The Lord is My Shepherd

Essentials of Effective Prayer

Week 2

So in week 2 of our "Essentials of Effective Prayer" study, we talked about a couple of the names of God.  We talked about the role of worship in prayer.  Worship involves acknowledging the sovereignty of God in each of our own lives.  Worship also involves knowing our Creator.  We get to know our Creator by knowing His Names.

One of the names of God is "God is my Shepherd".  This is taken, of course, from Psalm 23:

Psalm 23 - The Lord, the Psalmist’s Shepherd.

A Psalm of David.

23 The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want.
² He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside quiet waters.
³ He restores my soul;
He guides me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.

⁴ Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil, for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
⁵ You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You have anointed my head with oil;
My cup overflows.
⁶ Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life,
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

In our morning class, someone mentioned how this lines up as an analogy with the animals sheep and their shepherd.  That was interesting to me, so I did a little digging.  So, of course, the analogy is that we (believers in Christ) are the sheep and Jesus is the Shepherd.  Of course, when the Psalmist (probably David) wrote this, Jesus hadn't come to the earth yet - so this is a foreshadowing or Christ, our Savior.  Jesus Himself said He is our Good Shepherd (John 10:1-21).

So how are we like sheep?

Sheep/Shepherd	Humans
If the lead sheep goes over the cliff, the rest of the herd will follow the leader.	We tend to follow the leader.   Think of infamous leaders in our world's history.  Hitler comes to mind first.  Make sure you're following a good leader - a righteous leader - Jesus The Good Shepherd.
Sheep wander away from their shepherd	We tend to wander away from God.  When we don't feel close to God anymore, guess who moved? (isaiah 53:6, Hebrews 2:1)
If a sheep wanders away, the shepherd will go out and search for it.	And if a sheep does wander off, the shepherd will leave the flock in charge of his helpers and search for the lost animal (Matthew 9:36, Matthew 18:12-14, Luke 15:3-7)
Sheep have zero homing instincts.   If they get lost, they cannot find their way back home.  They need a shepherd to bring them back home.	Believing in Jesus our Good Shepherd provides salvation for us eternally.  In one of Jesus' parables, He says if a man owned 100 sheep, he would willingly leave 99 of them to find the one that's lost. And when he finds the lost sheep, "he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost" (Matthew 8:13-14).
There is a bond between the sheep and the shepherd.  Each knows the other's voice and responds to it.	Christ knows each one of us personally and knows our name and the sound of our voice.
The shepherd meets every need of his sheep - food, water, rest,  safety, direction	Our Shepherd knows exactly what we need.  We will not lack the necessities of life, because He knows our needs.  (Luke 12:22-30)
Sheep will not drink from fast flowing waters because of the risk of drowning.	Psalm 23:2 talks of the shepherd leading his sheep besides the quiet waters.  Jesus is our living water (John 4:10, John 7:37-39)
A shepherd will bring his sheep into the sheepfold at night to protect the flock at night from predators. A sheepfold was a pen, a cave, or an area backed by stone walls.  Since there were no doors, the shepherd would often sleep or sit at the opening, guarding the sheep.	Jesus is the only door to salvation (john 10:7)
Sheep are almost impossible to train	God gives us our own free will.  We are not robots forced to choose life or death.  It has been said that God is a gentleman - He never ever forces Himself upon us.
A shepherd carries a rod and a staff, which he uses in different ways for different reasons. The rod is just a big, long stick with a little knob or bud at the top of it.  The rod is used for guarding and protecting. The shepherd will practice endlessly so that he’ll be able to accurately chuck that rod at a predator or even at an unruly sheep to keep it in line.  A staff has more of a hook at the end of it.  It is used for guiding and directing.  Sometimes an animal will wander off too far from the others.   The staff is used to hook a wayward sheep and lead it back into the fold. At other times, it’s used as an examining tool to check the animals for parasites or other ailments.	As believers, we have the Holy Spirit in us.  Sometimes, the Holy Spirit uses that rod of correction us.  It's good to know that whenever we lose our way, He will use His staff to guide us back to the right path.
The shepherd leads his sheep to green pastures	God provides HIs Word to sustain and nourish us
The shepherd lays his life down for his sheep.  This is different from a hired hand. A hired hand will flee when danger comes, unlike a shepherd who has invested his time and life into his sheep.   The good shepherd will lay down his life for his sheep.	Jesus willingly laid his life down for us.  Jesus leads his believers to the cross.  The Shepherd became like a sheep - he became the pure and perfect white lamb, without spot or blemish and became our sacrifice on the cross for our sins, so that we might live forever with Him in heaven. (John 3:16,  John 10:15, John 10:17-18)

 
So we are like sheep, just make sure you're only following the true and only Good Shepherd!