The Lord Is My Shepherd: His Providence
THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD: HIS PROVIDENCE Trinity
Psalm 23:2,3 18.8.19
In Psalm 23:1 David says “The Lord is my shepherd”. From where we stand, we know that that shepherd is Yahweh Jesus. He calls himself the “Good shepherd”. Peter calls him the “Chief shepherd” and the writer to Hebrews “the great Shepherd”.
The children of God are the sheep, and the Lord Jesus Christ is their shepherd. Psalm 23 is his story – and ours.
Today’s verses say
“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.” (vv2,3)
Some of you know much more about sheep than I could ever hope to know, but let me say a couple of things about sheep which I do know.
I know that sheep don’t lie down very easily. They are skittish and not easily settled. If a stranger or a threatening animal comes near them, heads are up, and they are likely running in circles. They don’t lie down when the flies are at them, or when they are hungry and looking for food.
Jesus’s sheep “lie down”. That’s a way of saying that he is among us as someone we know. He makes us safe. He satisfies our hunger. Our enemies have been sent packing.
I understand that sheep are so timid that even if they are very thirsty, they will not drink from a fast flowing creek. But where the waters are pooling, where they are “still”, then they drink.
Jesus as the Good shepherd settled his sheep down beside “still waters”, where they don’t need to be afraid, and where their thirst can be satisfied.
Twice a year, after rains came to the Negev Desert, the grass grew high, but it was quickly eaten, and in no time David would have to get his sheep on the move looking for more.
Jesus’s sheep stretch out in “green pastures”. Not just for a couple of weeks, but long term.
When our verse says that he “makes me lie down”, it is not saying that Jesus pushes us to the ground against our wills. It is saying that he brings us to a place of such provision and such safety, that it’s where we want to stretch out.
Someone this week told me something like this “Knowing that Jesus has bought me means my desires have changed. I really want to go to small group, I love being at church and staying on to talk to others, I love thinking through what I am learning.”
Jesus has made that person know he is safe, and has satisfied him. He has made him lie down in green pastures.
Jesus said: “Come to me all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:28,29)
Do you sometimes wonder whether Jesus is no more than a guru like the Dalai Lama? No more than a rule-giver than Mohammed? Offering no more than a good holiday or the kick of a new job? Just a user of you like so many people out there want to use you?
That could not be more wrong. Jesus is the wonderful and truly great shepherd. So complete in what he does. So tender. So generous. So deeply, deeply soul-satisfying.
That is what he means, I think, when he says in verse 3 “he restores my soul”.
We restore broken friendships; we restore old furniture; we have eyesight restored. When something that was wrong or broken, and is restored, it is put right, mended or healed.
Our trouble is that we think we’re already complete, and do not need mending or healing. We forget that Jesus formed us to be for him, but that we came into this world travelling on track that said “I am for me”.
That, ultimately, is why I trample on others, drop into foul thoughts and spoil everything I do. I am seriously broken, and in need of being mended, healed and put right.
That is what Jesus does. By his death he turns me into God’s friend. By his Spirit he renews my thoughts. By his power working in me he changes the way I live.
So that absolutely everything is always wonderful? I go whistling my way through life without any problems or pains? God is more realistic than that.
We had a tradesman in a few weeks back. We chatted a bit, and he commented that we seemed cheery. He asked whether I was always happy. When I said “Of course not; this world is too painful to be happy all the time”, that may have put a dent in things.
Did you notice that God does not say that Jesus restores your bank account, your marriage, your good health?
He restores your soul. His promise is to do a deep work in your heart – to create trust where there was unbelief, to give confidence before God where there was fear, to give security where there was uncertainty.
So is the restoration just partial? Oh no. Jesus does restore the whole show – but just not yet.
You are redeemed and regenerated now. So that you are safe now. And in just a little while you are going to be resurrected, when your body will be restored, and your world, and your thoughts and all your desires. Then, and only then, will every tear disappear.
In the book of Revelation John looks forward to what it shall be like for us on that day when everything is restored. He says:
“he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;
the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat.
For the Lamb in the mist of the throne shall be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs of living water,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” (Rev 7:15-17)
Redeemed and regenerated now? Yes, restored to the Living God, to be his child, his sheep. Resurrected in a little while? Yes, restored to the physical presence of the Good Shepherd, where every tear, every tear will be gone forever.
He restores my soul? Yes, yes. So perfectly and so completely and so magnificently and so eternally.
What about here in the middle? Between the time when he redeems and regenerates me, and the time that he resurrects me? Green pastures or arid desert?
Our verse says “he leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake”. That could mean that Jesus is now leading me to do what is right or righteous. But I think it more likely means that as the shepherd he is leading me along paths that are good and right.
Now I need to hear that clearly. Because being led in a path to terminal illness seem right. Being led out of paths of the job or the success I want, or the marriage or the children I want, doesn’t seem all that good either.
What is Jesus doing? I can tell you two things he is doing:
- He is loving his sheep. He always loves his sheep. He isn’t setting out to hurt them, or to take them along a path that will be more than they can bear. Everything, everything he is doing, he is doing out of love, and never because he is in any way against us.
- He is doing what he is doing “for his name’s sake”. He has said that he will not allow anyone or anything to take his children out of his hand. His good name is on the line, so there is no way he can allow that to happen. For his name’s sake, every path along which he leads you is the right path.
Might it be a really a tough path this year or next? It might. Might there be many tears? Perhaps. Might it be so hard you wonder whether you’ll make it? It might.
You are not where you are because he has stopped loving his sheep. You know he has already made you lie down in a place of abundance and great safety. You know he has promised to bring you to the place, very, very soon where every tear will be wiped away.
His reputation is on the line. There is no way he will forget or renege (default) on the covenant promises he has made with you. For his name’s sake he will bring you along what is only ever the right path.
Take a look again at verse 3 to see how you get onto the right paths … “he leads me in paths of righteousness”. This shepherd doesn’t drive the sheep from behind, with a whip, or even with some yapping dogs. He is out front. He goes first.
In the old days there was a bunch of Westerns on television, all with weekly episodes: Bronco Lane, Cheyanne, Bonanza, Wyatt Earp and so on. And there was “Rawhide”. The story was of a group of men whose job was to get a herd of cattle across America. The “Rawhide” theme song was sung by Frankie Laine …
Keep rollin', rollin', rollin'
Though the streams are swollen
Keep them doggies rollin', rawhide!
Keep movin', movin', movin'
Though they're disapprovin'
Keep them doggies movin', rawhide!
Don't try to understand 'em
Just rope and throw and brand 'em
Not much fun being one of their cattle. How different for us. Our shepherd doesn’t keep them doggies moving. He knows our fear of swollen streams. He knows when we can’t keep going. He has already been where we are going, and knows the pain and the tears and the trials that are part of a tragic world, and he leads us through it!!!
These really are wonderful verses. Jesus is a truly wonderful shepherd.
Two appeals to you as I finish off. Firstly, might you be looking for green pastures and still waters, trying to find them anywhere and everywhere except in Jesus? The fact that the best things don’t answer the longings of your heart just proves that you were made for something better – something from out of this world.
Let me say it straight: You will never find what your heart and soul are looking for until you find it in Jesus. Jesus asked Peter if he wanted to go and find another shepherd. Peter answered: “To whom shall we go. You have words of eternal life” (Jn 6:68).
Secondly, might you be in a place, as a Christian, one of the sheep of Jesus, where you need your soul to be restored?
You know you’ve gone cold inside. Praying? Hardly ever. Bible-reading? Not much. Little desire to hear God’s Word preached or to enrich the souls of others? Now content with a continual sin that once you would not have had a bar of?
You can pretend that you don’t need restoring, but because you have the Spirit of Jesus, you know you really do. You know in your heart of hearts that there is need for some big restoration work of the Good Shepherd.
Give up your pretending. At least to yourself, if not also to someone you can trust. Give up the illusion that you’re lying down in green pastures and beside still waters, when you know it’s more like a bleak desert. And like the lost son in Jesus’ story, the man in the pigpen, make the clear and godly decision to go back.
A shepherd in the Scottish Highlands who had a lamb that kept wandering, broke one of its legs to stop it straying into danger. He then carried it in a sling, close to his chest, until the leg healed. That lamb became so close to the shepherd, he never left safety again. The shepherd’s action was strange, and to an outsider would have seemed cruel. It was anything but.
Ask the Good Shepherd to do whatever it takes to restore you. Ask the Good Shepherd to again draw near to you. And to draw you near to him. Use these words to see him in a fresh way – his tenderness, his goodness, his sufficiency. And ask him to restore you, so that you will find fresh rest and still waters.
I know of no other way to be restored. Do you?