Friday, July 22, 2016
Psalm 23:1 The Lord is my shepherd.
NAME LIKE NO OTHER
When you read the title of this devotion and the Bible verse from Psalm 23, what's the first thought that popped into your head? Was it perhaps this, that the name "shepherd" is one of the most beautiful names for Jesus in all the Bible? It's packed to the hilt with comfort and meaning for my life as a dear sheep of His.
All that is wonderfully true. But did you know that in this psalm the emphasis David intends to give is on another name like no other. He wishes to impress on us that it is the faithful covenant God, the LORD (Jehovah), who is the dear Shepherd and Overseer of our souls. The LORD who keeps His word unfailingly. The LORD who deals with His children in unwavering love, not according to what our sins deserve.
What a comfort to know it! Living as we do in a world where so many phony shepherds have arisen. False prophets like Mohammed who have promoted their own, humanly-devised fables about who the true God is, what His will is for our lives, and how we are saved. Heterodox churches which like to morph the message of God's pure Gospel into a message that coincides with what our modern culture thinks. The ungodly world with its soul-destroying siren song of "live for the present, who cares about eternity"?
In the midst of all the false shepherds and deceptive voices, we may take heart! Why? Because the LORD is our shepherd! He’s the One leading us, providing for us, protecting us, lending us good guidance by the rod and staff of His infallible Word. With the LORD as our shepherd truly we lack nothing for happiness through the days of our years on earth. Ultimately He'll shepherd us to springs of living water before His heavenly throne.
Knowing this, we may live each day with the confidence: "Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever" (Psalm 23:6). We may sing with a heart of contentment:
The LORD my Shepherd is, I shall be well supplied.
Since He is mine and I am His, What can I want beside?
(The Lutheran Hymnal, 426:1)
