Our Good Shepherd
“The LORD is my shepherd; I have all that I need.”
Psalm 23:1 NLT
One of many reasons we believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ is the fact that He took for Himself various names for Jehovah. For example, Jehovah is called the “First and the Last” in Isaiah.
“Who has done such mighty deeds, summoning each new generation from the beginning of time? It is I, the LORD, the First and the Last. I alone am he.” (Isaiah 41:4 NLT)
Jesus is called the “First and the Last” in Revelation 2:8, “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life.“ (NLT)
In Psalm 23:1 Jehovah is called the “Shepherd”, “The LORD is my shepherd; I have all that I need.“ (NLT), and Jesus takes this name for Himself in John 10:11, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep.“ (NLT)
Many other examples of this can be easily found in Scripture.
Perhaps the most beloved title for our Lord is that of the “Good Shepherd”. When David composed Psalm 23 he was a shepherd himself. As such David recognized his responsibility to care for the sheep.
What glorious words of reassurance these ideas are to the anxious Christian. Surely we draw great comfort from repeating this Psalm and then reading the words of Jesus about Himself as the Shepherd in John 10.
He comforts us with these words, “The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice.“ (John 10:3-4 NLT)
We know that Jesus never changes. He’s “the same yesterday, today, and forever.“ (Hebrews 13:8 NLT)
We must make the time to reflect on the descriptions of the Good Shepherd as it applies to us. We must come to Him in prayer and pour out our hearts, expressing our fears, our anxious thoughts, or whatever else troubles us.
“Like a Good Shepherd, Christ cares tenderly for all His believing people. He provides for all their needs in the wilderness of this world, and leads them by the right way to a city of habitation. He bears patiently with their many weaknesses and infirmities, and does not cast them off because they are wayward, erring, sick, footsore, or lame. He guards and protects them against all their enemies; and of those that the Father has given Him He will be found at last to have lost none.“ J.C. Ryle
What greater encouragement do you need to rest safely in His gentle arms and allow Him to be your Good Shepherd?