We can be assured, however, that our Shepherd will lead us in the right path. Sheep are creatures of habit with a tendency to go the same way to the same pastures until the pastures are worn out leaving nothing to eat. I can see Jesus coming to us as the Good Shepherd, turning us right side up and placing us on our feet. Maybe the word “downcast” describes our despair, discouragement and our helplessness as we wander away from God and get into serious trouble. In England the shepherd’s term for this condition is “casting.” A “cast” sheep will lie for days and even sometimes die on its back if it doesn’t get help. Sometimes a sheep, because of its center of gravity, will turn over on its back and be unable to get up by itself. There is an exact parallel found in the world of sheep. The words “He restores my soul” indicate that even in the wonderful care of our Shepherd, the still water and the green pastures, there are times when we will need to be restored, repaired and renewed. It is in another psalm where we find the words, “Be still and know that I am God.” God is found in the “still waters.” Many times it is in the stillness of the early morning in which we find the quenching of our thirst as we open our hearts to God in devotion and prayer. Their only source of water is the dew found on the grass in the early morning. Sometimes, however, the sheep may go for days without water. The shepherd will often dam up the fast moving water of a creek to form a quiet, still pool. We find that sheep prefer the “still water” of a stream. It is then when we become free to “lie down in green pastures.” Since we are his spiritual sheep, Jesus, our Shepherd, can take away from us fear, the tension between and among each other, the aggravations of things that “bug” us, and he can satisfy the hunger that we have for heavenly things. Sheep will not lie down if they are afraid, if there is conflict among other sheep, if bothered by insects or parasites, or if they are hungry. “He makes me lie down in green pastures” gives us a picture of rest and assurance. However, as his sheep and as followers of Christ, we are not guaranteed immunity from the “knocks” of life and the problems of living in a flawed world, but we can claim a Shepherd who will provide all our needs. So if the Lord is my Shepherd, then “I shall not want.” There is nothing that is lacking in my life and nothing that I desire that he cannot provide within his will and within his time table. “I belong to my Shepherd because he created me as the object of his affection, he bought me back when I turned against him in sin, and he continually cares about me.” “The Lord is my Shepherd” implies a profound yet practical working relationship between a person and the Creator and Savior. David, a shepherd boy, the author of this psalm and later to be known as the Shepherd King of Israel, writes as a sheep would think and feel about his/her shepherd. But in all reality these verses can provide comfort for our everyday living and support for our daily faith journey.
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