Life with Jesus
Part 1: Who am I?
Shepherding is not the kind of job a lot of people apply for these days. When children are asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” They respond, “A doctor. A police officer. A teacher.” I’ve never heard a child say, “I want to be a shepherd.
Even in David’s day, a shepherd was not the kind of vocation to which a child aspired. Shepherding was for has-bins, old men, and young boys. Yet, the shepherd was the metaphor David carefully chose to describe God in the Twenty-third Psalm. Why did David do it? Well, we human beings tend to lose track of ourselves. The prophet, Isaiah, said that “We have all wandered away like sheep; each of us has gone his own way” (53:6, NCV).
People and sheep have one thing in common. Both have a penchant for getting lost. I’ve looked into the eyes of young people who’ve asked me, “Who am I?” They have lost a sense of identity. “Am I a jock? A geek? A goth?” I have looked into the eyes of elderly people who’ve asked, “What good am I?” They’ve lost a sense of their value, their worth to this world. I’ve looked into the eyes of those who’ve lost a job who and asked, “What am I to do?” They’ve lost a sense of meaning and purpose in life.
A lot of lost souls are milling about these days. All of them like sheep have need of a shepherd. So, David claimed that if folks wish to know their sense of identity, value, and purpose, they need only to follow the shepherd.
Why? Because when God becomes your Shepherd, He will lead you to discover your truest self. The two words David used to begin Psalm 23 are revealing. “The Lord,” David said. “The Lord is my shepherd.” David could have employed over a dozen different aliases to describe God, such as El Shaddai, which means God Almighty or El Elyon, meaning God Most High or El Olam—God the Everlasting. But, all of these descriptions are titles. David rather chose to use God’s personal name: Yahweh.
Personally, I go by a number of titles. I am called pastor. There are a select few who call me dad. One can name me as her husband. But, if you really want to know me personally, you have to call me David.
This is the reason David said, “Yahweh is my shepherd.” God is a personal God. He is One to whom you can relate. He is One you can call by name. The difficulty is that David never bothers to define just what God’s name means. All of the pagan gods of David’s day had descriptions as to the kinds of deities they allegedly were. Their names described how these gods supposedly functioned. With Yahweh though, we have a desire to know more of who our God really is.
However, we are given a clue. In Exodus 3, there’s a fascinating conversation that takes place between God and Moses. Moses asked God the question most identity-seeking people ask: “Who am I?” God had appointed Moses to go into Egypt to liberate the Israelites from slavery. Moses responded, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt” (Exodus 3:11, NIV)? God eventually got around to answering Moses’ question by saying, “I am who I am” (v. 14). Later in Exodus 6, God would tell Moses, “I am Yahweh” (v. 2). In other words, Moses said, “God, I don’t know who I am.” Yet God responds, “Well Moses, you will find out who you are the more you come to know who I am.”
I mentioned earlier that there are many lost sheep searching for a sense of identity. Like Moses, their identity has escaped them. Yet, when they discover that their identity is found in God and Him alone, nothing can take away their assurance of self.
You can lose your job. You can lose your spouse. You can lose your confidence. You can lose face. You can lose every earthly thing. But, you will never, ever lose your claim as a child of Yahweh. Because when you discover who God is, you discover who you are.
Yet, David also taught that when you and I discover who God is, we find our authentic happiness. “The Lord is my Shepherd,” David said, “I shall not want.” The New King James Version of the Bible puts it this way: “The Lord is my Shepherd, I have everything I need.” In other words, what David was saying, “What I have in God is greater than what I don’t have in life.”
Sadly though, there are few of us who can genuinely echo these words. The truth is that we do want. We want for many things other than God Himself. Sadly, these wants lead us to a dead end of discontent. I mean, how many times have you said, “I wish I were thinner. I wish I were bigger. I wish I were richer. I wish I had a new car. I wish I had a new job. I wish I had a new spouse”?
Yet, true contentment and authentic happiness come when we can say with the Apostle Paul, “I have learned to be satisfied with the things I have . . . I know how to live when I am poor, and I know how to live when I have plenty” (Philippians 4:11-12, NCV). Paul is simply echoing what David had said eight centuries before: “What I have in God is greater than what I don’t have in life.”
Allow me to ask you a few questions. What is keeping you from pursuing happiness? Do you believe you will be happy when you are married? When you are divorced? When you have a baby? When you make your first million dollars? When you finish school? When you get the right job? If your answer to any of these questions is “Yes,” then check your compass. You’re headed down the wrong path to happiness.
Years ago, I was struggling theologically, which is a fancy term for the discipline of understanding God. Seminary really messed me up. I heard just about every description of God available at the time. I remember turning to my father, my pastor, to help me in my confusion. I said, “Dad, I don’t know who God is anymore? What am I to do?” I’ll never forget my father’s words: “Son, I wouldn’t know who God is either was it not for the person of Jesus. All that I know of God I have discovered through my relationship with Jesus.”
Jesus made an astonishing declaration before his disciples: “I am the Good Shepherd. I know my sheep, and my sheep know me…” (John 10:14, NCV). Jesus is the shepherd of whom King David spoke. And, David declared that happiness is discovered in knowing this Good Shepherd. I can personally vouch that happiness is found in knowing Jesus—the One who will never leave you wanting for more. The One through whom you will always have grace sufficient for every need, mercy for every sin, strength for every challenge, and guidance around every turn. If you do not know this Jesus of whom I speak, if you have followed a different path that has left you disappointed at every turn, if authentic happiness has escaped your grasp, I encourage you to know him now by praying with me.
Prayer: