The confession of the king
Whoever observes a herd of sheep on the pasture can feel the peace and the safety, which rests over the herd. At the very center is the shepherd himself. Maybe he bred the sheep himself, or it might be that he bought them or took them over on some one else's behalf. They belong to him; he is there for them. He knows each sheep and each ram. He cares for them. All his thoughts and ambition are focused on his herd. He has bound his own existence to their well-being. He is ready to fight for them if necessary, and even to suffer and to die for them. The good shepherd gives his life for his sheep.
The sheep know they belong to their shepherd. They follow him, wherever he goes. They know his voice and cannot be diverted by other voices seeking to lead them astray. They respond to his faithfulness with obedience. The herd and its shepherd belong together.
The king and poetic prophet, David, sang a song of confidence in God 3000 years ago, playing on his lute: The Lord is my Shepherd!
David had been a shepherd himself in his early years. He had looked after the sheep of his father, grazing on the limestone hills of Bethlehem. He had carried the young lambs on his shoulders, searched for missing sheep, fought with lions and stayed awake day and night by his sheep. This was good preparation for his later task as king of his people, for he then often had to govern and lead recalcitrant and resistant humans. David knew better than others what it meant: The Lord is my Shepherd. This great king humbled himself under the mighty hand of the living God and placed himself under His guidance and protection. He called Him "Lord" and "Shepherd". The continual faithfulness and provision given by God were an indisputable certainty to him. He had experienced God's guidance in good and in bad days, as the powerful Lord had saved him from all his enemies and raised him up – who himself had once been a refugee, living in caves and deserts - to the kings throne. David did not become arrogant like Saul, but remained humble under the guidance of the good Shepherd. During long years of persecution, he had developed sensitivity to the fact that there was nobody taking better care of him than the Lord of heaven and earth Himself. In Him he trusted. He wanted to live with Him and for Him. The songs of praise of the poet king were directed to the good Shepherd. David sometimes followed his own ways, was stubborn and evil, and became adulterous and a murderer. He offended the law of his Lord. But later he repented deeply. The words and tears of his genuine regret and prayers of remorse became world literature (Psalm 32 and 51). Millions of people are praying with him until today:
PSALM 51:12
Create in me, God, a pure heart, and give me a new, steadfast spirit, do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me.
Many humans sin like David. However, rarely does someone repent like this king. Emerging from such shaking and troubling life experiences, David placed himself consciously and whole-heartedly under the guidance and sovereignty of his merciful Lord. He did not want to live for himself anymore. Therefore he wrote and sang: The Lord (alone) is my Shepherd; I do not want to lead myself any longer. I have experienced the results of that - nothing but sin and guilt! I do not want to live in selfishness any longer. As a follower of my strong Savior, I know that I am being saved from all dangers, whether from within or without. In this and in other worlds, there is no greater security than the protection of the living Lord.
David had grasped the courage to call the creator of heaven and earth his own "Lord and Shepherd". This confession was based upon the fantastic experience that the Holy God had forgiven him all of his transgressions, both as an adulterer and a murderer. The selfish man had been crushed by the holiness of his Lord, who again accepted him following genuine repentance. It is not self-evident that the exalted, eternal God accepts us - dubious humans that we are - or that the holy One receives the impure, that the good One adopts the evildoer, that the benevolent Shepherd receives depraved sheep into His excellent herd. This was the sensational experience David made. Not only the obedient and decent one has the right to come to God, but each and every evildoer who repents, and every proud person who humiliates himself before God and confesses his sin to Him can come.
From this experience of grace, David received the certainty that his Lord had accepted him forever and would never, ever forsake him. He trusted in Him in good and in bad days. Even amidst persecution and sickness, he was secure in His Lord’s provision and guidance. Faithfully trusting, he dared to sing: I need nothing more, for everything is mine even when I am in need, because my Lord is with me. He cares for me; I am not alone, His plans are for me and He leads me in the way that is best for me. I can stay free of worries like an infant in the arms of its mother. The Lord stays with me forever. He cleanses my past and ensures my future. As long as He is my shepherd, I belong to Him and He belongs to me, and all the problems of my life become secondary.
Is the Lord our shepherd? Have we completely delivered our lives over to Him? Even if a lot of sin and guilt has accumulated in our lives, we still belong to Him and He belongs to us. This is the secret question David raises for each one of us in his Psalm of Confession. His Psalm has become a testimony of faith to many generations.