When we read the 23rd Psalm, it’s difficult to understand the depth of meaning it is for your life and mine. It is because we struggle to comprehend the context within which it was written.
Let me help you a little.
Today, as a shepherd, you have a home, a fence, a barn, electricity, sheep dogs, and a yard. The bear, lion, and other wild animals are not lurking in the corner waiting for your sheep as their meal. The home and barn serve as protection from the elements of the environment. If a bear were to wander on your property to attack one of your flock, a dog would bark, and you might shoot them with your gun or sleep through the night unaware of the dangers until the aftermath is discovered in the morning. All along the shepherd has been warm or cool and comfortable in their homes.
Conversely 👇🏻
In the day in which Psalm 23 was written, shepherds lived much different. They watched their flock of sheep outside, far from their home, in the elements with them, and without advanced weapons to give them an advantage against the predator. If a bear or other wild animal wandered into the flock to attack their sheep, the shepherd stood in defense of the sheep even at the risk of their own lives. They laid their head to rest outside in the elements with the sheep. Rain. Sun. Cold. Heat. Whatever the sheep experienced, the shepherd experienced with them.
Jesus Christ, the Shepherd of your soul, is IN the details of your life with you. He is not sitting far away in some grand shelter unaware of a potential threat to you and only discovers the aftermath the next morning. He is not unaware of the dangers in your environment. When you are exposed to the rain, sun, clouds, or heat of life, he is right there experiencing it with you.
So, when he says, the Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want 👉🏻 He means, I am here with you in this moment and if you’ll curl up in my arms, I will protect you from all danger, hold you close, comfort you, and provide for you.
Read. That. Again. 👆🏻
Today, whatever you are facing in this life, take rest in the knowledge that Jesus Christ is right there WITH you experiencing all that you are. Curl up like a lamb in his arms and let him shepherd you. 💕
