Psalm 23 – He is My Good Shepherd
By Bunni Pounds
This is the Psalm that everyone knows, everyone recites by memory, and it is quoted at every funeral and memorial service in America. I grew up reciting it as a Pastor’s kid and to be honest didn’t spend much time thinking about it - UNTIL life took a turn and life’s pressures beat down on my soul. It was during my father’s seven weeks of brain cancer before he went to heaven OR in the aftermath of on Congressional race in 2018 after feeling loss, rejection, and failure that these precious words came alive.
The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want. (Verse 1)
The Lord is MY shepherd. This is a personal God who doesn’t leave me or forsake me. He cares about me – my pains and losses. He can be personal to all of us.
With all the failure of leadership in our modern world from pastors, to bosses, to political leaders, to friends – the idea that God is our ultimate Shepherd and leader can bring so much comfort. Keeping our eyes on Jesus as the ultimate Good Shepherd takes perseverance but it is what carries us through. The revelation that if everyone in our life disappoints us and fails us – Jesus will never fail us – is stability for our hearts.
He is also the Good Father who will provide and take care of us. He will not let us “want” for what we need. Just like He cares about the sparrows and the lilies of the valley – He is faithful to cloth us and feed us. Our Faithful God provides for our needs, so we don’t have to worry and fret about it. That is a beautiful promise here in the Word of God that can bring mental stability for years of living and break off anxiety in our hearts.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake. (Verses 2-3)
I am an overachiever. Everyone in my life knows that. I love to work and to get things done. As a visionary and one who will keep moving constantly – these verses speak REST to me loudly - “He MAKES me to lie down…..in green pastures” I can just see the hand of the Lord FORCING me to lie down and leading me beside my favorite beautiful pastures in East Texas and leads me beside still waters – a calming creek - that shimmers with peace.
He is such a Good Father that he forces me into a place of rest that I wouldn’t choose for myself, but He knows what is best for me. In the middle of that place of peace and rest – He restores my soul.
I have shared in my book Enduring to the End about my soul’s recovery from running for Congress. I was so messed up. I had so much bitterness in my heart that I couldn’t see the forest for the trees. I knew the Lord was calling me to sit in a prayer room in Dallas, but my heart was so hard that it was torturous and painful on so many levels. My Heavenly Father “made me lie down in green pastures” and over the process of a couple weeks – He “restored my soul”. I became a different person than I had been in the aftermath of that season of loss and I left my hardened heart on the floor of that prayer room.
All of us experience loss in our lives - but if we don’t allow God to restore our souls – the disappointment, pain, and feelings of abandonment can really mess up our hearts until we become unpleasant and unhappy people. We don’t want to remain there. We want to let God restore our souls.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. (Verse 4)
Our greatest fear as humankind is the fear of death. One of the greatest benefits of walking with God and knowing Him is that our fear of death starts subsiding. The Apostle Paul in the New Testament calls it “our glorious hope.” that we will never die and that Jesus is coming back to be with us forever. I love that terminology of the “glorious HOPE”, because our fear is being transformed into HOPE as we renew our minds to the Word of God.
If we have experienced the death of someone we love – The Holy Spirit comforts us by His power. He is the Great Comforter. When we are facing death ourselves, He walks with us through the “valley of the shadow of death”. We get to see Jesus – face to face – and knowing that we will never really die - gives us the comfort that breaks off the spirit of fear.
There are so many other promises here in this text that goes beyond the fear of death and can bring us so much comfort
We don’t have to fear evil.
God is always with us.
Even when we are disciplined by God – that correction actually brings comfort to us.
In a world where evil is manifesting all around us – on twitter, in our downtown streets, and on our news channels – we don’t have to fear evil, because God is always walking with us.
Our loving Father also will not leave us in our sin and immaturities, but He will lead us by his “rod and staff” into a place of fruitfulness. This is how good God He is - He will not leave us in the same way that He found us.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. (Verse 5)
Nothing is wasted with God – even our “enemies”. He uses the most uncomfortable place to be in – being hated by others - and places a table in the middle of it to feed us more revelation of who He is. In the middle of persecution and suffering is so much LIFE and HOPE.
In the modern church – we run from these conversations about suffering, we would rather talk about fluffy, feel good Christianity. The problem is when we don’t prepare the new Christ followers that we are leading into the Kingdom of God with the full picture of walking with God – we are not giving them the full gospel. We will go through suffering, persecutions, pain, loss, and hardship as believers in Jesus – BUT the promise is - He will be with us in the middle of it. He will feed us new revelations of who He is in the midst of it all. That is what sustains us and carries us through, not the lack of suffering and loss.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
Forever. (Verse 6)
When Tim and I got married many years ago – our spiritual father, Danny, who discipled us - read this scripture over us at our wedding reception. He read it as a prophetic word that God’s goodness and mercy would follow us. His “goodness and mercy has followed us” in the Pounds family and I am so thankful!
In many seasons of life – God’s goodness has been felt with many more gifts than we deserve and in other seasons of life – His mercy has been manifested when we really needed it in our weaknesses to carry us through. In the middle of our family’s history – Jesus’ presence has filled our life and our home as a family. God has never let us go! He has been faithful, and we have had the privilege to walk with HIM – our Good Shepherd for not just weeks or months, but decades.
To many people, Psalm 23, is just a beautiful poem, a historical document, or inspirational thought when they are in hard times, but if we ask God for revelation into this Psalm – our Good Shepherd becomes a real person who walks and talks with us. This Good Father carries us, comforts us, and leads us through the valleys of life back to the mountain top. He is alive and He is real!
“I shall not want” – because I have HIM – Jesus.
Political Corner: As a person who has had a career in politics – Psalm 23 has been extremely precious to me. I constantly need my soul restored. I constantly have enemies because of the nature of what I do helping people win races. I don’t want enemies – that is not who I am, but it is, unfortunately, part of my chosen profession. I am constantly asking God for my “table” (revelation of Jesus) in the midst of my enemies and asking Him to help me respond differently than the world would in any given situation. Politics and government is a hard profession to walk in as a believer, but Jesus has showed Himself faithful as my Good Shepherd and kept me on the narrow path of following Him.
I encourage every follower of Jesus who gets involved in political activism to realize the importance of this work, be salt and light in the midst of a dark culture, but also stay in the Word of God and be diligent to watch over your soul while you engage in the fight. Be quicker than most to run to God with any measure of offense in your own heart. Do not let it fester!
With more responsibility and a platform comes more of a burden on us as Christians to walk out our faith in front of others – even our “enemies”. I take that responsibility very seriously and I encourage you – to run often and quickly to the Good Shepherd as you navigate extremely hard terrain in the world of politics.
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