Three thousand years have passed away since the sweet singer of Israel first sang this psalm about the shepherd
care of God. Thirty centuries! It is a long time. And in that vast abyss all the material relics of his life, however
carefully treasured, have mouldered into dust.
The harp, from the strings of which his fingers swept celestial melody; the tattered banner, which he was wont
to uplift in the name of the Lord; the well-worn book of the law, which was his meditation day and night; the huge
sword, with which he slew the giant; the palace chamber, from which his spirit passed away to join the harpers
harping with their harps, all these lie deep amid the debris of the ages.
But this psalm, though old as the time when Homer sang, or Solon gave his laws, and though trodden by the myriads
of men in every succeeding age- is as fresh to-day as though it were just composed. Precious words! They are the
first taught to our children, and perhaps the Holy Child Himself first learned to repeat them in the old Hebrew
tongue beside his mother's knee in Nazareth; and they are among the last that we whisper in the ear of our beloved
ones, standing in the twilight between the darkening day of earth and the breaking day of heaven. The sufferer
in the sick-chamber; the martyr at the stake; the soldier on his sentry duty; the traveller amid many perils; the
Covenanter; the Huguenot; the Vaudois, these, and a multitude which no man can number, have found in these words
a lullaby for fear, an inspiration to new life and hope. "The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want."
The Lord
It is printed in small capital letters, and wherever that is the case we know that it stands for the mystic word
JEHOVAH. And so much in awe did the Jews stand of that awful name that they substituted for it some lesser word
of God wherever it occurred in their public reading of sacred Scripture. Only once a year was it pronounced, and
that on the great day of Atonement, by the high priest in the most holy place.
Jehovah means the Living One, the self-existent Being, the I AM; He who was, and is, and is to come, who inhabiteth
eternity, who hath life in Himself. All other life, from the aphid on the rose-leaf to the archangel before the
throne, is dependent and derived. All others waste and change and grow old; He only is unchangeably the same. All
others are fires, which He supplies with fuel; He alone is self-sustained. This mighty Being is our Shepherd. Lift
up your heart to Him in lowly adoration, and say, "Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, Thou that leadest Joseph
like a flock; Thou that dwellest between the cherubim, shine forth."
But as we travel in thought down the ages we meet a gentle, weary Man, on whom the shadow of coming sorrow hangs
darkly. He is speaking within a few miles of the spot where these words had been first uttered some twelve hundred
years before. Is it treason? Is it blasphemy? Is it the raving of lunacy? No; with all the marks of self-possession
and sober truth, He takes up these very words, and applying them to Himself, He says,
I Am The Good Shepherd
Combine these two, the august word for the everlasting God, and the tender word for the Saviour, and we have a
worthy title for our Lord, Jehovah-Jesus. Let us read it into our psalm, and say, with a new appreciation of its
meaning, "Jehovah-Jesus is my Shepherd." What need can we have which may not be met by this twofold nature?
As Jehovah He has all power; as Jesus all sympathy. As Jehovah He sustains all worlds; as Jesus He ever liveth
to make intercession. As Jehovah He is sovereign Lord of all; as Jesus He still treads the pathways of this world
by our side, whispering sweetly and softly in our ears, "Fear not, little flock."
Shepherd
That precious word for God was uttered first by Jacob,- himself once a shepherd, as he lay a-dying in his hiero-glyphed
chamber, and with the long thoughts of old age went back to the imagery of his early life, speaking of God as having
"shepherded him all his life long." All through the Bible the golden thread runs, until in its closing
pages we read of the Lamb who leads His flock to the river of water of life.
The Eastern shepherd occupied quite a unique position towards his flock, and a friendship sprang up between him
and the dumb creatures of his care to which there is no counterpart among ourselves. Let us think ourselves into
that relationship. In the early morning he would lead his flock from their fold to the pasture-lands. All day he
must closely watch, lest harm should come to them from prowling beasts of prey or robber hordes. To the still waters
he must lead them, that they may drink where no current shall frighten or endanger them, and at night he must conduct
them back to the security of the fold. At a certain season of the year he must lead them yet farther afield, far
away from his own home and the haunts of men, where he will live among them, scorched by the heat at noon, and
drenched by the dews at night. Should one of the lambs be unable to keep pace with the rest of the flock, he must
carry it in his bosom. Should one of the flock go astray, he must search for it until he finds it, tracking it
by the tufts of wool left in the briers and thorns. Should danger assail, he must be. prepared to risk his life.
Shepherds in the East look like warriors armed for fight, the gun slung over the shoulder, pistols at the belt,
and club in hand.
Living on such terms, the shepherd and his flock are almost friends. They know him, and answer to their names.
Some always follow close behind him, as his especial favourites, sure of his love. He can do almost as he wills
with any of them, going freely in and out among them without exciting the slightest symptom of alarm.
Now all this is true of our Lord Jesus, that Great Shepherd of the sheep. He has a shepherd's heart, beating with
pure and generous love that counted not His life-blood too dear a price to pay down as our ransom. He has a shepherd's
eye, that takes in the whole flock, and misses not even the poor sheep wandering away on the mountains cold. He
has a shepherd's faithfulness, which will never fail, nor forsake, nor leave us comfortless, nor flee when He seeth
the wolf coming. He has a shepherd's strength, so that He is well able to deliver us from the jaw of the lion,
or the paw of the bear. He has a shepherd's tenderness, no lamb so tiny that He will not carry it; no saint so
weak that He will not gently lead; no soul so faint that He will not give it rest. He pities as a father. He comforts
as a mother. His gentleness makes great. He covers us with His feathers, soft and warm and downy; and Under His
wings do we trust.
Ah, He has done more! "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way."
Punishment and disaster were imminent; but Jesus, from His throne in eternity, saw the danger, and was filled with
compassion for the multitudes which were as sheep not having a shepherd. Therefore, because He was the Shepherd,
He offered to give His own life as the substitute; and God laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Then was heard the
terrible summons, "Awake, O sword, against my Shepherd, and against the Man that is my fellow, saith the Lord
of hosts: smite the Shepherd." "He laid down His life for the sheep," and thus redeemed the flock
by the blood of the everlasting covenant. Praise Him! Praise Him!
"My." What a difference comes in with that little word my! "The child is dead!" said one of
the farm-servants, who had carried the sick boy to his mother; "My child is dead!" said the mother. "This
estate is well known to me; I have trodden every mile of it from childhood," so speaks the gray-headed bailiff;
"This is my estate," thus speaks the heir. So in religion the difference between knowledge and appropriation
is simply infinite. It makes all the difference between being saved or lost whether you say, "Jesus is a Saviour,".
or "Jesus has saved me;" whether you say, "The Lord is a Shepherd" or "The Lord is my
Shepherd; I shall not want." Even if, like Thomas, you could see the Saviour in the clear light of reality,
and have every doubt removed, and His hands offered to your touch, yet it would avail you but little unless you
could appropriate Him by saying, "My Lord and my God."
Jesus waits to be appropriated. He is not content to be a Shepherd, a Good Shepherd, the Shepherd of the holy angels,
the Shepherd and Bishop of countless redeemed ones. His travail over you will not be satisfied till you put your
hand on him and say, "My Shepherd." And you may do that if you will. There is nothing to hinder you.
Do not tarry to inquire if you are one of His sheep; look away from yourself to Him, and see if He be not well
qualified to be your Shepherd. And the first cry of "MINE!" on your part will be a certain indication
that you are included in that flock which He is leading through many a tangled brake to the one fold of heaven.
"The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want."
I Shall Not Want
Amid' all the sorrow and want of the world the Lord's sheep are well supplied. The cry of the worldling is contained
in the weary confession, "I perish with hunger." But the boast of the saint rings through the glad assurance,
"My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." His hired servants
have bread enough and to spare'; how much more His own! "The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they
that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing."
Your experiences may seem to contradict that glad announcement; but perhaps you have not by faith sought and appropriated
the supplies which have been placed ready to your hand; or you have not made your requests known unto God with
prayer and supplication; or your hour of need has not yet fully come; or you have misunderstood your real need,
and are asking for something which would do you harm. In one of these directions you must seek the reason of the
apparent disparity between these glad, triumphant words and your own experience. For it is true for evermore that
"there is no want to them that fear Him." He is able to make all grace abound, and He does make all grace
abound. To Him be the glory for ever and ever.
Oh, bind this bright assurance to your heart; and whatever perils may menace and threaten you, whatever wants may
assail, go forward, stepping out into the dark, encouraging your heart by this sweet refrain: "The Lord is
my Shepherd; I shall not want."