YHWH is my shepherd
David,
the shepherd, sings of Yahweh, the Great Shepherd. Everything David knew of Yahweh could be
described in shepherding terms; His care and compassion, His provisions, His
protection, His guidance and correction.
But David moves deeper, beyond shepherds and sheep, to a relationship
and intimate fellowship, and a blessing that continues through, and beyond this
life.
Consider
this opening phrase, how it sets the tone.
Yahweh: the
Lord; the God of the Covenant with
Israel. This is the One of Whom the
Psalm speaks. It is not a distant, unknown
or unknowable god, but the Living and Ever Present Yahweh.
Yahweh
is:
the role of the Lord is a present reality.
It does not wait for a ‘someday’, nor is it something past; it is a ‘now’
thing.
Yahweh
is my:
the present reality of the Lord is also a personal reality. What the Lord is, He is to me personally; not
abstract or idealized.
Yahweh
is my Shepherd: this is Who and What the Lord is to and for me. As stated, all that a shepherd does for his
sheep, so Yahweh does for me- all this and incredibly more!
The entire
Psalm rests on this foundation. If the Lord,
Yahweh, is not my Shepherd, if I do
not have a relationship of faith with Him, which we know to be through His
provision of Christ, then nothing else in the Psalm is possible for or available
to me. Is He your Shepherd? Have you come to Him by faith in the death
and resurrection of Jesus for your forgiveness?
If not, any time you may recite this Psalm, you are speaking in
vain. Know Jesus, Who is Himself the embodiment
of the Shepherd (John 10:11, 14 Hebrews 13:20; 1 Peter 2:25, 5:4; Revelation
7:17).
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