The Good Shepherd

One of the greatest metaphors that God gives us in the Bible of how we relate to him is in the famous Twenty-Third Psalm--The Good Shepherd. You might not know any other psalm in the Bible, but you know this one. Have you ever asked yourself why it is so well known, and read at most every funeral you have ever attended?

I imagine the writer of this song--David as an old man. David, this passionate king-warrior-poet, pondering a lifetime of living in communion with God, and as he struggles to find words, he can't, so he reaches for a picture from his youth when he tended his dad's flock of sheep. He ponders his love of these rather stupid animals that tend to wander and are helpless, and never really mature into being independent of his care. He reflects back on laying his life on the line against a bear to save a piece of mutton, and in wonder, he pens his masterpiece of how God relates to us--not just when we are good, but also when we wander off.

David sees through a glass darkly. Little does he know the lengths his greater son will go to save his lost sheep! But that is a story that has to wait until Sunday....

Blessings,

Jim