The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

Psalm 23 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

A Psalm of David.

The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want.
² He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside quiet waters.
³ He restores my soul;
He guides me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.

⁴ Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil, for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
⁵ You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You have anointed my head with oil;
My cup overflows.
⁶  Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life,
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

David was himself a shepherd before God raised him up as a warrior and king. It was the qualities that David had as a shepherd that caused God to say of him: He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, 'I HAVE FOUND DAVID the son of Jesse, A MAN AFTER MY HEART, who will do all My will.' (Acts 13:22) The sacrificial love of the shepherd, willing to die to protect the flock in his care, spending day and night watching over the flock, that is what resembled the heart of God in David.

David begins saying: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Jesus who says:  “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. (John 10:11), also says:

 Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ ³² For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³ But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. ³⁴ “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

I shall not want. Philippians 4:19 says: And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. God will supply all of your needs, everything you physically need, everything you emotionally need and everything you spiritually need.

David says:   He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. The restoration of our souls is one of the greatest benefits we have in Christ. Redemption pays the price for our sin, restoration returns us to the way we were created to be in the beginning. God said: "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 27God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.…

Having been created in the image of God we were created to be eternal beings. It was only after Adam and Eve sinned that God changed that part of our nature. 22Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever "-- 23therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken.…(Genesis 3:22-23)

Through Christ our soul is restored and we are once again eternal.  “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

David writes: ⁴ Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. Because of the restoration of our souls, because we have eternal life through Christ, death is merely a shadow. It has no substance that we should fear it. In 2 Corinthians 5:8, Paul says: We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.   In 1 Corinthians 15:55-57, he says:  O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” ⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; ⁵⁷ but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

For those who are in Christ, death holds no power over us, there is nothing to fear. The second part of that verse says: ; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.  The shepherds rod was used both for protection, to ward off predators and also for discipline and correction. We too should find comfort in the discipline and correction of God. 

Proverbs 3:12  For whom the Lord loves He reproves, Even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights.

Hebrews 12:5-7  "MY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD, NOR FAINT WHEN YOU ARE REPROVED BY HIM; 6FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES." 7It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?

Revelation 3:19-20 19'Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent. 20'Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.…

The staff, on the other hand, is the long stick with a curved end. It is with the staff that the shepherd guides, directs and even pulls the sheep out of harm’s way.  There is indeed comfort to be found in walking in the guidance and direction of Jesus. Jesus says:  But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.(John 16:3) The Holy Spirit is the staff of God for our lives. In yielding to the Spirit’s guidance we have comfort.

David closes the Psalm, ⁵ You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. ⁶  Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Throughout his life David experienced some of the highest achievements recorded in scripture. He also experienced some of the darkest and lowest times, being rejected and  hunted down by both those he had served loyally and even by his own children. Through it all, the relationship that David developed during those long lonely hours as a shepherd, worshipping and communing with God, carried him through the dark times. He was able to see and dine with the Lord. He felt the  oil of God’s healing for all the wounds he suffered, both physical and emotional.  In Psalm 27:4, David says: One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord And to meditate in His temple.  

If we too will meditate on the Lord, behold His beauty, if we will dwell in the house of the Lord, then we too will say,  

  Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life. Thank You Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit, my guide.    Amen