Psalm 23 is one of the most familiar passages of scripture. It is also one of the most comforting passages of scripture as it describes Jesus as our shepherd.

The Lord. There is no doubt that the Lord is none other than Jesus Christ. He is Lord of all. There are several things we need to understand about our Lord. (1) He Created You. Jesus is the creator. Look John 1:1-3. Jesus is the ‘Word’ described in John chapter one. As the ‘Word’ He is the one who made all things. Therefore, He made you. Psalm 139:14 says, “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.” You are created in the image of God. He made every intricate part of you. As your creator, He knows more about you than you know about yourself. Most children have grown up loving to play with Legos. There is something unique and special about taking blocks and putting them together and building your own special creation. Ask any child, or adult for that matter, who creates things with Legos: they know everything about their creation. They know the exact block, the exact foundation, that holds it all together. They know every piece. They know the strong parts and the weak parts. Let me tell you something, my friend, Jesus is your creator and as your creator He knows everything thing about you. He knows you because He created you. (2) He Sustains You. Colossians 1:16 says, “For by Him were all things created, that are in Heaven, and that are in Earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him: And He is before all things, and by Him all things consists.” The Lord Jesus is the one who holds all things together. Scientists tell us that everything that exists is held together by atoms. You remember when you were in school and you learned about the protons and neutrons and the nucleus. Scientists tells us that if the parts of an atom were separated then you would have an explosion and whatever those atoms were constructing, it would cease to exist. They say that this whole world is constructed by these microscopic things we call atoms. Now, think about this. To this day, Scientists cannot figure out what holds these atoms together and keeps everything from being destroyed. My friend, I can tell you what holds it all together: His name is Jesus! He literally has the whole word in His hands. If by Jesus all things consists; then don’t you think that He has things under control in your life. He is holding you. He keeps you alive. He holds you together. He keeps you from falling apart and being destroyed. He sustains you. (3) He Owns You. Understanding that Jesus created you and sustains you, as a believer, you must understand that Jesus owns you. Look at 1 Corinthians 6:20. As a believer in Christ, you have been bought with the blood of Jesus. You do not belong to yourself, you belong to Jesus. You have no right to live any way you want to live. Jesus is your Lord. You either submit to His Lordship or you live in rebellion. Jesus is the Lord who created you, sustains you, and owns you.

The Lord is my Shepherd. The Lord Jesus is my shepherd. There are a lot of things we can consider when we think of Jesus as our shepherd. However, there are three things in particular that comes to mind. (1) He Cares for You. As your shepherd, Jesus cares for you. He cares about every aspect of your life. He cares about what is important to you. As a parent, I am often convicted over my lack of attention toward my children. You know how it is: your busy doing something and a child comes to you all excited with something to tell you. It’s just a small frivolous thing to you, but to that child it is of great importance. Too often we ignore the child and push them away or tell them we are too busy. My friend, let me tell you something, Jesus will never push you away. What is important to you is important to Him, because He cares for you. When you are hurting and in pain, He cares. There is nothing you go through that He does not know about. He cares about every detail of your life. (2) He Protects You. Jesus protects us from the things we cannot see. If God was to open up the veil to the spiritual world, and we saw the battles taking place all around us, it would literally scare us to death. Jesus is constantly fighting for us. He is protecting us from the attacks of the enemy and He is protecting us from ourselves. He knows our weakness. He knows our vulnerabilities and He is shielding us and protecting us. (3) He Loves You. No one loves you like Jesus. He is the one who will leave the 99 and go to find that one sheep that is lost. He loves you with a unique kind of love. He loves you specifically. If you were the only person on this earth, He would have come and died just for you. He loves you.

I shall not want. Since Jesus is the Lord who is my shepherd, He is all that I need. It may sound a little cliché, but you need to understand that Jesus is the answer for everything. All we need is Jesus. When you have Jesus you don’t need anything else. He encompasses everything. You may lose it all, you may have nothing in this world, but when you have Jesus, you have everything.

Jesus is the Lord period. The question you need to consider: Is He your Shepherd? Are you a part of His fold? Do you know Jesus as your Savior? Have you trusted in Him completely? Jesus is the only way to salvation. Apart from Him there is no redemption. Apart from Jesus there is no Heaven to look forward to. Will you trust in Jesus today and allow Him to be your shepherd?