Psalm 23 is the most popular Psalm of all time.  You’ve probably quoted verse one, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want” at a funeral.  But what if you could say these words and be filled with power – by really knowing what they mean for you personally.

Let’s start at the beginning, by looking at the first word, “The.” When we say “The Lord” this signifies there is only one true God, who is the ONLY source of our salvation. Here we are saying our Lord, the Lord, is not one god amongst many, but our God is the only true God who is set apart, holy, and sacred.

The second word, “LORD,” is the translation of the Hebrew word Yahweh.  This denotes a deeply personal and relational meaning between God and us, as his people.  By saying “The LORD,” we are submitting ourselves to God inside our personal relationship with Him.  This is vastly different from other abstract or flippant gods like “the universe” or “the force,” which lack any kind of relationship.

The third word “is” means that God is alive and watching over you and me right now.  Here we acknowledge that God is active in our daily lives.  Our God is not some distant being who wound up the earth and then let it spin while he went off to play in some distant galaxy.  Instead, our God is present, and wants to be in relationship with us right now, today – present tense.

The fourth word “my” means I have a personal relationship with God. He is mine and I am his.  What an incredible thought.  It’s like the little boy who runs up to his dad and cries, “Daddy.”  Both boy and dad know that they are together and united as one.  This is how our God wants to be with you!

And the last word “Shepherd” is someone who watches over me, guides me, heals me and saves me.   Just as sheep wander and get lost, there is no doubt that we wander away and even get lost.  We get lost in our own brooding thoughts.  Lost in our resolve and there may even be times when we lose our faith.  Like sheep, we’ve also followed the herd – or the crowd.  Yes, we are sheep who need our shepherd.   Our shepherd is a God who has put his very life on the line to save us, his sheep.   No wonder we call Jesus the Good Shepherd! (John 10:11).

Let’s say these five words together right now, “The LORD is my Shepherd.”  Can you say them with me again as we ponder their power and majesty. The. LORD. is. my. Shepherd.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to share with the world how Jesus has been your shepherd who loves you!  I want to encourage you to share your faith story, right here in the comments section and by doing so, just think of how many people you might be able to bless!   Or perhaps you are brand new in your faith, or you’re not a writer!!!  Then I hope you’ll simply type the words, “The LORD is my shepherd” as a statement of your faith.

Afterwards, I want to invite you to watch one of our two next recommended videos, Psalm 23 verse 2 called, “The Shepherd’s Care: Discovering the Comforting Message of Psalm 23:2” or you might like to our overview of Psalm 23 called, “Psalm 23 Explained – You’ll Never Read It The Same Way Again.”  And if you’d like the Psalms to come alive in your life everyday – visit PsalmsAreAlive.org for our free, daily Psalm devotional series.  We’ll see you in the next video!