A man after God’s own heart
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I love sheep. I used to own six of them. Frequently I would go out into the paddock with my sheep, running my fingers through their soft, woolly coats. I liked to lay on the grass with my head resting on their bodies, looking up into the sky, watching the clouds go by with the vibrant blue background. The fragrance of lanolin oil from their fleece would get me thinking about David the shepherd, who most likely experienced the same situation with his sheep.
One day my sheep disappeared through a hole in the fence on my farm. I called and waited to see if they would return. I concluded that the sheep had no way of finding their way home. Sheep are timid, fragile and directionless animals, with little means of defence. They resort to running if a shepherd is not there to protect them.
I knew that I had to find my sheep quickly. After prayer and frantically running all over the paddocks and valleys, I found three of my sheep. With each moment, fear started to set in as I continued on. Then I found another one, and a few minutes later I found one more. I didn’t want to risk that these five would scatter, so I decided to return them back to the safety of the farm..
I was stressed—I knew I needed to find one more, the one that had wandered away. I prayed, I called and I searched; the sheep knew my voice but there was no sign of it. I walked over hundreds of acres, asking neighbours and anyone I encountered to contact me if they saw it. I wanted to protect and take care of the needs of my lost sheep, but the sheep had to come to the shepherd. Sad to say, I never found the last lost sheep, and it never found its way home.
Unlike my sheep, we know that the Lord is our Shepherd, the Shepherd of His people and He will always find us. God never loses a sheep; He instead provides and builds a relationship with His sheep. We will never want for anything that this world has to offer when we say, the Lord is our Shepherd, He will take care of our needs.
Hebrew poetry was a known genre to the writer of the Jewish scriptures and provided comfort for God’s people. The original Hebrew translation for Psalms is Tehillium—praises.
Praise for who God is. Praise for what He has done. Praise for His everlasting love. Upon reading the Psalms you can embark on a voyage of multiple and varied scenes painted by poetic brushstrokes on verbal canvas, resonating with our lives.
The writings of the Psalms are layered with deep meaning, calling to us in melody and song. With the melancholy words of the singer, David poured out his heart in psalms: a heart sometimes burdened with sorrow. The kinship with God was his reward. In Acts 13:22, God says, “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my heart.”
Ordained by God and called to be a king, David toiled in the fields as a shepherd yet he understood the need to praise God. In Psalms, David shows picture words to his feelings, illustrating his intimate love of God. David the poet knew not only the beauty of poetry and song, but he was also a skilled musician. David’s response to life was often portrayed in words and music, rejoicing in both sadness and joy. David’s message in Psalm 23 is that you need not surrender to helplessness but instead rely on your Shepherd.
The only reason David could say “I shall not want” is because he could say the Lord is my Shepherd, He will give me direction, I will not lack, He gives me food and water for my soul. We may want for things, but we will never want for the best care, guidance and spiritual provision when we say the Lord is my Shepherd.
Revelation 7:17 says: “For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them.” This is certainly in correlation with Psalm 23. David’s passionate expression of his love for God, allowed him to rise beyond his legacy as a warrior who killed giants, to a king who became a poet after God’s own heart.
The first mention of a shepherd is found in Genesis 48:15: “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked. The God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day.” The God whose name is Yahweh roi, meaning “my” Shepherd. He’s the Shepherd who not only took care of David, but also takes care of our spiritual and physical needs.
Many times a shepherd will search for hours for a single lost sheep, just as I did for mine, only to find it on its back, lying helpless. He will turn the sheep over on its side, rub its legs to restore circulation and then lift it to its feet. After awhile the sheep will stumble and stagger, eventually walking steadily and surely. This is most likely what David had in mind when he said “he restores my soul”, because that’s how our Lord treats us. We stumble and fall, we become helpless, and yet our Shepherd is patient, tender and helpful in getting us back on our feet.
The first scene of Psalm 23 starts with a report on who God is, and the second scene shows David who turns to God and talks to Him personally in the form of a prayer. Previously, David had been talking about God; now he talks to God. He says, “you are with me” to save me from the shadow of death. David reveals the importance of having a personal relationship with God, regardless of the severity of the circumstances. David declares that God will never leave or forsake His sheep even in terrifying, stressful and horrific circumstances, even when going through the valley of despair, and especially when facing death. David was willing to lay down his life as a shepherd, just as our Shepherd was willing to lay down His life for all in this world.
Oil was always associated with anointing, and David went forward from the anointing to being appointed by God as king of Israel. Who prepares a table in which David arrives at? It is God Himself who provides it. David goes from shepherd to honoured guest. David’s declaration of heaven is with total assurance—he doesn’t say, I might dwell or I hope to dwell, but instead he says, I will dwell in a glorious, spectacular eternal kingdom, that even our sins cannot tarnish. We can only confidently state, “I will dwell in the house of the Lord”, if we can state the first line like David: “The Lord is my shepherd.”
While David was the man after God’s heart, the hero in David’s story is Jesus. He succeeded where David failed. Jesus was the real Man after God’s own heart; He gave His life in place of ours.
Dr Jessica Trevithick is assistant pastor at Para Vista church, South Australia.
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