The Shepherd’s Care

The Shepherd’s Care

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.  (Psalm 32:1-4)

“The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” These matchless words have brought great comfort to countless numbers of people; they have served to wipe alway oceans of tears; many have used them to express their faith in the goodness and watchfulness of Almighty God. We could well do without many volumes of books before we could part with these simple but classic lines. No verses of scripture are so universally known as these verses which have come to us out of the rich, full, and deep experience of the shepherd lad who became king over God’s chosen people.

Many people have wondered in what period of his life David wrote these words, I imagine that they were written in those final days when his eyesight was becoming dim and David was making final preparations to meet his maker. The early years of David’s life were spent upon the mountain slopes shepherding the sheep of his father, Jessie. David was an excellent shepherd. We know this from his own testimony, for he tells us the manner in which he protected his charges from attacks from marauding beasts of prey. He must have been a good shepherd or else God would not have chosen him to shepherd His people, Israel. Perhaps, as David sat near the end of his life reviewing the experiences of his life, he was amazed at the marvelous manner in which God had cared for and had protected him. As he thought of his days as a shepherd and how he cared for and protected his sheep, it suddenly dawned on him that God was the great shepherd who cares for His human sheep. David burst forth with this marvelous confession of faith. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” With this revelation in his heart and this confession upon his lips, David goes on and sets down what it is that the shepherd God does for His children as He leads them along the pathway of life.

The lives of God’s sheep seem to be overburdened with hardship, sorrow, and adversity. It seems that the majority of our days are spent in sadness. In the Psalms of David we find more reference to sin, sorrow, and sadness than the righteousness, joy, and gladness. It seems, as we look back over our life, that there were more rainy and cloudy days than clear and sunny days. Of course that isn’t true, for days of joy do exceed days of sorrow. We gain this false sense of proportion because rainy, sorrowful days live longer in our memory. It is such days that change our way of living and thus make a deeper and more lasting impression upon us. When we pass through some trials we live more intensely and thus that experience receives over emphasis, they seem to fill more time and space on our lives than they really do. David, who was a keen observer of human nature, knew this tendency to overemphasis on the sorrows of life and thus he begins his psalm by telling us how the shepherd cares for and supplies the needs of the soul who trust in Him.

First of all the shepherd causes his sheep to lie down in green pastures, and he leads them before the still waters. In these words we see that the shepherd supplies rest, food, and drink for all his weary sheep. The sun is hot, the land is baked, there is no food in sight, but the shepherd knows where there is a brook flowing thorough the parched land, and along the banks of that brook there frown green herbage. To this pasture land the shepherd leads his sheep and there he makes them lie down, and rest in peace and contentment. God does the same for His children, after the storm comes rest, after the turmoil comes the peace of God that passeth all understanding. Notice that the shepherd makes the sheep lie down, makes the sheep rest in preparation for future journeys. How often, by some experience God makes us realize that rest and peace of soul is found only in trust in Him.

After rest, comes food. You can’t enjoy food when you are tired, after a hard days work don’t you enjoy sitting down and resting a few moments before eating your meal. Doctors tell us that our food is not easily digested if we eat while tired. Beloved, notice that the sheep found rest where there food was. We, too, find rest in the very midst of our food. Our food is the every living, the every green pasture of the Word of God. While resting in the inspired Word we find rest and contentment and at the same time we find food for our souls. The Word of God, milk for lambs, pasture for the sheep, never barren, never eaten bare, always a green pasture for faith to dwell in. Of the sheep of God the Psalmist said, “His delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law doth he meditate day and night.” Let us not just pass through them, but let us lie down in them, feed upon them. “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right rejoicing the heart, the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.”

Refreshment follows rest and food. The shepherd leads his sheep beside the still waters. This is the most beautiful picture of the whole psalm. Here in we see the greatest need of the sheep supplied. We can endure foodless days, sleepless nights so long as we do not have to endure thirsty ones. We must have the refreshment of water. As the shepherd leads his sheep throughout the day, he has one thought in mind; he must lead them to water. Without the refreshment of water the sheep will not be able to go on the next days march. By themselves the sheep could not find the water, they are entirely dependant upon the shepherd for refreshment in this rough world, and the sheep depend on the shepherd to lead them to the water. The shepherd leads; he does not drive his sheep. They trust him and they follow him. Our shepherd God does not drive us we must follow Him.

God in His wise providence, by His Word and through His Spirit leads us beside still waters. Haven’t you at times been weary, sad, broken hearted, tired and hasn’t God led you into the path of refreshment. At such time haven’t you opened your bible to just the right passage, haven’t you received a letter of encouragement from a friend, haven’t you been led to some piece of literature that has brought a needed refreshment or perhaps someone spoke the word that was needed. God provides not only food and rest but also refreshment.

“He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His names sake.” In the shepherd country of Palestine it is often hard to chose the right path for the sheep. One path may lead to a steep precipice, and another may lead to poor pasture land, or another may lead into a blind alley. Therefore the shepherd who knows where the path leads goes before and leads his sheep into the right path. He does this for the sake of his name. He wants his sheep to go to the right places, to walk the correct path so that no stain will come upon his name.

We can’t spend all of our time in the place of food, rest, and refreshment. We must move on after we have received our refreshment to new heights to new attainments. As we move on our shepherd goes before us and leads us in the right path. Through His Word, through His Spirit, and by our conscience He leads along the straight and narrow path that leads to life eternal. This is truly the most pleasant path in which to walk. The way of righteousness is the way of peace. But we cannot walk in this path save as we allow the Great Shepherd to lead us to them, to lead us in them, and to lead us through them. God gives us this guidance for “His names sake.” He does it so that through us others might come to truly know Him as He has revealed Himself. As we follow we must do nothing that will bring discredit unto His name.

The sheep do not know enough to stay in the fold. They know perfectly well how to stray from the rest of the flock. There are perilous places along the path of travel and often the sheep stray into these. Thus the shepherd is constantly on the watch. When the sheep strays he must go and bring back the one which strayed. Thus the sheep says, “He restoreth my soul.”

Men are prone to wonder from the pathway of righteousness. He wants to go where sins allurement is, the grass across the valley looks greener than the grass behind the leader and so we stray from the straight and narrow path. When we do the shepherd sees and comes and leads us back. He doesn’t force us to come back, often times he pleads, knocks and beseeches but he never forces. If it wasn’t for the care of the shepherd none of us would remain very long within the flock. Let us praise God that although He permits us to fall into the path of sin, He doesn’t allow us to lie in it.

Sometimes the paths that are right paths lead through places that have deadly perils. The road of life is not always bright but sometimes it must dip down into canyons of gloom. As we look forward upon our path we see the possibility of many sorrows and the certainty of some. Even when we walk through the land of sorrow we have the assurance that our shepherd is with us. “Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.” All who are in sorrow are in that valley of which the psalmist speaks. I want you to notice several things about that valley. First it is only a shadow. Shadows do not last; they pass away with the coming light. A shadow cannot hurt the shadow of a serpent never stung; the shadow of a sword never killed. It is a valley, deep, dark, dirty perhaps but valleys are always fruitful. Usually a stream flows through the valley which irrigates the soil and causes vegetation to grow. The valley of sorrow produces many fruits in the life of the Christian. “Tribulation worketh patience, patience worketh hope.” Though we walk through the valley, we do not linger or stay, we are not lost in it but go on through to the pleasant pasture beyond.

The valley holds no fear for us because the shepherd is with us. He will allow no harm to come upon us. The sheep never worry and never fear so long as the shepherd is with them. There is nothing that can separate the shepherd from his sheep. He is always with them. We can pass through the valley of sorrow with this assurance that our Shepherd is with us and underneath are the everlasting arms. As the shepherd leads his sheep he is armed with a rod and a staff. The rod is used to beat off wild animals which would prey upon the flock, the staff is used for guiding the sheep or for lifting one out of a hole in which he might have fallen. The presence of these weapons adds to the comfort of the sheep. So long as the shepherd is so armed they know that nothing will be able to harm them. As David looked back over his life he saw how the staff of the Lord had guided him and how the rod had driven off his enemies. God guided David to the battlefield where the Philistines were battling the children of Israel. God guided him there at the moment when the giant Goliath came out and made his boast. God guided his lamb David to give battle to the giant and the rod of the Lord protected David from Goliath. So it had been all through his life, God had guided David through the valleys, over the mountains, into green pasture land. Through it all God supplied every need of David.

It is no wonder that David as he neared the end of his life said, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.” It has been true in the past and David knew that it would be true in the future. It would be true because David would not change shepherds. God had guided him this far and David would ever remain in the flock of God.

This confession of assurance which David made could be the confession of each one of us. The Lord wants to be the true Shepherd of every one of us. But He cannot lead until we become a member of His flock. By nature we are not members of the flock of God. I am told that often in a large flock of sheep you will see a lamb that apparently has six legs. Upon inquiry you will be told something like. The mother of that lamb died, it is an orphan. The lamb was placed in another flock but the mother lamb of that flock would not accept it. Fortunately for the lamb a sheep of that flock died. It was carefully skinned and its skin was placed over the orphan lamb. Since it was longer than the orphan lamb its hind legs hung over the back of the orphan. The orphan thus clothed in the skin of another was placed in the flock. The mother smelled her own breed upon the orphan lamb and accepted it into her flock. We too are orphans, but we can be clothed in the garments of Christ and thus be assured of acceptance in the fold of God. When we thus clothe our selves and are willing to be led by the shepherd our testimony will be like David’s, “Because the Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want, for rest, nourishment, refreshment, or guidance along the trail.

Dr. Robert W Kirkpatrick

Hobbs Chapel, February 22, 1944