BEING A SHEEP

Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.  He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake. 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. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. 

King David had been a shepherd. He knew what it took to care for sheep. His sheep were not “in want” because of anything they did. They were not “in want” because David cared for them at every juncture of their lives, from birth till death. Know this, God knew us before we were ever born and if He is your Shepherd, He has assumed charge over all of life as it concerns you. You Can cast you cares on Him because He cares for you.

 

Even the green grass the sheep ate had been provided for them for David had led them to green pastures. David made his flock lie down so that they could digest what they had already eaten. Sheep can’t eat lying down and in good grass, they can eat so much they make themselves sick. Sheep ruminate like cows do. They bring up what they have eaten and chew their “cud” to get all the nourishment out of the grass. We “feed” on God’s Word and He causes us to meditate in it, memorize it, recall it, think about it. and ask Him to make that Word life to us. When God speaks, the things He says come to pass. We need to avail ourselves of the “green grass” of His Word He has set before us.

 

Sheep cannot drink from fast-moving streams. Their hooves are small and if they slip and fall, their wool becomes water-logged and they will drown as they are pulled downstream. David would dam up a stream with rocks to make the water back-up making a still pool for the sheep to drink in safety. The Lord’s Living Water, the Holy Spirit, lives the Life of Jesus within us. He brings us refreshment and peace and slakes our deepest thirst with His Presence. Our Good Shepherd is the Prince of Peace.

 

Th Lord restores our souls, renewing our minds, reorienting our wills to His perfect will, healing our emotions, and bringing order to them so that He rules over them, in them and through them. They are meant to become instruments of grace and not raging storms that distort and ravage our lives. It is the Lord, our Good Shepherd who brings order, wholeness, and health to our minds, wills, and emotions.

 

David led his sheep in ways that would make for life, so that when others looked at his flock, they could say, “Look at the health and vitality of David’s flock! He is such a good shepherd. See how He loves his sheep!” The Lord God is the One who guides us into the ways of truth and righteousness. The Life He has given us is not a Life we are able to live on our own. We are utterly dependent on Him. He lives out that Life within us and through us. It is not the sheep that decide the direction for their lives. The shepherd does that. When we yield to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, His fruit is produced in us and people can see the character and nature of our Shepherd, brining honor to His name, bringing others into His flock.

 

Even death is not to be feared when you are a sheep of His pasture. He is infinitely greater than anything coming against you; greater than anything that could cause you to fear. The shepherd’s rod was a cudgel, a club-like thing used to beat away wild animals that preyed upon his sheep. His staff had a fire-hardened point on the end, sometimes even given a sharp, metal tip. The other end was shaped like a crook, able to grab a sheep out of danger. Sheep are dependent upon their shepherd for the whole of life and are known to be somewhat stubborn, so the sharp end is used to encourage the forward movement of the sheep when it seems bent on going astray.

 

The safety of belonging to Davi’s flock was that even when preying animals were near, the shepherd’s fire and a hedge of thorns surrounded and protected his sheep in the dark so that were able to eat and rest in peace. God has told us through His Word that “greater is He who is within you than he (the devil and all the forces of spiritual darkness) that is in the world. God’s power and might are infinite, Satan’s power is finite and limited. Jesus has given His sheep authority to overcome all the power the enemy possesses. Even when trouble seems to surround us, we are kept safe in Him.

 

Speaking of the enemy, there was and still is today in the Middle East a certain kind of fly that will crawl into the nose of a sheep and lay its eggs. When the larvae hatch, they crawl up the sheep’s nose and begin to eat on the frontal lobe of the sheep’s brain, driving it insane. A good shepherd would grind Sulphur to power and mix it with olive oil and rub it all over the faces of their sheep, “anointing their heads with oil” to keep the flies out. The semantic word for fly is “zubub”, which may sound familiar if you say it out-loud for Beelzebub means lord of the flies. Our Good Shepherd anoints us with the Holy Spirit, filling us with Life and the power to live that Life with the ability to distinguish between right and almost right so we do not let satanic lies enter our minds to establish strongholds there.

 

What the Good Shepherd give to us in eternal life is not provision in dribs and drabs, but His cup of blessing overflows in us and is destined to flow through us in blessing to others. We are to overflow with the Holy Spirit sloshing over on those God has put in our sphere of influence. In the Hebrew, God’s goodness and covenant love do not merely follow us all the days of our lives. The words literally mean that God’s goodness and mercy shall run us down and overtake us all the days of our lives. Thus, we can know that we do dwell in the Presence of the Lord and that He has made His home in us for all the days of our lives.

 

I will not be in want because of anything I do, but solely because the Lord Jesus Christ is my Shepherd. He has promised to lead, to guide, to correct, to protect, to provide, to feed, to comfort, to sustain, to cover, to shield and to cause me to hear His voice that I may follow Him who is my salvation.