Mark Sorensen “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” -Psalm 23:1
What a blessing to speak on the 23rd Psalm yesterday to the church community. This week, I would love to take a few moments to walk through these 6 verses and offer some opportunities to pause and reflect on the qualities of the Shepherd and where it may apply to our lives today. Today, we stop with verse 1, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want”.
Of course, David in the Old Testament is the perfect writer to pen the words to the 23rd Psalm. He grew up a shepherd and understood in a very real way the qualities of what a shepherd should have and understood the care that sheep require to keep them from harm. It’s also interesting that it was King David who also fell so far away from God because of the sin in his life and the mistakes he had made. As a result of these choices, he felt the best option was to go on a “silent retreat” and not speak to God for two years. Take a look at this Read 2 Samuel 11 to get a picture of the whole story. But, here’s the thing. When we move away from God, it doesn’t mean that God doesn’t move with us. We are His sheep and the Good Shepherd will go to great lengths to bring His sheep back into the flock. And this is what God does. He sends the prophet Nathan into King David’s kingdom to call him out on his sin. Now, maybe you have had to make a big presentation at work. Maybe you have had to give an oral report at school. But, I am guessing, Nathan’s task was much more intimidating than anything we might face in our lifetime. Nathan had to stand before the most powerful man in the kingdom and call him out on the sin he had committed with the words, “God knows what you did, David, and He is not pleased.” However, Nathan’s approach was much more subtle and, yet, much more powerful. He didn’t speak to the King. He spoke to the shepherd, David. Read on.
The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.
“Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”
David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! 6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”
Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man!”
Amazing. David, the shepherd, was passionate about the injustice done to the ewe lamb and cried for the rich man to die because of the treatment of the poor man’s lamb. Then, Nathan drops the phrase, “You are the man, David”.
It’s a familiar story and David’s response leads to his repenting of his sins before God and the reminder that God had forgiven him (we mustn’t omit the rest of the story where God doesn’t take away the consequences of the choices David had made. This is huge). But here’s the point in the story my heart drops each time. Read on:
This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. -2 Samuel 12:8
Did you catch that? “And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more.” David was a man after God’s own heart. There is no denying that. And God loved David deeply. Yet, David allowed the things of the world to get in the way of the blessings which God had placed in front of David. And, had it not been enough, God would have given him even more.
And this brings us to today. Let me ask. Where has God blessed you in your life? Can you be content in what God has given you? What are your desires, today? Is there anything that has crept into your life that has gotten in the way of the relationship with God that you were created to be in? “The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want”.
Take some time to let this verse from Psalm 23 speak to you today and then listen to what God says to your heart through the whisper of the Holy Spirit.
Here’s the thing. If you are too busy for God, then you are much busier than He ever intended for you to be.
