| Reference | Verse |
|---|---|
| Psalm 23:1–3 | “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.” |
| Psalm 23:4 | “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” |
| Psalm 23:5–6 | “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” |
| Genesis 48:15–16 | “The God before whom my ancestors Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, the angel who has redeemed me from all harm, bless the boys.” |
| Isaiah 40:11 | “He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs in His arms and carry them in His bosom and gently lead the mother sheep.” |
| Micah 7:14 | “Shepherd Your people with Your staff, the flock that belongs to You.” |
| Ezekiel 34:11–16 | “I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As shepherds seek out their flocks, when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered… I will feed them with good pasture… I will seek the lost and I will bring back the stray and I will bind up the injured and I will strengthen the weak.” |
| John 1:3 | “All things came into being through Him, and without Him not one thing came into being.” |
| John 10:11 | “I am the good shepherd.” |
| Isaiah 53:6 | “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” |
| Mark 8:34 | “If any want to become My followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me.” |
| John 16:33 | “I have said this to you so that you may have peace. In the world you face persecution, but take courage; I have conquered the world.” |
| Philippians 4:11–13 | “Not that I am referring to being in need, for I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” |
| Psalm 4:8 | “I will both lie down and sleep in peace, for You, O Lord, make me lie down in safety.” |
| Philippians 4:6–7 | “Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” |
| Jeremiah 2:13 | “My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water.” |
| Psalm 56:13 | “For You have delivered my soul from death and my feet from falling, so that I may walk before God in the light of life.” |
| 1 Corinthians 10:12 | “If you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall.” |
| Colossians 3:9–11 | “Do not lie to one another, since you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with a new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator.” |
| Hebrews 12:6 | “The Lord disciplines those whom He loves.” |
Direct Quotes from Dr. Conrad Vine
On the Shepherd’s Identity
“The creator of the universe is my shepherd. That’s wonderful news because many people live their lives with a sense that my life is drifting. My life has no direction. My life has no purpose. Why do things keep going wrong in my life? And this psalm brings us back to the realization that he who spoke the universe into existence is our personal shepherd.”
“When you normally say the 23rd Psalm, we say it like we’re in a funeral, don’t we? ‘The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.’ That’s how we normally say it. But really, it starts with a note of celebration that Jehovah God is my shepherd.”
“The Lord is my shepherd links a lump of clay down here on planet earth to the great God of the universe Himself. It’s an incredible personal connection.”
“He is my shepherd by virtue of being my creator. He is also our good shepherd by virtue of redemption. On Calvary, the good shepherd demonstrated His desire for all humanity to come into His flock, for all of us to be under His loving care. He bought me for His flock at the incredible price of His own shed blood and laid down life.”
On Contentment and “I Shall Not Want”
“David is not talking about physical comfort here. The good shepherd does not promise us a difficulty-free life. ‘I shall not want’ is the contentment from knowing that the creator of the universe is your shepherd.”
“If he could speak the world into existence, there’s nothing he cannot do for you. And there’s nothing he cannot see in the future that’s not going to affect you either.”
On the Four Conditions for Rest
“Sheep will only lie down if four conditions are met. First of all, they have to be free from all kinds of fear. Secondly, sheep need to be free from friction with one another. Sheep are always fighting amongst each other. The third condition for sheep to lie down is they have to be free from fleas and parasites. And fourthly, they have to be free from hunger. And all of those requirements can only be met if there is a shepherd watching over his flock.”
“When the flock realizes that they have a shepherd who protects them, that means they don’t need to stay awake at night driven by fear of what is happening in the world around us.”
“When our eyes are fixed on Christ, this is a rebuke to our own petty rivalries and fights for dominance within our congregations as well. When our eyes are on the good shepherd and not on each other, only then can we find peace as a flock and as a congregation.”
“We face daily irritants that drive us mad. Small inconsequential things that seem to have a disproportionate impact on our emotional well-being. We all have those in our lives. They cause irritability, mood swings, depression, and the antidote is to ask for the oil of the Holy Spirit to be poured out upon us.”
“When we commit everything to God in prayer and we say, ‘Lord, I have these problems. I cannot fight these battles on my own, but I’m giving it to you.’ Then we can sleep easy at night because He’s taking care of the problem.”
On Still Waters
“The good shepherd will lead his sheep out early in the morning when it is still dark, because the dew that is on the grass is the purest water there is. It hasn’t lain stagnant in any pool anywhere. A good shepherd will lead his sheep out when the dew is falling at daybreak.”
“Jesus modeled this for us. In the morning while it was still very dark, He got up and went out to a deserted place and there He prayed. We’re to rise early in the morning to feed on the word of God and to take in the words and life of the good shepherd Himself.”
“What well are you drinking from? Are you drinking as did Christ from the well of life, the waters of life, the word of God first thing in the morning that is fresh and clean and pure? Or are we filling our minds from the wells of this world, the entertainment industry of this world, the opinion makers of this world?”
On Restoration and the Cast-Down Sheep
“When a sheep is on its back, it’s easy prey for the predators. And the salvation only comes when the shepherd realizes that the sheep is missing. And the shepherd goes looking for the missing sheep.”
“Sheep fall over when they’re seeking a comfortable soft hollow in the ground. Likewise for Christians, there is great spiritual danger in always seeking for material comfort, physical pleasure, worldly gain. Self-indulgence leads to physical danger and spiritual danger.”
“The shearing of the old self may be painful, involving obedience to the Holy Spirit, responding to the conviction of sins upon our heart, repenting and embracing a new life in Christ of obedience to His command. But it keeps us safe from being cast over and facing spiritual death.”
“God disciplines those whom He loves. Such discipline is never pleasant at the time, but it produces a deep inner peace because it reminds us that there is a good shepherd who is watching over me and He’s doing what is in my best interests even though I may not like it at the time.”
On the Shepherd’s Relentless Love
“If you have a hundred sheep and one goes missing, most people would just say let it go missing. Write it off as a bad debt provision. But the fact that the shepherd goes looking for the one missing sheep when there are ninety-nine safe sheep in the sheepfold tells us how much we mean to the good shepherd.”
“He knows us by name. He counts his flock morning and evening. And if I am missing, he sets off on a determined search to bring me home, to rescue me, to restore me, to heal me, and to save me often from myself.”
Final Invitation
“The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. The assurance that there is a good shepherd who will always come looking for me even when the other ninety-nine are safe brings me peace.”
“I want to invite you today to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your good shepherd. He will find you. He will heal you. He will stand you on your feet again. He will lead you to pure waters. If we are struggling with besetting sin, he will shear us. If we are polluted, he will lead us by still pure waters.”