The Lord Is My Shepherd

Questions This Sermon Answers:

1. What does Psalm 23 mean when it says "The Lord is my shepherd"?

It means the God of heaven personally provides for and protects His people as a shepherd does his sheep. David, whose own occupation as a youth was shepherding, wrote out of a wellspring of experience: he knew sheep are wayward, prone to wander, and among the dullest and most obstinate creatures on earth. To call God "my shepherd" is to confess both that God is the One who provides and protects, and that I am a sheep — unruly and prone to stupidity. As Psalm 23:1 declares, "The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want."

2. Why is Psalm 23 read so often at funerals?

Dr. Holt notes that when he conducts a funeral and asks the family for a requested text, time and time again the number-one selection is Psalm 23. It comforts hurting people because it says two things at once: that God cares, and that He is at our side. The psalm does not hide that this world is hard — spiritually speaking, this is the valley of the shadow of death — yet it promises that even there we can fear no evil, because we are not alone, for God is with us.

3. Who is the Good Shepherd in Psalm 23?

For the believer, the Shepherd of Psalm 23 is the LORD Himself, revealed fully in Jesus Christ. In John 10 Jesus told the Pharisees, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand." The Westminster Confession (10) teaches that Christ effectually calls His own out of sin and death; the same Shepherd who leads also keeps, so that none of His sheep is finally lost.

4. What is the significance of the word "my" in "the Lord is my shepherd"?

David makes a bold relational claim — not a shepherd in the abstract, but my shepherd. A sheep benefits from a shepherd's care only where there is a relationship. Dr. Holt recalls preaching in Western Ireland, where sheep roamed everywhere without fences; up close, each sheep was marked with a stripe of spray paint so the owner could tell whose was whose, and when old farmer Pete's truck rumbled by, the sheep that knew his voice bolted toward it. The real question is whether you are one of His sheep who hears His voice and runs to Him.

5. What do the two parts of Psalm 23 teach about God?

The psalm divides into two allegories. In verses 1-4 God is the Shepherd who leads, restores, and walks with His sheep through the valley; in verses 5-6 He is the gracious Host who spreads a table, anoints the head with oil, and fills the cup to overflowing. Together they show a God who not only guides His people through danger but lavishes abundant grace upon them. The Westminster Confession (7) frames this as God's covenant condescension, by which He freely binds Himself to bless His people.

6. Why does Psalm 23 emphasize "He" — He makes, He leads, He restores?

Because the focal point of the psalm is the Shepherd, not the sheep. Dr. Holt urges underlining the word "He": He makes me lie down, He leads me, He restores my soul — and all "for His name's sake." The word "makes" is telling, for lying down in green pastures is primarily of God's volition, not ours; left to ourselves we would lie down within reach of every wolf for a country mile. As Psalm 23:3 says, "He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake."

7. Does Psalm 23 promise that life will be easy for believers?

No. Dr. Holt warns that God's provision is not protective bubble wrap, against the health-and-wealth notion that the moment you turn to the Shepherd everything will go well. These verses do not insulate the sheep from wolves; they promise that when you face them, you do not face them alone. The spiritual terrain remains deadly — the valley is as dangerous when you enter church as when you leave — but the difference is that you no longer walk it by yourself, for the Lord is with you.

8. What does "the valley of the shadow of death" mean in Psalm 23:4?

It pictures the deadly terrain of the Christian life in a fallen world. Dr. Holt observes that in military conquest the least ideal terrain is a valley: your vision is hemmed in by rising ground, an unseen enemy can ambush you, and if you flee you are bottlenecked and cut off from support. Spiritually we live in such a valley, where the devil prowls like a lion. Yet David, hounded by enemies, still said, "I will fear no evil; for You are with me" (Psalm 23:4).

9. What is the danger of thinking we are stronger in faith than we are?

Dr. Holt calls it the error of the "commando sheep" or "ninja sheep" — the believer who reasons, "I am stronger than the weak and new; I can have those conversations and watch those shows and it won't affect me." He calls this unbiblical, deadly, and foolish; if we could see the claw marks the world has already laid on our backs and the ungodly ideas that have infiltrated our worldview, we would not play with fire. David's emphasis is to turn to God and trust not our own strength but His.

10. What does the overflowing cup in Psalm 23:5-6 reveal about God?

The image shifts from Shepherd to Host. In that culture a host anointed his guest's head with oil and filled the cup to overflowing to say, "while you are in my house, you will lack nothing." It echoes the prodigal's father, who ran across the field and killed the fatted calf for a returning son, and Christ who gave His own lifeblood at Calvary. Dr. Holt stresses there is absolute unity between God's power to love His child and His willingness to do so — He does not have the power to love and give only half of that love.