The Good Shepherd

The Holy Spirit was directing me to Psalm 23 where David talks about the Lord is his shepherd. I always am so drawn to Scripture that reveals the nature of God, God is light or God is love. While Jesus did not approach every person the same, His nature was always the same and consistent. I have read these verses in Psalm 23 before but I had not gotten a revelation of God as Shepherd. Many times on my journey with the Lord I have felt somewhat lost between my life changing encounters with Him. Fortunately, I have had many encounters with the Lord where He is revealed and my true identity is also revealed. The Holy Spirit began to touch me deep inside when I read the verse, "And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever." Somehow this began to build in me a security that had been missing in all my other relationships in life. I believe David was reaching into the New Covenant to have a taste of the kind of intimacy with God that those who were indwelt by the Holy Spirit would have. The fulfillment of the Lord being our Shepherd comes in John 10:11 when Jesus says, "I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep." As I looked up the meaning for shepherd in the original Greek, I found this explanation of a shepherd "A shepherd in the Near East was responsible for watching out for enemies trying to attack the sheep, defending the sheep from attackers, healing the wounded and sick sheep, finding and saving lost or trapped sheep, loving them, and sharing their lives and to earn their trust." I was struck by what a beautiful picture of the Lord this portrayed and how He relates to us as His sheep. This touched me deeply as I realized the Lord was taking me into a place in my soul where there were many lies of loneliness rooted in experiences in childhood. You naturally want to avoid experiences that are painful in your life but healing our wounds does involve pain but a different kind of pain than living in our wounds. I also have struggled to find rest because as my wife says, "you are always working on something in you." It is such an amazing Good News to receive that we are the righteousness of God in Christ right now and that we are sons and daughters of God. I seem to get caught up in striving to experience that which is already true, rather than to just rest in the finished work of Christ receiving all He has done. This is where know God as shepherd comes in because it is the shepherd that directs the sheep to eat, move pastures, defends them from the attacker, and heals their wounds. A shepherd is a nuturer of the sheep not just a hired hand to watch a bunch of animals. Shepherds in those days were heavily invested in caring for their sheep, even to the extent that Jesus said a shepherd would go after one lost sheep out of his flock of 100. In Psalm 23 it goes on to describe how the shepherd (God) leads the sheep to lie down in green pastures and beside still waters. In other words it is God who leads us to the good places to eat (receive from Him) and brings us beside still waters. If the water is not still then sheep can get swept away in the fast moving water. Both of these are all about God nurturing life in us by receiving the water of His Spirit and fresh revelation (Rhema) Word of God because in Psalm 23 it says that He restores our soul. The question is how does God restore the soul, isn't it through the New Covenant which is in the blood of Christ and executed by the indwelling Holy Spirit. The blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin, or death unified with Christ frees us from the tyranny of sin and the Law, the Life of Christ allows us to live in a new relationship with the Father, and the Holy Spirit leads us into all the truth of our union with Christ and new identity. I pray that God will give you a revelation of Him as your good shepherd (Jesus said only God is good).

In His Amazing Grace,
Bret