Psalm 23 by Pastor Denzel Fenn
Driving into work early the other morning, I heard Cathy Troccoli sing the Twenty-Third Psalm. I was taken back in my mind more than fifty years ago when my mom helped me memorize that Psalm. It has been my strength all through those years.
Psalm 23 is probably the most loved of all the passages in the Bible. It is appropriate at a wedding or a funeral. It has a unique power to touch the young and the old. Often I have read it at the bedside of suffering and dying believers and I never cease to marvel at its soothing power.
David wrote this Psalm 3000 years ago. He was a shepherd boy on the hillsides of
All of us who have met the Lord Jesus can say the same. Jesus said, “I am the Good Shepherd.” (John 10:11). He went on to say, “The Good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep.”
Jesus told the parable about the Shepherd going out at night, at great cost, to see the one lost sheep. (Luke 15: 4-6) We are the lost sheep. Isaiah wrote, “all we like sheep have gone astray.” But Luke penned these words of hope when he said, “the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:10)
Today, Jesus the Shepherd is seeking for you. He came for you. He died for you. He loves you. He comes for you now. He offers to be your Shepherd and friend.
David wrote about the Shepherd’s care. As he cared for his father’s sheep so God cares for us. So David wrote, “I shall not want.” Every need will be supplied. As the shepherd led the sheep to green pastures and still waters so God quenches our spiritual thirst and feeds our hungry souls on the Bread of Life.
And when the sheep are bruised and injured the shepherd restores them and anoints their wounds with oil. So in the painful and difficult hours of our lives He gathers us into His arms and pours His love and grace upon us and we are restored.
The shepherd also protects the sheep. Even at night he sleeps across the threshold so that no predators come in unnoticed. Life is filled with perils. Satan, the enemy of our souls, seeks to destroy us. But the Lord is our Shepherd and He watches over us. So David in retrospect was able to write “that goodness and mercy (God’s) had followed him all the days of his life.” (23:6)
That was not all. The Lord who had so abundantly provided for him for this life has also made abundant provision for the life to come. So he exultantly and expectantly wrote, “and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” (23:6)
One thousand years later, Jesus the Good Shepherd said, “Let not your hearts be troubled…in My Father’s house are many mansions…I go to prepare for you…I will come again and receive you to Myself.” (John 14:1-3)
Today the Shepherd is calling for you. He is saying again, “Come to Me, all you who labor, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)
Come! Come as you are. Come Now! But Come.
