The Lord is My Shepherd

Psalm 23 is undoubtedly one of the best-known passages in all the Bible. Most of us learned it as children and it continues to be a comfort to those who are dying, or those who have lost loved ones. Maybe it’s so well-loved because it is so personal and individual. When we read it, we don’t think of David shepherding his sheep 3,000 years ago. It applies to us. "The Lord is my shepherd" (v. 1).

Unfortunately, we live in a society where tending sheep is not your ordinary occupation. In fact, I dare say that most of you don’t even know a shepherd, much less are familiar with what a shepherd’s life is really like. And so, I think we have a tendency to lose a little bit of the meaning that David intended when he wrote these words.

This morning, some of what I will be sharing with you concerning the life of a shepherd has come from a book by Philip Keller. Philip grew up and lived in East Africa where he was surrounded by sheep herders similar to those in the Middle East. As a young man he spent eight years of his own life as a sheep owner and sheep rancher. So the insights that he is able to bring into the subject will, I think, help us to understand what David probably felt as he wrote these words, "The Lord is my shepherd."