The Lord is My Shepherd; am I His Sheep?
Psalm 23 is a chapter that I’ve learned by heart. I’m pretty sure a lot of Christians have heard about this chapter. As familiar as I was with it, I never really understood the meaning of it until a few years ago. In Children’s Sunday school our teacher would help us to remember and recite every single line. My beloved Sunday school teacher, however, is a big fan of the King James Version (KJV) and, therefore, that is the version he taught us. The first verse of Psalm 23 in KJV says “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want”. Little me thought it meant that I didn’t want the Lord as my shepherd – I didn’t understand it at all. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I learned that the meaning of this was “The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need.” (NLT) This can be interpreted as God is my provider and because of that, I will have all that I need.
When this became clear to me, I got used to seeing God as my provider, my shepherd. But this week during Bible study, I read Psalm 23:1 from a different point of view. When I read the word ‘shepherd’, I visualized someone taking care of sheep. (In the Bible followers of God are also referred to as sheep.) So, if God is my shepherd, then it would mean that I am His sheep. But, do I actually behave like one?
As we all know, relationships are a two-way street. I was reminded during the Bible study that my relationship with God is mutual. He has a role to play and I have a role to play. But honestly I don’t always look at our relationship that way. I call Him my shepherd, but I only look at what He can do for me in that sense. His role consists of taking care of me and providing for me, but where am I in all this? If the Lord is my Shepherd, then I’m His sheep. This means that I listen to His voice and follow Him. I often ignore this side of our relationship (and best believe I’ve dealt with the consequences), but John 10:27 gently reminds me of what it means to be God’s sheep: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”
God is doing His part (providing) and He’s expecting me to do mine (obeying).
