The Lord is My Shepherd

“The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.” This Bible verse from Psalm 23:1 is one of the most famous Bible verses in all of Scripture. This is a verse that encourages both believers and skeptics alike.

The 23rd Psalm is one of those passages. The Psalms are songs. They’re not just meant to be read; they’re meant to be sung. The songs have been sung by God’s people for thousands of years. There are various kinds of Psalms, and Psalm 23 is called a Psalm of Trust or a Psalm of Confidence.

The Psalmist starts by saying, “The LORD is my Shepherd; I shall not want.”  It’s not a surprise that the Psalmist speaks of the Lord as a shepherd. King David, who wrote this psalm, spent a lot of time around sheep, and no wonder he uses the metaphorical language of a shepherd to describe the Lord. By referring to the Lord as a shepherd, David is showing the intimacy of what a personal relationship with the Lord looks like.