The Lord Is My Shepherd

The Lord is my shepherd — I shall not want. Six words in the Hebrew. Six words that have comforted more people in more places across more centuries than perhaps any other sentence ever written. David knew what a shepherd did. He had been one. He knew the early mornings and the long days. He knew the smell of sheep, the weight of the staff, the vigilance required. And he looked at that relationship — the shepherd and the sheep — and he said: that is what God is to me. I shall not want. Not I have everything I want. Not God gives me everything I ask for. But: in his care, I lack nothing essential. He makes me lie down in green pastures. A shepherd has to make a sheep lie down — sheep will not rest if they are frightened, or if there is conflict in the flock, or if there are flies, or if they are hungry. Four conditions must be met. The shepherd meets them all. He leads me beside still waters — because sheep will not drink from rushing water. They need still water. God knows what we need and he provides it in the form we can actually receive. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death — this is the psalm that does not flinch. It does not pretend there are no valleys. It says: in the valley, you are with me. Your rod and your staff — they comfort me. Jesus in John 10 picks up this imagery and says: I am the Good Shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. David's shepherd psalm finds its fulfilment in a shepherd who died for his flock.