What’s Really Guiding Your Life Right Now? | Ken McIntyre

Psalm 23 is one of the most well-known passages in the Bible, but do we really understand the heart behind it? In this week’s message, Pastor Ken kicks off our new series by exploring the opening line: “The Lord is my Shepherd, I lack nothing.”

Through powerful teaching and real-life application, you’ll discover what kind of Shepherd God truly is—and how to experience the peace and security that come from letting Him lead your life.

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Transcript

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- Hey, this is Phil Kniesel, lead pastor at Hope City Church. Thanks for tuning into our podcast. My prayer is that this helps and encourages you, gives you some practical ways to live out your faith, and ultimately fills you with hope. Enjoy the message.- Today, we are starting a new series on Psalm 23. It's gonna last for five weeks. And the Psalms are, uh, a collection of p songs of poetry and of prayers that's located in the Old Testament. And together they form a book. Now, Psalm 23, uh, is likely the most famous of all the Psalms. And Psalm 23 is likely the most famous chapter in the entire Bible. And personally, it's my favorite. It really does like, hit a nerve with me almost every time that I read it. And I know that that's the case for many people. Um, even though it was written 3000 years ago, you know, a world away, it has just burrowed its way into the heart, uh, of Christians across time and across place. And so, let me read it for you. It says this, the Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. And he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his namesake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. You're Rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. It's beautiful. Now, this was written by a man named David, and it's so personal, right? There's no us or, or they or we, right? It's all, it's all me. And, and my I and you. It's so personal. And that's one of the reasons that, that we're drawn to this psalm. You know, it puts into word the longing of our hearts, right? We want an authentic relationship with God. We wanna know God intimately. And David knew God intimately. Now, it's important to know when the psalm was written, what you write of course matters, right? No doubt about that. But when you write something, well, that matters as well. So imagine I'm fresh off my honeymoon, okay? I'm seeing the world through rose colored glasses, and I wake up in the morning and I decide to leave my wife a little note before I go to work. You know, all it says is, I love you. It's like, that's really sweet, right? And that means something. But imagine that's not the case. Maybe we've gone through a really tough season, prolonged tough season, and maybe even just the night before we, we couldn't see eye to eye on something, we're in an impasse, and we both went to bed frustrated. And then I wake up in the morning and I make a decision. I I'm gonna leave her a love note. And I, and I just write those same three words in the morning. I love you. Same words, but they read quite differently. So when does David write this song? Well, all scholars and commentators sort of agree on this. It's likely at the very end of his life, end of his life. Now, David was, um, the youngest of eight sons. He's a musician, he's a poet, and he's a shepherd. In fact, the first time that we hear of David and meet David, we actually don't even meet him. He's not on scene, he's out shepherding. And so it would make sense that he writes this psalm. When he is actively shepherding, you can envision him looking over the sprawling countryside and say, yeah, he makes me lie down in green pastures. He, he leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul. But David, he, he doesn't write the psalm. Then next we, we see David slaying a giant. He kills Goliath and he gains his reputation for being a brave warrior. This puts him in the crosshairs of the current king of Israel, a man named King Saul. And so David is now on the run for his life, and he's hiding in caves and enemies are constantly surrounding him, but they never overtake him. So you can imagine, imagine him write, you know, you, you set a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You could see him writing that, but he doesn't write the psalm. Then King Saul dies and David becomes the new king of Israel. He expands and he unites the nation. And everything that David touches, it turns to gold. Have you ever met somebody who's like good at everything? They're the most annoying people ever created. They're, so that's David. Everything that he touches just like turns to gold and, and God gives him this promise that he's gonna have an enduring kingdom that's going to last forever and be established for all time. So you could see with a promise like that, you could see him writing the words. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, but he doesn't write it. Then next we read of David's defining failure of his life and his leadership. He commits adultery with one of his soldier's wives. And then to cover that up, he has that soldier killed and he's exposed for it. He doesn't get away with it. His failure, his sin is wide open for all to see, and it breaks him and it breaks his family. His son Amon dies, his other son, Absalom. He creates a rebellion and tries to usurp the throne and sends David running into the wilderness and hiding in caves once again. Absalom ends up being killed from one of David's close friends and companion. And now he mourns for a second son. And David is living with a permanent limp from here on out. He's never the same. And he writes Psalm 23. You know, if David wrote this thing kind of when life was great, it would mean something, right? That would be special, but he doesn't write it. Then he has gone through the ringer. He has been on green pastures, he has walked through dark valleys, he's seen it all. He's been chased by enemies and saved by God more times than he can count. He has suffered deep loss at the expense of others and his own stupidity. He has done things that he regrets, he wishes he could take back, but he can't. He's experienced the spectrum of life, the highs and the lows, tremendous joy, tremendous heartache. And he writes, the Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing. What kind of shepherd is the Lord? That's important to know. And that's what we're gonna find out. Because not all shepherds are created equal, right? You could have good mechanics, bad mechanics, good nurses, bad nurses, right? You can have good shepherds and bad shepherds. So what kind of shepherd is the Lord? To figure that out, we have to discover what the word Lord means. Now, in the Bible, it actually has two different meanings, and it's quite easily to distinguish which is which. If in our English bibles, the word Lord is in lowercase or has lowercase letters in it, it's the Hebrew word aai, which means master or owner. However, if the word Lord is in all caps, it's the Hebrew word Yahweh, and Yahweh is God's personal name. God has a name. It's Yahweh. And that's the one David uses for Psalm 23. So when David says, the Lord is my shepherd, he's saying, Yahweh, the God of the Bible, he is my shepherd. So who is Yahweh? To figure that out, we need to explore two things. We need to explore Yahweh's nature and his character. God's nature is the most difficult aspect of us to understand him. It's his otherness. Theological term is, this is his incommunicable attributes. They're things that are not communicated or transferred to any part of his creation. They're reserved for God alone. It's his otherness. They're hard to understand. God's character, on the other hand, are, is communicable, meaning we share some of these in part, for example, God's love or God's justice. We can relate to those because we too have a sense of love or justice. However, we do have to understand both to understand what David is saying when he is saying, the Lord is my shepherd, God's nature, who he is minister to our minds, ministers to our minds, it causes us to worship him. But God's nature what he's like, it ERs to our hearts and it causes us to follow him. And so I wanna touch on three attributes of God's nature and two attributes of his character. That's what we have time for today. So God's nature, here's the first thing. God is eternal. And that's what, this is what it means. God has always existed, exists now, and will always exist exactly as he is. Okay? God has no beginning. Who is the smartest person in this room? Put up your hand or online, just little hand emoji. Who's the smartest person? Do I see a hand? All right. Half the room probably thinks they are, but they're not willing to do it'cause they're in church and they wanna be humble. Alright? Smartest person in this room. Let's, let's imagine that we could pinpoint who that was. That person has almost zero capacity to be able to understand this reality alone. That God has no beginning, because everything that you know has a beginning. Everything except God. He's alone in that Psalm 90, verse two says this, before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole whole world from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. So Yahweh, the God of the Bible created time before time was God was, which means by necessity that he's not bound by it and he is owner of it. He's outside of it. And so, let me mess with you for a moment. Romans 13, or sorry, revelation 13, eight says this, that Jesus is the lamb who was slaughtered? What's the preposition here before the world was made? Okay, question. Was Jesus slain on a Roman cross in 33 ad or was Jesus slain before the foundation of the world? The answer is yes. The answer is yes. Let me give you a poor but marginally. Passable example. Okay? Imagine you're at a parade. I don't like parades, but let's just imagine we're there. And when you're at a parade, you see things linearly, right? One float passes by you, you know, you wave the next float passes by you, the next maybe a marching band. But once they're outta sight, they're outta sight. You can't see them anymore. And you have really poor understanding your vision of what's coming next. You sort of just living in the moment, in the, in the present. That's all you can see. But God, he can see the whole parade from beginning to end. But here's the thing, not only just that parade, but he can see every parade that is ever paraded is currently being paraded and will ever be paraded because he's present at all of those moments, okay? He is already celebrating when the oilers win the cup., okay? All right. No, I'm not saying that's this year, okay, , I'm not saying that's June, but he's there. So he's already celebrated that, okay, for you, 18 year olds, 20 year olds, maybe you, you're not thinking about marriage, you're not thinking about kids. You got everything on the mind. Understand this, that God already knows your great, great, great grandchildren cereal, their favorite cereal, he knows that because he is there. Psalm 90, verse four says this, for a thousand years in your sight are, but as yesterday, when it has passed, I can barely remember what I had for dinner last night. Barely. We had a special dinner. And so that's the only reason I can remember this time. But generally speaking, I cannot remember what I had for dinner the night before. But for God, and again, this isn't hyperbole, this is actually underplaying the reality for God a thousand years and all of the details of those thousand years with all the billions of peoples and all the days of their life and every thought that they've ever, that's as if yesterday to him. So when David says, the Lord is my shepherd, he's saying the God who sees it all and is already there, he's already been there. He's not shocked by anything. He's my shepherd. He's the one leading me. What kind of shepherd is the Lord? He's eternal. Number two, God is immutable, meaning he never changes. Malachi three verse six says this, for I, the Lord do not change. Therefore, you o children of Jacob are not consumed. Absolutely. Everything in our life is in flux. Everything changes, right? Our jobs change. Our bodies change usually for the negative. Okay? Our priorities change. Our governments change, our hairstyles change. There was a time in grade eight where I had blonde roots and fire red tips, okay? Like, like we change, okay? Take it off. Don't punish them any longer than they have to. Everything changes. Here's the thing, here's the reality. That's not, that's not an overstatement. The reality is everything that exists changes every single thing. There's not one thing that we know of that is permanent. When you look at the night sky, you look up at the stars, they seem permanent, but they're not. They're burning out, they're drifting, they're moving mountains. I mean, those things, I mean, if anything doesn't change, it's a mountain. But actually, no, they're changing over time, through erosion, through nature, they're changing what might be the most reliable thing or maybe, uh, maybe arguably the most solid thing that we know that doesn't change is the ground beneath our feet. But science tells us, right? Tectonic plates, they're shifting, they're colliding, they're moving, they are changing. Change is a law of the universe. Nothing can escape. There isn't one thing that exists that doesn't change except Yahweh, except the God of the Bible. God is unchanging perfect. He can ever get worse. He can ever get better. He's the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. And this is so important for us because it is the basis of trust. Consistency is the basis of trust. We don't trust things that are inconsistent. Now, those of you who, who know me, you know when I say this, you know, I say things like this kinda all the time, but if you don't know me, you're like, who is this guy? But my kids, okay, are a gift from the Lord. That's what the Bible calls'em, a gift and a reward. And I really do believe that. I, I love them so much, but they're so annoying sometimes., right? Okay. They are, particularly when it comes to food. So if you are the person who makes their lunches for school every day, okay? Or if you have PTSD from that season of your life, then you're gonna get this. So you make them their lunch. And by God's grace, sometimes they eat it. And so you think, okay, good, I nailed it. This, you know, today. And so you put the same thing in the next day into their lunch, and then it comes home. But everything is still in there. They don't eat it. And why don't you eat it? Well, I hate it. Well, you like to eat yesterday. No, I didn't. I hate it. I can't trust my kids as far as I can throw them in this area of life because they're so inconsistent. David's saying, God never glitches or fades or flakes. He's unceasingly perfect. What kind of shepherd is the Lord? He's eternal, he's unchanging. And thirdly, for today, he is self-sufficient, meaning God is completely independent and requires nothing outside of himself for his perfect existence. He needs nothing. Humans, we do not self exist, right? If oxygen was taken outta this room, we're done. We need it right? We need water. We need love. We need shelter. We constantly need help, but no one can help. God. Acts 17 says this, the God who made the world and everything in it being Lord of heaven and earth does not live in temples made by man. Nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything. Since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything, people have sometimes thought or pondered that, that God must have made us because he was lonely. It's like a hundred percent no. Without you, without me, God would be exactly God as he is, always was and always will be. God does not need anything in his creation, including you, including me. And so the question is, well then, are we important at all? If he doesn't need us, my 7-year-old daughter, her name's Harper, she sleeps every night with this, this bare blanket and um, doesn't always smell the best. Um, kind of old wasn't that expensive. That bare blanket is not inherently lovable, but she has a signed it value. She has chosen to love that God has chosen to love you. He has chosen that you would be valuable and significant to him. Do you? Does he need you? No, but he's chosen to love you in Christ Jesus. So what kind of shepherd is the Lord? He's eternal. He's never changing, and he is self-sufficient. That's the nature of Yahweh. But what about his character? And this is important because this is where, this is where God becomes, becomes personal. It's one thing to say that God is eternal or, or unchanging or self-sufficient. And our mind is like, oh my goodness. But it's another thing to know what his heart is like. And there's a moment in scripture where God tells us He's self reveals, self defines. So we don't have to guess it's sin. Exodus 34 verses six through seven. And this is the most quoted, uh, two verses in the Bible by the Bible, which should tell you this is really important. And the reason, at least one of the reasons why it's so important is because it describes and it differentiates God from every other religion who profess a God. It's Yahweh's character that sets him apart because other religions profess God that are eternal, that are self-sufficient. That idea isn't unique to Yahweh, but God's character, what he's like, that's unique to our Yahweh. And so Exodus 34, God is speaking to Moses directly, and he says this, the Lord, the Lord all caps, Yahweh, Yahweh, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin. So just two attributes here I wanna cover. First one is this, God is compassionate. Yahweh, Yahweh, the compassionate God. Now, the Old Testament was written in Hebrew, and this word, compassionate, the root word for it in Hebrew is womb or, or guts. It's used to describe the way a parent feels about their children. So it's very instinctive. It's, it's really fierce. That's sort of what it's supposed to, to show us. There's a striking example of this. In one Kings chapter three, two women give birth to a son and they're standing before King Solomon. And the reason why is because one woman's son had tragically died in night, and she chose to swap her lifeless child with the living child. And so now they're standing before King Solomon both claiming that this living child is theirs. And so King Solomon says, bring me a sword. Cut the children in, in half and, and give one half of the child to one mother and one half of the child to the other mother. The true mother immediately breaks down, and it says this in verse 26, the woman whose son was alive was deeply moved. That's the exact same word, the exact same uh, uh, building of that word. There's no change between that and how God has described in Exodus 34, okay, deeply moved, compassionate. The woman whose son was alive was deeply moved and of love for her son, uh, said to the king, please, my Lord, give her the living baby. Don't kill him. So when David is saying that Yahweh is his shepherd, he's saying this eternal, unchanging self-sufficient God that made all of the exact galaxies that has been present in all of time, in every moment, this God also cares for you the way a mother cares for her child. It's an amazing idea. The the next attribute of his, of God's character is his lovingly faithfulness the Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God abounding in love and faithfulness, lovingly faithful. The Hebrew word here, his his has said it speaks of a love That's more than a feeling. It's a, it's a really loyal love. It's a covenant to love. It's a never letting go love. It's a love that isn't based on how lovable you think you are, but it's based on how faithful he is in his love towards you. God doesn't love you because you're impressive. God doesn't love you because you are essential or useful to him in any way. God doesn't love you because you get it right half the time. We've all experienced love and we've all given love based on conditions, right? It, it's the I'm here for you, right? Until it's kind of inconvenient. It's the I love you until it's too hard to love you. It's, I'm here for you. I'm not going anywhere until you go somewhere. But has said is not that kind of love. And the New Testament picks up the same idea because God is immutable, right? Never changes the same yesterday, today, and forever. And so of course the New Testament would describe God in the same way the Old Testament does. Romans eight says this, for, I'm convinced that neither death nor life, angels or demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor death, nor nor anything else in creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. So when David says, the Lord is my shepherd, he's declaring the one who is leading me. My shepherd is unshakably loyal in his love towards me, and there's nothing I could do to deserve it. And there's nothing that I could do to change it. So what kind of shepherd is the Lord? He's eternal's unchanging, he's self-sufficient, he's compassionate and he's lovingly faithful. But what does a shepherd do? Like, like what does Yahweh do for you? The Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing. We're not shepherds, but we have a general idea of what shepherds do, right? They, they guide, they protect, they lead, they care. And since God is a shepherd, what does that make? David? And what does that make you? Sheep. And you have to know that's not a flattering thing at all. There are all sorts of wild animals. There's wild horses. There's wild dogs in Peru. Wild Guinea pigs, okay? We had a, we had a Guinea pig just recently. We called it a gge 'cause we're uppity like that. Gge, his name is patches. When the kids went off to school, I sold 'em on Facebook. Marketplace. Okay? . I do not have the same characteristics of God. Okay? I'm not lovingly faithful. It's like you're an inconvenience. Get outta here. Patches, , all sorts, all sorts of wild animals. There are no wild sheep. There's no wild sheep. Why? Because they're too dumb to be wild. They're too dumb. They're too helpless to be wild. If you let an animal go, one of two things happens. It either goes wild or it returns home. But if you let a sheep go, it, it just wanders. It's like me in Home Depot with a gift card or my wife at a greenhouse. We're just like walking around, don't know what to do. Without a shepherd, sheep just die. They don't know what to eat. They don't know what will kill them if they fall on their backs and no one's there to pick them up. They just die of malnutrition, of dehydration. They can't get up on themselves. They cannot stand without a shepherd. A shepherd is absolutely everything to the sheep. And this is what David is saying when he is saying the Lord, he knew this. He was a shepherd. So when he's saying, the Lord is my shepherd, David is saying, Yahweh, you are absolutely everything to me, and I cannot survive without you. When eternal, unchanging, self-sufficient, compassionate, lovingly faithful God is your shepherd, I lack nothing. I'm cared for. I'm love. I'm led. I'm protected. I lack nothing. Now, when David says he lacks nothing, it doesn't mean that he gets everything that he wants. That's way too shallow to read it that way. And we tend to read it that way. But that's way too shallow of a way to read it. It means that if the Lord is your shepherd, you don't lack identity because you're loved and you are secure in your relationship with God. It means you don't lack provision because he will always meet your needs. It means you don't lack direction because he leads you in path of righteousness. It means you don't lack protection because even in the valley, he is with you. It means you don't lack a future because you will dwell in his house forever. If you are discontent with life, if you are frustrated at what you don't have, if your soul is feeling anxious or hurried or hollow, then something else is shepherding you. Something else is shepherding you. And if you're honest, if you were to write your own version of Psalm 23 verse one, maybe you would say this, my calendar is my shepherd. I have no time. My boss is my shepherd. I'm never good enough. My past is my shepherd. I I, I cannot outrun it. My trauma is my shepherd. I'm still defined by it. My feelings are my shepherd. They're, I'm all over the place. My bank account is my shepherd. I'm broke and I'm stressed. Or maybe you'd say, I'm, I'm my shepherd. I'm my shepherd. I'm trying to lead myself. I'm my shepherd and I'm exhausted. I'm my shepherd. And I just feel like I'm carrying everything. I'm my shepherd and and I'm just, I'm running on empty. I'm my shepherd and I have no idea where my life is going. Know this. There's someone else who wants to shepherd you. There's someone else who wants to shepherd you today. And David knew it. At the end of his life, he can look through all of the green pastures and he can recount all of the dark valleys. And he can write this and say, something is going to shepherd me. But when Yahweh is shepherding me, I lack nothing. I have all that I need to. The question for you today is who or what is shepherding you? You know, maybe there was a time when you were under the care of the shepherd, but you've wandered away. It says, I think I've wandered something else is guiding me. Something else is leading me. Jesus told a story just for you. He says this, suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn't he leave the 99 in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it. And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. If you've wandered from the Lord today, the shepherd wants to guide you home. He wants to put you on his shoulders and carry you back under his care. Let Him let him. He is the shepherd of your soul. Maybe you heard today and you've never been able to say what David has said, and you've never been able to pray what David has prayed, never been able to say, the Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing. It's like, but I want to. Like, where do I start? You start with Jesus. This is what Jesus said. He says, I am the good shepherd and I know my sheep and my sheep know me. Friend. Jesus is the one that you're looking for. He's the one you've been looking for your entire life. He is the good shepherd. Psalm 23 finds its deepest fulfillment in Jesus Christ. And he says, I know my sheep, meaning he knows you to the bottom. He knows you to the bottom. He knows your past. He knows the things you're trying to hide from other people. They've tried to bury from yourself. He knows all the shame. He knows everything. He sees it all. And he looks at you today and says, I still want to be your shepherd. I still wanna love you. I still wanna lead you. I still wanna protect. I still want to guide you. I want to be your shepherd. I want you to know the life of no lack. I want to do that for you. How do I know that 'cause of what Jesus says next says this, I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me, and I lay down my life for the sheep. See, a good shepherd will see danger coming and step in harm's way. He will even die in order that the sheep may live our good shepherd. Jesus Christ saw danger coming and stepped in harm's way. Danger was sin. Danger was a life filled with mistakes and self-sabotage and self-destruction. Danger was a life lived of confusion. Danger was a life removed from God. And Jesus on the cross laid down his life so that sin wouldn't overtake you so that you could have an eternal hope, that you could have a life with God. And you could know for maybe for the first time in your life, the purpose of your life, to know God and to enjoy his presence forever. And that life can be yours. Jesus can be your good shepherd. Today is a call to repentance. It's a call to surrender. But here's the thing, if you want to be able to pray what David prayed, then Jesus has to be your everything. He has to be your everything. When you make that decision, the best decision of your life to come under the care of the shepherd, then you can pray like David prayed, the Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing today. If you want Jesus to be your shepherd, let's say you're here and you've never had a relationship with Jesus. But today you want to begin that relationship. I'm gonna ask you to pray along with me. And maybe for those who do have a relationship with Jesus, this can be a prayer of recommitment to come under the care of the shepherd. Let's pray. Jesus, you are our good shepherd. Lord, I pray for all of my friends here today who have never been able to say that or pray that they don't know you. But Lord, you say you leave the 99 to find them. So God, I pray even now that you would save them, you'd save them from a life of confusion, a life of uh, destruction, a life of going on without you, would you put them on, uh, your shoulder state and bring them back home? God, I pray for my friends that they would have a, a life of repentance even in this moment. They would surrender their past, their sin, their ambitions to you. And so if that's you today, just pray this along with me. God, I trust you, God, I repent of my sin, the things that separated you from me, Lord. And I want to come under your care today. And so I turn from my own leadership and I trust your leading in my life. Help me. I pray this in your name, Jesus. Amen. Amen. If you prayed that with me today, you have made the best decision of your life. Uh, but it's just the beginning. And so you have a life where you can experience this, this life of never wanting to needing to be in want because God is your shepherd. Now I wanna encourage you to tell somebody. We're gonna have some passwords up in the front. You can tell. We also have a QR code that you can scan, that you can tell us as well. I wanna encourage you, come back next week and keep on coming back so you can learn what it's like to live under the care of the shepherd. Thank you so much for being in church today, everyone, and we'll see you next week.