❖ Video
❖ Audio (Message)
The Lord Is My Shepherd
(Psalm 23:1)
Mari Ikeda
After finishing our series on the theology of disability and interdependence last month, I thought I would continue our series on the Gospel of John for a while, but I decided to speak from a different passage specially for today. I have a reason for this: I will be giving a short message to a young audience at a university this Wednesday, and in preparing for this message, I thought I would expand on this story in a little more depth at Your Church. The passage I am going to take up is Psalm 23. It is one of my favorite verses in the Bible, and it always brings me back to the starting point of my faith. This time, I would like to focus on just one verse. Let’s read it.
The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing. (Psalm 23:1)
1. What does it mean, “I lack nothing”?
The phrase “I lack nothing” has also been translated as “I shall not be in want.” The meaning of this phrase, as we can see from reading the entire psalm, is not so much about material wealth, but rather about spiritual abundance (or in terms of ability). But this sense of “I lack nothing” was very far from how I felt as a teenager before I came to faith. I thought I was not good at many things, that I was less capable of things than many others, that I was full of lacks.
People say that if you don’t have confidence in yourself, you should work harder at something so that you can have confidence. People also say that you should stop comparing yourself to others and look at your own efforts instead. These things are certainly helpful in maintaining self-esteem. But what the psalmist is talking here is something different from the kind of self-confidence or self-esteem a person should have. Rather, it teaches us that we can live a life of certainty by putting aside our self-confidence and trusting in what is truly trustworthy.
In China, there are two opposing theories about human nature: One believes “man is born good” and the other believes “man is born bad.” The “born good” theory holds that human beings are innately good, and that they are born with a heart of kindness for others and a mind to do good. On the other hand, the “born bad” theory believes that human beings are born bad, that they are naturally self-centered and full of desires. Which do you believe? Probably, although many people would like to believe in the “born good” theory, they feel in reality that humans are innately bad.
The Bible is more like the theory that people are born evil, but it is not entirely that theory either, since God did not create us bad in the beginning. Rather, given that God created man in His own image and that man was initially good, it is also closer to the theory that man is born good.
Then, on which is this Psalm 23:1 based? I think it is the “therefore” that connects “the Lord is my shepherd” and “I lack nothing.” It means, “Because the Lord is my shepherd, I shall never lack.” I can be confident that I will never be in want because the Lord is my shepherd. I think it can be paraphrased this way: “God leads me as His sheep, so I will never lack anything.” In other words, the basis of our confidence is not in ourselves, but in God, our Shepherd.
Thus, the image of man that the Bible teaches is the idea that it is up to us to decide what kind of person we will be. People can be good or bad depending on whether or not they belong to God and whether or not they believe in God’s love. This does not simply mean that Christians are good people and everyone else is bad. There are people who have faith but forget God, and there are people who have no faith but know God’s love. So, in a real sense, a person who knows, from deep within, that they cannot rely on themselves and believes that obeying God is what they need to do, is a person who belongs to God, the state of a person who was originally created “good” by God. Thus, we might say that the Bible focuses less on whether a person is born good or bad, and more on how he or she can regain his or her original goodness.
Isaiah 53:6 explains about this as follows.
2. We are each sheep going our own way
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)
The second half of the verse refers to Jesus, but the first half refers to each of us being like sheep going on our own selfish way. We all forget that we were created by God to be good, and as a result of our selfishness, we are wandering around, not knowing where we are going. We are lost sheep who have lost sight of the shepherd we should be following.
People and sheep are the same, as until they realize they are lost, they are distracted by something and keep moving forward. However, it is only when they realize that what they were following was wrong that they realize that they have come to an unknown place. It would be fine if you could go back the way you came from on your own, but you may get even more lost, or you may get too tired to move.
In the case of our relationship with God, He is the Shepherd who will go anywhere to find His lost sheep and will always find them and bring them back. Jesus said in John 10:11:
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. (John 10:11)
Jesus is a loving shepherd who is willing to give his life to bring back his sheep. It is just as difficult and risky for a shepherd to find and bring back a lost sheep. It is the same kind of hardship that involves going down a steep road, fighting wolves, or being caught in a thunderstorm. In order for God to bring us back to Himself, He first chose the path of becoming a man. Then He accepted the fate of being caught as a sinner, crucified, and killed. The reason why God had to suffer such a severe fate is that the sins of the lost sheep are not light.
Sheep that wander down a selfish path take the sheep around them along for the ride and put them in a dangerous situation. In particular, he may think he knows the right way and involve other sheep as if he were the shepherd. To lose sight of the shepherd to follow and go our own way is not only to put ourselves in danger, but also to confuse those around us. So, the sheep have only one thing to do: return to the shepherd they are supposed to follow.
But then you might ask why God gave us freedom. If He wanted to prevent His sheep from wandering off, all He had to do was put a rope or a chain around their necks so that they would never leave. In other words, the question is why didn’t God create us from the beginning to be only more willful, righteous, and good? The answer to this question is: because love is a matter of free will. God wanted us to return of our own will, believing that where we are meant to be is with Him. Even if the result is that many of us do not return to God and bring suffering to this world, God entrusted us with a choice.
3. The Lord is my good shepherd
I’d like to read Psalm 23:1 again.
The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing. (Psalm 23:1)
These words are also a confession of faith. It is a confession that “I am your sheep and I follow you as my Lord.” It means to admit that we have been a selfish wandering lost sheep, and to believe that God is the Shepherd who knew all about us and came to look for us and found us. Believing this does not change the fact that we are full of deficiencies and make mistakes. Yet, we can still declare, “I lack nothing,” because God is the one who always corrects our mistakes and guides us in the direction we need to go. And no matter how many times we wander off, no matter how far away we are, He is the one who will never give up on us, but will pursue us, find us, and bring us back.
I would like to close by reading a translation of Psalm 23 for children. The book is called “Jesus Storybook Bible” by Sally Lloyd-Jones.
God is my Shepherd
And I am his little lamb.
He feeds me
He guides me
He looks after me.
I have everything I need.
Inside, my heart is very quiet.
As quiet as lying still in soft green grass
In a meadow
By a little stream.
Even when I walk through
the dark, scary, lonely places
I won’t be afraid
Because my Shepherd knows where I am.
He is here with me
He keeps me safe
He rescues me
He makes me strong
And brave.
He is getting wonderful things ready for me
Especially for me
Everything I ever dreamed of!
He fills my heart so full of happiness
I can’t hold it all inside.
Wherever I go I know
God’s Never Stopping
Never Giving Up
Unbreaking
Always and Forever
Love
Will go, too!
(Prayer) Lord Jesus, help us to return to You as Your sheep and as Your children. You are the One who seeks and finds us without giving up, no matter how far we stray from You, no matter how far we go astray. May we trust in that deep love and compassion of yours. There is no one else like you. Please guide us, as we are weak and easily make mistakes. We cannot follow you in our own strength. Please pour your spirit on us and help us. We pray in your name, Lord Jesus. Amen.
Summary
We have many lacks and make many mistakes. We cannot know the future; we can only move forward with uncertainty. But Jesus is the one who has become our Good Shepherd. He is the one who accepts our faults and mistakes and always leads us on the right path. If we live with Jesus, we will know that we lack nothing and that God’s grace and mercy are poured out on us in every situation. Let us listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd.
For Discussion
1. What do you think about the theory that “man is born good” and the theory that “man is born evil”?
2. What does it mean, “I lack nothing”?