The Lord is My Shepherd - Conclusion

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, 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 your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. Psalms 23:1‭-‬6 NIVUK https://bible.com/bible/113/psa.23.1-6.NIVUK So we see then that David enjoyed five privileges accorded by his position before God: favour, anointing, fullness, blessing and dwelling in the house of the Lord forever. We've also seen that all five are available to us through Jesus Christ, if the Lord is truly our shepherd. He doesn't just give us the means to get through life's troubles. He also gives us something to look forward to, to aim at, to have as a reason to live: an eternal life with Him in heaven. This is why we must have the Lord as our shepherd. So we see that our attitude is changed towards four important aspects of life when the Lord is our shepherd: provision, direction, affliction and our position before God. If you believe this is a pearl among the psalms then I will not disagree with you. But a pearl is not formed in a laboratory. No. A pearl is formed when a clam opens its jaws to feed and a small grain of sand is swept in by the tide. The clam has no control over the tide. It cannot stop the grain of sand. Instead, scientists believe it feels irritation and pain. They believe that the pearl is formed around the grain of sand because of this pain. Something valuable and beautiful is formed from a seemingly out of control situation that causes suffering. This psalm is formed out of pain. It is formed out of hostility. It is formed out of adversity. And it is in this adversity that it shines brightest. It is in this adversity that the truth of the Lord of our shepherd is most needed. We need Him to provide for us just as much as we need to maintain a right attitude towards it. We need His direction through the desert of our suffering. We need to understand that He is with us in our affliction to defend and deliver us. We need to never lose sight of our position before Him. Making the Lord our shepherd in the middle of this crisis requires us to recognise that He knows best and to submit to His wisdom and leading. David was king of Israel and had no difficulty doing so. My heartfelt prayer is that we would also submit to His leading and make Him our shepherd too.