Psalm 23:1-6 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.… "Shepherd." That precious word for God was uttered first by Jacob — himself once a shepherd — as he lay a-dying in his hieroglyphed chamber; and with the long thoughts of old age went back to the imagery of his early life, speaking of God as having "shepherded him all his life long." All through the Bible the golden thread runs, until in its closing pages we read of the Lamb who leads His flock to the rivers of the waters of life. The Eastern shepherd occupied quite a unique position towards his flock; and a friendship sprang up between him and the dumb creatures of his care to which there is no counterpart among ourselves. He can do almost as he wills with any of them, going freely in and out amongst them, without exciting the slightest symptom of alarm. Now, all this is true of the Lord Jesus, that Great Shepherd of the sheep. 1. He has a shepherd's heart, beating with pure and generous love that counted not His life-blood too dear a price to pay down as our ransom. 2. He has a shepherd's eye, that takes in the whole flock, and misses not even the poor sheep wandering away on the mountains cold. 3. He has a shepherd's faithfulness, which will never fail nor forsake, nor leave us comfortless, nor flee when He seeth the wolf coming. He has a shepherd's strength, so that He is well able to deliver us from the jaw of the lion or the paw of the bear. 4. He has a shepherd's tenderness; no lamb so tiny that He will not carry it, no saint so weak that He will not gently lead, no soul so faint that He will not give it rest. He pities as a father. He comforts as a mother. His gentleness makes great, he covers us with His feathers, soft, warm, and downy, and under His wings do we trust. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: {A Psalm of David.} The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. |
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