Pastor Rebecca Malmin brings us an encouraging word about Jesus Christ our Good Shepherd as seen through the lens of Psalms 23.
Psalms 23
John 10:10
THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD
A declaration of the sheep! A boasting!
Just saying the Lord is my Shepherd does not make it so. It is a journey of surrender, acceptance, learning who Jesus is, what he does.
1st step is salvation (a choosing to follow the Shepherd, Jesus) – When a shepherd gets a new sheep, he needs to mark it as his own. Can’t brand. If you don’t tag,each shepherd has a mark he cuts into the ear to identify it.
Praying the prayer of salvation will and SHOULD leave a mark on us that everyone can see! A change in us! Something about us that when others see us, they know we belong to Jesus!
I LACK NOTHING
Not I lack nothing I want – nothing I NEED
Rephrase:“I shall not lack the expert care and management of the Shepherd”
HE MAKES ME LIE DOWN
Sheep need 4 things to happen for them to lie down
1 Free from fear
1 Tim. 1:7 – for God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind
Sound Mind = a mind at ease, at peace, not perturbed or harassed or obsessed with fear and foreboding for the future.
Sheep learn that when the Shepherd is near, they are safe. Jesus is nearby us, even in disaster.
2 Free of friction with others, butting for control (self-recognition, I’m it!), when the flock is content! – God decides what our status is! Getting along with others affects our peace as well as theirs!
3 No parasites
4 Free from hunger
A good pasture is a result of Shepherd’s hard work. Clearing rocks, stumps, poisonous plants etc. Making sure there is water. Good grazing=healthy sheep=strong babies & good milk.
Good milk & grazing can cause a lamb to grow 100 lbs in 100 days!
God works to pull out the stumps, rocks and poisonous plants in our life. Bitterness, unforgiveness, discontent, look at me, pride.
HE LEADS ME BESIDE STILL WATERS
Earlier in the year they can exist on just dew on the grass. As the year goes onShepherd must also lead the flock to other water sources.
When not led to good water, sheep become restless and may drink from polluted, infested puddles.
Also, if sheep go to a source of water that is moving too fast, their wool can absorb excess water and be pulled into the water and drowned.
Jeremiah 2:13 “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
The Good Shepherd says in Matthew 5:6 – Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Do we let the Shepherd give us the right water or do we go after our own ideas of what is right?
Sometimes the Shepherd leads sheep into deep cisterns. Wells that are underground, that he maintains. The journey down could be dark or uneven on the ground but it takes us to a place of coolness and refreshing. The Shepherd guides the sheep carefully down, WITH HIM.
God wants us to thirst and drink from the right things and leads us to those things if we let him.
Drink in the spiritual sense = to take in, accept, believe
RESTORES MY SOUL
Psalm 42:11 Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.
Cast down = sheep is turned on its back and can’t get up. It may ultimately die. As it struggles, gas from their rumen or stomach build up and cut off blood circulation to their body, especially their legs.
Fat sheep are most prone. They look for a soft spot with a hallow to lay down in. Suddenly their weight and shape changes their center of gravity and they roll. They lay in the hallows and can’t get out.
Rev. 3:17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.
Like us! We look for what looks like the most easy, comfortable spot in the moment and we can get caught.
After being cast if they are fat the sheep then gets put on a diet, which it does not like, but it is a way of discipline to help the sheep. Like Hebrews 12 says, God disciplines those he loves!
Too much wool and make them cast down – This is the idea of old self, sin, habits etc. can tip us over.
Cast down – This is where counting sheep for the shepherd is important. When he is missing one, there is a chance that it is cast down and dieing. He will search for that sheep until he finds it, roll it over and give it time to recover and get it on its feet as fast as possible.
PATHS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
Sheep are terrible creatures of habit when left to themselves. They will return to the same place to eat and eat down to the very roots which causes barrenness in the area. They will also follow the same paths, over and over, which causes erosion. These things also allow the growth of dangerous parasites which can eventually infect the entire flock.
Isaiah 53:6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way
Proverbs 14:12, There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.
Sheep must be kept on the move, to the right places! Along “paths of righteousness”.
In a flock, the wanderers and outliers (those who are on the outside, maybe partially apart) are the ones most at danger.
John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. The idea of Surrender means follow Jesus on his chosen path!
VALLEY OF THE SHADOW
The Shepherd knows the way. He also knows spots along the way that will be safe and where they can find good grazing as they continue up. Sustaining them for the journey through and up.
ROD AND STAFF
Rod, Shorter than a staff, often with a nobby end. Used as an extension of the Shepherds arm. Can throw it at predators, use it for discipline or correction of sheep who wander or try to eat poisonous food. Used for counting
Ezekiel 20:37 – “I will take note of you as you pass under my rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant.”
The sheep come under the authority and protection of the Shepherd as well as being closely examined as they go by for injury, visible parasite issues, illness etc.
Psalm 139:23-24
Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.
Staff –
Longsuffering, kindness
Shifts newborn lamb to mother so human smell does not get on newborn.
Can catch newborns who wander and move them closer to mom.
Guide them through rough terrain with gentle pressure
Lift/pull them from danger. Such as getting stuck in thorns.
PREPARE A TABLE
Mesa, high flat place, Also means table (few languages)
Shepherd leads to a high flat place
Shepherd goes before hand
Sprinkles salt and minerals for the sheep’s diet
Chooses best camp
Looks for poisonous plants
Reopens and cleans streams, (springs)
Looks for where predators may hide – God knows our enemy!
This is how a shepherd prepared a “table” in the presence of predators or enemies!
ANOINT MY HEAD WITH OIL
We can equate this to “getting our heads together” with someone who may not have the mind of Christ. We can become infected with thoughts and ideas that don’t line up with the truth of the Bible.
We must then go to the Good Shepherd, Jesus, to be anointed again to keep those thoughts and ideas from imbedding themselves.
GOODNESS AND MERCY
Sometimes we may think Jesus is not a good shepherd. We go through dark times, painful times, irritating times just like sheep. But the Good Shepherd’s job is to lead us through to the best places. To provide what we need at that moment. Including grace and mercy
I WILL DWELL IN THE HOUSE OF THE LORD FOREVER
I’ve always thought of this just as Heaven
But it also can mean that I choose to be under the care of the Shepherd forever. Both in heaven later but also in life right now.
In John 10 we see Jesus speaking in similar parallels to Psalms 23. He refers to himself as the Shepherd and us as sheep.
Jesus says his sheep know him. Do you know Jesus? Do you know what the Bible says about his actions, thoughts, what he ask us to do?
He also says, my sheep know my voice. Do you know Jesus voice? Jesus says the sheep know him so well that if a stranger talks to the sheep they run away because they do not recognize the voice. Do we know the voice of Jesus so well that when other thoughts, ideas, temptations or lies speak to us we RUN the other way because we know it is not the voice of Jesus the Good Shepherd?
How well do you know your shepherd? Are you able to truly boast about him? THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD!
How do we respond??
Study this further
Consider whether or not you are submitted to the Good Shepherd or wandering away, choosing your own things?
Ask Jesus to help you when you are struggling under his guidance.
Believe that he is the GOOD shepherd even when you can’t see it.
Let him examine you regularly. Listen to what he is cautioning you about.
Choose to trust.
Please note A Shepherd Takes a Look at Psalms 23 by W. P. Keller