MY SHEPHERD … GREEN PASTURES … STILL WATERS

David was perhaps the greatest warrior Israel ever produced. It all began when, as a youth, he killed Goliath with a sling and a stone. During the years David spent as a shepherd, he no doubt practiced with the sling until he could place the stone in exactly the right place. No wonder they sang of David’s greatness, 1 Sam. 18. 7. Yet, the warrior was first a shepherd.

While we do not minimize the importance of Christian fellow­ship, we also recognize how vital it is to have a personal relationship with God. ‘The Lord is my shepherd’. This is empha­sized by the following phrases: ‘I shall not want’, He makes me lie down, He leads me, He restores my soul, I will not fear. These are some of the ways in which the Lord reveals Himself to us as the Shepherd who cares for each one of His own. When individual believers enjoy a strong personal relationship with the Lord, they strengthen the Christian community in general.

The green pastures in verse 2 appear to relate more to rest than to nourishment. However we interpret the phrase, it is the Lord, the Shepherd, who gave both nourishment and rest to the psalmist. This is what God does. From slavery in Egypt to the conquest of Canaan, God was working to give His people rest in the green pastures of their own country - the promised land. God nourishes each one of His children today through His word and, nourished by God’s word, we do find true rest.

Green pastures and quiet waters belong together, a beautiful picture of God’s care of His own. Unlike the constant whirl of activities in our modern world, there is no rush here. Much later, God shared with Israel, ‘in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength’, Isa. 30. 15, but the nation refused the way of blessing, the green pastures and the quiet waters, the rest and nourishment that came from God. The shepherd whom David writes about eventually came down into our world of spiritual restlessness and hunger and declared Himself to be the Good Shepherd. By giving His life for the lost sheep, the Lord Jesus provided the only bread of nourishment and the only water that satisfies both now and forever, John 6. 35; 7. 37.