{"id":1355,"date":"2011-10-15T10:42:14","date_gmt":"2011-10-15T10:42:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=1355"},"modified":"2011-10-15T10:42:14","modified_gmt":"2011-10-15T10:42:14","slug":"%e2%80%9cthe-lord-is-my-shepherd-i-have-everything-i-need%e2%80%9d-psalm-231","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/?p=1355","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThe LORD is my shepherd; I have everything I need!\u201d Psalm 23:1"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe LORD is my shepherd; I have everything I need!\u201d\u00a0Psalm 23:1<\/strong><\/p>\n

The\u00a0shepherd <\/em>is a favorite Scriptural picture of the divine love and care. In the Old Testament, the\u00a0twenty-third Psalm<\/em> gathers the whole wonderful truth in exquisite lines, which are dear to young and old wherever the Bible is known. Then in the New Testament, when our Lord would give His friends the sweetest revealings of His heart toward them, and tell them what they are to Him, and what He would be to them\u2014He says,\u00a0\u201cI am the Good Shepherd.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The Hebrew shepherd\u00a0lives <\/strong>with his sheep. If they are out in the storm\u2014he is with them. If they are exposed to danger\u2014so is he. Just so, Christ lives with His people. He enters into closest relations with them.<\/p>\n

The shepherd\u00a0knows <\/strong>his sheep. He has a\u00a0name <\/em>for each one and calls them all by their names. Just so, Christ knows each one of His friends, has intimate personal knowledge of each one. He knows the best in us\u2014and also the worst\u2014our faults, our sins, our wanderings. Yet, knowing us as we are\u2014He loves us still and never wearies of us!<\/p>\n

The shepherd is most\u00a0gentle <\/strong>with his sheep. He does not\u00a0drive <\/em>them\u2014but goes before them and\u00a0leads <\/em>them. When they need rest on the way\u2014he makes them lie down, and chooses for their resting-place, not the dusty road\u2014but\u00a0green pastures<\/em>. He is especially kind to thelambs<\/em>, gathers them in his arms and carries them in his bosom. All this is an exquisite picture of the\u00a0gentleness of our Good Shepherd in His care of His sheep. <\/em>He is thoughtful toward the weak. He loves the\u00a0lambs <\/em>and makes room for them on His bosom. Whatever the need is, there is something in the heart of Christ which meets its craving and supplies its lack!<\/p>\n

The shepherd\u00a0defends <\/strong>his flock in all danger. Often he had to risk his own safety, even his life, in\u00a0protecting<\/em> his sheep. Just so, the Good Shepherd gives His\u00a0life<\/em>\u2014for His sheep!<\/p>\n

Christ\u2019s sheep are absolutely\u00a0safe <\/strong>in His keeping. \u201cI give unto them eternal life,\u201d He said; \u201cand they will never perish\u2014ever! No one will snatch them out of My hand!\u201d Then at last, He will bring His own all\u00a0safely home<\/em>, \u201cand they shall become one flock\u2014with one Shepherd!\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0J.R. Miller, 1905.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe LORD is my shepherd; I have everything I need!\u201d\u00a0Psalm 23:1 The\u00a0shepherd is a favorite Scriptural picture of the divine love and care. In the Old Testament, the\u00a0twenty-third Psalm gathers the whole wonderful truth in exquisite lines, which are dear to young and old wherever the Bible is known. Then in the New Testament, when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[86,62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-author-j-r-miller","category-pictures-and-types"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1355"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1357,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1355\/revisions\/1357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shoalhavengospelchurch.org.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}