WE ARE THE SHEEP OF HIS PASTURE

Know ye that the Lord He is God: it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.  (Psalm 100:3) A Study of Psalm 23, Lesson One

In the Bible there are two noted relationships between God and His people:

A Father to His Children and A Shepherd  to His Sheep.  In this Psalm, David takes what he has learned in life and paints us a beautiful picture of our relationship with the one who calls Himself the Good Shepherd.

Some believe that David wrote this Psalm while in the cave of Adullam fleeing from King Saul where he might even have been looking down upon a pasture and meditating on the care God was giving to him during this dangerous time.  Others believe he wrote this after he had become King of Israel, maybe even after his failures and his trials. Looking back, David might have come to realize that God had used his life experiences to bring him to where he was that day. What we do know for sure is that God raised David from that fleeing shepherd to the King of Israel. (Psalm 78:70-72: He chose David also His servant, and took him from the sheepfolds: 71 From following the ewes great with young He brought him to feed Jacob His people, and Israel His inheritance. 72 So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.)  God chose David, taking him away from his earthly father’s  flock to tend His Heavenly Father’s flock.

David was intimate both with the life of a shepherd and with The Good Shepherd: (1 Sam 17:34-37 And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock: 35 And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him. 36 Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God. 37 David said moreover, The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, He will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine.)  

To whom is David speaking and on what occasion is he saying this?  
Does David say that he delivered himself from the bear and the lion? 
At this time, is David relying on his own power as a shepherd or upon God?  

These few verses show us that David took great care of his father’s flock, even facing death to keep them alive, plucking them out of the jaws of lions and bears.  This is a wonderful picture of what Jesus did for us. He faced death on the cross, actually dying for our sins to pluck us from the grasp of Satan.  Now, he continues to care for us. He looks out over His pasture and sees His flock, yet He knows each of us intimately. (John 10:3:  To Him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear His voice: and He calleth His own sheep by name, and leadeth them out). He knows what causes me to go one way and someone else another. He knows what temptations lie before me. He realizes when I need to learn a lesson the hard way or when He simply needs to take his staff and use it to turn me around.)

A LOOK AT THE GOOD SHEPHERD - THE AUTHOR OF CREATION

The Lord is my Shepherd. Here, David portrays a working relationship, established by God: A relationship between us as a human being and God as our Maker.  We learn in five words 1) God is our Master; and 2) we are the much-loved and treasured object of His divine diligence.  David, knowing the dedication it takes to be a shepherd, declares with pride, “I belong to God, and I am under His care.”  He simply but eloquently writes, “The Lord is My Shepherd.”

The term Lord refers to Jehovah or Yahweh, describing God who is all-powerful, sovereign and who defines Himself and establishes truth for His creation and works for their salvation. Shepherd in this passage refers to God, the Good Shepherd (John 10:11&14: I am the Good Shepherd: the Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep. 14 I am the Good Shepherd , and know My sheep, and am known of Mine.   We, like sheep, flourish under the expert care of the Good Shepherd.  He is God in three-persons: 

God the Father is God the Author, the originator of all that exists;
God the Son is God the Artisan, the creator of all that exists; and
God the Holy Spirit is God the Agent, who presents these truths to us and makes them relative to us as individuals

As a writer, this presented an intriguing picture for me. I see God sitting down to write out the story.  He gives every detail and nuance to make it come alive in the imagination; God, the son, seeing the Father’s vivid words illustrates the story, showing us in lush, vibrant pictures what the writer envisioned; and the words and the pictures are presented to us individually by the teacher who shows us the truths that God intends for us to know.  

I then began to look at it in terms of our Shepherd. I see God the owner of the sheep providing a vast place for His flock.  Jesus, His Son, is the Shepherd who tends the sheep; saving us from the predator, Satan, caring for our every need, moving us about through valleys and deserts, providing us shelter when needed, always giving us His living water, ministering to us individually and collectively all at the same time; And after the Shepherd has dealt with us and shown us a better way, there is God, the Holy Spirit, that guides us away from the cliff or the water that might be harmful to us.  He reminds us of what the Shepherd has shown to us; He allows us to learn from the Shepherd’s care what is good or bad for us.

What Does it Mean to be in the Shepherd’s Care?

Our relationship with the Good Shepherd is one that means, I shall not want. David is basically saying, “What I have in God is greater than what I don’t have in life.”  Isaiah 40:11 says, He shall feed His flock like a shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.

I shall not want means I shall not lack; I shall not be without.  God is the source of all supply.  We are in the expert care and management of the Master.  There is no reason we should not be utterly content, but contentment like patience is something we must work on. 1 Timothy 6:6-7: But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.

Does this passage mean that once we become a child of God, we will never experience hard times or times of need? Can you provide Biblical examples?

David’s life prepared him to shepherd God’s people. What has your life prepared you to do for God?