Today we are reading that most popular Psalm--the Shepherd's Psalm. Sometimes if something is so familiar to us, we don't really find anything new in it so I wondered what I would find to write in my Bible notebook.
Well, I did not need to worry about that! I got to the fourth word in the chapter and just sort of sat on that word for a while! So I ended up choosing verse 1 for the verse I would write down.
"The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want."
Did you see what caught my attention? MY shepherd. Not my parent's shepherd. Not my neighbor's or my friend's shepherd.Not the church's shepherd--mine.
I looked up the dictionary definition of the word "My," and it said "of or relating to me or myself especially as possessor, agent, object of an action, or familiar person. My car, my injuries, my man."
Just to think about Jesus being MY shepherd. For although He may indeed be the shepherd of my parents or neighbor or friend--but if I do not choose Him for myself then He is not mine.
There was a long study note in my Bible at the bottom of the page, so I thought I would share it with you. So everything in the section below is from the study note.
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"I am the Good Shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." "I am the Good Shepherd, and know My sheep and am known of Mine. As the Father knoweth Me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down My life for the sheep."
Again Jesus found access to the minds of His hearers by the pathway of their familiar associations. He had likened the Spirit's influence to the cool, refreshing water. He had represented Himself as the light, the source of life and gladness to nature and to man. Now in a beautiful pastoral picture He represents His relation to those that believe on Him. No picture was more familiar to His hearers than this, and Christ's words linked it forever with Himself. Never could the disciples look on the shepherds tending their flocks without recalling the Savior's lesson. They would see Christ in each faithful shepherd. They would see themselves in each helpless and dependent flock. . .
"He shall feed His flock like a shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom" (Isaiah 40:9-11). David had sung, The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want" (Psalm 23:1). And the Holy Spirit through Ezekiel had declared: I will set up one Shepherd over them, and He shall feed them" (Ezekiel 34:23). . .
Christ applied these prophecies to Himself, and He showed the contrast between His own character and that of the leaders in Israel.
From "The Desire of Ages," by E. G. White p. 476, 477
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I love how Jesus used what was around people in His teaching! So as they went about their daily life they were constantly remembering what He had taught them!
And for today--and every day--I am wanting to remember the lesson I learned from this Psalm. That Jesus is MY Shepherd, and He will take care of me!
Have you claimed Him for your Shepherd?
~Susan
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