The Good Shepherd

I mean, think about that, the divine protection of God. Have you ever felt the protection of God?

Well, if you're a Christian, you have. Amen. Because Jesus is the shepherd of his people.

Jesus knows us on a very personal level. The Father provides and cares for his people through Jesus.

God is the one who sovereignly controls our lives. David says,

I will never begin to lack. I will never begin to lack. The grammar of the negation here confers really more than just a temporary,

I shall not want. This is a very permanent ending of want, to never lack anything.

God will always provide for the needs of his children. David is confident that because God is his provider, he will experience an abundance of good things outwardly in his life.

He's not afraid of lacking or wanting anything because God is his shepherd who provides for all his needs.

It's confidence in the Lord. But this grammar here denotes a permanent providing for by God, permanent.

He is active in providing and caring for his people and it is an ongoing process.

God will always provide for the needs of his children because we are his children.

We are his children because of Jesus. God provides for his people for their benefit.

Jesus guides in the midst of trials for our benefit. He says, he causes me to lay down in green pastures.

Verse two indicates a location. The adjective green conveys the meaning of freshness.

David is describing the condition of grass or green vegetation as a place that is plentiful.

The Lord is not providing mediocre sustenance or rest. He is providing fresh and fulfilling sustenance.

He brings his children to a place abounding with supply for their needs. The Lord is in complete control over his children like a shepherd over his sheep.

God is the one who sovereignly controls our lives. I mean, just think about your own life.

Do you ever feel like things are out of control? Maybe there's a struggle over your actions, over your thoughts, over your speech, your secret thoughts.

That's a struggle. Do you ever pause and ask yourself, what am I doing with my life?

What am I doing with my life? God directly intervenes into the lives of his children and causes them to perform good deeds for their own benefit and for his glory.

Here, provision is in mind. Israel is an amazing place. And we think about David's life.

You know, in a wonderful blessing, a really God's grace in our lives, my wife and I were able to go to Israel.

It is beautiful, absolutely beautiful. There are deserts in the south of Israel, mountains in the north.

The Mediterranean Sea is to the west. The Dead Sea is to the east. South of Jerusalem are the

Judean hills, including Mount Hebron. This is the wilderness David would have been visualizing in Psalm 23.

Shepherding was a part of life in Israel because the amount of livestock a person owned correlated to monetary value and even social status.

How much do you own? Right, that says something about where you're at socially on the social ladder.

Many Jews became farmers, but they never abandoned shepherding. It was the custom that as an older son grew up, he would graduate from sheep raising or sheep care to help his father with farming and doing crops.

So he started out as a young boy shepherding. He would sort of graduate out of that and then start doing farming and helping with the crops because that's a little more important.

That's where our food is coming from. He would help with harvesting the crops and pass on the shepherd's task to the next younger boy in line.

David informed this Psalm with the practical experiences of his life and where he grew up.

David alludes to the reality of sheep cots which were prepared in rich pasture grounds which could also protect the sheep from the sun.

Judea in summer would be a warm region, difficult for sheep to bear the heat. And in a colder climate, the sheep would still experience stress from the changing temperature and immoderate heat.

David was a shepherd and he understood the special care or needs of sheep.

Jesus, the good shepherd knows our every need. Jesus has called us into his sheepfold.

If you want real control over your life, then you need to place your life under the control of Jesus.

He continues, David says, he leads me beside quiet waters of rest.

God has set aside a specific place for his sheep. David knows that wherever the

Lord takes him will be a source of provision for his needs. The place

God chooses to bring his children provides rest and peace. It is not only a place of sustenance, it is a quiet place, a safe place, a space for safety and rejuvenation.

I had to be careful there because I almost said a safe space. This isn't a safe space where you're triggered or something.

This is a place for your soul to be rejuvenated. This is safety in spiritual matters, safety and rejuvenation.

God guides his people for their benefit, both physically and spiritually.

The description of quiet waters signifies personal care. Because a shepherd would not choose a rapidly moving stream for his sheep, which could be dangerous,

David is relating the idea of God as a shepherd holding nothing back that would lead to the highest level of happiness under his care, contentment and provision.

He's painting this picture of abundance for what the Lord provides for his life. Not only has the

Lord provided in his physical life the physical needs like sustenance of green pastures for his sheep, also the comfort of the benefit of pure drinking water and gentle flowing streams.

The Lord provides all of David's needs. God knows the needs of his children.

Jesus provides water. The living water, which is the word of God. Have you ever considered that you have access to the greatest miracle in the universe that a human being can put his hands on?

The word of God. We have the revealed mind of Christ, Christ, the hidden treasures,

Christ himself, all wisdom and knowledge in the word of God. The miracle of living water, the word of the living

God. And we have access to that. If you drink this water, you will never go thirsty again.

Spiritually, what a benefit that we have access to such a rich, rich blessing.

Just think about it. How much time do you spend in God's word? How much time do you spend in God's word?

Well, out there on that welcome table, we have a chronological reading plan. And if you've picked that up in the beginning of the year,

I was in, it was in January, we put that on the table. Maybe you've neglected to do that.

Maybe you're not up in your daily devotions. You know what you can do about that? Change it today. You don't have to go back to the beginning and start reading from January.

Jump in today. Look at where it is. Get a reading plan. Get a daily reading plan.

And just start reading the Bible every day. Make it a part of your routine. In the morning, before bed, on your lunch break, have a regular reading plan.

And don't feel despair if you're neglecting that. What you do today matters.

Today you can change. You can just start again. Pick it back up where you left off.

I encourage you strongly to develop an intentional Bible reading plan. If you seek

God's protection in life without regularly filling your mind with the word of God, you are a person who is leaning on a spider web for support.

It's not gonna work. You're not gonna be able to live this life in spiritual growth and security without the word of God as part of your regular diet.

Some supporting scripture for this first point would be the Gospel of John. In John chapter 10, verses 11 through 15, it's the good shepherd, the words of Jesus Christ himself, the eyewitness historical testimony recorded in the

Gospel of John, John chapter 10. Jesus says this, I am the good shepherd.

The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.

He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep.

I am the good shepherd and I know my own and my own know me.

Even as the father knows me and I know the father and I laid down my life for the sheep,

John chapter 10. You know, just going back to the, really the simple illustration of what the

Lord did in 2019 and 2020 with my mother's life, toward the end of her life, my mom knew

Jesus as the good shepherd because the Lord did something to her heart, to her mind.

Toward the end of my mom's fight with cancer, she found great comfort with the Psalms. It wasn't just Psalm 23.

You know, I was reading just so much scripture to her. The Gospels, we're going in the Old Testament, Ecclesiastes, thinking about the, sometimes the vanity of life.

What is God's plan for us? King Solomon says very wisely at the end, the only thing that matters in this life is that you fear

God and obey him. That you know God and you live your life by what he says. But she found so much comfort in the

Psalms and especially Psalm 23 because it describes God as shepherd who lovingly takes care of his sheep.

Jesus is the good shepherd. My mom knew that. My mom and I had many, many conversations about God over the course of that year that she died.

And certainly this was one that we went back to so many times. Three beautiful aspects of God's shepherding so that you can put your confidence in the

Lord Jesus. And the first is right out of verses one and two. God provides abundantly because it is his character.

God provides abundantly because it is his character.

And number two, God as restorer. God as restorer, verses three and four.

David continues, he restores my soul. He restores my soul.

Soul in this context of restoration has the image of completely being restored.

This is not a partial restoration. It's complete beyond the physical matter of the body but rather in David's inner being.

God restores the most inward part of his being. The soul is the literal breath of both animals and humans.

Breath is tantamount to life itself. It also means life and has the idea of the soul or inner part.

More than physical needs are being discussed here. Spiritual needs and the inner part of the soul is what

David is talking about. The restoration is an ongoing action. God restores his people's souls continually.

David points out that it is the duty of a good shepherd to take care of his sheep. Not only to take care of them but to love them so that if they are weak or diseased, the shepherd will nurse them and support them.

David makes the comparison of his soul being renewed or recovered in restoration and points the image that this was how he was treated by God.

This is a picture of sanctification. Sanctification. We'll look closer at that doctrine, the doctrine of sanctification in the later part of verse three.

Looking at this metaphor through the lens of the New Testament, it seems that David is alluding to the direction of the

Holy Spirit in a believer's life. God restores his people's souls.

Jesus is eternal salvation and restoration to a right relationship with God the

Father. And the Spirit talks to us through his word.

Through his word. Jesus restores with the Bible and the Spirit. The restoration leads naturally to communion with God through prayer.

Are you praying every day? What does your prayer life look like? If you haven't prayed today but you claim to be a follower of Christ, something is wrong with you.

Sometimes I get up and especially during those dark times over that time period, 2019 and 20,

I couldn't even think about going to work. I couldn't think about going to school, having five classes and having research papers and doing all this stuff and caring for my family.

It was like I just don't wanna get out of bed today. I can't do it. I'm done. I would get up in the morning and very simply

I would say God help me. God help me.

And I would say God would you help me to do what you have called me to do today in a way that isn't grumbling or complaining?

Would you help me to glorify you with my words and my actions today? Just ask

God for help. And I will testify today, he will help you.

Are you praying every day? Are you talking to God? Setting aside a time of daily prayer is critical for your

Christian life. It's critical. David says, he guides me in paths of righteousness for the sake of his name.

The context of guiding is in terms of guidance in the wilderness. Paths has the idea of a wagon track or firm path.

David is alluding to the fact that God leads his people for their benefit and that God is the source of righteousness in his people.

Without God leading David, he is not righteous. Righteousness means being justified or to be just and upright.

Upright living. God leads his people into pursuits of holiness.

Every Christian should have a desire for godliness and pure living. Do you pursue holiness in your everyday life?

Do you pursue holiness at all? If you're not pursuing, if you don't have a genuine desire to live a godly life, what is wrong with you?

What is going on with you? If this is not part of your daily, your desire to live for God, to live a life of gratitude.

I'm not talking about workspace salvation or some of us being holier than the other. I'm talking about an inner genuine desire to live a life of godliness, to have a sincere pursuit of holiness.

And I'm not saying you get the credit or you do this on your own. David is not saying that.

David relinquishes any credit for himself and declares that God guides him for the sake of his own glory.

Not for David's glory. Not so David can check a box or be cooler than the other.

I guess he's the only king after Saul, but this isn't a one -up or something.

No, God gets the glory. That's what David is saying. It means the name of God is on the line and communicates a deep meaning of standing, a reputation.

God leads his people into personal holiness for his name's sake and for his glory.

God generously supplies his guidance so that David can walk securely on straight paths for the godly maintenance of his life.

God bestows his goodness as the cause of righteousness for David for his own sake, as a blessing which demonstrates his sovereignty over his people.

God leads his people into godly pursuits of holiness. Christlikeness is the goal of every believer.

Christlikeness is the goal of every Christian. If this isn't your goal, then that needs to change today.

Are you living your life as a thank you letter in response to the salvation which God has so freely and generously given to you?

Christlikeness should be the goal of every believer. This is really the doctrine of sanctification in which we are permanently justified through faith in Jesus.

We have a new position in Christ, but there is also a continual progression into personal holiness as God conforms us into the image of his son and gives us an ever -increasing desire for righteousness through the power of the

Holy Spirit and the power of his word. And look at what

David says next. Even when I walk in a valley of deep darkness,

I will never fear evil because you are with me. David gives the impression of a no matter what attitude to the events in his life.

He will give up his control to God and trust completely. The preceding verse discuss the paths

God guides David on and verse four continues to describe where the psalmist is walking.

This is an act of walking. It's an ongoing event. He has not arrived at the valley.

He's walking through the valley. God doesn't take you to a place of desolation and terror.

God guides you through that time of your life and takes you to a place of rest and comfort.

Yeah, this act of walking is an ongoing event. David is describing the act of traveling through the valley, not reaching a destination.

Those who trust in the Lord have no need to fear even in the face of mortal danger.

David points out that although believers are protected by God, they are not exempt to being exposed to the many dangers and evils in this world.

He animates the reality that adversity in the world is a guarantee for the children of God.

If you're a follower of Yahweh, you are either in this valley or you've walked through it before.

No one is exempt, especially believers. And that's what David is talking about.

His description of the valley paints the scene of a shadow or deep gloom, so gloomy and dark.

You know, we have, I guess we should say, we had a lot of light pollution in California where we came from.

Out here, it's very dark, but just think in your mind, like it's so dark that you can't see your face in front of you.

You can't see six inches in front of you. You don't know what's there, but you know something dangerous is there.

You don't know where to go because you can't even see in front of you. That's a deep, deep gloom.

The imagery of eminent danger or even death is vivid with the language

David employs here. English Bible translations, and I think even this legacy standard, says that this is the valley of the shadow of death.

David is depicting a valley of darkness, gloom, and evil.

And David is not saying he is casually without fear, right? He's not flimpant about this, but he qualifies the resistance of fear when he is in the presence of evil by relying on the fact that God is good to be ever present amidst the trials and afflictions we face in life.

The personal battles and afflictions. David suggests a permanent negation of any fear.

David is never going to fear evil, no matter where he is or what the situation is, because God, his shepherd, is with him.

And David is not saying he will never fear because of his own strength. He is saying he will never fear because of God's strength.

David is saying he will not fear wherever God, his shepherd, leads him.

You know, have you considered that, that the storms of your life are not random? God has led you there, and he will help you in that time of your life, in that difficult season, and he will take you to the other side.

And on the other side of that affliction, you will have more trust in him, more dependence on him.

You will likely be praying more. You will likely be reading your Bible more. You will be spiritually a different person, and you will have a godly character and perseverance, trusting in the strength and power of the

Holy Spirit. That's what God does to us in trials, because he's good. And all things work together for good for those that are called according to his purpose and those that love

God. David has a personal relationship with God, and the Lord is always with his children and will not leave them.

And this just forces the question, really, what is your relationship with Jesus like? We see

David's relationship with the Lord. What's your relationship with the Lord like? Do you fear other things besides the

Lord? Do you fear man or earthly circumstances? Why? Why?

Why? Place your trust in Jesus. Trust Jesus.

Put your confidence in Jesus. Pray to God every day, and you will experience fearlessness, because God's grace equals courage and fearlessness.

Those who trust in the Lord Jesus have no need to fear in any circumstance in life. We have a personal relationship with God.

Jesus will never forsake us. He continues, David says, your rod and your staff comfort me.

A rod is an instrument of discipline. The image a rod brings into mind is striking or hitting.

You know, the sheep are running around, and he's gotta kinda smack them to get them to go where they need to go.

You think, well, that's not nice. Why is he doing that? Because on the other side is a wolf who's about to eat him.

Sometimes the Lord has to discipline his sheep, and he uses a rod. It's an instrument of discipline.

But that image of striking and hitting isn't the only part of the staff, right? A staff is the tool of a shepherd for gently guiding or nudging the sheep in paths of safety and to sources of food or water.

You know, one is kind of a more forceful, and the other's a gentle guiding. Both are tools that God uses for us.

David is invoking the concept of the discipline of God and the loving guidance of God. And those two things are not separate.

No, you actually don't separate those two. Not according to this psalm. The Lord disciplined

David in his sin and guided him safely in straight paths despite his sin.

The imagery of a rod and staff plays into the metaphor of God as shepherd. God's law and discipline is comforting to believers.

While his guidance and mercy is a sign of his love for his children, the way a good shepherd loves his sheep.

David will not fear because of God's presence. He goes deeper in his explanation of perseverance and trust in God.

David is pointing out that it is God's law, discipline, and guidance that comfort him and cause him to be fearless despite the realities, the very real dangers of life.

This demonstrates a reality of physical space and time that David experiences in his relationship with the

Lord. This is not some weird esoteric mystical thing. This is real life, a personal relationship as we experience our time here on earth.

It shows that David's relationship with God and its consequent results are ongoing and continuous.

For the supporting scripture on this point, I wanted to point out another psalm, Psalm 19. It's a very short passage.

You can flip there. I have it written down. It's Psalm 19, verses seven and eight. The restoring law.

It's such a great thing that the word of God tells us. Psalm 19, seven and eight.

The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul.

The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.

The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the

Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. Three beautiful aspects of God's shepherding so that you can put your confidence in the

Lord Jesus. Number one, God provides abundantly because it is his character.

And number two, God restores our souls for the sake of his name.

God restores our souls for the sake of his name.

And number three, God as protector, verses five and six. David says, you set out before me a table in front of my enemies.

Verse five continues the metaphor of God as shepherd, but with an aspect or illustration of God as a host.

David depicts God setting forth protection in the context of a dinner table and a future yet completed action of preparation.

David describes this idea of God's presence directly in front of David and in the presence of David's adversaries or enemies.

Despite the presence of David's enemies, their action or status, God will take care of David as a perfect host.

God will place David in the seat of honor at his table. In Hebrew culture, the head of the household, really as a host, had an obligation to treat his guest of honor with hospitality.

And being a guest in the home meant you were under the protection of the host. David is using the host illustration to describe

God as the perfect host who protects and gives provision for his honored guest,

David. David is not claiming special status or right. He's not doing that.

He's establishing that it is God as the gracious and merciful host that brings a lowly guest, sinful man, to the place of honor even in the presence of his enemies.

God controls the affairs of mankind in an active and personal way.

The Hebrew concept of enemy is to treat with hostility, to attack, to cause distress or to besiege.

In the context of war or battle. God is sovereign over the righteous and the wicked alike.

God is sovereign. David is pointing out that God can easily provide him with sustenance without any great difficulty, without any difficulty at all.

Just like a father provides for his children or a host provides for his guest.

Our every need has been provided for through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus. Have you ever considered that God has already provided everything you will ever need in this life in the person of Jesus?

It's complete. It's everything we would ever need. David says, you refresh my head with oil, my cup overflows.

Most English Bible translations translate this passage as you anoint my head with oil.

The most literal meaning is to refresh with the concept of renewal or refreshing.

Anointing with oil would have been more commonly used in terms of anointing a priest, a prophet or even a king in the sense of religious or political ceremony.

But look at the setting. This isn't the princely court. Refreshing or cleaning a guest who is eating at your table would have been the more common practice of a host to provide a perfumed oil for the guest's head.

The cup is provided by the host who first refreshes his guest's head, preparing him for the meal.

David is talking about a dinner guest and host, not kings or priests. The imagery of the cup conveys the idea of overflowing abundance in the context of drink or state of wellbeing provided by the host.

God is the one who restores his people and God provides for the needs of his people even beyond what they need, including protection from enemies and danger.

How full is your cup today? What is your relationship like with Jesus? I'm talking about spiritual sustenance.

How full is your cup? If you place your hope in Jesus alone, not the accruement of material possessions and wealth, but trusting in Christ for your comfort.

If you trust Jesus, if you place your hope in Jesus alone, your spiritual cup will overflow despite physical or earthly circumstances.

This passage demonstrates that God's relationship with believers is active and engaging.

It shows that God is deliberate in the actions he takes toward his sheep. God refreshes and sanctifies all people through Jesus.

God provides for the needs of all in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

If you don't have Jesus, you don't even have a cup. You don't even have anything that you can fill up.

Your spiritual tank, there isn't even a tank to fill up. Without Christ, you have nothing.

Without Jesus, you don't even have a cup. He continues. He says, surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life.

Goodness reflects the context of loving kindness or mercy. God's bestowed goodness is a certainty.

It's not a maybe, it's a certainty. The word for goodness is used approximately 390 times in the

Old Testament. The term means to actively engage in good. This is

God's loving kindness, an undeserved good directed at you.

You don't deserve it. It's unreserved mercy. You don't deserve it, but he freely gives it because it's his character.

This can also mean beautiful, joyful, precious, correct, or even the word righteous, synonymous in there.

The concept of good here describes the blessing and care that God bestows on his people. This is not human goodness.

This is God goodness. It transcends human goodness. God's blessing and grace are permanent and will continue without fail because of God's attribute of loving kindness.

The saying, you guys have probably sung this. I've heard this a million times. We could even see if we can do it.

God is good all the time. And all the time, God is good.

So this is what, hey, true words. I love those words. And usually when I say that or hear that,

I have a smile on my face, not even thinking about it. It's great. So there's no condemnation or it's not a gotcha moment here.

God is good all the time. And all the time, God is good. That's not enough. God is goodness.

God is goodness. Mercy following David is in the context of something

God is bestowing on David or giving to him freely. David is suggesting the idea of God pursuing him for the rest of his time on earth and points to the awareness of the finiteness of life.

While David paints the picture of a lasting pursuit from God and abounding grace from God, he also refers to his own mortality and what is to come after his life is over.

He demonstrates the certainty of God's action in bestowing his blessings on David. And he conveys the personal relationship he has with the

Lord. God's bestowed goodness and mercy for his children is a certainty.

God will provide his mercy permanently to those who follow his son. Jesus is the goodness of God.

Jesus is the mercy of God. Do you have Jesus in your life today? Do you know

Jesus as your Lord and Savior? Jesus saves, he redeems, he's good, he's the goodness of God, he is the mercy of God.

You know, if you don't have Jesus, I mean, just think about it. What are you doing with your life? Are you gambling with your life that you're gonna come to know

Jesus later after you've had all the fun you can have? You aren't promised even later today.

You could have a heart attack in the lunchroom. You could get in a car accident on the way home.

God forbid. Trust your life to Jesus and do not gamble with your life.

You may not have another day to accept Christ as your Lord. Today is the day that God is graciously proclaiming that he loves you, he wants to forgive you.

If you would just turn to him and believe in the name of Jesus. You know, think about David's life.

He was a military leader, he was a king, he was a man of amazing achievement. David believed, he believed.

Are you saying you know something David didn't? Oh, King David, he was just fooled.

You know, he watched too many commercials and TV evangelists. He didn't get it. I get it though. David believed.

King David believed. He believed in God for his salvation beyond the physical life on earth, looking to eternity, looking past this earthly life.

The Lord Jesus lovingly commands for all to turn away from sin and return to him and believe in the promise of everlasting life.

Look at what David says. He says, I will live in the house of Yahweh forever. David concludes his psalm by invoking again the covenantal name for God.

He utilizes a place of dwelling beyond the temple in Jerusalem, signifying this is the house of Yahweh beyond the earthly restraints of what man has built.

This is a place where Yahweh lives beyond earth and the heavens. This is the highest heaven.

David has a realization that he will physically stay with God in the

Lord's dwelling place forever. Forever is a movement in time toward an infinite number of days.

Our relationship with the Lord is eternal. It's eternal. Our relationship with Jesus is forever.

David is praising God for the certainty and security he has in the hope of spending eternity in the presence of his

Lord. God is the perfect host, and David rejoices in the eternal security of living with God in heaven.

The concluding portion of the passage shows that David's relationship with God is everlasting and has eternal consequence.

We as believers can have the realization that we will physically stay with God in the

Lord's dwelling place in heaven. Our relationship with God is eternal because of Jesus.

The supporting scripture for this last point is from the Old Testament, the prophet Ezekiel. Ezekiel chapter 34, two sections, 11 through 16, and then 23 and 24.

Ezekiel 34, it says that Yahweh will shepherd his flock. This is what

Ezekiel says. For thus says the Lord God, behold,

I myself will search for my sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd cares for his herd in the day when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will care for my sheep and will deliver them from all the places to which they were scattered on a cloudy and gloomy day.

I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and bring them to their own land, and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the streams, and in all the inhabited places of the land.

I will feed them in a good pasture, and their grazing ground will be on the mountain heights of Israel.

There they will lie down on a good grazing ground and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel.

I will feed my flock and I will lead them to rest, declares the

Lord God. I will seek the lost, bring back the scattered, bind up the broken, and strengthen the sick, but the fat and the strong I will destroy.

I will feed them with judgment. Then I will set over them one shepherd, my servant

David, and he will feed them. He will feed them himself and be their shepherd, and I, the

Lord, will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I, Yahweh, have spoken.

Jesus is the servant David. Jesus is the good shepherd. Jesus is God. One commentator noted this on Ezekiel 34.

My servant David, in verse 23, refers to the greater one in David's dynasty, the

Messiah, who will be Israel's ultimate king over the millennial kingdom. The Lord, in verse 24, is

God the Father. Three beautiful aspects of God's shepherding so that you can put your confidence in the

Lord Jesus. God provides abundantly because it is his character. God restores our souls for the sake of his name.

And number three, God the Father is our protection. God the

Father is our protection. The week before my mother passed, we went through Romans 10, nine and 10.

She was on hospice, and right before she passed away, probably about a week, she sort of went to sleep and went sort of in like a coma.

She couldn't talk anymore, she just was laying there. But right before that time,

I went through this passage with her, Romans 10, nine and 10, and really through like hard to hear grumbled words, she confessed

Jesus as her Lord. It says that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

For with the heart a person believes, leading to righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, leading to salvation.

She said she repented of her sin, and that she believed. And I just asked her, do you acknowledge

Jesus as the Lord of your life? That you're a sinner and you need him as your savior?

And she said, yes, yes. And I just asked her, do you accept that he's the

Lord? Is he the Lord of your life? Do you believe? Do you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead?

Why did he raise him from the dead? Because he died for your sins. She said, yes,

I believe it, I want it, I believe it, I want it. And I could hardly understand those grumbled words, but I could see the desperation on her face.

And as she was saying those words, there just seemed to be like a peace. And that's where my mom was at with God.

In fact, the last words that my mom and I spoke the days that she became unresponsive, while she was still in hospice, was this passage.

That's the last verbal thing that came out of my mom's mouth. Amazing. That was what

God did for her in that trial. He saved her soul. What he did for me and my family was he shaped us and helped us to get through this very difficult time.

That we would read the scripture more, we would pray more, that we would trust more. And it wasn't some overnight success.

I was like on the ground in the fetal position, crying. I couldn't even move. I was having anxiety attacks.

But the Lord showed me to be dependent on him and to trust in his goodness.

And as much as I was reading this psalm almost every day for her, it was for me as much as it was for her.

I believed the words. Do you believe the words? You know, the question is, where are you at with God today?

You know, praise God for that sweet moment of time that I had together. He doesn't do that.

Sometimes he just decides to go a different way. The Lord is good and it's for good, for his glory and for the benefit of his people.

But I can look back on that time and see what a sweet, sweet mercy he gave to me in the time that he took my mom.

Do you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior? Will you repent and believe in Christ?

Having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to every person that all everywhere should turn away from sin and believe in the gospel.

Yeah, I may not know all of you very well yet. Some of you I know too well, right?

Some of you know me too well, and praise God. But I know my mom, and I can say with confidence, if my mom could stand up here next to me, she would tell you to believe in the gospel.

She would tell you to believe in the gospel. If my mom could say one thing to you today, she would say

Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Because she knew Jesus as her loving shepherd before she died.

This is the hope that she clung to, because Jesus is the good shepherd.

God is our provider, restorer, protector. Jesus cannot, has not, and will not fail in providing and shepherding his people.

Trusting in God means that we as believers will never begin to lack anything according to his will for our benefit.

In Jesus, we have real and meaningful rest and comfort. Through faith alone, in Christ alone, we have everlasting rest.

He not only provides for our physical needs, but he provides for our spiritual needs, and guides us away from temptation by providing us with righteous deeds to perform.

God's word is a guide to our path, and will keep us from stumbling. No matter what dangers we face, we have no cause to fear, because Jesus is with us as we go through life, wherever we go in life.

Turn away from sin, ask God for forgiveness, and confess

Jesus is Lord. Believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus, and God will mercifully forgive you, and he will grant you eternal life and everlasting salvation.

The word of God promises this. His word is a comfort to us. Jesus protects us from our enemies, and refreshes our souls, because he is full of mercy and loving kindness.

In the Son, we have our living hope for eternal life. By the grace of God, and his provision of mercy for us, we can have assurance in our faith of eternal life, because the perfect shepherd, the perfect shepherding of Jesus.

In this Psalm, David gives you three beautiful aspects of God's shepherding, so that you can put your confidence in the

Lord Jesus. God as provider, God as restorer, and God as protector.

Have you ever considered that God is doing all three of those things at the same time for you? Jesus loves you.