Sermon of the Week: “The Good Shepherd”

This week, we begin a new series for our sermon of the week, looking at Spurgeon’s sermons on Psalm 23.

How do we rest in the Lord? How do we find peace in the midst of trials? If anyone had an excuse for finding no rest, it would have been King David. Whether he was running away from Saul who sought his death, defending Israel from attacks on all sides, or battling his own sinful nature, David had many reasons to fear and worry. Yet at the beginning of Psalm 23, David writes, “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.” Somehow, David found peace amid suffering. In his sermon, “The Good Shepherd,” Charles Spurgeon unpacks this verse for us.

Spurgeon first observes that we are sheep. If you have spent any time around sheep, you know that they are dim-witted animals. “A sheep is one of the most unwise of creatures. It will go anywhere except in the right direction,” says Spurgeon. It is important that we acknowledge our utter helplessness. Without the Lord’s direction, we would bumble about, unsure of anything! “He who is convinced that he knows nothing as he ought to know, gives up steering his ship, and lets God put his hand on the rudder.”

But simply acknowledging our helplessness is not enough. We must also acknowledge the One on whom we depend. David says that the Lord is the Shepherd of his life. Despite the helpless nature of his sheepish state, he is under the providential care of the Almighty. “I own that it is my God who supplies all my need;” Spurgeon says, “yea, and with gratitude I will write it down for a certainty, The Lord is my Shepherd.” If we remember that the Lord is our Shepherd, watching over and protecting us, then we can have enduring peace as the battering waves of life crash over us.

Finally, after understanding our helpless state as sheep and our Lord as Shepherd, we can come to a place of peace and rest, just as David writes, “I shall not want.” “Whatever I really require shall be given by the lavish hand of a tender Father. Believer, here is thy jointure, here is thine inheritance, here is thine income, here is thy yearly living: ‘He is thy Shepherd, and thou shalt not want.’”

Excerpt:

The Lord is his Shepherd; he shall not want. What a glorious inheritance! Walk up and down it, Christian; lie down upon it, it will do for thy pillow; it will be soft as down for thee to lie upon: “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.” Climb up that creaking staircase to the top of thy house, lie down on thy hard mattress, wrap thyself round with a blanket, look out for the winter when hard times are coming, and say not “What shall I do?” but just hum over to thyself these words, “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.” That will be like the hush of a lullaby to your poor soul, and you will soon sink to slumber.

Read the rest of the sermon here.