Cozumel, Mexico. We’ve been fortunate enough to have been here on several occasions and like many other tourist destinations it has changed greatly in the last few years. The cruise terminal in Cozumel was damaged in the hurricane a few years ago and it was rebuilt even bigger with more stores, shops, and the addition of both a Bubba Gump’s and a Margaritaville. In fact, the cruise industry is booming. When the port of Galveston opened to cruise ships, it was a game changer. They currently have 2 open terminals that send and receive ships all days of the week and they have plans to double the terminal space within the next year or so to 4. This increased passenger volume dumped into the Caribbean ports has had dramatic effect. The Port of Costa Maya didn’t even exist a few years ago, but in an effort to grab a portion of the huge amounts of American vacation dollars, they built an unbelievable state of the art resort style terminal. Americans love to cruise.
While in Cozumel yesterday we hopped off the ship and grabbed a local tour guide and went snorkeling. The diving and snorkeling in Cozumel is some of the best in the world. The water in Cozumel is the most stunning I have ever seen. The richness of the turquoise combined with the depth of clarity is something I could stare at for days. That combined with the amazing amount of undersea life is a win win. I finally got to see an octopus, in fact, the guide swam down and picked it up and brought it up so we could see it up close. I never got to see a live octopus in Hawaii and it was one of the highlights of the trip for me. It even started squirting black ink like in the cartoons! We also saw a barracuda, a moray eel, a few puffer fish and of course so many bright tropical fish that they formed a cloud around your head as you swam. After that we headed to downtown Cozumel for some pork and pineapple tacos at a friendly little cafe right on the town square. We had a little time to hit some of the nice shops and look at watches before heading back to the ship for departure. Another great day in Cozumel and more “happy thoughts.” We didn’t want to leave.
Let’s continue our study of Psalm 23 using God’s Word and the study guide “A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23” by W. Phillip Keller.
“He leads me beside still water”
The last verse “green pastures” focused loosely on the provision of food to the sheep by the shepherd, this one focuses on water. Sheep, just like humans are primarily composed of water. They need daily replenishment and without it will dehydrate and die. So even before food, the shepherd must find good clean water each day to water his flock. This verse could really be read as “He leads me TO still waters.” The shepherd just as with green pastures must find good water and then get his sheep there to consume it. But this verse goes deeper than just water (pun intended). In scripture, Jesus and God’s Word is referred to numerous times as ‘the Living Water.’ Check out John 4:10, “Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The shepherd knows the physical importance of daily water to keep the flock alive. For us though, God knows the spiritual importance of the daily ‘living water’ in our lives. He knows the daily need that we have to study the Word of God. You see, the body needs water but the soul needs refreshment as well, the living water, the living Word of God. When sheep are thirsty, they search for water. When the soul is longing, it will search as well. When we are born, we are searching. Searching for the truth. Jesus says that He is the truth. If you find Jesus, you will find the truth. “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6
An interesting note here is about how the smart shepherds would water their flocks. Dew. In the early morning the dew is heavy. It clings to the grass in fat drops. As the sheep graze on the dew-laden grass they can take in enough water to last them an entire day. The astute shepherd would rise very early and make sure that his sheep would be in the fields at daylight to not only feed, but also take in the days water. Clean, clear, pure and still. In the silence of the morning the shepherd would lead His sheep to still waters and nourish them. What a tremendous parallel we have here. It is of no coincidence to notice that those who are often the most serene, the most confident, and able to cope with life’s complexities are those that rise early each morning to drink in the living water of God’s Word. In the very quiet, early hours of the morning, they are led beside the quiet still waters, where they drink deeply of the very life of Christ for the day. The biographies of great men and women of God have repeatedly pointed out that the secret of their spiritual success was attributed to daily quiet time each morning with the Word of God. This has been so true in my life. I have read God’s Word during the day, at night and even in cars and airplanes while travelling and there is no comparison for me rising early in the morning and meeting with God to study His Word. The wisdom, knowledge and goodness in His Word, prepares me for another day. He leads me to still waters indeed.
“He restores my soul”
This is an unbelievably powerful verse when you fully understand how David meant it in the context of a sheep and its shepherd. In order to better understand this verse, let’s read it as “He ‘rights’ or ‘picks up’ my soul.” But to the astute you’ll say “well, how can He pick up my soul if it’s not down?” Great point. You see David is talking about sheep here that have been “downcast”. David mentions this in Psalm 42:11 “Why are you downcast o’ my soul, why so disturbed within me?” You see, a sheep is a rather round rotund creature, especially when it has a very thick coat of wool. Sometimes if it falls down or lays down it cannot get back up. It is “cast down” or “downcast.” When this happens, the sheep will be helpless, lying on its side or back with its feet kicking in the air pitifully. If the sheep remains in this condition, in hot weather it could die in a matter of hours, in cooler weather a few days. How can the sheep be saved? Only by its shepherd. The shepherd must first locate the sheep and then pick it up or right it back onto its feet. He must restore the downcast sheep. So hopefully now you have a much better picture of this verse. He rights my soul when it is downcast. Has your soul ever been downcast? Mine has. And most times it has been entirely my fault. I move too far from God. I move too far from my shepherd. I stop reading His Word, my prayer life becomes sporadic and I forgo fellowship with other believers. When I find myself distant from God it seems that sin becomes much closer to me. When I go astray and find my own way, problems occur. When I do what I want to do, life comes hard and harsh.
What’s also ironic is the reason some sheep become downcast. In order to get “extra” comfortable some sheep will stray away from the flock to find a better place. A nice little grassy recess that will coddle them. As they flop down in the little grassy nest, they will doze and ever so slowly start to roll on their side. When they realize what is happening, they get startled and try to jump up to only find themselves making the matter worse. They roll onto their backs, now fully downcast and to make matters worse, they are distant from the only one who can save them, their shepherd. This is yet another tremendous parallel to us humans. We seek comfort. Comfort that we can find on our own. Comfort that we can secure by ourselves. Comfort that is our way. We get comfortable in our surroundings and we think we no longer need the shepherd. I mean what did He really do anyway? He just kinda stood around and watched me. But yet, eventually we will find ourselves cast down. On our backs, powerless to help ourselves, and desperately needing our shepherd. But in order to find our personal comfort we have moved away. Maybe a great distance. He now must come find us. The great news is that the shepherd will always come looking. We see that in Luke 15:4 in the parable of the 99 and the 1. “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn't he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? You see the Good Shepherd will always be counting his sheep and even if only one is missing, He will spend hours trying to find it. When He does, if it is down cast, He will gently pick it up, massage it’s numb limbs and lovingly guide it back to the flock. What an amazing picture we have here of a loving, caring God that will never leave us or forsake us, even when we go astray. He lifts up my fallen spirit.
“He guides me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake”
Sheep if left alone to their own will destroy themselves. If you leave a flock on a pasture with no supervision, they will decimate the foliage, and lay bare the soil which will cause damaging erosion that will no longer allow topsoil to produce grass. They are great creatures of habit and will walk the same trails each day, over and over and over. The sheep trails will become great ruts that will eventually through rains, become gullies. If the sheep cannot access new pastures, they will extinguish their food supply, damage the land and eventually die. How can the sheep be so narrow minded? Can’t they look ahead to see what’s coming? Nope, not without the shepherd. You see, the greatest single safeguard which a shepherd has in handling His sheep is to keep them on the move. The sheep will be reluctant, but he needs to move them to new pastures frequently to keep them healthy. The shepherd moves his sheep, he must. Now the shepherd doesn’t just randomly march his sheep around. He has gone before them. He has scouted the land and knows it well. He has a plan. He has a specific route. He guides the sheep in the path in which he has already determined to be good.
We just like sheep avoid change. We like the same. We create a little rhythm in our lives, and we stick to it. We live in the same houses for a long time, work at the same jobs and walk the same trails. In fact, not only do we live in habit, but we brag about it. I’ve been at so and so job for over 30 years or I’ve lived in that house for over 50 years. We brag about being in the same pasture. You just can’t argue it, we are creatures of habit. We resist change, we just like things the way they are whether good or bad. One constant in seeing the lives of God’s men and women in scripture is that they never stayed in one place very long. God led them to new pastures frequently and they followed. On the side, besides Psalm 23 I am also studying the book of Jonah. In his case God wanted to move him to the pasture of Nineveh but Jonah went the other way. But in the end God delivered him to the pasture He wanted him in, even at the trouble of using a great fish to do it!
But what if our pastures could be better? How would we know? Are we willing to be led by the shepherd to new pastures or do we just ignore his call? The great thing mentioned by Mr. Keller about leading his sheep in new paths and new direction is the transition for the sheep. At first the sheep are reluctant to move. They like their little life in this familiar pasture. They like their trails and they like the familiar surroundings. They are stiff-necked. But guess what happens when the shepherd moves them to a new pasture and opens the gate before them? The stiff-necked, stubborn sheep jump for joy! It’s not uncommon to even see the older ewes kick up their heels as they abound into the new lush surroundings. You see God has a plan for our lives and left to our own devices we will resist. We like our stuff, we like our routines, we like familiar ground. But if we are to truly follow the good shepherd, we must be willing and ready to follow Him into new pastures. Proverbs 14:12 says, “there is a way that seems right to man, but in the end it leads to death.” You see, left to our own, we will choose to repeatedly walk the same paths that will lead to our demise. But the Good Shepherd will lead us in paths of righteousness and as we follow His plan and not ours, it will show the world of His goodness and glorify His name, not ours. He leads me in right paths and when I follow Him, it will glorify His name, not mine.
“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death”
This is the verse that pigeon holes this entire Psalm. The simple word death has brought most to think that this verse is somehow all about death. But hopefully by now you can see that this is simply not the case. So far, we have seen that Psalm 23 is about a loving, caring shepherd that provides bountifully for His sheep, not about death. So, what is this passage pointing to? Well there were seasons to shepherding. The different seasons brought about different needs for the flock. In fact, it’s interesting to note that Psalm 23 walks through one full year in the life of the flock and the shepherd. It’s one complete cycle. Remember, David grew up a shepherd and he was acutely aware of the yearly cycle of caring for his flock. In the summer months it was common for the shepherd to take the flock up into the mountains to forage and feed in the upper plateaus. Now think hard about a mountain that lies right before you. You’re at the bottom and you want to get to the top. As you start carefully picking your path what route will you choose? Straight up the side of a sheer cliff? Not likely. You will be looking for the path of least resistance. One you can walk as easily as possible. In doing so you will ease the risk of fatigue and injury. But to get to the top will you likely only walk along the peaks? Of course not, to get to the top you will need to walk through many valleys. That’s just what it will take.
Now imagine that you’re not just walking alone but you’re taking 85 sheep. Now you really need to pick and choose a path that will be easily ascended. So the shepherd has a goal. To move the sheep to the higher green pastures and clean streams of the upper country. But do the sheep share the same goal? Are they aware of the shepherd’s plan? Nope. They are happy to stand where they are and do the same thing over and over. So how do you think the sheep feel when the shepherd starts leading them through strange dark valleys and foreign ravines? They probably think their shepherd is crazy! Why did he make us leave our comfy pasture to come to this deep, dark valley? We had it all made perfectly back home! But what the sheep don’t know is what’s right on the other side of the valley. The shepherd’s ultimate goal? His ultimate destination? A pasture that is knee deep in lush green grass, bordered by a crystal clear mountain stream and they both overlook blue sky that stretches for miles. All just waiting. But the sheep are terrified. They only see their current surroundings. The valley to them at that moment seems like a valley of death. They feel they will die in the place. There are many, many paralells here to the Isrealites wandering in the desert with Moses for 40 years. They constantly doubted God's direction as they could only see the terrain right in front of them. God had the promised land as their destination but all they could see was desert.
Now it’s super important here to notice one specific word…through. You see in the journey that the shepherd is leading the flock on, the valley is not the destination, it is merely a place they must pass through to get to God’s goodness on the other side. To get to the green pastures on the other side, they must pass through the valley. It is temporary. It is only for a short while. The flock will not stay in the valley, they will not even stop. In fact, I think the shepherd knows the valley is coming up and he rushes his sheep through it. He ‘double-times' the flock hurriedly through the valley to minimize their despair. This is important to note that these dark valleys in our lives are only temporary. They will pass and green pastures lie ahead. How do I know this? Because God is telling us so right here. We will walk through many valleys in our lives, but our Good Shepherd will be right there with us, leading us the entire way. Leading us on the right paths to green pastures.
“I will fear no evil for you are with me”
"I am the Good Shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me.” John 10:14. It is relationship built on trust and love. The sheep know that the shepherd will protect them, not just out of blind hope, but because he has provided for them countless times in the past. The sheep have learned of the care of the shepherd first hand. But there is also much evil that the sheep have been protected from that they have not even seen. Before the shepherd led them up the mountain, through the valleys to the lush green pastures of the plateaus, he went before them. Before they even started the journey, the shepherd had went up into the mountains to make sure it was safe. He scouted for poisonous plants that could harm his sheep and eradicated them all. He scouted for signs of predators that could harm or even kill his precious sheep. He looked for treacherous terrain and made choices to avoid it. You see we should fear no evil not just because the Good Shepherd is with us, but in that He has also gone before us. What a comfort to know that the God of the universe, the creator of everything, is right beside us. Our Good Shepherd protects us fully so that we can truly say, I will fear no evil, He is with me. Today, tomorrow and forever.
Praise God for our Good Shepherd. If you have not called upon Jesus Christ to be your Savior and Shepherd, you can do that today. It’s simple, it’s free, it’s a gift. It cost us nothing, but it cost Jesus everything. He died on a cross to pay the debt for our sins against God. Jesus did the work for you. Ask him to forgive you of the sin in your life and He is faithful to hear you and forgive you. I pray that you can know the Good Shepherd today. Life will never be the same for you in the care of a loving, caring, protective Shepherd.
If you’re reading this, you are being prayed for. God bless you.
