The Lord Is My Shepherd - Psalm 23

If you have your Bibles with you, open them to what is probably a well worn page, the page on which you find Psalm number twenty three, twenty third psalm arguably the most beloved of all of the psalms, Psalm number twenty three. And as we. Come to this psalm, let me remind you of a couple of things. Psalm number twenty three is a beloved psalm, but it can also be a difficult or confusing psalm because of the structure of the psalm. Psalm twenty three is also an abused song because we look at Psalm twenty three and read Psalm twenty three and come away with this erroneous idea that we have been promised a life free of opposition and discord and pain and difficulty, simply because the Lord is my shepherd. Nothing could be further from the truth. And if you want to understand how erroneous that is, all you have to do is put this psalm in its canonical context. That means understand that Psalm twenty three doesn't exist in isolation. It comes after Psalm twenty two. Listen to Spurgeon's words. The position of this psalm is worthy of notice. It follows the twenty second, which is peculiarly the Psalm of the Cross. There are no green pastures, no still waters on the other side of the twenty second psalm. It is only after. We have read My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? That we come to the Lord is my shepherd. We must by experience know the value of bloodshedding, and see the sword awakened against the shepherd before we shall be able truly to know the sweetness of the good shepherd's care. Psalm twenty three comes after Psalm twenty two, and it comes after Psalm twenty two on purpose. It comes after Psalm twenty two for a reason, and it cannot be understood apart from that canonical context. That we first see the Psalm of the Cross. We first see the psalm that is fulfilled as Christ is being crucified. We first see the Psalm where it is foretold a thousand years before Jesus is born, that he will die on the cross, that he will be surrounded by gentiles, that he will be crucified between two transgressors, that they will cast lots for his clothes, that he will be thirsty and have his tongue cleave to the roof of his mouth, that he will be stabbed in his side. All of these things are foretold in Psalm number twenty two, and it is only because of the gruesome Psalm that comes before it that Psalm twenty three is the blessing that it is. The structure of Psalm twenty three is something that is also important to see and understand. Diagramming this psalm was very helpful. That can sometimes be difficult and not very enlightening when you diagram the psalms, But diagramming this psalm was very helpful and the distinct pattern appeared. Van Gimmerian argues that the Psalm is divided into two parts, the first part about the shepherd and the second part about the host. I would say the first half second half, but the part about the host is really only in the last third of the psalm or less. I believe that it's better understood if you divide the psalm into three movements with two perspectives. That there is the first movement wherein we see the Lord as shepherd, the second movement that occurs in the valley of the Shadow of Death, and then the third movement that is the promise of goodness and mercy. I believe we'll see that as we go through this. There's also this theme that is introduced, this shepherd theme. It's important to understand that this shepherd theme would have been very meaningful to those who heard initially, and it is also meaningful to us on the other side of the cross. But in the Old Covenant, just think about this, The Lord is my shepherd. Think about all of the images that are brought forth. We see the image of the shepherd early on with Cain and Abel. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions, and the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering. The shepherd brought a sacrifice and eventually was killed by his brother. Jacob and his sons were shepherds. And in fact, when Joseph brings his family down to Egypt in order to protect them from the famine, he remember what he says in chapter forty six. In chapter forty six, he says, when I bring you before Pharaoh, tell Pharaoh that you are shepherds, and he'll put you in Goshen, the fat of the land. But there's also this word that shepherds were despised among the Egyptians. We hear about Pharaoh in the first third of his life and the last third of his life, but we missed the middle third of his life. In the first third of Pharaoh's life there are these forty years where he is in Egypt being raised as a prince. But in the next forty years of his life he is a Midian as a shepherd, And in the last forty years of his life he is in the desert as a shepherd of the people of God. David, the great king with whom God initiates the Davidic Covenant, comes before Saul to go and fight the giant. And when Saul questions him as to the wisdom of such an act, we read this, But David said to Saul, your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion or a bear and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. David, he was a shepherd. Also in the prophets we read that the kings and rulers of Israel were understood to be the shepherds of Israel. So from an old Covenant perspective, this idea of a shepherd is multifaceted. There is the idea of shepherding and keeping flocks and herds that were very important, But there is also this idea of shepherding as a metaphor for the Covenant people of God being shepherded by God's under shepherds who were their kings or their judges or their rulers. Well, then we get to the Testament and there is our new Covenant understanding of shepherding. First of all, Jesus identifies himself as the good shepherd, I believe, juxtaposing Psalm twenty two and Psalm twenty three. When he does so. John ten, eleven and twelve, for example, we read, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. There's Psalm twenty two laying down his life. He was a hired hand and not a shepherd who does not own the sheep. Sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. Beyond. Jesus identifying himself as the good shepherd. We also see him identifying his apostles as shepherds. Remember when Peter denies Jesus three times, he then turns and is restored by Jesus three times three times of what do you love me? Yes? Feed my sheep? Do you love me? Yes? And feed my sheep third time. Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, do you love me? And he said to him, Lord, you know everything, You know that I love you. Jesus said to him, feed my sheep. Beyond that, we see the idea of pastors in the New Testament, or elders in the New Testament being shepherds. We use the term pastor as an office. The New Testament doesn't. The New Testament doesn't use the term pastor as an office. It uses elder, overseer, and bishop as the office pastor is. Actually the function of the elders, overseers, and bishops is not an office. It is a function. It literally means to shepherd the flock and one Peter five verses one through four. So I exhort the elders among you. There's the office as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed. Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercise oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you, not for shameful gain, but eagerly, not domineering over those in your charge, but being an example to the flock. And when the chief shepherd appears, receive the unfading crown of glory. So the idea of the shepherd and the idea of shepherding is throughout the Bible, at the forefront, all over the scriptures, and here in Psalm twenty three, right in the middle of the Bible, we find this iconic Psalm which has the most well known presentation of the idea. Let's look then at Psalm number twenty three. If you have your Bibles, and if you have the ESV, let's read this together this morning. Should we stand together as we read Psalm number twenty three. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Thank you can be seated. Again free movements from two perspective perspectives, the first from the perspective of the show shepherd and the second from the perspective of the sheep. And I believe it's insightful when we look at the psalm in this way. First, let's look at it from the shepherd's perspective. Van Gimmerian writes, the first word of the psalm, the Lord yahueh evokes rich images of the provision and protection of the covenant God. And that's the first thing that we see is the shepherd's providential care for the sheep. The Lord is my shepherd. Now note that the shepherd's providential care is limited. The Lord is my shepherd. David is not making a universal statement about God's relationship with all people in Psalm twenty three. And this is one reason that we can be rather disappointed when we come to the psalm. This is a psalm that is known not only by believers but by unbelievers alike. Believers like the idea of God as a shepherd, and they take Psalm twenty three to mean that this is God's disposition toward all people. But David is not making a statement about God's disposition. Towards all people. In fact, David is not even making a statement about God's disposition toward all of Israel. The King is making a statement about God's disposition toward him. The Lord is my shepherd. Not everyone can say that. Not everyone in Israel could say that. Not everyone in this room can say that. Only those who understand Psalm twenty two and the redemption that we have in Christ because of His bloodshed on our behalf, when He bought and purchased a people for himself as the sheep of his fold, only those can make the statement the Lord is mine shepherd. Only when you get Psalm twenty two. Only when you understand that redemption can you truly make this statement the shepherding that the Psalmist describes is not universal. It's based on God's unique disposition towards his people. We are born enemies of God, deserving of his wrath, so it can't be talking about us in that state. In Ephesis, Chapter two, verses one through three, and you were dead in your transgressions or trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the Prince of the Power of the Air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and of the mind. And we're by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. All of mankind stands under the wrath and condemnation of God. All of mankind is being shepherd by the Prince of the Power of the Air. They're being shepherded by the evil One. You cannot be shepherded by the evil One pursuing your evil desires and simultaneously claim the Lord is my shepherd. Jesus makes it clear that we must become the children of God or the sheep of his pasture. John One beginning of verse eleven, we read he came to his own and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive. Him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Folks, you don't need the right to become something that you already are. We are not all God's children. Let me say it again. We are not all God's children. We are all his creatures, We are all his creation. But those who believe have been granted the right to become children of God. We enter into this sheepfold, and it is only then that we can say the Lord is my shepherd. John chapter ten. Again, Jesus answered them, I told you, and you do not believe the works that I do in my father's name. Bear witness about me. But you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. You don't have to take my word for it. Think Jesus christ himself at his word, and he says that there are those who do not believe him because they're not his sheep. Notice also that he doesn't say you're not my sheep because you don't believe. He says, you don't believe, because you're not my sheep. It is being marked out as his. It leads us to belief. So you must not feel free to claim the blessings of Psalm twenty three haphazardly. We've got to understand that first. Then that is what Spurgeon meant. That you have to put Psalm twenty three in its context. So you can't say, I just love thinking about God this way. This Psalm really ministers to me. It really makes me feel good about God. Therefore, I will take Psalm twenty three as the way that I explain God's disposition towards me. You're not allowed to do that. You're not allowed to do that. It is only those who understands. It is only those who have been redeemed by the death in Psalm twenty two that can make the claim in Psalm twenty three, the Lord is my shepherd. It is only when you have come to him through repentance and faith that you can lay claim to him being your shepherd. It is only, as Jesus says, when you believe him that you can lay claim to being one of his sheep, because that is one of the marks of being one of his sheep, that you believe him. You cannot say simultaneously, I do not believe him on the one hand, and on the other hand, I am one of his sheep. Do you believe today? Do you believe that Christ is who he says he is. Do you believe that he is the son of God? Do you believe that he wrapped himself in flesh, satisfying the righteous require of his Father, so that he might impute that righteousness to those who believe? And do you believe that in his passive obedience, he died on the cross, just as Psalm twenty two said that he would. Do you believe that he died for sins committed by sinful men, thus satisfying the wrath of his father in heaven. Do you believe that you needed this death on your behalf because you are a sinner, an enemy of God, and that the only way for you to access rightness with God is through this death that you deserved? But Christ died. Do you believe that he is your only hope of salvation? Beloved? It is only when you can answer yes to those questions that you can lay hold to Psalm twenty three. Otherwise you were deceiving yourself, but not God. The Lord is mine shepherd. The shepherd's providential care is also necessary. The Lord is my shepherd. I need a shepherd. The nature of sheep tells us that it's amazing that throughout the Bible God refers to his people as sheep. There are a lot of things we could have been free. He could have said, you know, we are his dogs, could have. Said that we are his. Birds. We're whatever. He said sheep, defenseless sheep, ignorant sheep, needy sheep, frightened, skittish sheep, wayward, wandering sheep. He refers to us as sheep. Sheep need a shepherd. You don't find sheep out in the wild fending for themselves. They don't make it long. A sheep out in the wild fending for himself. A sheep can't even make it if someone doesn't cut his wool off for him. He can fall over and not be able to right himself. That's how worthless sheep are. They can die from falling over and not being able to write themselves. They can't run fast, they don't have sharp teeth to fend off predators. They have no claws and they are not bright. And unless you have the humility to think of yourself like that, you don't understand the nature of sin. You know what sin does. Sin takes a sheep and makes him think that he's a wolf. Sin takes a sheep that can't survive and makes him think that he's a predator who's on top of the world, who doesn't need a shepherd. I don't need God. I can make it on my own desperate need of shepherding. It's not a flattering picture. The separate shepherd's providential care is also comprehensive. It's physical and spiritual in nature. Look at the physical nature of it, and notice the pronouns. He makes me lie down in green pastors. He leads me beside the snow waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in passive righteousness for his namesake. Notice the pronouns there. He He, the Lord is my shepherd. He why because I can't do this. I'm a sheep. I can't take care of myself. So this is why it's important to have this shepherd metaphor, because we are incapable of caring for ourselves. There is this idea of him providing for our physical needs. He makes me lie down in green pastures. You need green pastures to eat. He leads me side still waters. Otherwise you couldn't even find water to drink. But notice the parallels. Two lines about our physical needs and then two lines about our spiritual needs. He restores my soul. Does this not sound like Christ? Matthew eleven, Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and. I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness. For His namesake, you are not capable of righteousness in and of yourself. It is the Shepherd who leads you and paths of righteousness. So even your righteous deeds are dependent upon the Shepherd. We offer them to him, and we strive in those paths wherein he leads us, because we desire righteousness. But even the desire for righteousness comes from the Shepherd. We see this in the Lord's prayer in the fourth petition, we find give us this day our daily bread, our physical needs the fifth petition forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors spiritual. And then the sixth petition lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. So even when the Lord teaches us how to pray, he teaches us how to pray like sheep. This is important for us to remember because the fact of the matter is being led by a good shepherd can lead you to be over confident. When he provides for you and you eat well and drink well, and when your soul is restored, and when you're walking in paths of righteousness, the tendency is to become puffed up and to forget that the Lord is my shepherd. The tendency is to look at other people who are not being shepherded as well as you are being shepherded, and to look. Down upon them. There's a great line about this, and I won't tell you where the line comes from, but there's bickering between two brothers, and these two brothers are bickering over you know, money in the family that they're inheriting, and you know, one of them has done well for himself and the other one hasn't done well for himself and the one who hasn't as Kyla is the picture of the Prodigal Son, if you will, in this particular film. And the elder brother is sitting there as the other brother is coming, you know, saying I need this, I need that, I need the other and the old older brother, just like the older brother in the Prodigal Son, is sitting there proud of what he has made of himself. And the younger brother looks at the elder brother and says, we were both born on third base. Stop acting like you hit a triple. That's our tendency when things are. Good in our lives. Here we are home run trot coming toward home plate, forgetting the fact that we were born on third base and somebody else knocked us in. It is Christ, It is all of Christ. The Lord is my shepherd. Aside from the shepherd's provision, we see in the next movement the shepherd's protection. The pronouns change here and we go from person to you second person. Look at the second parts of the song. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of Death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff. They comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You annoint my head with oil. My cup overflows you. You, you. The pronouns are changed, but the direction is the same. We're still talking about the Lord. We're talking about the shepherd and what the shepherd does. We've identified the shepherd, and now we're speaking to the shepherd and speaking to the shepherd about his protection. You are with me, You're Rod and your staff. They comfort me. So here in this valley of the Shadow of Death, there is the rod and the staff. The rod and the staff. Refer to his means of fending off enemies and his means of guiding us even in the most difficult times and places. This idea of the value of the chaper of death, taken from the shepherding theme, is an idea, as some commentators say, and I believe it's the best explanation that if you think about sheep being moved from one place to another, and basically you have to move sheep to find green pastures, and sometimes when you are moving to find green pastures, it's interesting predatory animals know where their prey is coming from and where their prey is going to and if there's no more green grass over here, but there's now green grass over there. They know that their prey has to come from there to there, and here is a. Good place to wait. The valley of the shadow of death is the hiding place for our adversary. It's the dangerous place that we have to go through to get to the next green pasture. And the Psalmist says, even though I walk through the val of the shadow of death, I fear no evil. Why, because you've made me strong enough to do it. No, you are with me, your rod, your staff, you prepare a table, you anoint my head. You you, you. I don't fear why because of you, not because of me. When we look toward difficult days, this doesn't mean that we never have moments of apprehension. It means that those moments of apprehension are ultimately overshadowed by the protection of the shepherd. I'll say more about that when I look at the second perspective. Thirdly, there is the shepherd's promise. What's the promise? Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. In other words, surely you will cause goodness and mercy to follow me all the days of my life. Not I will achieve, I will attain, I will acquire, I will earn. But they will follow me, as Spurgeon says, like two bodyguards walking behind you for the remainder of your days. So here are the three movements. And the first perspective is to look at these three movements from the perspective of the shepherd. But if you flip it on its other end and look at these same three movements from the perspective of the sheep, you see something quite different. There are three eye statements. I shall not want, I will fear no evil, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord. First, I will not want why. The good shepherd will supply his sheep with all that they need. I will not want why, because the Lord is my shepherd. The Lord will provide me with everything that I need. Well, what happens when I come to a point in my life where I don't have something that I need. You didn't need it. Amen, You didn't need it, Yes, but I did need it. Listen, you might have wanted it, and in your mind things might have worked out a lot more conveniently for you if you had it, But if God didn't give it to you, then you didn't need it. Think about the alternative. The alternative is that my theology says there was something I needed that God either was unable or unwilling to supply. That's not God. The other question is you needed it for what I needed it in order to accomplish what I think would have been best in that circumstance. Good for you, But life for the Christian is not about accomplishing what you think is best in any given circumstance. It is about trusting the Shepherd to accomplish that which he knows is best in any given circumstance. If I had had X, that loved one wouldn't have died. So now I'm believing that people because I don't have what I need to prevent death. Who do you think you are? God is the giver of life. This does not mean what the Prosperity Gospel says. It means. Listen to the apostle, Paul, I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concern for me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned, in whatever situation I am, to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound in any and every circumstance. I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. Talk about a misused passage. This is an FCA favorite. I can do all things through Christ, through strengthens me. I can win this battle. I can win this race. I can win this game because Christ strengthens me to win. To get Paul says, I've learned to be content in all circumstances. That's what this means. Why, because what we need is Christ. Failure to grasp this will lead to frustration and confusion. Listen to Colvin's comment here. We ought to bear in mind that our happiness consists in this, that His hand is stretched forth to govern us, that we live under His shadow, and that His providence keeps watch and ward over our welfare. Although therefore we have abundance of all temporal good things. Yet let us be assured that we cannot be truly happy unless God vouchsafe to reckon us among the number of his flock. That's what you need. See. Part of the reason that we miss this is that we're misguided about the journey. Part of the reason that we miss this is that we miss the end of the song. What I mean by that, well, I'm going along in my life and I remember that the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want that He provides for me. That there are these physical needs and these spiritual needs that God provides for me. And because I think that my life is all about going through my days with plenty and not in want, anytime that I feel a hunger, pain, or anytime I feel a physical discomfort, I look to God as though God somehow has forgotten or forsaken me, because my perspective is right here. My entire existence is going from that green pasture to that green pasture. Newsflash, the death rate is one per person. You're not only going to walk through the valley of the shadow of death, You're going to die. Coming to Christ doesn't mean that we live in ease and never faced hunger, hurt, want or death. Secondly, I will fear no evil first one. I will not want the second one. I will fear no evil. This one is amazing. Why because remember where this is and the value of the shadow of death. I will fear no evil. The Lord is my shepherd. But even though the Lord is my shepherd, I sometimes walk through the valley of shadow of death, and in fact I will someday die. Otherwise the end of the psalm makes no sense. I will draw in the house of the Lord forever. We'll get there, even when I walk through the valley of shadow of death. There are dark days for those who belong to God. Listen, they're dark days for all of us. But what's the difference. The difference is when you and I, as followers of Christ, walk through the valley of the shadow of death. We fear no evil because His rod and his staff they comfort us. There are things in here that can devour me. It's a good thing. I'm not depending on me, Amen. There are things in here that are stronger and more powerful than I am. Thing. I'm not relying on my power. Amen. That's the picture of the shepherd. This means that we have to have an eternal perspective. Again, listen to Spurgeon. Yeah, though I walk as if the believer did not quicken his pace when he came to die, but still calmly walked with God. To walk indicates the steady advance of a soul which knows its road, knows its end, resolves to follow with the path, feels quite safe, and is therefore perfectly calm and composed. The dying saint is not in a flurry. He does not run as though he were alarmed, nor stands still as though he would go no further. He is not confounded nor ashamed, and therefore keeps to his old pace. I love that. I pray for that, that the Lord would cause Heaven to grow so much in my esteem, that the Lord would cause Christ to grow so much in my esteem, that when I come to the end of my life, I am no longer holding onto this world as tightly as I do today. But I keep my pace, even walking through the valley and the shadow of death, toward the end to which we all come, the final one. I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. This is the last movement. Now he has prepared a table before me. We have moved beyond just this shipherding thing. We've come to something else. Because you don't prepare table for sheep. This idea is that he's prepared to feast before us. There is the oil that pours over our head. There are some that press the shepherding theme and talk about the use of oils with sheep. I don't think it's appropriate to press the shepherding theme here. The oil that's spoken of here is not the kind of oil that's used for medicinal purposes. The oil that's used here is the oil that's used for celebration. These are fragrant oils at a feast. You come to a feast and there are fragrant oils poured on you. Your cup overflows. This is joyful feasting. We are at a table. But listen, you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Just because the Lord is my shepherd doesn't mean that I don't have enemies. It means that he prepares a feast for me right there, in the presence of my enemies. Oftentimes, believers, because we misunderstand this psalm. When we have enemies, and when enemies are encamped around us, we say, God, where are you? How could you let these enemies encompass all around me? You or my shepherd Why would my shepherd leave me here where enemies are encompassed all around me? And God looks at us and says, sit down and eat right there in the presence of your enemies. What does this look like? We don't even have to guess. I was thinking, how do you illustrate this? You don't even have to guess. You don't even have to find something out there somewhere. This looks like, son, go slaughter the lamb and put his blood over the doorpost. Yes, sir, did you do it? I did? Come inside and close the door and sit down in front of this table with this unleavened bread and these bitter herbs. Because tonight the death angel he's going to pass through all of the land of Egypt, and there's going to be death all around us in every house. But because the blood of the lamb is on our door, it will not touch us. Instead, we will feast at this table. That's what it looks like. You know what it looks like. It looks like Jesus on the night that he was betrayed, at the same table, eating the same feast while there are those who were hunting him down to nail him to a cross. You know what it looks like. It looks like you and me in just a few minutes, in the midst of a world that does not understand us, that does not know or love our God, and that oftentimes hates and despises us because of the one whom we worship, And as they are encamped around us everywhere, in a few moments, he will prepare a table before us in the presence of our enemies. That's what it looks like. The twenty third Psalm is not a picture of a life that is filled with only good all the time. Quite the contrary, The twenty third Psalm is a picture of a life camped around by enemies. It's a picture of a life with peril and danger all over. It is a picture of a life that is ultimately moving toward death. But it's a picture of a life that says, in the midst of it all, I will not want, because the Shepherd will provide me with everything that I need. I will not fear because the Shepherd will protect me from everything that comes between me and that which he has in store for me. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. So even when I come to die, I will still be shepherded even into the life that is truly life. That's what the twenty third Psalm is all about. It is about the one who died in Psalm twenty two, so that we might live in Psalm twenty three and enjoy the goodness and mercy that will follow us all the days of our life, until we dwell in the house of the Lord, where he has gone to prepare a place for us. That's the shepherd's all, that's the comfort for the shepherd's people. Let's pray. Father. We bow before you as humble, weak, fearful, sinful, useless sheep, confessing to you. That the only good in us is the good that is found in being made in your image and being a remade in the image of Christ. We bow before you, rejoicing at the privilege of being led by the good Shepherd. We bow before you, acknowledging that we get scared in the valley of the shadow of death, but we're grateful for the reminder that we don't need to be, And we bow before you, humbled by the privilege that is ours to sit before the table you prepare for us in the presence of our enemies. We rejoice in the Good Shepherd. Grant by your grace that those here are under the sound of My voice who have not yet come into His fold will do so by turning from their sin and turning to Christ. Grant by your grace that those who are here, trusting and depending on anything other than the Good Shepherd to see them through this life would abandon all other hopes and hope only in Christ. Grant by your grace that any other thing in which we trust would be forsaken, that we might trust only in Christ, our good Shepherd, in whose name we pray and ask all these things amen.