“The Lord Is my Shepherd, I Shall Not Want.”
When David penned, “The Lord is my shepherd,” he is metaphorically comparing God to a shepherd. To understand God as a shepherd, we must understand the role of a shepherd. David was a shepherd in his youth and he protected, cared for, fed and shielded his sheep from harm. David saw the similarities of a shepherd and our Heavenly Father. Shepherds live with their sheep and literally lay down their lives for them as God literally surrounds us with divine protection. It was God’s divine protection over his life that reminded David of his role as a shepherd to his father’s sheep. It was God’s divine love that He sent His only son, Jesus, our Shepherd, to literally lay down his life for us on the cross. We were lost and He rescued us! Just as importantly, the Lord declares in Hebrew 13:5, ” I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (NKJV)
You see, the sheep thought of nothing when in the presence of David. And just like David’s sheep, we have the divine protection of Our Shepherd. So, as David continues, “I shall not want,” he means, everything that we need is incorporated in the presence of God. We are at ease because nothing matters, but his presence. We can, rest because Our Good Shepherd contains all that is needed, wanted and desired. The strong assertion–“I shall not want” means that our God is all-encompassing!
Scriptures on God as Shepherd:
Psalm: 28:9 Save your people and bless your inheritance, be their shepherd also, and carry them forever
Psalm 49:23-24 But his bow remained firm, and his arms were agile, from the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob (from there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel), “The archers bitterly attacked him, and shot at hi and harassed him.
Psalm 78:70-72 He also chose David his servant and took him from the sheepfolds; from the care of the ewes with suckling lambs he brought him to shepherd Jacob his people and Israel his inheritance. So he shepherded the according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them with his skillful hands.
Psalm 79:13 So we your people and the sheep of your pasture will give thanks to you forever, to all generations we will tell of your praise.
Psalm 80:1 Oh, give ear, Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock, you who are enthroned above the cherubim, shine forth!
Psalm 95:7 For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you would hear His voice.
Psalm 100:3 Know that the Lord Himself is God: it is He who has made us and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
Genesis 48:15, 49:23-24
Jeremiah 3:15, 23:1, 23:4, 31:10, 50:7
1 Peter 5:2-4
Luke 12:32
Acts 20:28-29
Isaiah 40:11, 53:6, 44:28, 63;11
Hosea 4:16
Micah 7:14
Psalm 119:176
Ezekiel 34:11-16, 34-31, 17-24; 37: 24
Matthew 2:6, 18:12-14, 25:32-46
Luke 15:3-7
Zechariah 10:2-3, 11:16
2 Samuel 5:2
1 Chronicles 11:2
Micah 5:4
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