| J.R. Miller D.D. | Page 3 |
“The Lord is my shepherd.” Homely name for God, you would say – Shepherd. There is a story of a great artist who had been entertained in some old castle, where he received much kindness. As he was about to go away, he wished to leave behind him some token of his gratitude. He could find no canvas on which to put a picture; but taking a common bed-sheet, the only available thing, he painted on it an exquisite picture, which he left in his room. So on this homely, commonplace word, shepherd, did David paint a matchless picture of God, putting into it all that he had learned of God during his lifetime, and leaving it as a memorial in the world.
No more unpoetic name could have been chosen; and yet a thousand years later, Jesus Christ, when he would leave with his disciples a revelation of his love and care for his own, called himself by the same homely name, Shepherd – the Good Shepherd; and we all remember what precious thoughts he fixed upon this name. “He calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.” “When he hath put forth all his own, He goeth before them, and the sheep follow him for they know his voice.” “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd layeth down his life for the sheep&. I am the good shepherd; and I know mine own, and mine own know me.”
In our country we have no shepherds such as those who tend the flocks in the East. There the pasture fields are wide, unfenced, stretching for miles and miles. There will be patches of grass here and there, and then bald barren tracts glowing in the hot sun, broken by deep ravines, dark and desolate, where wild beasts have their lairs. In such a region sheep unshepherded would soon be lost. But one never sees a flock in that country without its shepherd.
It was this picture that was in David’s mind when he wrote this Twenty-third Psalm, – a mingling of beauty and danger. But as in the Syrian wilderness the shepherd appeared everywhere with his flock, so in life’s wilderness there is always One whose presence is an assurance of safety and of blessing.
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