MEDITATIONS IN THE PSALMS [An outline of the Psalm, A good devotional study when using the scriptures indicated] Psalm 23 Psalm of the Great Shepherd Tending “Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant.” “The LORD is my Shepherd”. ‘LORD’ when found in the upper case is always Jehovah, meaning the Living One, the Self-Existing One, and the Great I Am; He who inhabits eternity, He who was and is and is to come. “I am being gracious to whom I Am being gracious, and I Am having mercy on whom I Am having mercy” (Ex33:19 lit). It is this Sovereign LORD David had as his Shepherd. What was a Shepherd in those times? A keeper, a provider, a protector, a guide, a leader, a feeder; Jehovah is all this and more to His people. “I am the good Shepherd. The good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep” (John10:11). This is who David had in mind as he penned this psalm, the same Jehovah (there is but one), the same LORD; Jehovah Jesus is my Shepherd. The Great Shepherd is self-sustained and immutable, all others waste, change and grow old; not Him, He is the Ancient of Days, the strong one, the omnipotent. As Jesus He is the sympathizing One, feeling our infirmities (Heb.4:15), as Jehovah He sustains a trembling world around us; as Jesus He sustains His people while in the world (Heb.414), as Jehovah He is the Sovereign LORD over all. As Jesus He ever abides with His people, traveling the pathways of life, always, in every circumstance, whispering fear not little flock, it is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. “The LORD is my SHEPHERD”, not a hireling; He keeps His sheep not for wages but out of devotion, not for reward but out of dedication. “The LORD is MY Shepherd”; the personality of the relationship, David is saying ‘I know Him and am known of Him.’ To know Him as your Shepherd is to have a peculiar relationship with Him. It is peculiar because it is strange to those who do not have Him as their Shepherd. It is to have a personal revelation of Him, “who do men say that I am? ... “You have hidden these things.” The blessedness of the relationship; “I shall not want”, not ‘I shall not lust’, a sin we battle until we die, always wanting lustfully. This is strictly a spiritual relationship: “I shall not want for rest”, he maketh me lie down; He gives us rest from our sins in salvation (Matt.11:28-30); He gives us rest in providence (Rom.8:28; Ps1). “I shall not want” for refreshment, He leadeth me beside still waters; water here is ‘waters’ plural and ‘still’, emblematic of the Word, (running water emblematic of the Holy Spirit, (John 7:37-39)). Nothing refreshes the weary soul of the believer as does the Word of his God. “I shall not want” for restoration, v.3 (Ps.51). “I shall not want” for guidance, “He leadeth me”, not by dreams and visions and premonitions (John10:27; 8:30-31, 43, 47). “I shall not want” for courage (v4), comfort (v4), sustenance (v5), power, grace and mercy (5-6), I shall not want forever (v8). ~~Terry Worthan, 1938-2022
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