I expect that for all of us there are gems of wisdom that we hear once and never forget. One of these gems for me came from Warren Wiersbe, an esteemed pastor, once of Moody Church and then the Back to the Bible radio program.
He was speaking at a conference in Britain and in a question and answer session he was asked what he would do differently if he had his ministry life over again. I remember leaning forward, eager to hear what someone I admired so greatly would say. “If I had my time over again,” he said, “I would encourage God’s people more.”
His answer has stayed with me. Warren Wiersbe was one of the most encouraging people I ever met, but as he looked back on his long life in ministry he said, “I would encourage God’s people more.”
These are days when all of us could use some encouragement. Perhaps like me, you thought back in March that life would be back to normal by now. You rose to the challenge of the lock down. You did what had to be done with cheerful resilience.
But as time goes on you find yourself tired, jaded, flat. The joy and energy that are usually in you seem to have drained. So here we are, the weekend after Labor Day, a time when we are all usually refreshed, reinvigorated and ready to go. But this year is different, and we could use some encouragement.
There is a reason why Psalm 23 is one of the best known and best loved chapters in the Bible: God has used this Psalm to encourage His people for more than 3,000 years. My hope and prayer for this series is that God will use these familiar words to bring fresh strength, hope, comfort and encouragement for all of us.
Psalm 23 is about what God does for His people and, like all of the Bible, it points us to Jesus Christ. David said, “The Lord is my shepherd” (Psalm 23:1). Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:11). So, in this series we are going to discover all that is ours when we belong to Him.
It is a marvelous thing to be able to say, “The Lord is my Shepherd.”
When you eat rich food, you want to eat it slowly so that you can savor its taste. This Psalm is super-rich and I want us to savor it’s delight slowly. So, the plan is for us to look at these six verses over six weeks. We begin today with v1: The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
1. Shepherd
The Lord is my shepherd (v1).
Now it is sometimes alleged that, because most of us live in cities or suburbs, we don’t know what a shepherd is and we can’t grasp what a shepherd does. But even if you have never seen a flock of sheep in your life, this Psalm tells you all that you need to know about a Shepherd.
- A shepherd owns the sheep (v2), and the Good Shepherd owns us. He says ‘My sheep will never perish (Jn 10:28).
- A shepherd leads the sheep, (v2, 3) and the Good Shepherd leads us into rest and into righteousness.
- A shepherd restores the sheep, (v3) and the Good Shepherd retrieves us when we are lost and restores us when we are spent.
- A shepherd protects the sheep (v4) and the Good Shepherd protects us from evil and from enemies.
- A shepherd feeds the sheep (v5) and the Good Shepherd invites us to His table and presents us with an overflowing cup.
- A shepherd loves the sheep (v6) and the Good Shepherd loves us with a love that pursues us and one day will welcome us into His presence.