The Lord is My Shepherd

Bible Study
Out Line


Having this Bible Study on line has been a very long dream and hope of Sunnyheart and I want to thank her for not giving up on this, a few months ago I made noises about wanting to do this and Sunny has been very encouraging in helping all this work.
Before we start firstly I want to thank everyone for coming out to this, and to let you know that this isn’t going to be a race to get through the portion of scripture that has been selected.
You will notice that during parts of the study you will be devoiced, then voiced at other parts, when you are voiced please feel free to talk and to ask questions or to answer questions that someone might have asked, although this is a moderated study it is also an open study in which your input is important.

The Series of this Study is from Psalm 23 it will be broken up as there is a lot of information in this chapter that we will be looking at, there are 11 parts of this study they are;

Sections	
•	‘The Lord is My Shepherd’
•	‘I Shall Not Be in Want’
•	‘He Makes Me Lay Down in Green Pastures’
•	‘He Leads Me beside Quiet Waters’
•	‘He Restores My Soul’
•	‘He Guides Me in Paths of Righteousness for His Name’s Sake’
•	‘Even Though I Walk through the Valley’
•	‘Your Rod and Your Staff, Then Comfort Me’
•	‘You Prepare a Table before Me’
•	‘You Anoint My Head with Oil’
•	‘Surely Goodness and Love Will Follow Me’
•	‘I Will Dwell in the House of the Lord Forever’

		
‘The Lord is My Shepherd’

!niv Psalm 23 1-6

We will be looking at the first part of the first verse

!niv psalm 23:1

The Lord is my Shepherd

The Lord! But who is the Lord? What is His character? Does He have adequate credentials to be my Shepherd-my manager-my owner?
And if He does-how do I come under His control? In what way do I become the object of His concern and diligent care?

These are penetrating, searching questions, and they deserve honest and basic examination.

One problem of Christianity is the tendency to talk in ambiguous generalities, this study is going to try to not do that, so it may be a little bit different then you are use to.

An  overview as per The Eastons 1897 Bible Dictionary

Shepherd
This word is used figuratively to represent the relation of rulers to their subjects and of God to his people.
It is also used for Pastor’s and I think this study will reveal to those that are here in ministry, the depth of their role, as exampled by Jesus. 
The duties of a shepherd in an unenclosed country are very onerous. "In early morning he led forth the flock from the fold, marching at its head to the spot where they were to be pastured. Here he watched them all day, taking care that none of the sheep strayed, and if any for a time eluded his watch and wandered away from the rest, seeking diligently till he found and brought it back. In those lands sheep require to be supplied regularly with water, and the shepherd for this purpose has to guide them either to some running stream to the fold, counting them as they passed under the rod at the door to assure himself that none were missing. Nor did his labours always end with sunset. Often he had to guard the fold through the dark hours from the attack of wild beasts, or the wily attempts of the prowling thief 
 David, the author of the poem, himself a shepherd and the son of a shepherd, later to be known as the ‘Shepherd King’ of Israel, stated explicitly, ‘The Lord is my shepherd.’ To whom did he refer?
He referred to Jehovah, the Lord God of Israel. His statement was confirmed by Jesus the Christ; When He was God incarnate amongst men, He declared emphatically, ‘I am the good shepherd.’

But who was this Christ?

Our view of Him is often too small-too cramped-too provincial-too human.
Because of this we feel unwilling to allow Him to have authority or control-much less outright ownership of our lives.

He it was who was directly responsible for the creation of all things both natural and supernatural

!Niv Colossians 1:15-20

If we pause to reflect on the person of Christ-on His power and His achievements-suddenly like David we will be glad to state proudly, ‘The Lord-He-is my Shepherd!

But before we do this it helps to hold clearly in mind the particular part played upon our history by God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

God the Father is God the author-the originator of all that exists. It was in His mind, first, that all took shape.

God the Son, our Saviour, is God the artisan-the artist, the Creator of all that exists. He brought into being all that had been originally formulated in His Father’s mind.

God the Holy Spirit is God the agent who presents these facts to both your mind and your spiritual understanding so that they become real and relative to you as an individual.

Stay tuned for a minute as this will fall into place!
The beautiful relationship given to us repeatedly in Scripture between God and man are those of a father to his children and a shepherd to his sheep. These concepts were first conceived in the mind of God our Father. They were made possible and practical through the work of Christ. They are confirmed and made real in you through the agency of the gracious Holy Spirit.

It links a lump of common clay (us) to divine destiny-it means a mere mortal becomes the cherished object of divine diligence. This thought alone should stir our spirit, quicken our own sense of awareness, and lend enormous dignity to ourself as an individual, when we understand what has gone into us, for us to be us. To think that God in Christ is deeply concerned about you, in who you are, this gives great purpose and enormous meaning to your short time on Earth.

David, in this Psalm was not viewing himself as the shepherd, but as a sheep, one of the flock. He spoke with a strong sense of pride and devotion; not in himself, but because he had a shepherd. It was as though he literally boasted aloud, ‘Look at who my shepherd is-my owner-my manager!’ The Lord is!

David understood from firsthand experience that the lot in life of any particular sheep depended on the type of man who owned it. Some men were gentle, kind, intelligent, brave and selfless in their devotion to their sheep. Under, one man sheep would struggle and starve, and suffer endless hardship. In another’s care they would flourish and thrive contentedly.

So if the Lord is my Shepherd I should know something of His character and understand something of His ability.

Our God placed the stars in place, created Earth, made colours and smells for us to enjoy, gave us tastebuds to enjoy, knows how many hairs are on our head, keeps our tears, knows every thought we have us-and yet still adores us; this amazing God chooses to call Himself your Shepherd-and invites you to be His sheep-His special object of affection and intention. Who better could care for you?

God brought you into being; He understands your fears, your joys, your tears and your desires, even when we tried not to believe in Him or acknowledge He was there, He still desired to reach out to us and have a plan of reconciliation; God chose to restore us to Him and call us His own.

Again in Christ He demonstrated on the cross the deep desire of His heart to have us come under His loving care. He Himself absorbed the penalty for our perverseness, stating clearly;

!Niv Isaiah 53:6

So not only has God created us, He also drew us back by His love and purchased our rebellion at a price He paid for. He is entitled to say, ‘I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.’

In this, there should be a realization that we have been bought with a price that we were never some sheep that no one owned, we were in the Devil’s field, we belonged to him, yet Jesus purchased us out of his field and into His own.
Many of us have purchased something that cost us something; we have had to sacrifice a lot to obtain it, through the sweat and blood of our brow maybe; those things that have cost us a lot, we tend to look after more and cherish highly, what price could be higher than to give your life for something, do you not think that God is going to look after you and make sure you are okay, you were expensive to Him, because He chose to love you. 

I have seen fields of sheep, mostly with roaming shepherds-they have many fields and live no where near the sheep-they may visit there once every several months. I have seen the longing in the eyes of these sheep, they are scraggly and starving and want to be led, however their shepherd sees them only as meat in the market, he doesn’t love them and isn’t interested in them, if they die, he is not concerned, if they are sick, he is not concerned, if they are in pain, he is not concerned; the sheep mean nothing to him.

That is the field we have been rescued from! We have been purchased! And our Shepherd not only lives with us, He continually is willing to continually – yes even after He has purchased us! He is willing to lay Himself down for us, to intercede for us, to guide us, protect us, feed us, hold us and minister to us.

!John 10:11


In fact, Psalm 23 is all about Divine Diligence, the entire poem recounts the manner in which the Good Shepherd spares no pains for the welfare of His sheep.

We each have a choice to make, God desires to be your Shepherd, to lead you, to love you and to protect you, and He has already purchased you.

!Isaiah 40:11
!Hebrews 13:20

In closing, every shepherd has his own ‘mark’ a branding in which stays with the sheep forever, the branding isn’t painless, it does cost something; an interesting parallel is that when a slave in any Hebrew household chose, of his own free will, to become a lifetime member of that home, he was subject to a certain ritual. His master and owner would take him to his front door, put his ear lobe against it and with a knife puncture a hole through the lobe; from then on he was marked for life as belonging to that house.

The Earmark of us, is the mark of the cross-‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me’

You cannot have it both ways; either we belong or we don’t, either we are in His field or we aren’t; we can’t pretend or just appear we are; Jesus Himself warns 

!Niv Matt 7:22-23

We have seen how much God loves us, who He is, how He has every right to call Himself the Good Shepherd, tonight I pray that if you aren’t in His field that you will choose to let Him be your Owner fully and your Master and your Shepherd, and if you are on the fence, that you will decide to go into His field, and if you are struggling that you will know He is indeed your Good Shepherd.