The Wisdom Journey

Following the Best Shepherd Ever (Psalm 23:1-3)

• Stephen Davey

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Start with a familiar line—“The Lord is my shepherd”—and watch it open into a fuller, sturdier vision of life with God than most of us expect. We explore how David’s joy in Psalm 23 confronts a restless world and reframes our deepest needs: guidance when we’re disoriented, protection when fear spikes, provision for the hunger that no achievement quiets, and restoration when we’re flat on our backs. Instead of slogans, we trace the concrete images of green pastures and still waters, showing how the Good Shepherd removes the barriers to rest by meeting real needs—safety, sustenance, and a settled heart.

We dig into the name behind the care: Yahweh, the “I AM,” who needs nothing and yet meets everything we truly need. That paradox reshapes “I shall not want” into a claim about sufficiency, not scarcity. Along the way, we translate ancient shepherding into everyday discipleship: why skittish hearts calm when they see the Shepherd, how “still waters” protect us from noisy currents that pull us under, and what it means to be a cast sheep desperately in need of rescue. Then we mark the wagon tracks of righteousness—integrity, truth, purity, honesty—as the recognizable path He leads us on for His name’s sake.

The thread running through it all is personal: “The Lord is my shepherd.” That one word—my—turns theology into trust and turns a beloved psalm into a roadmap for Monday morning. We end with a simple invitation: if the grass really is greener with the Good Shepherd, let’s say so. Share this episode with someone who’s anxious, tired, or thirsty for something real. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell us: which line from Psalm 23 steadies you today?

The first of Stephen's two volumes set through the Book of Revelation is now available. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FQ3XCJMY

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SPEAKER_00:

Today on this wisdom journey through the Bible, we stop at what is probably the most famous and popular psalm, Psalm 23. Don't let its familiarity keep you from discovering what God wants to teach you today. We who know Jesus Christ, follow the Good Shepherd, who leads us and provides for us thoroughly and compassionately. We need nothing else. In him we find true satisfaction. Stephen called this lesson, following the best shepherd ever.

SPEAKER_01:

Every time I read Psalm 23, it reminds me of how badly our world needs a shepherd. It might be news of uprisings, rioting, corruption among world leaders, might be war between different countries. Whatever it is, I'm reminded all over again how desperately the world is in need of a shepherd, staggering around today morally, ethically, spiritually, confused. The world needs a leader who knows the way to purpose and meaning and hope in life and can assure us of those things. Well, let me tell you, there's only one shepherd who qualifies to do all of that. Now, as David begins this great psalm, he's really sort of bubbling over with joy. He says here in verse 1, the Lord is my shepherd, as if to say, I gotta introduce to you the only shepherd worth following. It's the Lord. Let me tell you about who my shepherd is. It's the Lord. Now David uses the name Yahweh here, translated Lord. This is the Old Testament uh personal name for God, taken from the Hebrew verb for I am. This Hebrew word Yahweh is sometimes transliterated into English. You'll read it as Jehovah or uh Yehovah, we would say in Hebrew uh to be uh proper. Yahweh is the name for God, which is personal. This name also highlights God's uh self-sufficiency. In other words, uh God doesn't need anything. God doesn't uh need to be served, he really doesn't need any help, even though it's our our great privilege to serve him. You see, Yahweh is self-sufficient, he is self-contented, he's self-sustaining. And what that means in you know common language is he doesn't he doesn't need anything from you. He doesn't need anything from me. So there's almost a play on words here that's easy to miss in this psalm. The God who doesn't need anything is the one who's gonna take care of everything we need. Now the key that unlocks this psalm is is a personal relationship with the shepherd. David writes, the Lord is. That's present tense. David isn't saying the Lord used to be, or you know, I'm thinking about trying him out for a couple of months. And if things work out, well, I'll let him be my shepherd. No, David says, right now, at this very moment, present tense, I'm following the Lord as my shepherd. The next word here is just as critical. The Lord is my shepherd, my is possessive. Let me tell you, beloved, nothing in this psalm will come true. These promises will only apply to you if you're saying the Lord is my shepherd. Not the Lord is my mom's or my dad's or my kids or my grandfather's. Oh, let me tell you about, you know, the Lord is certainly my wife's shepherd. No, David writes, the Lord is my shepherd. Now you'll notice that this psalm uses the life of sheep following their shepherd as a metaphor for your life and mine as believers. In the Old Testament, God is often portrayed as a shepherd. In the New Testament, Jesus, God the Son, openly calls himself the good shepherd, John chapter 10 and verse 11. So David is using this metaphor now, and he's going to expand it. David himself has been a shepherd. David knows that people are a lot like sheep. And you might not know it, you might, but that isn't necessarily a very nice compliment. Sheep don't clean themselves like other animals. They're rather content to stay dirty. Sheep are not very good at finding suitable food or water. They're entirely dependent on their shepherds' sheep. Sheep tend to wander away, and if they do, they are not able to find their way back. They don't have some internal compass. They've got to be found. They've got to be rescued by the shepherd. See, that's the idea here as David begins this list of blessings for those who are following the right shepherd, who can say the Lord is my shepherd. In fact, he he completes his opening statement here in verse 1 by saying, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. What does that mean? There are a lot of things I want. Well, I think one little boy quoting this verse to a Sunday school teacher got it right when he sort of turned the words around a little bit. He ended up saying, The Lord is my shepherd, and that's all I want. Well, I think that's that's pretty good theology. Without a shepherd, sheep lack everything. But with the right shepherd, we want, that is, we lack nothing that we truly need. Now, with that, here in verse two, David writes, He makes me lie down in green pastures. So what does that mean? He makes me lie down. That kind of reminds me of when our twin boys were toddlers. Keeping them in their cribs at night was, you know, quite the challenge. In fact, we we never needed an alarm in the morning because you know, there they were, bright and early. We had a lot of trouble making them lie down. Well, David isn't saying here that God is making us lie down out there in the green pastures, even if we want to get up and run around, need another glass of water. What he means is that God makes it possible for us to lie down. Now, I've learned from the writings of two experienced shepherds that sheep refuse to lie down until several things are taken care of. First, sheep aren't going to lie down if they're hungry. They stay on their feet, they're foraging, they're searching for food. In fact, that's why David makes the point here that he's lying down where? In green, that is fertile, satisfying pastures. David is saying, I can lie down because my soul, the hunger in my heart, is satisfied. Secondly, sheep won't lie down if they're afraid. They're very skittish if they hear the cry of a wolf in the distance or a barking dog, even the slamming of a car door, they're gonna they're gonna stay standing. They're ready to do the only thing they can to escape, and that's run. I have read that as soon as the sheep see their shepherd, they settle down, and they even lie down. Perhaps that's why we're encouraged today to keep our eyes on Jesus, the author, the founder, the perfector of our faith, Hebrews chapter 12, verse 2. Well, thirdly, sheep aren't going to lie down if they're thirsty. And David adds at the end of verse 2 here, he leads me beside still waters. See, sheep won't drink from running water. They won't drink from fast moving water. They know the danger. If they fall or they get pushed into the water, their heavy coats of wool can become saturated and frankly pull them under, drown them. So if a shepherd doesn't lead them to still clean water, well, they're going to drink from polluted water, little puddles of muddy water, and potentially become sick. So these three things are taken care of by a good shepherd. They're not afraid, they're not hungry, they're not thirsty. Well, now here in verse three, David writes, He restores my soul. Now again, this phrase needs to be understood in light of shepherding terminology. David's referring to the fact that at times he's become what's called a cast sheep. That's a term for sheep that have turned over on their back, and because of their heavy wool, they can't roll back over onto their feet. In fact, sheep, I've learned, are a lot like insects. Some insects, they can't roll back over if they're on their back. They need to be restored. They've got to be turned back over and put back up on their feet. And that needs to happen quickly. Cast sheep are easy prey for wild animals. And uh if it's a hot day, they can die in just a few hours. There's only one solution, and that's an alert, caring shepherd who's on duty. See, David is giving his testimony here. He's saying, I know what it's like to become a cast sheep, flat on my back spiritually. I know what it's like to need rescuing by my shepherd who needs to put me back up on my feet. I I know the danger out there. I know the predators to my soul. I need a good shepherd. Now the next phrase in verse 3, David writes, He leads me in paths of righteousness for his namesake. The word for paths here describes wagon tracks in a road. Our shepherd is leading us along the wagon tracks of righteousness. In other words, this is the right path. The problem is with sheep, they'll blindly follow each other, sometimes entirely in the wrong direction, even though it can be very dangerous. Sheep will literally follow the tail of the sheep in front of them. In fact, we get our expression today of tailing somebody from sheep. We often follow people too closely as well. But David says, you can always identify the path the Lord's leading you on, because it's going to be marked by the wagon tracks of righteousness, what's right, integrity, truth, purity, satisfaction, honesty. And the list could go on. You know what David's doing here? As he's starting this psalm, he's bragging about his wonderful shepherd. Think about that. I mean, isn't that your mission in life as a Christian? Aren't we to do the same thing? What are we doing to our world? We're telling our wandering, confused, hungry, thirsty, needy world about a shepherd who's really worth following. You're actually saying to your world, hey, I want you to know the grass really is greener over here where I am. Why don't you come over here and join me in following the Lord? He's the good shepherd. In fact, he is the best shepherd ever. Well, we're gonna have to stop with that until our next wisdom journey, beloved. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.

SPEAKER_00:

Thanks for listening to The Wisdom Journey with Stephen Davey. To learn more about us and access all of our Bible teaching resources, visit wisdomonline.org. Our phone number is 866-482-4253. And you can email us at info at wisdomonline.org. Stephen developed this daily program to help you know what the Bible says, understand what it means, and apply it to your life. So please join us next time to continue the wisdom journey.