Memory – Psalm 23.1-6 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
Notice in these few verses that the focus is on the Shepherd as the source for meeting every need for those who call on his name. He is the Shepherd who tends, gathers, carries, and leads those who are weak and hopeless without him (cf. Isaiah 40.11). The sheep recognize his voice, and He makes them lie down to rest; He quenches their thirst with cool water; He restores the inward spirit leading them in the way of righteousness. Why does he do all this? It is not because he looks on them as pitiful creatures needing to recharge their batteries. It is not because he sees some inherent potential for good in them. It is not because he is in the process of recruiting an army to combat the evil in the world. Emphatically not – the sheep have nothing to offer the Shepherd. The sheep need the shepherd; the shepherd does not need the sheep. But he loves them and what he does, he does for his own name’s sake. God loves you simply because he chooses to love you. The apostle John wrote: In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation [satisfy the demands for God’s justice] for our sins … There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4.10, 18).
Throughout Scripture there is repeated reference made to God acting for the sake of his great name. Consider for example, Daniel’s prayer based on the Jeremiah’s prophecy for Israel to be delivered after seventy years of captivity in Babylon (Jeremiah 25.12). Daniel does not presume that God will act in a manner commensurate with Israel’s ability to save itself, rather he appeals to God’s great name and his promise to rescue Israel. O Lord, according to all your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy hill, because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a byword among all who are around us. Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate. O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness but because of your great mercy. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name (Daniel 9.16-19).
Before David became king he was a shepherd who had defeated the lion and the bear with his rod and staff. Subsequently, he vanquished Goliath, the Philistine giant, with a few stones and a sling. As he approached Goliath he said, You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. David had walked through the valley of the shadow of death and had discovered the Lord was faithful to deliver him. There is a valley of death but for those who trust in Christ it just the shadow of death. Those who trust in the Lord will dwell in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty (Psalm 91.1; cf. Matthew 11.28-30).
There is, of course, another shepherd alluded to in this Psalm. It is Jesus who for our sake became sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Here is the wonder of it. So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4.16-18).
Throughout Scripture there is repeated reference made to God acting for the sake of his great name. Consider for example, Daniel’s prayer based on the Jeremiah’s prophecy for Israel to be delivered after seventy years of captivity in Babylon (Jeremiah 25.12). Daniel does not presume that God will act in a manner commensurate with Israel’s ability to save itself, rather he appeals to God’s great name and his promise to rescue Israel. O Lord, according to all your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy hill, because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a byword among all who are around us. Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate. O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness but because of your great mercy. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name (Daniel 9.16-19).
Before David became king he was a shepherd who had defeated the lion and the bear with his rod and staff. Subsequently, he vanquished Goliath, the Philistine giant, with a few stones and a sling. As he approached Goliath he said, You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. David had walked through the valley of the shadow of death and had discovered the Lord was faithful to deliver him. There is a valley of death but for those who trust in Christ it just the shadow of death. Those who trust in the Lord will dwell in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty (Psalm 91.1; cf. Matthew 11.28-30).
There is, of course, another shepherd alluded to in this Psalm. It is Jesus who for our sake became sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Here is the wonder of it. So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4.16-18).
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