My Shepherd

 A psalm of David.

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. (Psalm 23:1-3)

Before we launch into comparing ourselves with David as he describes himself in this passage, we need to remember that there are also times when he laments his sinfulness and when he whines at God, calling on God to shatter the teeth of his enemies. Today’s passage is the “mountaintop” and the circumstances we believe we want, but it wasn’t even David’s reality all the time.

At the same time, it was David’s reality, and ours. As we read it, we think of living a pleasant pastoral life, wandering from pasture to brook along pleasant, well-tended trails. If you read a shepherd’s understanding of what the psalm says, it’s all stuff that sheep need for their well-being. A good shepherd would do these things. But, He makes me…He leads me…He guides me. The Lord, as our shepherd, imposes His will on us. It’s for our good, but decides who, what, when, where, why, and how and we tend to resent it, especially when the Shepherd doesn’t provide us with all the answers in advance, in triplicate, to get our approval. He makes sure we get what we need, not necessarily what we want.

At the same time, He doesn’t impose His will. It’s not “You will do what I say because I say so.” If He imposes anything, it’s His love. He makes us rest. He leads us to clean water. He guides us along paths that ultimately lead us to safe places. He doesn’t employ a leash or chain. In fact, He’s shown us that a leash or chain (the Law) doesn’t work.

As I think about life as a sheep, one of the things that comes to mind is that part of how we learn that the shepherd is trustworthy is by experience – ours, and those of the other sheep around us. We need other Christians, pastors, and teachers. Another thought is that we face dangers not only from wolves but also from dogs that claim to belong to the shepherd but seek to control the herd for their own benefit.

When I have heard the Shepherd’s voice and followed, it wasn’t easy, but it was good and right. The odd thing about His voice to me is that it often isn’t in an expected direction. I didn’t start out thinking I’d stay single. I never thought I’d go back to school. I never thought I’d spend years taking care of Dad and snowbirding. I’d made up my mind that I would keep going to Florida, then He said “Nope. Time to stop.” I didn’t think I’d get serious about gardening, let alone joining the Master Gardeners or getting another retail job, at a farm, and like it. I fully expect that whatever the next “exit” is, I wouldn’t have predicted it, either. But when you have a Shepherd, you have someone who is taller and wiser, and that makes all the difference.