The Lord is my Shepherd

Recently, I was looking over some Sunday School information and came across a story of a young boy in his Sunday School class. He was your typical fidgety boy that every elementary Sunday School teacher has in class, he couldn’t sit still if his life depended on it. So the teacher had an idea. She announced to the class that everyone who would memorize the 23rd Psalm and could recite it for the church, would win a prize. Thinking this certainly would get the young boy interested.  She was right – he was very interested in winning that prize, so he worked day after day to memorize that scripture and when the day finally arrived for the students to quote the verse in front of the church, he was beaming with confidence!

He took center stage, but only to find his mind went completely blank and he could not remember how all of the words went. After a couple of moments of fidgeting, he blurted out: : “The Lord is my shepherd, and that’s all I need to know!”

Alot of Bible Scholars and Preachers have said much about the 23rd Psalm, but I doubt that many have captured the essence of this verse better than this young, fidgety child.

  • What do you do when you are at a loss of words for a hurting friend?
  • What can be said when you get things botched up, even though your heart was right?

All of us find ourselves in situations that we just don’t know what to say or when we open our mouths, it all comes out wrong. Even though our tongue gets twisted around, our heart remains genuine. It is in these moments, that we need to remember the words of that fidgety, young Sunday School student:

“The Lord is my Shepherd, and that’s all I need to know!”

  • When you are hurting, you need to know He is your Healer!
  • When you are financially broke, you need to know He is your Provider!
  • When you are sad, you need to know He is the lifter of your head!
  • When you are crying, you need to know He catches each tear in a bottle!
  • When you feel alone, you need to know He will never leave you nor forsake you!
  • When you feel darkness all around you, you need to look to His Light!
  • When you have lost a loved you, you need to know He is your Comfort!

Whatever you need today, you need to know that He is your EVERYTHING! Sometimes knowing that …is all you need to know!

THE 23RD PSALM:

The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness, For His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me. Your 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 runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord FOREVER. (NKJ)

 

7 thoughts on “The Lord is my Shepherd

  1. Iris

    Ha – my spam word is “Hope”, how fitting 🙂

    You know, I find myself often saying this Psalm, especially when I am in stress; it calms me down.

    Love how the young child put it – indeed it is all we need to know 🙂

    Thank you for sharing from your heart.

  2. Karen

    Laurie…what a great post…the young ones always seem get to the heart of the matter when we try to rationalize…

    Amen! That is all we need to know…He is everything!

  3. Judy Miller

    “Out of the mouths of babes”
    Another great devotion from “my baby”!
    I am so proud of you Laurie–I love you~~
    MOM

  4. Bernadine

    Laurie, what an awesome word for today. “The Lord is my shepherd and that’s all I need to know.” What a precious child. I wonder what his Sunday School teacher thought after that.