by Jill Motley on January 31, 2025
Trust: firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.
I have been struggling lately with trusting the Lord. In my circumstances, I have found myself angry, like a child demanding my will from the Lord rather than His. I felt empty of faith and confidence in God. I longed for a peace that would still my soul, enabling me to stand firm through life’s storms.
As I sat in this dark place of faith, I remembered Jeremiah 29:13,“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” It was as if the Lord said, “Seek me, and I will be found by you.”
So, I started seeking God. I needed to find Him—to understand who He is, His love, and His authority. I hoped that by seeking Him in a new way, my faith would become firmer and more confident because I would find Him.
I prefer to sit with biblical concepts—words or verses—for a long time. I want to marinate in them until they transform me and strengthen my faith.
In my pursuit of the Lord and a confident faith, I landed on Psalm 23 and the book A Shepherd Looks at the 23rd Psalm by Philip Keller. I decided to focus on the first verse: “The Lord is my Shepherd; I lack nothing” (NIV), “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want” (ESV), and “Adonai my Shepherd, I lack nothing” (Jewish Study Bible).
Throughout both the Old and New Testaments, God’s people are often compared to sheep. Sheep lack direction; they need a shepherd to lead them. A shepherd’s role requires hard work and commitment to ensure the well-being of the flock. To remain healthy, sheep need fresh, rotating pastures, clean still water, constant protection, and an environment that is both safe and calm. Unlike other animals that can survive and even thrive in desolate landscapes, sheep cannot.
It is the shepherd’s responsibility to provide safety and comfort. He willingly takes on this work, often delighting in his flock. The constant 24 hour care—grooming, protecting, feeding, and watching—is something the shepherd not only takes seriously but often enjoys as he tends to his sheep.
In Psalm 34, David writes from the perspective of a sheep—not as a king, but as a lowly, needy, high-maintenance sheep. He proclaims in the first line: “The Lord” (that one overseeing the field I stand in—that one), HE is my Shepherd.
Can you hear the pride in this statement? David is proud to be a sheep in the Lord’s pasture! He is content to be within the fenced pasture, to be led, to depend on, and to receive correction and care from his Shepherd—the Lord.
David declares this in the first line. Do I? Do I proclaim with pride and excitement that I am in the pasture of His choosing? Am I content with God’s care, with the fenced pasture of my life, being led and provided for? In my circumstances, am I willing to stand and shout my praise to the Lord?
David understands what it takes to care for sheep, he was a shepherd himself long before He was king. David rested, declared and found comfort in being one of God’s sheep.
The Lord is my Shepherd, He willingly looks after me, leads me, loves me, protects me, claims me as His own, and willingly laid down His life for me. Am I willing to stop and look around my pasture, look up at the Shepherd and trust Him and His care? Sit with me in this pasture called life and trust, because the Lord is our Good Shepherd.
"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." Psalm 23:1(KJV)
