The Shepherd

Let's talk about the implications of that statement, "The Lord is my shepherd." Here is the implication.

Here is, kinda coded in that statement, what David is ultimately saying about himself, and I, I would present this to us as well as true, that I am a shepherd, or I am a sheep who needs a shepherd.

I am a sheep who needs a shepherd.

It is interesting to think that David is the author who says, "The Lord is my shepherd." He's my shepherd.

That after all these years, David, maybe middle-aged, maybe 50 years old, maybe 60 years old, having spent decades ruling over Israel, having gone to war, father, husband, nation builder, songwriter.

We talked about his resume.

If there was ever somebody who lived an extraordinary life and ever somebody who was ultra-gifted as a human being, it was David.

And yet he makes this claim, which in itself is an admission, that I need a shepherd.

That even though I'm a king, at the end of the day, I'm more like a sheep who needs a shepherd.

There is an admission of being a sheep.

There is an admission of his deep need for shepherding, for care that he cannot provide for himself.

He's diagnosing his limits and saying, "I need a shepherd." There's this humble admission of need going on here.

And David compares himself ultimately to a sheep.

Now, David spent years with sheep.

He knew sheep.

He was a shepherd for a season.

He'd spent years in the field with them.

He cared for them.

He fed them, got them water.

He protected them.

He slept with them at night, and he watched over them by day.

This is...

He spent so much time.

This man was an expert on sheep.

And he concluded after observing these sheep for these years, "You know what? I'm a lot like a sheep."