GROUP GUIDE: Psalm 23

Psalm 23 is probably the most popular of the Psalms and one of the most well known Passages of Scripture, in general... and for good reason. This Passage brings comfort to the hurting, peace to the bewildered and refuge to the lonely. At it’s core, Psalm 23 shows us the heart of God toward His people and what He specifically does for His people. In writing this Psalm, David drew on his experience working for his father as a shepherd. But David also wrote this Psalm out of a knowledge of who God was in His life. In this Psalm, David compares God to a shepherd. We see the shepherd/sheep relationship, in reference to God’s relationship to us, many times in the Bible. We even see the primary functions of a pastor as that of a shepherd (the literal translation of the word pastormeans shepherd). A pastor is to look at His church as a group of “sheep” that he is to feed, lead, protect and care for. What makes Psalm 23 so beautiful and so encouraging is we see that God is the chief example of a shepherd and this Passage specifically shows us that God desires to feed, lead, protect and care for those who are in His flock.

First, we see in Psalm 23 that our Shepherd feeds His people well. We see this by way of David saying that the LORD is his shepherd. Using the covenant name for God is a sign that the shepherd in charge (God) is sovereign, in control and can be trusted. Without a doubt, we can trust that God knows exactly what we need. Just as the shepherd will provide lush green grass for his sheep to feed on and rest in, God provides us with spiritual comfort and rest. We also see in this text that God sometimes makes us rest in Him. Sheep do not always have the wisdom to know what is best for them. We, as followers of Christ can be the same way. But God always does what is best for His people.

We also see, in this Passage, that our Shepherd leads us exactly where we need to be. Many of us would not have put ourselves where we are in life. But, at the same time, we realize that God has us exactly where we need to be and that is a good thing. God also puts us in the exact circumstances we need to be in because He made us. He knows our personalities, our tendencies and our weaknesses. God is always going to lead us where we can grow, but He will always lead us to a place that brings Him glory.

Not only does our Shepherd feed us well and lead us where we need to be, but also our Shepherd protects us. David would have known, well, the dangers that a shepherd, in the region of Judea, would face on a daily basis. At any time, there could be bandits or wild animals ready to attack. Much like a human shepherd, our Shepherd protects and guides His sheep through the dark valleys of life. However, this does not mean that life will not be hard at times. This also does not mean that we will not stray from our shepherd and therefore He will have to discipline us. But because we know that our shepherd feeds and leads us well, we know that we can trust Him in times of trouble and we also know that we will be comforted by His discipline.

Lastly, in Psalm 23, we see that our Shepherd cares for us better than we could ever imagine. Here we see that God not only lovingly views us as sheep in His field but He also treats us as esteemed guests at His dinner table. We know that even in the presence of our enemies, God will allow us to rest. Even more, God allows our blessings to overflow. If we compare ourselves to others in our culture, we may not feel like we are overflowing with material possessions but in Christ, our blessings do indeed overflow. Lastly, David reminds us again that our Shepherd, being the one true God, invites us to be in His presence forever. May we never lose sight of who our Shepherd is and the fact that He knows just what we need.