If The Lord is My Shepherd

There are certain conditions that must be true, for the 23rd Psalm to be the embodiment of a persons life. It is a psalm that we like to dust off for funeral services, and rightly so, because it does speak about the comfort of the Good Shepherd. "He restores my soul..." But sadly, once the funeral is over, and the grief subsides, so goes the psalm with them. As Dallas Willard said, "Thus it is that 'The Lord is my Shepherd' is written on many more tombstones than lives."But what would life look like if Psalm 23 was the defining characteristic of ones life? I think a consideration of this will lead one to immediately discover that the psalm isn't as much a "help in times of trouble," as it is a demanding invitation to a life of grace and supernatural authority. In other words, the 23rd psalm is a vehicle, if you will, to take us to the kind of life that God created us to live. It is, to be absolutely clear, what WE want, and what WE were made for. But in order to enter into the reality of it, we have to understand that at the very beginning we are doing something drastic, something that goes against 21st century wisdom. That is,  we are giving up control. For to say "The Lord is my shepherd," is to say something about the Lord (he provides, he leads, he protects, he corrects, he trains, etc...), but it also says much about us. If the Lord is to be shepherd, then the only remaining part in this play is that of sheep (unless, of course, you want to be the enemy that shows up later on). We've all heard the sermons about the qualities of sheep, so I'll spare you. Suffice it to say that sheep are not qualified to do the job of shepherd. They are not qualified to govern their own lives. It is not, as one parishioner at my church said, that they want to be led, but sheep need to be led. Otherwise they will soon find themselves in a world of trouble. This is the condition of human history. Having said from the garden, and the Tower of Babel, and the wilderness, and the thoughts of your own heart and mind, "I can do this on my own," we have decided to play the part of the puffed up lamb who wanders off into the mouth of the lion. And we have been there ever since. Thus, humility is required for the Lord to be ones shepherd. The humility that enables one to overlook ones degrees, qualifications, CV, and more, in order that they, in reliance upon the Shepherd, might enter into the fullness of life that he has for them. In the 2nd part of Pilgrim's Progress, one Great-Heart had an encounter with a monster and prevailed, though not without scrapes and cuts. After the fight he was asked if he was afraid, and how he was able to be victorious. Great-Heart responded, 

It is my duty to mistrust my own ability, that I may have reliance on him that is stronger than all. 

The Lord was his shepherd. Yes he was skilled, yes he was experienced, yes he was courageous, but all of these he bowed down under the rule of the Shepherd. And in doing so he learned to live under the constant love, care, provision, protection, wisdom, guidance, and grace of the Good Shepherd. We can too. But a condition must be met first. Click here to hear the audio sermon.