Psalm 23:1
It’s a new year and God has faithfully seen us through 2025 into 2026. But in our human limitations, we do not know what lies ahead of us in 2026. Now because we don’t know the future, we must turn to the one who knows the future and controls it.
Psalm 23 we read is a common Scripture. One of the most recited. And anyone who has had a Christian upbringing, attended Sunday school or gone through our educational system can recite Psalm 23. Perhaps that may have caused familiarity with the text reciting it away as a mere mental exercise.
This morning I want us to look closely at this Chapter to help build some foundation for us to go through the year. So that in our planning, in our dreams, in our strategising, in our new year resolutions, we will look up to God Our Shepherd (that’s our title). In this Psalm, David expresses his confident assurance in God to take care of him. That is what I wish we will leave here with. That we will go away with a confident assurance in God’s care for you. If you are a believer, God cares for you. He loves you. He provides for you. He protects you. His presence will always be with you. He gave his Son to save you. If you are not a believer, God calls you to faith and repentance in Jesus Christ (John 3:16)
Now the picture of a shepherd may not come home easily for us who live in the city and perhaps may never have seen a flock of sheep or cattle led to graze. But when David used this imagery of a Shepherd to describe God, he was speaking of something he has first hand experience of. He was a Shepherd himself who took care of his father’s sheep in the wilderness before he became King. You remember David and Goliath. When David was asked by Saul how he will defeat Goliath, he answered: “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him.” (1Samuel 17:34-35).
These words will help us navigate Psalm 23. Note the verses 1-2a. It gives us a picture of
God’s Provision (v.1-2a)
That is to say, a shepherd provides for his sheep. He feeds them. When David declared “The Lord is my Shepherd” he is expressing his trust and confidence in God’s provision and care for him. This is something you and I can be sure of. God provides and cares for his own. He finds them pasture: “greener pastures” So in this Psalm, David is expressing his confident affirmation of God’s provision over his life.
Is there an area of lack in your life? I am sure the answer is yes. In fact it is a yes for me. Are there unfulfilled desires in your life? Again, I am sure the answer is yes. And it is yes for me. If the answers to these questions are all a yes for you, then I call on us all to trust God for his provision. In any area of your life, dear friend, any area of your life. But there is a danger. The danger of thinking about God’s provision only in material terms. And that’s what we often do in many situation. When you hear of God’s blessings, what are you hearing? Money, riches, cars, marriage for those seeking to marry, visa for some seeking to travel. Dear friends, these pale in comparison to God’s true blessings. They can be considered a blessing. But they are no where near the blessings of salvation provided in Jesus. Anyone who has believed in Jesus is a child of God and these things dont define their worth.
See when David says he will not want, there is also an element of God’s Peace in that language
God’s Peace (vv.2b-3)
“He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul” This is a language of peace and tranquility. The imagery is of a place of quiet and calmness. It’s a picture of comfort. Water was essential in shepherding sheep in the days David lived. After leading the sheep around for grazing, they now need water to cool off from the heat of the day. The shepherd then will take the animals to drink and it is said that they will also have to be washed and cleaned from any wounds they may have sustained.
Now put your mind to it and think about what water does for you in a hot sunny day. It quenches your thirst. It refreshes physically. I guess those of you who know how to swim can identify the calming effect of water. This is what is in view here. The soothing and calming of David’s troubled soul. If you read the Psalms you will see many instances of the emotional struggles of David. Psalm 42 gives us a good illustration of what water does to the troubled soul.
As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and w appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?” (Psalm 42:1-3)
Do you have a sense of what David is experiencing here just by reading this text? There is turmoil in his soul. There is a thirst in his soul that needs quenching. Has any of you been depressed before? Have you ever experienced a long sustained feeling of emptiness in your life? You are troubled, you are confused, you dont know what life holds for you. Maybe everything around you is failing? That’s David. Down in these verses, we see a clearer picture of his situation: he is depressed:
Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you e in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation (v.5)
When life throws all of it’s challenges to us, what do we do? We need peace. We need refreshing and restoration of our souls. We need comfort. We need God. It’s only in him we can find this peace and satisfaction. And this peace is present by faith in Jesus. It is only through faith in Jesus we can find peace with God. And Jesus offers peace to the troubled soul.
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me , for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls . For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light (Matthew 11:28-30).
Do you want rest for your souls? Jesus offers it. See, this imagery of a Shepherd David uses, Jesus applies to himself in John 10.
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep (v.11)
I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me (v.14)
“The Lord is my Shepherd”. That’s personal for David. But can you say that for yourself also? Is the Lord your Shepherd? Do you know him to repeat what David said? You get no benefit from the joy and comfort of this Psalm if you don’t know Jesus because ultimately this Psalm points to Jesus. In him we have satisfaction for our souls. In him we find peace. In him we find joy.
God’s Ways of Purity
Closely related to God’s peace in our life is Purity, that is living holy and obedient lives. A life pleasing to God. And this is also provided by our Shepherd. See, most often, many of our problems in life are self-induced. They are a result of making sinful choices. They are a result of making selfish choices in defiance of God’s command. And in a true sense of biblical teachings, we are all sinners which is the root of all of our problems. Our sinful nature. That is why Jesus came. To die to save sinners. And when sinners have put their trust and faith in Christ, they are saved and reconciled to the Father. And then God by his spirit will leads them in ways of Purity. That’s what is in view in the words: He leads me in paths of righteousness:
Friends, none of us can on our own live lives pleasing to God unless we are trusting in him to lead us. The apostle Paul said it is God who works in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). God requires holiness from his people. And he provides it. This is beautiful. What God requires from us, he provides it. He does it for his glory: for his name sake. Some people tend to make themselves the center of God’s work. They behave as if it’s about them. But dear friends, God works only for the glory of his name and self-exaltation and self-glorification has no place in the scheme of God’s work. So let us humbly submit to God and get out of the way. Let’s learn humility in whatever the Lord does to us. We are never the focus of what God does. He does things for his glory.
God’s Presence (v.4)
Now as we go through the year believing in the Provision and Peace of God, there is something we must not miss. Life comes with challenges. Life comes with difficulties. Life comes with heartbreaks, disappointments, failures, loss, good decisions gone bad, diseases, misfortune …. these are parts of life. I guess that for all of us, we have already had our fair share of these things. And I am sorry to tell you, there’s more ahead. As long as we are in this body, we are not out of the problems of the world.
But there’s comfort.
Look at v. 4. The shepherd, David says is with him in the problems and challenges of life: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” What we have just read speaks of the presence of God. David is assured of God’s presence in the midst of trouble. Brethren, this is a guaranteed promise of Scripture: God has promised never to leave or forsake his people. Jesus also promised his disciples his abiding presence:
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matthew 28:19-20).
Now David is not only assured of God’s Presence but he is also assured of
God’s Protection
“your rod and your staff, they comfort me” “The rod and staff can be broadly categorized as tools of protection and guidance, respectively. The rod warded off predators; the staff was a guiding tool with a hook on one end to secure a sheep around its chest. Only the two tools together provided comfort to the sheep.” (Aaron L. Garriott, Table Talk Article, Thy Rod And Staff).
We are never guaranteed a trouble free life. And David perfectly illustrates this. In his life as King of Israel, he experienced many challenges, but his trust and hope was in God. Dear friend, resolve that as you go through this year, you will trust in the protection of God over your life. This is your comfort. The hedeilberg catchesim asks the question
What is your only comfort in life and in death?
That I am not my own, but belong—body and soul, in life and in death— to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood,and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven;in fact, all things must work together for my salvation. Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal lifeand makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.
Jesus himself suffered for sinners so that he will identify with our suffering. Because he live, you shall live also. Fear no devil, the devil was defeated on the cross. We see a kind of Christianity where people live constantly in fear of what the devil, witches and wizards can do to them. A say that a little dose of biblical understanding will quail away every fear of the devil.
Does this mean all of your needs in life will be provided? No not at all. But the most important thing is that you have God by your side; leading and guiding you through life.
Look at how David expressed this: “I shall not want”. Or “I shall not lack”.
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