The Names of God
09/09/2001 - Jehovah Rohi, "The Lord Our Shepherd"
This morning we continue our series on The Names of God. And the name of God we're going to explore today is the name Jehovah Rohi, "The Lord our Shepherd." This has been a great series, because it's put us face to face with God every week. A number of you have taken the time to express how much you've appreciated the teaching. You've told me how it has strengthened your faith and given you guidance and helped you make some tough decisions that you just needed the courage to make.
One gal came to me after the teaching on Jehovah Jireh and how God provides if we're just willing to wait on him and said, "I need to break up with my boyfriend, because I'm in a relationship right now that's not pleasing to God. And it's because I'm not willing to wait for God to provide." This week I received a lengthy e-mail from someone who said last Sunday's teaching came at just the right moment. They were down and feeling sorry for themselves and needed the reminder that God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things if they're just willing to obey him. "Within 48 hours of the teaching," they said, "God has shown me ways that He wants to use me to further his kingdom and do his work on earth."
God speaks as clearly to us today as he spoke to Abraham and Joshua and Moses, if we're willing to listen. We don't need signs and wonders or an audible voice from heaven. What we need is the Word of God. God speaks to us today primarily through the Bible. David wrote in Psalm 119:105, Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. God's Word gives direction to our lives.
And this morning we want to look at one of the most famous passages in all of the Bible. Turn with me to Psalm 23. The book of Psalms was the hymnbook of ancient Israel. There are 150 Psalms that were meant to be memorized and recited and set to music and sung by the people of God. Half of all the Psalms were written about 1,000 BC by David, the shepherd boy who became the greatest king of Israel.
Each Psalm is like a portrait, picturing our relationship with God. And if the Psalms were an art gallery of 150 rooms visited by admirers from all over the world, the longest line would be outside the room marked Psalm 23. Psalm 23 is the masterpiece of the entire collection. It's the portrait that most people want to see and that most people remember the rest of their lives.
In fact, it could easily be argued that Psalm 23 is not only the greatest masterpiece of the Psalms, but the most well known piece of literature of all time. It's been recited for centuries in worship gatherings, around hospital beds, on battlefields and at funerals. Wherever there is pain and suffering, sorrow and grief you find Psalm 23. Whenever words fail us in our anguish we remember, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
It almost has a mysterious power that reaches deep into our souls and touches us with its simplicity and sensitivity. It's a portrait of God as our shepherd, carrying his rod and his staff, snuggling his little lambs and leading his sheep into green pastures, beside still waters. What is it about the six short verses of Psalm 23 that make it so special? I almost hesitate to teach on it for fear that I might violate something so sacred. After all, you don't explain a masterpiece. You just admire it. Yet with a spirit of reverence I want us to discover some of the treasures locked up in this psalm that can nourish our souls.
The Psalm was written by David, an ordinary shepherd boy, the youngest of eight boys, the runt of his family, who was catapulted by God to the very top of his nation. A world class leader, a military genius, a highly skilled administrator, an accomplished musician, a brilliant writer, who through it all maintained a soft and sensitive spirit. David always carried with him that deep sense of inadequacy that's needed for God to do extraordinary things through ordinary people.
The psalm is mostly about God, but it does say something about David. David refers to God as his shepherd, which makes David a sheep. Yet on the outside David looked like anything but a helpless little lamb.
David was a warrior, a giant killer. He could have said, The Lord is my Commander in Chief I shall not want. But he doesn't. David was the powerful head of a nation. He could have said, The Lord is my King I shall not want. But he doesn't. David was a world famous poet and musician. He could have written, The Lord is my inspiration I shall not want. But he doesn't. Instead he describes himself as a sheep which makes him look weak, helpless, even stupid. Not very good for his image!
But David wasn't interested in his image. He wasn't interested in trumpeting his own importance, announcing his achievements, or boasting in his qualifications. Instead he wants to share a picture of the way he viewed his basic relationship with God. And the best image he could draw on came from his days as shepherd boy tending sheep. So he writes in verse 1,
1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
It was a humbling thing for David to compare himself to a sheep because sheep are helpless. They can't survive on their own. Any other domestic animal can live in the wild, except sheep. Pigs can escape from the pigpen and make it on their own. Cattle can survive on their own, horses can, rabbits can, dogs and cats can, but not sheep. Sheep are totally dependent on their shepherd for protection, water, food, and shelter. Sheep don't live very long without a shepherd.
David is saying, "Don't be fooled by my impressive credentials. I don't view myself as a powerful king before God, or as a great general, or giant killer, I'm a sheep totally dependent on his care."
Notice he says the Lord is "my" shepherd, not "the" shepherd, or "a" shepherd, but "my" shepherd. David has a relationship with the Lord. There's a connection there, an intimacy with God. The shepherding care of God is not enjoyed by everybody. It's only enjoyed by men and women, boys and girls, who have a relationship with the shepherd, who have trusted Christ alone as their Savior from sin and have been brought into God's sheepfold.
Jesus said in John 10, I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me. My sheep hear my voice and they follow me. Can you say that the Lord is your shepherd? If you can't, at the end of the teaching I'm going to invite you to come into the sheepfold. You need to be in fold, to have the care of the shepherd.
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Does that mean that once the Lord becomes our shepherd we have everything we want or desire in life? No. It means that the shepherd provides everything we need in life. I shall not want means I shall not lack anything that God thinks I need. It also means that once we have Jesus as our shepherd, we don't want another shepherd. We don't want anyone or anything else shepherding our life. And the rest of the psalm tells us why.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, 3 he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Most of us have probably never met a shepherd. But if you go to Israel today you'll see shepherds everywhere still tending sheep on the same Judean hills as David did 3,000 years ago. Shepherds are simple people, often illiterate, and they smell. They were looked down on in Israel and actually despised in Egypt. But when it comes to caring for sheep they are highly trained professionals, they know their stuff. They know two things better than anyone else. They know the land that they walk and they know the sheep that they lead. And so does God. He knows better than anyone else, the land that you walk, that is the life that you live, and he knows you.
Sheep are fearful, skittish creatures. They won't lie down easily. Before they do, everything has to be just right. They have to be at peace with the other sheep, they need to have their belly full and their thirst quenched, they need to be clean of insects and pests, and most of all they need to be free from fear. Fear keeps timid sheep from lying down. Fear keeps them from drinking at noisy, rushing streams. They need quiet waters. And so the good shepherd, who is sensitive to the fears of the sheep, leads them into green pastures and beside still waters so that their souls can be nourished.
He guides the sheep up narrow, rocky paths that crisscross the Judean hills like lace work. He takes them up and down and down and up those treacherous slopes so that they can find the food and water that they need.
David is saying that God cares for me like a good shepherd, better than anyone else could care for me. Better than I could ever care for myself. Without him I would die of thirst, fall off a cliff, be lost forever. He gives me life abundantly. He nurtures me from the inside out. I drink deeply from his love and I'm satisfied.
And why does he do it? Because I'm such a wonderful person, a great soldier, a military hero, the king of a nation. No! He does it for his name's sake, David says. Not because of who I am. But because of who he is. He makes me his sheep and he loves me, because he is love. Not because I'm so lovable. Any significance that my life has begins first with God's love and acceptance of me. My life begins in the cradle of his love.
Do you need to be reminded of that love this morning? No matter what's happened in your life, what is happening in your life, or what will happen in your life, the good shepherd will keep on loving you for his name's sake. Because that's who he is. He can't stop loving us. His name, his reputation is on the line.
And if the Psalm ended here we might think, "Wow! That all sounds so wonderful. Green pastures. Still waters. Mountain slopes. So serene. So idyllic. Like sheep grazing peacefully on a golf course. But I don't live on a golf course. That's not the real world. That's not the way life is. At least that's not my life. David what happens when life falls apart? What happens when you find yourself on the edge of a cliff or in the middle of a pack of wolves?" David says, "I'm glad you asked, because I've been there with the shepherd."
Look at verses 4-5, Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
In verses 4-5, David takes us into Death Valley. In the imagery of the psalm it's the picture of a summer time drive. In Israel the rains end in February and don't begin again until November or December. And so during the long dry season the shepherd takes his sheep up into the mountains, to higher ground called tableland.
Often the shepherd would go ahead of the sheep in the spring, before the summer drive, to prepare the tableland, to clear out rocks, to pull up weeds, to uncover springs, to dig water holes for the sheep. But in order to reach tableland, he has to take the sheep through some deep valleys where they're exposed to attacks by wolves and lions along the way.
Sometimes the sheep had to pass through crevices one at a time, frightening places where they're totally dependent on the touch of the shepherd's staff and the protection of his rod. It was a risky journey. David knows that life isn't lived on a golf course. Life is a journey full of risks. He knows how tough life can be. He wants us to see that we can still trust the shepherd in the midst of our two worst fears -- the fear of death and the fear of our enemies.
Everything we hold dear in life will someday be ripped out of our grasp. Our health, our mind, our energy, our careers, our spouse, our kids, our very life itself will all be taken from us. David had been through it all. He had experienced the death of a baby born to Bathsheba, he had buried his adult son Absalom whom he adored, he lost Jonathan, his best friend, he saw his buddies killed in battle. He had seen lots and lots of death.
And yet he can say, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil . Why? Because he's so brave and so macho? No. Because, you are with me, he says. Not because I'm so tough and strong, but because the shepherd is by my side. And if death is going to come at me, it first has to pass through the rod and the staff of my shepherd. And it will only touch me or those I love when he permits it. The shepherd can be trusted even in death.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
David knew the fear of death and he knew the fear of enemies. During his lifetime David encountered lots of wolves that threatened to destroy him. Enemies from without like Goliath the Philistine giant, King Saul who turned on David and hunted him down for years, his own son Absalom who tried to kill him during a rebellion.
There were enemies from without, but there were also enemies from within. Wolves like lust and hate and greed and pride and bitterness that threatened to consume David from within. Life isn't easy.
Life is full of enemies that threaten to destroy us. Enemies like disease and addictions to sex and drugs and poisons that can kill our bodies. Unbridled ambition, power, greed, workaholism that can destroy our families. Anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, jealousy, pornography that can destroy our souls.
What do we do when the wolves move in? Muster up some kind of superhuman effort? Rely on our own resources to fight them off? No. We turn to the shepherd and allow him to protect us, to give us strength, to fill our cup, to restore our soul. The only way the enemy can win is when we stray away from the shepherd and try to go it alone. That's the only way.
But unfortunately that's our tendency. That's what sheep do. They wander from the shepherd. The Bible says, All we like sheep have gone astray. We're constantly straying from the shepherd. If you're not straying right now, thank God, but you will stray and so will I. David knew what it was like to stray from shepherd.
At the end of the longest Psalm David ever wrote, Psalm 119, a beautiful Psalm with 175 verses exalting the Word of God, David says in verse 176, the very last verse, I have strayed like a lost sheep. Seek your servant, for I have not forgotten your commands.
The shepherd loves straying, wounded, battered, diseased, hurting sheep, because they're the only sheep in his flock. There are no super sheep. And right now you may feel like you're losing the battle against some kind of temptation. You've strayed from the fold and the wolves have you by the throat. Or you going through some heavy trial and you know that right now you're not lying down in green pastures or drinking from quiet waters. There's unrest in your soul. Let me tell you, that whatever the struggle is that you're going through, don't run away from the shepherd. All around you people are giving in to the same temptations and worse and justifying their behavior and excusing themselves and living shepherdless lives. Don't go down that route. It leads to death.
Turn to the shepherd. Keep worshiping him. Keep meeting with his people. Keep calling out to him. Keep following him and he will eventually lead you to tableland and restore your soul.
Psalm 23 is not a portrait of life lived on golf course. It's a picture of the way the shepherd cares for us in the real world, in a world that's full of danger and enemies and grief and pain. And just like the sheep can boast about the shepherd's care all year long, during the rainy season when grass is green and thick and during the long dry season when its brown and scarce, so David boasts in verse 6,
6 Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
"Nothing can take me away from the shepherd. Nothing. Not even death itself. Because when that happens I'll finally be home. I'll leave the enemies behind and enter into the majesty of my eternal home with the shepherd forever. That's what the future holds for me," David says.
And that's what the future holds for each of us who know the shepherd. Psalm 23 is masterpiece. But not a masterpiece simply to be admired. It's a masterpiece to be lived. Because the same good shepherd who took care of David is the same good shepherd that wants to take care of you and me. Have you trusted him? Are you one of his sheep?
The story's told of a group of well-known writers, musicians and actors who gathered in London for a night mutual entertainment. They each put some money up as a prize for the one who could best entertain the group that night. The evening oozed with talent. They sang, they played, they recited, they gave monologues. And last of all a prominent British actor stood up before the group of hundred or so celebrities and recited the words of the 23rdPsalm. His enunciation and intonation was perfect. They were spellbound and when he finished they all agreed that he deserved the prize.
Just then, someone in the back of the room said, "Wait a minute. There's one more who hasn't done anything yet." And he pointed to a little old man standing in the corner. The man said, "No way. I'm not an entertainer. I'm just a friend of the host." "Come on, do something," they said and pushed him to the front of the room.
After a long pause he also began to recite Psalm 23, "The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want." He went through the whole thing about the shepherd's love and care and a holy hush came over the room. When he finished with, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever," his face lit up. Everyone was moved, some to tears. And the British actor, who had just one the prize, took out the money and gave it to the old man and said, "Sir, that was moving. I know the psalm, but you know the shepherd." Now you know the psalm, but do you know the shepherd?
There was a day when the rod and the staff of the shepherd were raised in the shape of a cross. And the good shepherd, Jesus Christ, gave his life for the sheep. He died in our place so that we could travel safely through the valley of this life into the next without fear. Have you trusted him? Is he your shepherd?