Psalm 23:1-2 The Lord is my shepherd,I shall not want.He makes me lie down in green pastures
John 10:9 I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he(she) will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
That word pasture seemed to be saying something to us Sunday morning so we looked further. The Greek word is νομὴν and it means pasturage, fodder, food…one shall not have want for the needful supplies for the true life.
John 10:9 is the only time we know of that Jesus uses this word νομὴν, pasture. I wonder if He specifically said pasture to harken back to Psalm 23. Those good young Jewish men that Jesus was training surely would’ve picked up on it. As Anna and I, along with our kids go this this tragic experience one thing is clear, we are in the pasture. We are covered. There’s enough food, there’s enough space, the Shepherd has our back.
Psalm 23 talks about the green pasture in verse two. The Greek word for pasture that Jesus uses means to not want, and verse one of Psalm 23 talks about not wanting. It’s almost like David is saying pasture twice in two different ways in verse one and verse two of Psalm 23.
The reality is we are all living in the green pasture. We may not know it, feel it or believe it, but it’s true. Verse three of the psalm goes on to talk about how amazing life is in the pasture if we will dare believe we are already living there. The shepherd is leading, restoring, guiding. And apparently this is all going on while David is walking “through the shadow of death.” (v 4)
From the beginning of this famous psalm, David proclaims that the Lord is his Shepherd. He has no other shepherd. He has no other master. His allegiance is to God alone. He believes God is holding him. Shepherd is an intimate metaphor. A shepherd lives with his flock and totally cares for each one of the sheep. I’ve heard that a shepherd literally lays down on the ground with his sheep.
As we continue to walk through the valley of the shadow of death Anna and I are choosing to fear no evil, knowing beyond a knowing that we knew was possible, that God is with us. There is no want, we are covered. The Shepherd has us. And part of his “having” us is having you walk though this valley with us. We have each other, and in having one another somehow we mysteriously have God.
- Shawn