The Lord is My Shepherd

I am always amazed at how familiar certain passages in Scripture become to me, and how I can then read them and never think about what God is saying through them.

Passages like Jesus’ birth, Jesus crucifixion, and many of Jesus’ parables. But the one that most people know is Psalm 23. We have heard it at funerals and so when we read it, we really don’t hear it.

Psalm 23:1

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

God is our shepherd. God as our shepherd provides what we need so that we will have no wants. He will satisfy us with all that we need, and our needs are what we really want.

In Matthew 6:33 Jesus tells us to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added to us. “All these things” refers to what Jesus mentions in verses 25-32 which are our needs. When we acknowledge Jesus as all that we need, He gives us our daily needs.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is making Jesus our everything and trusting Him to meet our needs.

Psalm 23:2-3

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.

God as our shepherd makes us lie down in green pastures. “Makes” means enables. God enables us to stretch out and relax.

God as our shepherd leads or guides us beside still waters. Sheep will not drink from water that is not still; they will run away from it. God guides us into peace.

God as our shepherd leads us into paths of righteousness. God guides us to live out the righteousness that He has given us through Jesus at our surrendering our lives to His authority.

God does this all for His name’s sake so that His name is honored and exalted.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is being enabled by God to experience security, peace, and to live out the righteousness that He has declared us to be.

Psalm 23:4

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.

God as our shepherd will walk with us through the most difficult days of our lives. He will use his rod, which is a weapon to beat back a predator. Satan is described as a roaring lion prowling around looking for someone to devour. God as our shepherd defeats Satan for us. He will use His staff to deliver from the predator. God will defeat Satan and deliver us from Satan’s power.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is trusting God to protect us by defeating our enemy and rescuing us from his power.

Psalm 23:5

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

The table that God our shepherd provides is the abundance of His love and grace which leads to complete satisfaction. The table is not among friends but among our enemies. God’s abundance and satisfaction is not when we are living in comfort but when we are living in a fallen and broken world among fallen and broken people. It is a love that nothing can separate us from. It is a grace that nothing in this world can overcome. It is a satisfaction that no person can rob from us.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing the abundance of God’s love and grace and, even in a broken and fallen world, experiencing satisfaction.

Psalm 23:6

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

God as our shepherd promises goodness and mercy and an eternal place to live in.

God’s goodness and mercy are extended to all humans and, if we believe Him and receive Him as the Savior and Lord of our lives, we will live forever in a place that He has created just for us.

God as our shepherd is our God of all sufficiency. He will provide all that we need.

With God as My Shepherd Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                                    Joe