The Lord is the Shepherd, We are the Sheep

Psalm 23:1 is surely one of the most popular verses in the Bible. Through this simple illustration of God being our Shepherd, we see how He tenderly takes care to provide, guide, and protect us.

Now if the Lord is our Shepherd, that makes us the sheep. Prone to wander. Entirely and always reliant on our Shepherd, whether we realize it or not. We can’t see God as Shepherd if we don’t see ourselves as sheep. When we open our eyes to how much we really need and rely on God for everything, the more we realize His provision in our lives. But if we live in the lie that we can do everything on our own, we wander and drift away from our true source, looking for satisfaction in artificial places.

So when David says, “I shall not want,” he is acknowledging how completely reliant he is on God as his Shepherd.

“I shall not want” because God, as a good shepherd, will ensure I have everything I need. “I shall not want,” not because of what I’ve done or can do but because God loves me. “I shall not want” because I know God personally as Shepherd.

A shepherd represents a close and intimate relationship. Whereas a king might do what’s best for the majority, a shepherd knows each one of his sheep. A shepherd has deep concern and care, not only for His flock of sheep, but also for each and every single one.

This is how God cares for us. He knows our comings and goings, He knows every hair on our heads, He knows when even one of us is lost, and He has made every provision to find us.

Notice that this Psalm does not say I shall not need. In Matthew 6, Jesus makes it clear that God is going to provide for all our need and we shouldn’t worry about it. Psalm 23, however, says I shall not want, speaking to our desires.

It’s saying that not only can God take care of my need, but He can also fulfill me. He can satisfy my heart.

The word “want” in today’s text means to lack, decrease, empty, or run dry. So when David says “I shall not want” he’s saying two things:

1. There are areas in my life that only God can fulfill, and He will fulfill them.
2. I’ve made the decision not to desire anything outside of the scope of what God wants for me.

In this shepherd-sheep relationship with God, I am satisfied.

Stop Being So Mean To Yourself

The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit. – Proverbs 18:21

Today’s Scripture is very black and white. Everything that comes out of your mouth, will either produce life or produce death. This not only implies speaking to others, but also what we are speaking to ourselves. We have a choice every day to select the words we choose to speak or not speak. I want to have the kinds of conversations with myself that speak life. The words that are truthful, kind, full of beauty, and full of a fruit-producing kind of life.

I’m not sure what time of the day you are reading this but ask yourself: what have you said so far today to yourself about yourself? Maybe it was when you got dressed and you spoke negative things about your body and the way you look. Or maybe it was those words you spoke about how you’re an awful father because you were impatient with your kids.

What words did you speak over yourself during such moments?

Friends – stop being mean to yourself. Seriously.

If you are going to be the person who God has called you to be, it begins by speaking life and speaking beautiful things; and it starts with your words. We constantly have thoughts running through our minds that direct our days. I recently read that the average person thinks 54,000 thoughts a day. Out of all those thoughts each day, how many of those negative thoughts do you take in and then speak death over yourself?

We need to pay attention. We need to pay attention to our thoughts and “take every thought captive” (2 Corinthians 10:5). For we all know that we have a real enemy, the devil, who “prowls around us seeking to destroy us” (1 Peter 5:8). He often does this by speaking lies to us. We need to be able to combat those lies before we speak the words into our life. The only way to combat lies is with truth. And truth comes to us through the Word of God (Hebrews 4:12).

Pay attention. Identify the negative thoughts. And replace those lies with truth before you speak any words.

For some of us, like myself, it can be hard at times to find reasons to speak words of truth to myself. If you don’t believe loving things about yourself, I encourage you to seek out God to fill you with His love. It’s full. It’s beautiful. And once you begin to soak in it every day, you’ll see how God really feels about you – which is nothing but loving life-giving thoughts.

Did you know that you are loved by God? And He uniquely and carefully crafted you together? When you speak harshly to yourself, don’t you think that hurts God, the one who created you? For He “knit you together in your mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13) as you are “fearfully are wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14) He knows you. All of you. All your past. And He loves you anyway. You are His child and He loves you dearly. In fact, He loved you so much He came from Heaven down in earthly flesh to die a painful humiliating death on a cross. (John 3:16) And absolutely “nothing can ever separate you from the love of God.” (Romans 8:39)

We haven’t earned this type of love, nor will we ever. It’s a gift. We are so imperfect. Yet God created us just the way He wanted us as “we are the clay, and He is the potter.” (Isaiah 64:8). Learn to speak kindly to yourself and stop being so mean. Just as your Creator spoke life into you, let’s also, in turn, speak life into our daily talk with our words. Those words have power, and it’s time to believe them, live in them, and speak them.

Self-Control in God’s Strength

A 1972 study known as the “marshmallow test” was developed to gauge children’s ability to delay gratification of their desires. The kids were each offered a single marshmallow to enjoy but were told if they could refrain from eating it for ten minutes, they’d be given a second one. About a third of the children were able to hold out for the larger reward. Another third gobbled it up within thirty seconds!

We might struggle to show self-control when offered something we desire, even if we know it would benefit us more in the future to wait. Yet Peter urged us to “add to [our] faith” many important virtues, including self-control (2 Peter 1:5–6). Having laid hold of faith in Jesus, Peter encouraged his readers, and us, to continue to grow in goodness, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, affection, and love “in increasing measure” as evidence of that faith (vv. 5–8).

While these virtues don’t earn us God’s favor nor secure our place in heaven, they demonstrate—to ourselves as well as to all those with whom we interact—our need to exercise self-control as God provides the wisdom and strength to do so. And, best of all, He’s “given us everything we need [to live] a godly life,” one that pleases Him, through the power of the Holy Spirit (v. 3).

The Power of Scripture

Stephen was an up-and-coming comedian, and a prodigal. Raised in a Christian family, he struggled with doubt after his dad and two brothers died in a plane crash. By his early twenties, he’d lost his faith. But he found it one night on the frigid streets of Chicago. A stranger gave him a pocket New Testament, and Stephen cracked open the pages. An index said those struggling with anxiety should read Matthew 6:27–34, from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.

Stephen turned there, and the words kindled a fire in his heart. He recalls, “I was absolutely, immediately lightened. I stood on the street corner in the cold and read the sermon, and my life has never been the same.”

Such is the power of Scripture. The Bible is unlike any other book, for it’s alive. We don’t just read the Bible. The Bible reads us. “Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit . . . ; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

Scripture presents the most powerful force on the planet, a force that transforms and leads us toward spiritual maturity. Let’s open it and read it out loud, asking God to ignite our hearts. He promises that the words He’s spoken “will not return to [Him] empty but will accomplish what [He desires] and achieve the purpose for which [He] sent it” (Isaiah 55:11). Our lives will never be the same.

Stop Living As If God Is Dead

Martin Luther was the mighty reformer. He led the Protestant Reformation and was a man of great faith. But Martin Luther, like some of us, was given to fits of despondency and depression. One day, Martin Luther, despite his great faith, became depressed. He got his eyes on the circumstances and the situation rather than on God. And there in his room, he was brooding. There in his room, he was in a state of melancholy. He was looking at his circumstances and the situation, and he wouldn’t come out. His wife’s name was Katharina. She tried to coax him out of the room, but he wouldn’t move.

So, one day she put on a black dress. She put on a black hat. She put a black veil over her face. She put black gloves on and came into that room. She was dressed for a funeral. He looked at her and asked, “Who has died?” She said, “Martin, haven’t you heard? God is dead.” He said, “That’s blasphemy!” She replied, “Yes. And it’s blasphemy for you to be living like He’s dead.”

In response to this experience, Luther wrote the well-known hymn, “A Mighty Fortress.” Some of the words include, “A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing; our helper he, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing.” The hymn goes on to say, “Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing; were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing.” That man is Jesus. And we know all things work together for good, and God is the cause of it. What kinds of things tempt you to take your focus off Jesus and put them on the world around you?How do you typically respond in these situations?

Practice This: Look up the hymn “A Mighty Fortress” today and listen to it two or three times, seeking to meditate on the truth of God’s good purposes in our lives.

Your perspective on life will change and your faith will be strengthened.