IT IS ONE thing to believe that the Lord is your Shepherd but quite another to know the Shepherd Himself; precious beyond words is when God personally communicates to you that He is your Shepherd, but profoundly invaluable when you are close to His side, having a personal knowledge of the Shepherd of our souls.

Throughout my Christian life, Psalm 23 remains to be the most precious of all. It is one of those psalms, with all of its inexhaustible richness, which veils the eyes of overfamiliarity. Many acquaint it with funerals or for when they are going through difficult times, but it is also a soothing, joyous balm to the mind when all is well and as those verses come alive when God actually restores your soul, or with the consciousness that He is leading you in the paths of His righteousness; it is beyond words to feel those truths come to pass (made real) when you know His oil abundantly running over in your life.

Obviously bearing in mind, we cannot know the Shepherd unless we first know Him as “the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29); the Lamb Who sacrificed His life in our place. We cannot be led in His paths of righteousness until we are clothed in His righteousness (Romans 3:21; Romans 5:17, 21; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Philippians 3:9); we cannot encounter soul restoration until first we are reconciled to God; we cannot lie down in green pastures until we enter by faith, through grace, into His rest (Hebrews 4) wherein still waters are experienced because of encountered peace with God Who justifies us through the undeserved gift of saving faith.

A friend of mine is world renowned for his exceptional and unique style in art. Through close acquaintance (as artists and in our Christian walk), I have come to know what he values in life and oftentimes I am oblivious (not ignorant) to his high international status, which is not out of disrespect, but rather proves the genuineness of our friendship; it is valuing him, beyond his talent, for the person he is.

To be acquainted with the Shepherd, in the sense that you know you belong to Him and that He personally knows you, transcends any other treasure and happiness in this world. These are the treasures that He gives in the darkness. This is not to imply that when we are mindful of God, we are unmindful of His majesty and glory – that is an overfamiliarity which is prevalent today in so many Christian trends.

When we come to really know the Shepherd, we find that He Himself is our green pastures; He is our still waters; He is our path of righteousness; He is our comfort and protection from all evil; He is the table by which our soul feasts on all His richness; He is our oil, our life in abundance. We don’t wait for circumstances to improve in order to taste and see that the Lord is good; He is all that we need now, whether we are at the height of success or in the depths of poverty’s vale; whether in ecstatic joy or the dungeon of despair; whether in life or death, He is there, ever with us, through it all.

To know the Shepherd’s voice is to recognise the staff of His protection and the rod of His correction that ministers unspeakable comfort; even behind such discipline, you sense the hand of God through the pain “My sheep know my voice”; you feel the cords of His love that will never let you go and neither will He abandon the good work He began in you. One can exclaim with David, “Surely – surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life” – assurance, not arrogance, but bold confidence in the Covenantal God Who shall never lose a single soul of His inheritance. Through such benevolence and unmerited graciousness, one feels (not just facts stored in the mind) the heart of the Heavenly Father and that such love has indeed made you a child and heir to all of His riches – “and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” When David fled from Saul into the wilderness, his greatest desire was not for the kingdom or its riches and benefits, but to be in the sanctuary of God, to behold His glory and worship Him in the splendour of holiness. It even went beyond the comfort of knowing that the mercy and goodness of God would Pursue David; to behold God Himself was His chief desire. God’s goodness made David pursue Him for Himself. Is that our road or do we impersonally pursue God for all the good things He bestows upon us?

Is that our chief desire – “to dwell in the house of the Lord forever and to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord” or are we content just to know the blessing of God on our lives? Do we yearn in our hearts that God would show us His glory? Rather than being consumed with His blessings, do we long to gaze on His beauty and majesty? Oh things, things, things! How things of such insignificance easily entertain, please and satisfy us; how the cheap things of this life so easily capture and grip our hearts. To behold the eternal God for Who He is, to unite in the angel’s anthem, who day and night never cease to exclaim, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty.” They never tire of crying that as they see infinitely more than we do at present. Pause for a moment on that word, infinitely; there is no limit, no bounds and no ability to calculate what is immeasurable. Our minds become dull in its attempt to comprehend, but these Realities are inestimably more real than our three-dimensional world. The angels long to gaze into the mystery and wonder of God’s redeeming grace in our lives; do we long to gaze on the blinding splendour and majesty of God as they do presently?

To know the heart of the Shepherd is what makes the world of difference. It is capturing what David saw; unless He had known the God of Israel, he never would have penned such profound words. Knowing the Lord as his Shepherd gave him boldness to walk through the darkest moments. We cannot say the Lord is our Shepherd unless we know He is with us. To declare it with assurance and confidence is to be conscious of God causing His face to shine upon us.