Psalm 23:1-3a (NRSV)
Read Psalm 23:1-3a on biblegateway.com
Verse 1The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
Verse 2He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters;
Verse 3he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name's sake.
Devotion
No psalm has been more central to the faith of American Protestants in the last 200 years than Psalm 23. This psalm inspires us to think about God's presence with us through our lives of faith and about our inevitable death and eternal rest.
For Christians, the psalm calls to mind Jesus, the Good Shepherd. I still remember my first class in psalms at Union Seminary in New York City, listening to my beloved professor, Samuel Terrien, talking about the time he spent living among the Bedouin peoples. Terrien spoke of how the Bedouin shepherds would care for their sheep, leading them to safe and quiet waters where the poor, not very intelligent creatures would not fall in and drown. And when the sheep were battered about, the Bedouin would bring them into their tents and anoint their heads with medicinal oil.
So it is with us. The Good Shepherd leads us to waters that mark the divine care that surrounds us all our days, even to our final dwelling places.
Prayer
Come, Beloved Shepherd. Lead us to your refreshing waters. Be with us now and when we die.
Amen.