Title Is There a Shepherd?
Contents
“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want” (Psalm 23:1).
1. Introduction: People living with spiritual stagnation and scars
- Most people who suffer from spiritual stagnation or the wounds of the past focus on their painful situation rather than the God who renews them. However, spiritual revival, liberation from wounds, and freedom do not appear in proportion to the pain we suffer, but are given to us by God Himself through the absolute hope of looking only at God.
- When we read Psalm 23, we often think of David's shepherd days, but if we look at some of the expressions in the poem, it is likely that it was written in his last years, right after the severe ordeal of running away from Absalom's attack. In this way, the poet is confessing that “the Lord is my shepherd” in the most difficult and difficult period of his life.
2. Main article: Jehovah is my shepherd
1) Usage of the name "Jehovah"
- David confesses in Psalm 23 that the Lord is his shepherd. There is a clear reason why he dared to confess that God is Jehovah instead of saying that he is my shepherd. The name Jehovah is a name revealed especially when God reveals that He does not depend on anyone and that He is self-existent. He also revealed in the name of Jehovah, when revealing His name emphasizes His covenant relationship with His chosen people. Therefore, it can be seen that David's first confession of God as 'Jehovah' is 'my shepherd' was in consideration of the covenant relationship he made with God and with the people of Israel.
2) “my”
- Knowing who God is and experiencing what he has come to know personally through personal encounters with God. We must remember that the God who is professed to be my shepherd is not the God he has heard or learned, but the God he has experienced in his soul and life. Recognition of the true truth is achieved through spiritual experience, and the discovered truth takes hold of our lives when it is experienced in our personality. Experiences not made in the truth always stimulate astute religious zeal and lead us astray and distance our lives from the true character of God.
3) “The Shepherd”
- The poet confesses that Jehovah is his shepherd. And we confirm that we are sheep in this short word shepherd. The ‘sheep’ we think of is temperamentally docile and listens well to people. It is a friendly, clean beast that is well tamed and has a docile temper that does not fight. But in Palestine, the ‘sheep’ is a thoughtless, foolish, stubborn, undisciplined and filthy beast. The defining characteristic of sheep is that they have very poor eyesight, and their teeth are not strong enough to protect themselves.
- The poet came to realize that he was like such a sheep before God. In a single confession of calling God my shepherd, this self-image, situation, and relationship with God are contained at once. He is confessing before God, “God, I am a weak being who cannot live without your protection and guidance.”
4) “There will be no lack”
It was his relationship with God that made him confess that he lacked in all the waves of the world, the trials of faith, and all the deprivations that led him to be tempted, without ceasing to shake his faith. His relationship with God, who regards God as a shepherd, enjoys being under his shepherd's shadow, listens to his voice, and lives in trust with him, made him confess, "I lack nothing."
3. Conclusion: Absolutely Dependent Faith
- As long as God's people are living with their wounds, they cannot be the light of the world. Our desire is not simply to heal our broken emotions or to temporarily forget our wounds, but to go beyond spiritual recovery and to receive divine grace and power from Him to live in this dark world as brilliantly as a flame. Like the poet, only the absolute dependent faith that only God knows me and that I cannot live without His help makes us live in a dark world by faith. Live in this relationship with God the Shepherd.
2003-11-30