Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Part 1: The Sheep: You make the Shepherd Happy (Part 1, Ps. 23:1-2)



C.H. Spurgeon said of the 23rd Psalm, “It is David’s Heavenly Pastoral; a surpassing ode, which none of the daughters of music can excel…This is the pearl of Psalms whose soft and pure radiance delights every eye.”  

Perhaps it is so loved because it is told from the vantage point of a sheep. The identification of a shepherd towards his sheep is something Christ used repeatedly.  

In English, sheep can be singular or plural, but the 23rd Psalm is written in the first person. We must see the writer not as “us” or “we”, but “me” and “I”. He is “my” Shepherd because I belong to Him. Jesus called me “His.” What a wonderful thing.

Luke 15:6 says “And when he came home, he called together his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, ‘Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.’” Do you know that when you became one of His sheep, He rejoiced and got the whole host of heaven to rejoice.

You cannot cover up who you are; and if you could, God would not love you more than He already does. You cannot cover up who you are; and if you could, God would not love you any less. 

Read John 10:14-16 “I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine 15 As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.” 

In the Greek, there is no period between verse 14 and 15. Just as Jesus knows His Father and just as the Father knows the Son, Jesus knows all about you, even the numbers of hairs on your head and loves you anyway.

Because I am His sheep, I believe and follow Him. See John 10:26 “But you believe not, because you are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”


“Thank you Lord Jesus in delighting in me. Help me remember today that I am important to you and I bring you joy. Amen.”