Psalm 23-I Know the Shepherd

 

The story is told of an actor who was known for a dramatic recital of Psalm 23. Each time, as he recited, the crowd would listen attentively and then rise with thunderous applause, in appreciation of the actor's ability to bring the psalm to life. One night, just before the actor offered his customary recital of the Psalm, an old man from the audience spoke up. "Sir, would you mind if tonight I recite Psalm 23?”

The actor was surprised by this unusual request. However, he invited the old man to come onto the stage to recite the psalm; curious to see the how the ability of this old man weighed against his own talent. Softly the old man began to recite the words of the psalm. When he was finished, there was no applause. There was no standing ovation as on other nights. The audience had been so moved that every eye was tearful.

Amazed by what he had just witnessed, the actor queried, "I don't understand. I have been performing Psalm 23 for years. I have a lifetime of experience and training, but I have never been able to move an audience as you have tonight. Tell me, what is your secret?" The old man humbly replied, "Well sir, you know the psalm, but I know the Shepherd."

The sweetest and the most popular of the psalms that David wrote is Psalm 23. This psalm contains simplistic beauty and comfort. The Psalm is set in the center of a set of three psalms that talk about the Shepherd. Psalm 22 describes the Good Shepherd dying for the sheep; Psalm 23 the Great Shepherd caring for the sheep and Psalm 24 the Chief Shepherd coming for the sheep.

It may appear at first glance that David would have written this psalm as a boy while tending his father’s flock in the Hills of Judah (I Sam 16:11, 17:15, 28, 34-36). It is far less likely that ‘the sweet psalmist of Israel’ (2 Sam 23:1) wrote this poem in his youthful days. David did write psalms as he spent lonely hours with his flocks in the field, but it is unlikely that a psalm of such depth could have been written by a young lad.

A young lad knows little of the dangers of life which is referred to in verses 4 and 5. If the “house of the Lord” in verse 6 is a reference to the temple, it was only a future hope later in David’s life, not in his youth (2 Sam 7). It sounds like a Psalm written by a mature man who through much experience had learnt without doubt that there was a God in heaven who orchestrated his entire life.

 If the psalm was written in his later years, it is very beautiful to see the old king looking back with such vivid remembrance of his childhood occupation and bringing up again to memory the green hillsides, the gentle streams and the dark valleys where he once led his flocks. It’s beautiful to see him traversing all the stormy years of warfare and sorrow, which lay in between and finding in all, God’s presence and guidance.

In the psalms several metaphors have been used to describe God, but instead of using the more distant king or deliverer or the impersonal rock or shield, in psalm 23 David uses the most comprehensive and intimate metaphor- shepherd. David knew very well from the experience what a shepherd is to a sheep. The shepherd lives with his flock and is everything to it: provider, guide, physician and protector.

In Psalm 23 David is speaking as a sheep testifying about his shepherd. Many people apply this psalm to themselves for its soothing effect, but they do not know the Shepherd. But David is emphatically personal: ‘The Lord is “my” Shepherd’ and not “a” or “our” shepherd. David knew with certainty that he belonged to God. If he be a shepherd to no one else God is a shepherd to him.

The psalm is all in present tense! When Moses asked God what his name was, God said “ I AM” (Exodus 3:14). God is not “I was” the God of the past or “I shall be” the God we shall meet in future. God is “I am” always present. He is “I am” today so you can say like David “the Lord is my shepherd”. David envisioned the shepherd being with him in all stages and situations of life. He was present at his conception (Ps.139:13-16); throughout life and will be there to receive him on the other side after death (Ps 23:6).

With the Lord as his shepherd David had no want; he paints in our mind a scene of sheep lying down in grassy meadows, having eaten to their fill and now totally satisfied.  The picture is one of satisfaction, calm and tranquility. Satan attempts to portray God as a begrudging giver who only provides when he must. He deceives believers that they are deprived of the good things in life (Gen 3:1).

David tells us that to have God as our shepherd is indeed to have everything we need. He does not mean that God grants every desire. Israel had found God to be a faithful provider of their needs in the  great wilderness, for forty years they did not lacked a thing” ( Deut 2:7). But God did let them hunger to test them and to teach them (Duet 8: 2-3). The clear implication of David’s statement is that God’s sheep shall not lack “of any good thing” (Ps 34:10, 84:11).

The expression “lie down” speaks of rest; sheep do not graze lying down. In Ezekiel 34:14-15 God declares “I will tend them in a good pasture; they will lie down in good grazing land where they will feed in rich pasture. I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down”. Sheep lie down to rest after feeding; the grassy meadows and quiet waters to which the shepherd has led his sheep, causes them to lie down in rest.

The shepherd restores souls” (v.3). David loved the Lord but he was not perfect. The beauty of his life was visible only through the cracks of his earthen vessel. David committed grievous sins in his life. One time he sexually exploited Bathsheba and ordered the assassination of her husband (2 Sam 11:2-17). As a result, his iniquity drained his strength and his bones wasted away (Ps 31:10).

His conscience troubled him day and night. He pleaded with God to let him hear joy and gladness (Ps 51:8) and restore to him the joy of salvation (Ps 51:12).Numb and badly crushed, David groaned in anguish of the heart (Ps 39:2). He cried out “my God, my God why have you forsaken me?” (Ps. 22:1). He pleaded “my sacrifice O God is a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart O lord you do not despise (Ps 51:17).

David pleaded “Do not cast me from your presence” (Ps 51:11). He knew that his heart was prone to stray just like Paul had felt (Rom. 7:18-20). So he prayed “grant me a willing spirit to sustain me” (Ps 51:12). Paul wrote:” it’s God who works in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure” (Phil.2:13). God restored David, he wrote later “the Lord turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me… out of the mud and mire. He set my feet on a rock (Ps. 40:2).

God “does not stay angry forever but delights to show mercy, he treads our sins underfoot and hurls all our iniquities into the depth of the sea” (Micah 7:18-19).  Falling into the water does not drown anybody; it's staying under it that does. When you fall rise up and get out (Micah 7:8).  He who conceals his sins will not prosper but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy” (Prov. 28:13). God says “though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow” (Isa. 1:18).

God will not let his children find comfort in sin; he will discipline them as a good father and his discipline is redemptive in nature. Hebrew 12:5-11 says no discipline seems pleasant at the time but painful. Later on it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who are trained by it. So if you keep sinning and you don’t get disciplined, you need to re-examine your relationship with God.

At the time of writing psalm 23, David’s needs have been consistently supplied, long enough for him to conclude that the supply never fails. The raging waves of strife and discontentment have since given way to peaceful streams of contentment. When storms rage around him now, he rest still in his shepherd’s bosom as a little child; contented and secure (Ps 131:2). He has learnt to trust the shepherd for he knows that He’ll remain true.