Look out in the plain it's a bird it's a plane...no it's my shepherd! Part 1.

"The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want He makes me lie down in green pastures He leads me beside quiet waters He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For his name's sake Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I 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 have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." Psalm 23

If you didn't know already I'm kind of a comic book geek. I am a huge fan of the whole super hero thing and I have many shirts in my wardrobe to testify to that. Of course now they are coming out with movies of the superheros that I had in my prime little 8 year old days which are trashy and depressing but none the less I'm a fan of the hero's not so much their movies. Though I do enjoy watching those hero's in cartoon form and yes I do know they are really only cartoon hero's but with that being said I also get to worship the greatest real life Superhero ever.

Oh you want a guy who saves people who can't help themselves and are stuck in a position of hopeless despair? Bam he did it. You want a guy who literally can withstand the most punishment that anyone has ever had to go through? Bam he did it.Oh you want a guy who defeats evil doers with just his breath? Bam....stay tuned because he's going to do it :) . I think you get the point. Not only does Jesus do all these things but I get to have a personal relationship with the guy and he cares about me! That blows my mind! Daniel says in Psalm 23 the Lord is my shepherd and I know the reaction we get when we hear shepherd " oh an Old guy watching sheep in a field". I thought the same thing but that is grossly understating their job to put it nicely! When we look closely at Psalm 23 we get to see God as a Shepherd and the man writing the Psalm knows a little about shepherding and is writing this Psalm with that on his mind.

In verse 1-2 " the Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want He makes me lie down in green pastures He leads me beside quite waters." looks simple enough, but there is something you need to know about sheep....yes they're dumb but something else. Sheep don't just lie down easily. They actually need 4 things before they will lie down: enough food, enough drink, a clean nose + throat, and they need to feel secure. See sheep won't lie down if they are thirsty or aren't completely full so the Shepherd needs to take care of the sheep's needs, not wants but needs. In the same way when we walk with God our needs are met an he gives us what we need ( and sometimes it's not what we think we need but what he knows we need). Then the Shepherd will check if any mites are in the sheep's nose and check if any leeches are in it's throat. Its basically a check of crap thats in the sheep that shouldn't be and he takes it out if it shouldn't be there. Amazingly thats the same thing Christ does with our life! When we have things that shouldn't be there by walking through this world sometimes God has to "clean us" and its not always a pleasant feeling but its necessary in both scenarios. Finally the Shepherd needs to make sure the sheep feels secure. Sheep are terrified of running water its just something they don't like so the Shepherd is sure to stay clear of any running water because he knows that it scares the sheep. Thats why the second part of verse 2 is there. In the same way God knows what scares us! Its not something we always think about but it should help us feel secure that our Shepherd knows what scares us! It makes us realize that we are not alone even when we feel alone if we are walking with him and that should get us pumped that he cares for us in such a way!