My Shepherd – Psalm 23:1
Welcome to our 2016 devotion series! In the next few months, we will be going through the 23rd Psalm. There are so many things that I’m excited to share with you so let’s get started.
Psalm 23:1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
While the author is unknown, every Bible scholar agrees that it must be David. Who best could write this psalm than Israel’s shepherd king? David knew by experience the care and tenderness of a good shepherd toward his sheep. When the summer heat burned down on the sheep, the shepherd felt it too. When cold rains poured down on the sheep, the shepherd got soaked too. All if these experiences molded David into a man who had a close relationship with the Great Shepherd.
In Acts 13:22 God says: “…I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.”
David was certainly not a perfect man. In fact, we have more recorded failures about David than we do Saul. But God wasn’t looking for a man with a flawless record. He was seeking for a man who was also seeking after Him! In Psalm 63:1 David says: “O God…my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee…”
I once read a story about a shepherd in the New England states. She said the sheep that were dearest to her, were the ones who would always be waiting at the fence, hoping that she would look their way. While the other sheep were aimlessly searching for more grass to eat, these sheep were standing at the fence line, longing to be with the shepherd.
As 2016 gets underway, will the Shepherd find you spending more time seeking after Him? Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
I think some folks are living that verse in ‘reverse’ order. They are seeking first, all of these ‘things’. Then they are expecting the kingdom of God and his righteousness to be added unto them! Listen, God does not call himself a Shepherd just to invoke white fluffy sheep images in your mind. Sheep are impatient, clumsy, dirty animals that cannot survive in the wild without protection. God wants you to recognize that you cannot survive without Him. It is He who feeds you, clothes and protects you.
Oh! That we could become like those sheep at the fence line and get a renewed longing to be with the Shepherd! I’m sure that you have hopes and dreams for this new year. But if you will adopt the Matthew 6:33 mindset and seek first after the Shepherd, He has promised to supply all of your needs according to his riches in glory.
I think the words of a little girl in Sunday School sum up this devotion perfectly: “The Lord is my shepherd and that’s all I want!”