside still waters.
Sheep are terrified of fast-flowing water because their heavy wool can easily drag them under and drown them. The shepherd leads them to calm, safe waters so they can drink without fear.
“In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety” (Psalm 4:8).
David was running :
It’s clear from this Psalm that rest did not come easily to David, and that’s hardly surprising. He endured years of oppression on the run from Saul, and then had years of worry over his divided and dysfunctional family, on top of the weight that he carried on his shoulders as the king.
Are you always running ? Do you need rest ?
Put yourself in the position of a sheep. You know that you are vulnerable. Your only defense is to run, so you stay on your feet. But when you can see your shepherd, you will lie down and rest, knowing that if the wolf comes, the shepherd is there
Sheep will lie down when they feel safe, and they feel safe when they can see the shepherd.
Verse 3
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness.
He restore my soul : The Hebrew word for "restore" means to turn back, repent, or bring home a wandering soul.
He leads me in the path of righteousness: The "paths of righteousness" refer to well-worn, safe trails that prevent the sheep from falling over cliffs.
The Shepherd restores us when we wander away into obvious sin. We simply get lost because of our busyness, distraction or disappointment.
He restores us when we falter.
Are you experiencing injustice, conflict, disappointment, suffering, or great demands? God will restore you in a unique and individual way, through a fresh encounter with Himself.
God restoration does not mean pretending nothing happened. The Shepherd exposes our wounds, corrects our direction, forgives our sin and lead us back into fellowship with himself.
Peter reflects the same order when he writes,
“He [Christ] himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness” (1 Peter 2:24).
The purpose for which Jesus laid down His life is that we will begin to pursue righteous paths.
And we do that as forgiven sinners, who know that we have peace with God because Christ bore our sins.
There will be times when God leads you on a path that seems impossible.
You may find yourself asking, how in the world do I move forward from here? God’s way for you may not be beside the waters but through them.
God was with His people when they crossed the Red Sea. He was leading them on this path, but His footprints were unseen. There will be times when you find it hard to detect the presence of God.
Your way was through the sea, your path through the great waters; yet your footprints were unseen. You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron” (Psalm 77:19-20).
And when His path for you is through the great waters, He gives you this promise: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you” (Isaiah 43:2).
You may find yourself asking ‘Where is God in this? I can’t see Him, I can’t feel His presence. I can’t figure out what He is doing.
God’s ways often seem mysterious, but you can be sure of this: When the Lord is your Shepherd, He will lead you. Even when His footprints are unseen.
The gospels record more than one occasion when Jesus told His disciples to get into the boat. The disciples obeyed Him, and their obedience led them into a storm (Mark 4:35, Mark 6:45). But it was in the storm that they saw the glory of Jesus and discovered what He can do.
Pastures are not always green, and waters are not always still for God’s flock. David knows that the right path – the path on which the Good Shepherd leads him – will take him through the presence of enemies (v5), and even through the valley of the shadow of death (v4). But even there, he knows that his Shepherd will lead him.
If God has put you in a place where you are enjoying green pastures, it is not likely that you will ever want to leave. But there will come a time when the Good Shepherd moves you on.
God puts you in a place where the grass is green. You are happy in the field, and when the Shepherd moves you on, you won’t want to go. ‘Why can’t I stay here longer? I don’t want this change! I don’t want to leave this field.’
Remember that when the Shepherd moves you on, He is saying to you, ‘This is no longer the place where you will be nourished. I have another place where I will provide for you. There I will feed you. There I will make you lie down. Do not be afraid. This is the right path.’
You may not want to move to the field where the Shepherd leads you. But He will feed you there in a way that your soul would not have been fed if you had stayed where you were before.
So, trust the Shepherd when He moves you on.
When the Lord is your Shepherd, you don’t need to fear change. Where the Shepherd leads is always the right path.
Jesus is the Good Shepherd who fulfills Psalm 23.
When He came into the world, He said, “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:11).
Yes, but why should you trust Him? Why should you follow Him? Jesus went on to explain, “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11).
Jesus knows you completely! You may be a mystery to yourself, but you are not a mystery to Him. And Jesus is committed to you. The Good Shepherd will never leave His sheep. If Jesus is your shepherd now, He will be your shepherd forever. The greatest blessing you can know in life is to be wholly owned by Jesus, the Son of God.