‘Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.’ Psalms 23:4(NLT)
‘The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need. He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name. Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me. You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You honor me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings. Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever.’ Psalms 23:1-6(NLT)
‘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. ‘ John 10:3(NLT)
Author: David Bibee
One of the greatest joys of Bible study is catching glimpses, like a flash of inspiration, of Jesus himself concealed under the language of the Old Testament. Psalm 23, perhaps the most beloved passage in the whole Bible, discusses God’s care of his people Israel, as a shepherd who leads them and guides them. Like a shepherd, God led his people out of bondage in Egypt, freeing them from slavery and setting them apart from all the peoples of the earth. But there was coming a greater exodus and a greater revelation of our shepherding God. He would not only lead his people from physical bondage, but from spiritual bondage—slavery to sin and death itself. In Christ, God shows himself to be with us in an unimaginable way. Not a faraway God, but now God in the flesh, who humbled himself by becoming a man, even giving up his life for our salvation.
Each one of us have gone astray, but Christ has compassion on us, like sheep without a shepherd (Matt. 9:36). He came to rescue the wanderers and redeem the lost. Though we were captive to sin and death, Christ came that he could lead us out of darkness and into the light of his kingdom.
He did this not for “those people” out there, but for you—yes, even you. Covered in brambles and unable to escape the thorns, Christ takes his shepherd’s staff, seizes us by grace, and raises us up from sure death to never-ending life. He makes us to lie down in green pastures we would never have found. As we learn to rely upon him, he makes our lives become an oasis of still waters. Even though we walk through the valley of death, our shepherd has overcome the grave so that, one day, even death will hold us no longer. He is the Good Shepherd who “calls his own sheep by name” (John 10:3). Do you hear his call?
from Peace in Difficult Times