Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
I want to take a moment and just point out the beauty of this passage. All throughout the Psalms we see this poetic voice that the psalmist uses to talk about God and, honestly, just about life. Today, if you’re feeling anxious, worried, stressed, even maybe depressed a little bit, I want to encourage you to turn to the Scriptures whenever those emotions come, because the Psalms actually teach us that emotions aren't a bad thing. They're a God-given thing.
God as Our Shepherd
Here we see the Lord described as the Good Shepherd. I don't know about you, but when I hear God as a Shepherd, I kind of think, I don't know if that even matches with some of the other names of God. I mean, He's described as being a mighty warrior, described as being a king, and described as being a strong and mighty tower. A shepherd seems simple. What I love about this illustration is that the jobs of a shepherd really correlate to the needs of the sheep.
You and I are a little bit more like sheep than maybe we would like to admit. We easily get lost. We easily get distracted. We can be needy, and we can need really someone to take care of us and to lead us and to guide us throughout life.
The Shepherd Provides
One of the things that a shepherd does is, number one, he provides. The Scripture says, "The LORD is my Shepherd. I have all that I need. He lets me rest in green pastures"—or green meadows. What is a pasture? What is a meadow? Why does a sheep need that? Well, for sheep, the pasture or the meadow is their food. It's the way they survive. The shepherd's job is to lead them not to dead grass, but to healthy grass. Why? So that they can have sustenance to live on.
The Lord operates the same way with us. He leads us into His presence. He provides the peace. He provides the comfort. He provides everything that we need. We live in a culture that may run to social media, or run to money, or may run after things like fame and success, to try to fill the void and provide the spiritual sustenance that we know only the Lord can provide. The Lord is described as the Good Shepherd because He is our Provider.
The Shepherd Leads
What else does a shepherd do? Well, not only does he provide, but he also leads. The text says this: "He leads me beside peaceful streams." In every relationship, somebody is leading and somebody is following. The question is, in your relationship with the Lord, which are you? Are you a wannabe shepherd, or are you a willing sheep?
God, as our Shepherd, is the One who leads and guides us into places of peace. We know we live in a world that's full of anxiety and worry and fear, and yet the promise of the Scripture is that the good Shepherd leads us beside peaceful streams. You know, Proverbs chapter 16 and verse 9 says this: "A man makes his plans, but the LORD determines his footsteps."
What that means is you and I can make all the plans we want, but ultimately, the Lord, as our Shepherd, is the one who leads and guides and directs our lives. Oftentimes, we can have the tendency to want to go our own way or make our own path. But I want to encourage you today to submit to the Lord, to look to His Word, to listen to His Spirit, to listen for the voice of the good Shepherd who wants to lead you in the right direction.
The Shepherd Renews
Lastly, a shepherd renews—or he refreshes. The text tells us that "He renews my strength." You know, as I was looking into what a shepherd does, there's this thing a shepherd does called restoring cast sheep. What that means is any time a sheep would fall over on its side, the shepherd would come and actually roll it onto its back and begin to massage the legs to bring circulation and to prevent the sheep from being worn out or too exhausted to stand back up again.
Isn't that what the Lord does for us? That any time we fall, any time we slip, He refreshes our soul and He renews our strength to get back up again.
