A Shepherd is With His Sheep
I want to start our study of Psalm 23 in Genesis with the story of Jacob. What does Psalm 23 have to do with Jacob? Long story short, because of poor decisions, Jacob is a fugitive on the run, sent away by his parents, and on a journey by himself into the unknown. But as he sets out on this journey, God meets him and tells him, “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go…For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you” (28:15).
This promise marks the rest of his life. The Lord gives it again when he flees his evil father-in-law Laban in 31:3. Then when Jacob is preparing to return home, he tells his family that God “has been with him wherever he has gone” (35:3). As an old man, when he has to make a long journey to join his sons in Egypt, God goes to Jacob again and reminds him of his lifelong promise. He says to Jacob, “I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you in to a great nation. I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up again” (46:3-4).
Then at the very end of his life, Jacob looks back over all his years and confesses that God has been with him every step of the way. He says, “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day” (48:15).
Why does Jacob call God his shepherd? Because throughout his life God was with him. A shepherd who’s not with their sheep is no shepherd at all.
David picked up on this theme in Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd” (v. 1). Then notice the promise in the exact middle of the psalm: “for you are with me” (v. 4). David likens the Lord to a shepherd because the Lord is with him. Like any good shepherd, the Lord is with his sheep.
Dying to Be With Us
The best news in the world is that the God who made the world wants to be with you. And the gospel tells us that he even died to be with us and wants to take care of us.
Psalm 22 shows us how the Good Shepherd dies to save his sheep and Psalm 23 shows us how he lives to care for his sheep.
What does the Lord’s care look like? Using some of the most memorable imagery in the whole Bible, Psalm 23 says that the Lord’s care looks like a shepherd who bring his sheep safely home. We can divide the psalm into two sections based on these two metaphors of shepherding and hosting. The Lord shepherds in the field (vv. 1-4) and brings to the house (vv. 5-6).
The Lord Shepherds in the Field
First, in verses 1-4, we see the Lord shepherding in the field. When David says in verse 1, “The Lord is my shepherd,” he’s employing a metaphor that was common in the ancient Near East. People would often call their God or king their “shepherd.” The kings of Israel were judged as bad shepherds in Jeremiah (23:1-4). David in the psalms is called a faithful and skillful shepherd (78:70-72).
When David says that the Lord is a “shepherd,” he’s not just talking about what actual shepherds did, though he certainly is doing that. He’s also pointing out that the Lord is the King of his people, that he’s the one leading and in charge. The sheep don’t lead themselves. They’re led by a shepherd, and the Lord is that shepherd.
So before we get to the personal and intimate imagery of the Lord as a shepherd in a pastoral sense, we need to understand that David’s opening statement is a confession. To say, “The Lord is my shepherd,” is like saying, “The Lord is leading and I’m following,” or “The Lord is the Master and I’m the servant.” Saying “The Lord is my shepherd,” is like saying, “I belong to the Lord. He’s my King.”
Who Belongs to the Shepherd?
Phillip Keller was a shepherd who wrote a book about Psalm 23. He talks about how when he bought his first group of sheep, he was told to mark them. Each shepherd had their own distinct earmark which they’d cut into the ears of their sheep. This makes it easy to know who the sheep belong to. The mark was a lifelong reminder that could never be erased.[1]
In the same way, when someone comes to the Lord in faith and says, “I want to follow you, I want you to save me,” they have to take his mark. What’s the outward, visible mark of God’s people? In the Old Testament, it was circumcision, now it’s baptism. Everyone who comes to Jesus in faith and repents of their sins and wants to be part of his people is “marked” by baptism.
Baptism doesn’t save you, but it does identify you as a sheep who belongs to the Shepherd. This makes baptism far more important than you may realize. This means baptism is only for those who are actually following the Shepherd. It’s not for babies or for anyone who just wants to feel better about themselves. It’s for those who’re actually following the Shepherd’s way of life rather than their own.
Phillip Keller says, “It is a tragic truth that many people who really have never come under His direction or management claim that ‘The Lord is my shepherd.’ They seem to hope that by merely admitting that He is their Shepherd somehow they will enjoy the benefits of His care and management without paying the price of forfeiting their own fickle and foolish way of life.”[2]
Saying, “The Lord is my shepherd” is saying, “The Lord is my King, my leader.” It means he’s taken over the management of your life. His personal care is only for those who follow him.
“I Shall Not Want”
The next phrase in verse 1 is the result of the first phrase. Because the Lord is David’s shepherd, “he shall not want.” The NIV says, “I lack nothing,” the CSB “I have what I need.”
David says that the Lord meets his physical needs in verse 2 and spiritual needs in verse 3. The Lord makes sure that his sheep have grass and water so they don’t go hungry or thirsty (v. 2). But meeting these needs isn’t purely physical, as Old Testament scholar James Hamilton points out. It’s also emotional and psychological. By giving his people green pastures and still waters, the Lord is helping them “feel safe to lie down and rest,” and giving them “psychological stability and soul-quiet” so they don’t have to worry about lions or heat.[3]
The Lord’s provision for his sheep is a safe and quiet place where they can exhale and breathe and just be. You know the way you feel when you’re not in a hurry and you just sit somewhere and enjoy the moment? That’s what our shepherd wants to give our hearts all the time.
Verse 3 talks about the Lord meeting our spiritual needs. “He restores my soul” links back to 19:7, “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.” It seems that the way our shepherd restores our souls is by renewing our hearts as we meditate on the law of the Lord (Ps. 1:1-3).
Then it says that the Lord leads his sheep “in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake” (v. 3b). There are “right paths” for God’s sheep. The shepherd leads them on paths that he deems right, no matter what the sheep think. This means, as Derek Kidner says, there’s a “demanding moral content for (God’s) human flock.”[4] It even says that the paths we walk will either shame or exalt the Shepherd’s good name. David is saying that God’s glory is at stake in the way he lives. God leads his sheep in what’s right for their good and for his glory.
Because the Lord is a good shepherd, he provides all the physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual needs that his sheep have, so that “we lack nothing.”
The Valley of the Shadow of Death
Verse 4 says that the Lord’s provision isn’t just for the good times, but also the dark times. The “paths of righteousness” that the Lord leads us on often go through dark valleys.
In the summer months a shepherd would lead his sheep through valleys in order to find grass and water. This often meant walking through deep and rugged wadis, or dry stream beds that cut through the hills. The air in these wadis would be heavy with heat and would be covered with dark shadows as the cliff walls blocked the sun. In the wadis there was no grass or water, the heat was stifling, and the cliffs would often be too steep to climb. These valleys were also dangerous places because enemies could ambush from the high ground.
The sheep are in a vulnerable position as they walk through these valleys. If the sheep were in these valleys all alone, they’d have no chance.
Notice that David calls these “the valley of the shadow of death.” John Owen says this refers to “evils to the soul.”[5] David is talking about any dark valley the Lord leads us into, valleys such as paralyzing fear and anxiety, depression, habitual sin, disappointment, rejection by someone we love, chronic pain, financial insecurity, health issues that have no answers, political uncertainty, persecution for following Jesus, or even the sense that we’re a disappointment to God. These dark valleys feel like death, even if we aren’t dying.
The paths of life often lead straight into these valleys. There’s no turning back and going forward is terrifying. It’s uncomfortable at best and deadly at worst. What do you do?
If the Lord is your shepherd, you start walking. You’re terrified but you also know something. You know that the Lord is with you and that he has his tools for protecting and leading you. You start walking with a courage you didn’t think you had and along the way you actually feel comfort in the valley. Because you fear the Lord you don’t fear any evil.
Verse 1 says that the Lord’s sheep don’t lack anything, even in the valleys of darkness. How can that be? Verse 4, “For you are with me.”
Did you notice the shift in the language from verses 1-3 to verse 4? The more distant “he” is replaced with “you.” The shepherd is no longer out front leading but now walking beside. Our shepherd is more than a king, he’s also our friend, a side-by-side companion, someone who sticks with us no matter how hard things get.
God’s presence lights up the dark valleys we walk through. “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” (Ps. 27:1) The light of the Lord gets us through our valleys of darkness.
In The Lord of the Rings, as Frodo and Sam approach Mordor, they’re exhausted and the burden of the ring is getting heavier and heavier. One night Sam couldn’t sleep so he looked up at the sky and, as Tolkien writes, “Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”[6]
How does the presence of God help us in the valleys of darkness? We remember that Jesus walked through the ultimate dark valley, the valley of condemnation and hell, a valley we should have to walk through, and that he did it for us so that in our temporarily dark valleys we can know that, despite our fears and failures, God will bring us into his house forever.
Would you rather be on the mountain without God or in the valley with him?
The Lord Brings to the House
We’ve seen how the Lord shepherds in the field, and in the valley, in verses 1-4, now in verses 5-6 we see that he brings us to his house. The threat of verse 4 turns into the triumph of verse 5. This is a celebration of victory over enemies, a vindication for God’s sheep.
The cup and the table of verse 5 match the grass and water of verse 2. The Lord is richly providing for his people. This is divine hospitality, the Lord bringing us to his table, anointing us with oil and giving us abundant food and drink.
The “Lord” (Yahweh) is mentioned in verses 1 and 6, bookending the psalm, telling us that the Shepherd is also a kind and rich host. Verse 6 says that he even pursues his guests or sheep with his love. His love will run after his people “all the days of their lives,” so they can trust that they’ll always be protected and provided for. The Lord will shepherd us all the way home.
May the Force, or God, Be With You
The psalm says that the Lord is with us now (v. 4) and will be with us forever (v. 6). This is no throwaway promise. It’s the best thing in the world. Psalm 84:10, “For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere.” Living with God is the best way to live.
The characters in Star Wars often say to each other, “May the Force be with you.” It’s a blessing that says, “May you have special, even supernatural, power in whatever you do.” It’s a declaration of hope that something bigger than the person will be with them to protect them and provide them the power and skills and protection they need as they go on their journey.
George Lucas borrowed this phrase from the traditional Christian blessing, “May God be with you.” Many Christians around the world still say something like, “May God be with you” or “Go with God” when parting ways. Our English word “goodbye” is a contraction of the phrase “God be with ye.”
On the one hand, both blessings have the same desire, namely, that the person receiving it will have special strength to do what they need to do, that they’ll have power, skill, knowledge, and protection from something bigger than themselves. Both blessings are an acknowledgement that we need help because there are things in the world too strong for us.
On the other hand, one blessing says the strength will come from a mysterious and undefined “Force,” or power in the universe that’s available to all who’re able to attune to it. The other blessing, however, says that strength will come from “God,” or a clearly defined person.
Do you see the difference? One promise is impersonal, the other personal. One is vague and not clear about how we access the help. One is clear and tells us exactly who to go to for help.
The difference is massive. If you’re about to walk out the door to go climb a huge mountain, would you rather your friend or spouse say, “May strength be with you” or “May I go with you”?
God’s personal presence with his people makes all the difference in the world. The fact that God is with his people wherever they go means that they have direct access to God’s infinite wisdom, strength, comfort, protection, provision, peace, guidance, and help anytime and anywhere. God’s presence is what we need to survive. Without God with us, we have no hope in this world (Eph. 2:12).
That little word “with,” when it links humans and God, is so powerful. God promised to be with Jacob and many others. “The Lord be with you!” was a standard greeting used in Israel. It’s what you wished for yourself and for others. Why? Because life with God is the way life should be.
Life Only Possible through Death
But that life is only possible through someone else’s death. In Jesus, God came not just to be with us but to die for us. He says, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (Jn. 10:11).
Isaiah said that the Messiah would be like a “lamb led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent” (53:7). Because of the cross, Jesus is a shepherd who knows what it’s like to be a sheep. He walked through the valley of the shadow of death and came out the other side alive and well so that everyone who follows him, who gladly submits to his leadership, will as well.
Jesus died so he could live with you. To live with him, you have to die to yourself. His friendship is only for those who accept his kingship. Those who do never lack anything.
[1]W. Phillip Keller, A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007), 25.
[2]Ibid., 26.
[3]James M. Hamilton Jr., Psalms, Volume 1: Psalms 1-72, Evangelical Biblical Theology Commentary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Academic, 2021), 295.
[4]Derek Kidner, Psalms 1-72: An Introduction and Commentary, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1973), 110.
[5]Quoted in William S. Plumer, Psalms: A Critical and Expository Commentary with Doctrinal and Practical Remarks (first published 1867; Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 2016), 312.
[6]J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: 50th Anniversary One-Volume Edition (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2004), 922.