So it’s great to be back again. We know that in these times is a great privilege and a blessing to be found here alright in the house of God together with other fellow believers. We are not yet able to gather everybody back, and we pray that the Lord will show mercy that in time to come we will all be able to gather in-person to worship our great and almighty God. This morning we are also glad that there are a number of you who have not been here for a long time alright. Now here I think Tat Heng and family they are back, and we also are glad to have Joseph alright, a visitor to join us this morning for the first time. Alright, so we come down to the time of listening to the Word of God.

And you might have noticed my absence the last three weeks. That is the longest break I ever had in my entire ministry. I’ve never kind of for three weeks I never preached, and that is in God’s providence alright sort of forced to do so when a little mosquito beat me alright and render me alright helpless. I’m glad to be back here and to share God’s Word with you. You might remember that last time I was looking at Psalm 16 with you, and I thought I would like to stay with Psalms this morning. So turn with me now to Psalm 23- Psalm 23 this morning. Perhaps some of you have already committed this psalm to memory alright. So let me read this psalm, and then we shall see what this psalm has to teach us.

Psalm 23, this is this psalm of David beginning in verse 1. “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Yea, 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 runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”

Now let me just say by way of introduction a few things about this psalm. First, this is probably the most well-known psalm. We know that even little kids alright probably know of this psalm. It is also probably the most well-loved psalm. I think there are many reasons for this, that is because many people find much comfort from this psalm. This is a psalm often read at sick beds. This is a psalm is often recited in times of difficulties and crisis and this is a psalm that is often preached at funerals because there is so much in this psalm that brings us comfort.

Now, this psalm is about God’s care for us. Now primarily this is what this psalm is about. It is about God’s care for us. Or perhaps I would like to ask you this morning: Do you know God? Do you know God and do you know that He cares for you? Now it is so important to have this knowledge- to know Him and to know that He cares for you. There is an old song that goes like this: “Have you a heart that is weary, tending a load of care; Are you a soul that’s seeking rest from the burden you bear? Now, do you know? Do you know my Jesus? Do you know? Do you know my Friend? Have you heard that He loves you, and that He will abide till the end?”. 

I think this is what this psalm is saying to us. So what does Psalm 23 tell us about God’s care? What does Psalm 23 tell us about God’s care? Now David who penned this psalm tells us that God’s care for us is like a shepherd’s care for his sheep. That is a picture that David uses in this psalm that God’s care for us is like a shepherd’s care for his sheep. Just like a hymn that says: “Saviour, like a shepherd lead us, much we need Thy tender care; In Thy pleasant pastures feed us, for our use Thy folds prepare.”. 

Now that is what this psalm is about. It’s about God’s care for us. But what does it say about God’s care, the Shepherd’s care? And so this is what I would like to share with you this morning as we look at this psalm to look at four things about God’s care for us, about God who is our Shepherd, about His care for us. And the first is this: that the Shepherd’s care- the Shepherd’s care is extremely personal. And secondly, the Shepherd’s care is utterly sufficient. And because the Shepherd cares, you have nothing to fear. And that the Shepherd’s care is forever. The Shepherd’s care will never end.

Now let us look at the first of this. Psalm 23 tells us that our Shepherd’s care is extremely personal. Now, this is a very important and precious truth from this psalm that our Shepherd’s care for us is extremely personal. I want you to take note of the pronouns here in this psalm, the seventeen times we see the first person pronouns in this psalm. And so when you read this psalm or when you recite this psalm, now take note of this pronoun because the psalmist says here: “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me…He leads me…He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness…

Yea, 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…You anoint my head…My cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”. Seventeen times we see the first personal pronouns. What is that saying to us? David is saying to us is that our Lord’s care for us (our Shepherd’s care for us) is extremely personal. It’s different. 

There’s a difference between a teacher’s care for perhaps her students, her care for the students generally, all her students. But it’s different from a mother’s care for her children. A mother’s care for her children because a mother’s care for her children is extremely personal. Because for the mother, every child is unique. The mother doesn’t care for a child generally. The mother knows the different needs of each of her children. She knows the interests and the habits and the likings and the preference of the first child, and she knows that the second child is different. And so she cares for each one of them in a personal way. Each of them has their own unique perhaps problems, and the mother comes to each in a personal way. 

And that is what the psalmist is saying here. In other words, what the psalmist is saying is this: that the Lord is not simply a shepherd. That is not what the psalmist is saying to us Christians. He’s not just a shepherd. He’s not even just this shepherd. He is not his shepherd. That’s not what the psalmist is saying to us. He didn’t say the LORD is her Shepherd. He is not saying that the LORD is even our Shepherd. That is not what he’s saying here. But he’s saying the LORD is my Shepherd. He’s my Shepherd. In other words, the psalmist said, does not just care for all of us in this hall generally. That is not what he’s saying here. But what he’s saying is this: that the Lord cares for you, for me. Me. 

Just think and feel the wonder of this. Have you ever read this and you begin to say to yourself: Oh, what a wonderful thing this truth is that God cares not for the world in general but God cares for me in particular? Think of what the psalmist writes in Psalm 8. Psalm chapter 8, and the first four verses.

The psalmist cries out and says: “O LORD, our God, how excellent is Your name in all the earth, Who have set Your glory above the heavens! Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength, because of Your enemies, that You may silence the enemy and the avenger. When I consider Your heavens, and the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?”. 

You see, what the psalmist is saying here in Psalm 8, he’s saying God, the God of heavens, the God Almighty, God You have set Your glory above the heavens. You are the King of kings, the Master of the universe. You are the Creator of all things. And yet this great and almighty God who is far and above, He loves me and He cares for me personally.

That’s what the psalmist is saying. That’s why verse 4 is an exclamation. He said God who is above the heavens, what is man? Who am I that You should spare a thought, that You should come and visit me, that You should care for me, that You should even think of me? The psalmist in Psalm 23, that is what he is saying. The LORD is my Shepherd. He cares for me. He takes personal interest in my well-being. 

How can you as a Christian ever say that your God does not care for you, that God has abandoned you? How dare you! How can you say that? It only means that you do not know God or you do not know your God. You do not know that the God that the psalmist is speaking of here, this LORD (Yahweh), this great God, this King of heavens, do you know Him? Do you know the kind of person He is, the kind of God He is, the kind of shepherd He is?

He is your Shepherd. He cares for you in a personal way. That’s what this psalm is saying. Feel the wonder of it whenever you come to this psalm. Our Shepherd knows of your every need. He knows of your every situation. He knows of your every crisis that you meet in your life. He knows everything about you and He cares. He cares. He’s concerned about all that you are going through, about all your difficulties in life, about all your pains.

Perhaps nobody in this world knows and perhaps not many people care. But know this: your Shepherd cares. The Shepherd cares for you. Perhaps at this moment, you may be in some kind of the valleys in your life. We know that valleys are dark places. Valleys are lonely places. Valleys are places where perhaps there are not many people around to know what you’re actually going through. But your Lord knows and your Lord cares. And so this is the first amazing and important truth that we see in this psalm that the Shepherd’s care is extremely personal.

That leads us to the second thing I want to show and share from this psalm about the Shepherd’s care, and that is the Shepherd’s care is utterly sufficient. The Shepherd’s care is utterly sufficient. Paul, when he was thinking of a problem that he was going through and he couldn’t get out of that crisis as it were, now he said this in 2 Corinthians 12:8-9. He said this: “Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me.”.

He prayed. He turned to God. He said God, remove this pain from me. Remove this trouble from my life. And then he said in verse 9: “And God said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.””. And that is the experience of the apostle in his trial when there was a problem, there’s a pain in his life, he turns to God and he learns this: that God’s grace is sufficient. It’s sufficient. The Shepherd’s care is utterly sufficient. 

And so the psalmist here in Psalm 23 begins this way. He says the LORD is my Shepherd. And because the LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. Now, this first verse here gave a lot of problems to many people. There was once a Sunday school kid was asked to recite this verse, and he begins this way: The LORD is my shepherd, and that’s all I want. Well, he may have misquote as it were this verse, but I think he is spot on as to what this verse is about, what this psalm is about. If the LORD is my shepherd, there’s nothing else that I need. That’s all I want. 

Now that is what the psalmist is saying here. He is not saying that if the LORD is your shepherd, you’ll get all you want. That is not what he’s saying. But what he is saying is this: that if the LORD is your shepherd, you’ll get all you need. That is what the word ‘want’ means. The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in need. I shall not lack anything that I need. That is what the psalmist is teaching here. What is it that you need in life? Have you kind of gave a thought to that? What is it that you need in life? 

You see many people talk about felt need. You think. Felt need is what you think you need. You think you need a lot of things. You think you need a lot of money. You see, that is what a lot of people think. But what really do you need? What really do you need in life? Look at what Jesus tells us in Luke chapter 12. Luke chapter 12, and Jesus said in verse 4. Luke 12:4, He says: “I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid”. Do not worry. “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but after that have no more that they can do.”. You see, we are always worrying about the body. We think that our bodily needs is all that the things that we need. What is it that you really need? 

Look down to verse 13: “Then one from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.””. So there’s this family quarrel about inheritance. That is because we think that inheritance is what we really need in life. Jesus said in verse 15: “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”. Life is not about things. That’s what we think. That’s why we always think about- things. Jesus says that is not life. And then He says in verse 30: “For all these things the people of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things.  But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you.”. What is your priority? Jesus said first seek first the kingdom of God. 

Now you see, we need to understand our real need, not just felt need. And here the psalmist speaks of our needs. He says that if the LORD is my Shepherd, I shall not be in need. And the psalmist speaks of God’s care in three ways in providing for our needs- in three ways. First, He provides. He provides. Verse 2: He makes me to lie down in green pastures”. Now here’s a picture. Remember the psalmist is using that of the shepherd and his sheep. He’s saying here that the shepherd provides for his sheep.

You see, he will make them lie down in green pasture. He knows what his sheep needs. And so he brings his sheep to green pastures. And then he says: “He leads me beside the still waters”. So he says my sheep need green pastures and my sheep need still waters. In fact, sheep need still waters, not running waters, and the shepherd knows that. You see, God knows our every need. He will bring us to those places where our needs will be met.

You see, the sheep are utterly dependent upon the shepherd for their needs to be met. Utterly dependent on the shepherd. They are silly animals. They cannot take care of themselves. Pretty much like you know little babies, they are helpless. Babies are utterly dependent upon the mothers. So the babies will have to wait for the mother to feed the baby. It brings to the baby all that the baby needs. And so that is the picture here. And here we have the shepherd. It is a terrible thing. They will be undone. They will be finished alright if the shepherd is not there. They will be helpless. 

And then we see the psalmist says this is how God cares for us like a shepherd providing for his sheep. And then he says in verse 3: “He restores my soul”. He restores my soul. In other words, when in trouble, the shepherd is always there. And we know that sheep get into trouble all the time. They are silly animals. They tend to get lost. So they speak of lost sheep. They are playful. They will turn their body and they will be you know, they are often clumsy.

When they turn their body and they will turn in such a position that they cannot wake up again, we call that a “cast sheep”. And when they are in that difficulty, what they would do is that they would scream. It would make a noise, an irritating noise. A noise like crying for help or a noise that’s saying that they’re in pain, and that noise will attract the predator. The lions and the wolves love those noises alright, and they know that the sheep is in trouble and they come and eat up the sheep. 

We know that a child very often is like that. I brought up four kids. I know that when they were young, they were always in trouble. Once I was looking for Woei Shyong, and he was up alright. He was climbing, climbing. He was up alright somewhere, hanging onto some grills in the house. Looking where this little boy is, and he’s up there in trouble, needing help to be brought down. Sheep are like that. What does a shepherd do when the sheep is in trouble? Just ignore the sheep and move on? What do a father and mother do when a child is in trouble? You see they will be concerned. They will help.

And here he says the shepherd will restore. He will restore the sheep. If the sheep is overturned and cannot turn back by itself, the shepherd will come and gently turn the sheep back. If the sheep is lost, the shepherd will have no rest until he finds that lost sheep. The same way our shepherd restores us. Remember how God restored David? Maybe that was what David was having in mind. He restores my soul. David was a lost sheep. He committed heinous sin against Bathsheba and Bathsheba’s husband. He was lost, and God sent Nathan to him and spoke to him, and restored David.

We know that in our lives so many times we are like lost sheep. We wander away from our Christian lives. We turn away from the God whom we loved. We are lured by the temptation of the world and we have fallen. And God has been gracious. He graciously sent people to restore us. He sometimes restores us through a personal friend or restores us through the fellowship of the church. He restores my soul. 

The psalmist also speaks of God’s care in guiding and leading us. He speaks of God’s care in providing, in restoring. He also speaks of God’s care thirdly in directing or guiding us. And so he says here in verse 3: “He leads me in the path of righteousness”. He leads me in the path of righteousness. I have said earlier that the sheep cannot walk on its own. Therefore, the shepherd has to be there to guide the sheep as to where the sheep should be going. And that’s what our Lord does. He guides us.

Yes, we fall, we sin, we wander away, and we get lost. But our Shepherd is always there to direct and to guide us in the path of righteousness. Why does He do all these things? Why does our Shepherd do all these things? Well, he tells us at the end of verse 3. It is “for His name’s sake”. Now, this is an important point to see and to grasp that God does all these things. He cares for us, He provides for us, He leads us, He restores us, He takes a personal interest in our well-being. He wants us to walk in the right path of righteousness. He does all these things for His name’s sake. He said what? For His sake, not for my sake?

Yes. He does all these things for His name’s sake. What does that mean? It means that it is as it were bounding up your needs with His honour. He bounds up your well-being with His glory. What does the name of the LORD mean? Well, we have many names of God in the Bible. Jehovah Jireh, which means God provides. We have Jehovah Rapha, which means God restores. We have Jehovah Shalom, which God is peace, and so on.

In other words, God is saying that I am doing good to you, I care for you is to show who am I, show His kindness, His attributes of mercy and love. And that is what He is. He cannot but to be merciful to us, for He’s God of mercy. He cannot but to provide for us because He is Jehovah Jireh, to provide. Our Provider. And so the LORD as you look at all His names, He is to His sheep all that they ever need. The Lord is to us all that we ever need because He lives up to His name. He does all these things for His name’s sake.

Now the third important truth I want to share from this psalm about the Shepherd’s care is this: is that because the Shepherd cares- because the Shepherd cares, you have nothing to fear. His care for you is personal, His care for you is utterly sufficient, He cares for you. And because He cares for you, you have nothing to worry, nothing to fear. We know that we have all kinds of fears. We are people who love to worry. We fear all the time, every day we have fears.

We know that children have fears. Perhaps they fear going into dark places. They fear when they see a dog. But we know that young people have their fears and concern in life. They fear about not getting a job, they fear about not getting a life partner, they fear about many things. But old people also have fears. We fear height, we fear to travel, we fear many things alright. We fear waters perhaps. Now we all have fears, whether you’re a child or a young person, or an older person. And our greatest fear perhaps is this, verse 4: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death”. The valley of the shadows of death.

Perhaps that is our greatest fear. And the psalmist is saying you shall not fear, even the worst of times in your life. The worst moment in your life, in face of death. Some people perhaps at this moment going through that moment in their life- diagnosed with a terminal illness or something like that. And then they see themselves in the valley of the shadow of death. But because the LORD is your shepherd; because your LORD cares for you personally; because His care for you is utterly sufficient; because the LORD is my shepherd, I shall not fear even in this valley of the shadow of death. 

Then you ask: Why not? Why not fear when you’re in such kind of a trouble? You don’t understand. I’m going through this deep crisis in my life. I have this great fear. So why not fear? Now listen to what the psalmist says here: “Yea, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil”. Why? “For”. You see, it gives a reason. “For You are with me”. The reason why you shall not fear is because you know that even in the valley of the shadow of death, God is there with you. Even in that moment, that hardest most difficult time of your life, you know that God is not absent. “For You are with me; And Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me”. 

And you see God’s presence. I know of God’s presence with me in this dark valley, and I see His rod and His staff which signifies, it’s a picture of God’s authority. He’s in control. When the sheep see the shepherd with the rod and the staff, they will not fear the lion. They will not fear the wolf. They know that my shepherd can take care of it. My shepherd can take care of this problem. He’s in charge. He knows what to do. Yes, I do not know. I panic, I’m in fear. But then I know that He’s here, and I know that He can handle that problem. And so the psalmist says because your LORD cares, your Shepherd cares, you have nothing to fear.

And finally, the Shepherd’s care never ends. Never ends. Verse 6. Verse 6: “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me”. God’s goodness, God’s mercy, God’s provision, God’s care, God’s kindness will follow me all the days of my life. Now two things to take note here. First is the word ‘follow’. The psalmist says: “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me”. And the word ‘follow’ in English is probably not capturing what the original is trying to say. 

I think the word ‘pursue’ perhaps better captures what the psalmist is saying here because when you say follow, follow has two meanings. When the father is looking for his children you know playing in the playground and it’s time for dinner, the father will tell the children get ready alright and come back and follow me home alright for dinner. And see the children still want to play, they don’t want to go back home alright. But then they have to follow father. And so they follow father behind reluctantly. Follow. That is also follow. 

But that is not the picture here. The picture is that of the hunter hunting for his prey. Pursue. The hunter following after a wild boar. Now that is the picture here, chasing alright hunting the wild boar, going after, follow after or pursue. Or perhaps another picture is this is that of the boy pursuing a girl alright. Now that is the picture here. Pursue. Now that is very different from the children following the father back for dinner alright. So this pursue, and that is what the psalmist is saying that God’s goodness- surely God’s goodness, my Shepherd’s goodness and mercy and kindness pursue me like the hunter pursuing another wild boar; the boy pursuing the girl alright. That is the picture here. God’s goodness pursues us. His mercies pursue us. 

And then the second thing to take note of here is that not only God’s goodness and mercy pursues us, follows after us, but he says secondly “all the days of my life”. Not just today, not just for a while, not just for a few weeks, not just for months or years but forever. Forever. It will never end. And that is what the psalmist says here that surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. Me! You see, again is the thing that we should see here that that is how much God is interested in us, how much God cares for us. He takes personal interest and He keeps. He never ends. He never stops.

Then I ask again: Why me a sinner, filled with rebellions against my God, I’m not being obedient to Him, I’m not a lovable person, why would He care for me in such a way? Why is that He should take such an interest in me, on the person who does not very much care about Him? How much do you care about God in your life? How much do you even spare a thought about Him in our lives daily? You know what? You don’t think about Him, but He thinks about you. You know what? You don’t care about Him, but He cares about you.

It’s a wonderful truth. This is an amazing thing. My attitude towards my God and His attitude towards me is so very different. All the days of my life I’ve been trying to run after money and run after pleasure and running away from God. Every day in my life, God is running after me. What a contrast. I’m not running after Him. Amazing. It’s amazing. Yes, we live in a world of danger. We live a life filled with trials and difficulties. But take heart. If you know God; if the LORD is your shepherd, it’s an amazing thing. It’s a really amazing thing. “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.”

Now let me bring this to an end by drawing your attention to a New Testament verse in John 10:11. John 10:11. This is what Jesus said. John 10:11, now listen to what Jesus said in this verse. He said: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.”. See many years after the psalmist wrote Psalm 23, Jesus Christ took that psalm and applied it to Himself. That is what He’s quoting here. It is like telling His hearers on that day: You know what? The shepherd that the psalmist, that David was speaking about. That good shepherd is Me, for I am the good shepherd.

And so Jesus is really the shepherd that David is speaking of in Psalm 23. All that Psalm 23 speaks of is true of Jesus Christ. You can say that Jesus is my Shepherd, I shall not want. Jesus cares for me. Jesus pursues after me. It’s Jesus. Jesus’ care for me is personal. His care for me is sufficient. Because He cares for me, I shall fear nothing, and His care for me will never end. 

I want to ask you as I end: Do you know this shepherd? Do you know Jesus, who is that great and good shepherd? If not, in times of trials at your deathbed or when you are sick in the hospital, there is no use reading this psalm to you because all that is true in this psalm cannot be applied to you if the LORD is not your shepherd; if Jesus is not your Saviour, if He is not your good shepherd. Then all of this, though beautiful truth, they do not mean anything to you unless you come to Him by faith and trust in Him and let Him be your shepherd. Let us pray.

“Our dear Father in heaven, we thank You for these beautiful psalm, a well-known, well-loved psalm. And yet there’s so much wonderful truth that we have not perhaps appreciated. And Lord, we pray that this morning You’ll help us to see afresh of what this psalm is all about, the precious truth that You’re trying to convey to us about people who are Your sheep and how You care for them in such a wonderful way. We pray only this morning that everyone here and everyone who is listening from elsewhere online that we may indeed know of Jesus, trust in Him to be our Saviour, for this, we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.”

This transcript has been lightly edited for readability.