Or, Following the Lord and Being Followed All the Days of Our Lives
Scripture: Psalm 23:1-6
Date: August 28, 2022
Speaker: Sean Higgins
“Yahweh is my pastor, I have everything I need.”
That’s an alternative way to start Psalm 23, a song whose words are so well-known, it sounds wrong to say it a different way. Perhaps there’s some rhetorical benefit to our mediation by hearing the same truth stated differently.
John Wycliffe (1395) had it as, “The Lord governeth me, and no thing to me shall lack.” William Tyndale didn’t get to the Psalms, but the Myles Coverdale translation (the first complete English Bible) in 1525 had “the LORDE is my shepherde, I can wante nothinge.” Of course we still echo the King James, published in 1611, “The Lord is my shepheard, I shall not want.”
The Psalm is around three-thousand years old, the English words through which we are comforted are over four-hundred years old. The truth of it will never get old.
Though not quoted in the New Testament, is there a Psalm with which we are more familiar than Psalm 23? Psalm 1 is prominent, as is 51, and 119, even key verses in Psalm 22 as we saw in the previous sermon. I’d argue that the sense of peace and provision in this Psalm is stolen by Martin Nystrom (1984) who put Psalm 42 to the tune we know; the deer in Psalm 42 wishes he was the sheep in Psalm 23.
Psalm 23 is a song of comfort, and it belongs to kings just as much if not more than to kids. The psalm is attributed to David, and why not, since he had been a shepherd himself (1 Samuel 16:11). Did he write it when he was a shepherd? Maybe, but the shepherd metaphor ends with verse 4, and verse 5 especially sounds more fitting to the battlefield than the grazing field. Kids should memorize it and sing it, again, not because it is for kids but because it forms kids with a glad dependence on the Great Pastor.
In English we have it so good, we can use the words pastor and shepherd to refer to the same person. Pastor comes from the Latin word pastor, which means shepherd. I’m using Pastor because we need to spend a little time outside our meditative ruts. And for us moderns, pastor may make it a little more personal; our pastors are men, rather than a distant figure of speech about a shepherd.
The Great part comes from Hebrews 13:20. Like I said, Psalm 23 isn’t quoted in the New Testament, but the imagery of shepherd certainly carries over. He’s called “the great shepherd of the sheep” in Hebrews, and Jesus referred to Himself as the “Good Shepherd” who lays down His life for the sheep in John 10. Throw in Peter’s description of Christ as the “Chief Shepherd” and it’s another Jesus is Lord, He is the Lord, He is Yahweh embodied.
The song uses the metaphor of Shepherd and sheep in verses 1-4 and has an illustration of Host and guest in verses 5-6. Altogether the picture is of the Pastor’s personal care for His sheep. The sheep follow Him, and His care follows them all the days of our lives. It’s a great song with great application.
“A poet should address the specific and if there be anything about him he will articulate the universal.” —Goethe
The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. The shepherd metaphor isn’t new; Jacob blessed Joseph’s sons and said God “has been by shepherd all my life long to this day” (Genesis 48:15), and he called God Shepherd again in his direct blessing to Joseph (Genesis 49:24).
It’s personal, because the LORD is Yahweh, the covenant-keeping name which He revealed Himself, and David could call Him my shepherd (and then “me” and “me” and “my” and “me” and “I” and “I” and “me” and “me” in verses 2-4).
The lack of want communicates both contentment and security.
Verse 2 poetically pushes the analogy, as a shepherd goes first and leads his flock for food and water, to green pastures and still waters. The pastures are for more than eating, they are also for resting; the sheep are made to lie down without worry about predators. The still or placid part of waters is likewise a safety issue; rushing water would be fresh but also might be too fast and drag a sheep downstream.
Already in verse 3 we know that this sheep is more than a sheep. The LORD restores my soul, a reference to healing or fixing. The whole man is refreshed.
The shepherd continues to lead in the second part of the verse, this time in paths of righteousness, in the way he should go. The LORD as pastor does it for the LORD’s name; it is for His name’s sake.
Verse 4 is the first explicit mention of threat.
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.
These are well-worn words, though still a translation that could have gone different ways. The phrase is a superlative, “the shadowiest of all shadows” (Gerald Wilson) or “deepest/darkest shadow,” the “valley of death-shade.”
The valley of the shadow of death isn’t a particular place on the map, it’s a deep ravine that doesn’t get much sunlight. There are apparently places like this in Israel where a shepherd might lead his flock on the way to more pasture. It’s a place of possible danger. But even in a place with limited escape routes and limited visibility, the shepherd is there. You are with me.
The presence of the shepherd is the difference-maker. It was a feeling of being forsaken that dominated the majority of the previous Psalm. The guidance to pastures and along the paths requires the presence of the pastor.
Even his rod and staff are a comfort. Both of these tools would be an encouragement. It’s like watching a theologian walk into a debate with his Bible in his hand. Some commentators have speculated that rod and staff have a spiritualized reference, but the point is, the shepherd has everything he needs to beat back enemies, to rescue a stuck sheep, and to keep going.
Though no new appellation is used for the LORD, it’s not obvious that the shepherd illustration continues. It could be that the picture is of a host, and fine, because a feast is definitely on the table.
The connection between the shepherd and host includes 1) provision, 2) protection, 3) presence.
Where is this table? We know that enemies are near, but is David thinking of himself in his palace with enemies outside the Jerusalem walls, or is he thinking of his military camp, with enemies over on the adjacent hill? Either way, they are present, but they are unable to separate us from the good.
There is a table prepared, a banquet, a feast. To go along with that, there is oil to anoint his head. It’s not royal oil or anointing, it is a special kindness in a hot and dry place; refreshing to dry hair and flaky skin, a better smell than a room full of the un-showered. A cup overflows; the wine is plenteous and the host over-generous.
And those who follow the LORD are followed by Him. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. The goodness is tov, the mercy is hesed, the steadfast love (“lovingkindness” NASB, “faithfulness” NET, “love” NIV) of the Lord regularly referred to the Old Testament. The Lord is committed to His sheep. The verb follow is used in other places to refer to chasing or hunting. This is the only place in Scripture where the chased are unable to escape the good. We cannot outrun the goodness and mercy in our lifetimes. It’s as if the Host sent Goodness and Mercy to follow us around the feast making sure we have all we could need.
The house of the LORD was the tabernacle for David, it is not limited to one footprint for us.
He is our shepherd, our host. He guides us, He gives us what we need. He sets us a feast, He follows us with His goodness and mercy.
This is a psalm for warm, confident dependence. It shows that it’s not what you know but who you’re with.
We will not get over looking to the Shepherd.
And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the LORD; I have spoken. (Ezekiel 34:23–24 ESV)
For the Lamb in the midst of the throne
will be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs
of living water,
and God will wipe away every tear
from their eyes.” (Revelation 7:17 ESV)
Are you following the Shepherd? Can you say you are being followed by His goodness and mercy? There is no other Great Pastor. Let us be the people whose God is the Lord, our Shepherd.
The Lord is your great Shepherd. No one can snatch you away from His goodness and mercy. You may not yet know exactly where He’s leading you, but you can know surely that there is no day of your life where He takes a vacation from being your Shepherd. Follow Him.
Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. (Hebrews 13:20–21, ESV)