Jehovah Rohi

So thankful for this beautiful afternoon the Lord has given to us to come into His presence and to worship His holy name. So thankful to the church for your constant prayers and overwhelming love and support with our travels and with what we went through this past week. So thankful for your prayers. I pray that God will bless each one of you. We’re so grateful to be back with you and also a warm welcome to all the guests that are worshiping with us this afternoon, especially Pastor Jacob Thomas. I know he was here last week. We’re so thankful for God’s healing in the life of his servant and it is really a privilege for us to be able to worship with him this afternoon. We are so grateful for God’s Provisions. our God is a good God and as we sang this morning, he is always sovereign, he’s always good, there’s not a single moment when he forsakes us, he’s always constant and we can say that every tear, every cry, and every prayer he hears and he is consistent and constant and never changing. Oh, what a comforting and great God and a sovereign God that we worship. He is God of life and his God of death and I thank God for who he is. Especially grateful that God has given us this opportunity to worship Him in truth and spirit this afternoon.

We’ve been going through our series “I Am” on the names of God. A special thanks to Sam in spite of what he was going through for speaking a couple of weeks ago and Pastor Santosh who powerfully ministered through their testimony last week in our midst. But we’ve been going through our series called “I Am” on the names of God. I know it’s been a couple of weeks so I want to quickly recap all the names that we have covered so far. We covered the name Elohim where we remind ourselves that he is the Creator and sustainer of our life. Second week we covered God’s name Adonai who is a supreme Lord, Lord of all who has absolute ownership over our lives. The third week we looked at the name of God El Shaddai who is an almighty God with a mountain-like strength and the heart of a mother. We talked about how God is Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who sovereignly according to his choosing kills us. When we talked about how God is Jehovah Nissi, the Lord who is our banner, our protection, and the leader of our life. We talked about how God is Jehovah Jireh, the Lord who provides our every need. Then we talk about the fact of how God is El Kana, a jealous God who does not give his glory to anyone else, not for his own benefit but ultimately for our own good. Then last week, a couple of weeks ago, we talked about the I am of the Old Testament who became the I am in the Lord Jesus Christ Yahweh, a self-existent God who is near to us.

What we’ll be talking about this afternoon is a very familiar passage in God’s word and the only place where we find this next word of the name of God and which is Jehovah Rohi which is the Lord is my shepherd.

Psalm 23:1-6 I will read for you, a lot of you know it by heart, and thank God for that. It is probably the first Psalm that you memorized in your life. It goes like this: “The Lord is my shepherd, Jehovah the Lord is Jehovah Rohi.” That’s what it says. “I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul, he guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even 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 before my enemies, you anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows. Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

As I mentioned, this is the only place where we find this next name that we’ll be highlighting today, which is Jehovah Rohi, or the Lord who is our Shepherd. The first verse is a familiar verse to us, Psalm 23:1, “The Lord is my shepherd.” Throughout God’s word, God calls you his sheep, and I’m here to tell you that is not a flattering term at all. Nobody should be going around saying, “I’m glad I’m the sheep.” Well, you should be glad you’re the Sheep of God, but the term sheep is not anything that is flattering. See, the sheep is dumb by nature. Shepherds will tell you it is one of the most ignorant, unobedient, resilient, and stubborn animals known on the entire animal planet. In fact, it is so dumb that even in a green pasture, the sheep will only eat the grass right in front of his face. Green pasture, sheep will only eat the grass that is right in front of his face and will continue eating that piece of grass until the dirt is exposed in the field. Then you know what this sheep will usually do? He will continue eating the dirt in the ground, even though there’s a lot of green pasture all around it. The shepherd has to literally lead the sheep to the next place where it’s supposed to eat the grass. That is how ignorant and dumb sheep are. But thank God we have a Good Shepherd. Even though we are ignorant, even though we are stubborn, even though we eat dirt when there is green pasture all around us, thank God that there is a shepherd in our life.

Psalm 23:1 tells us, “The Lord is my shepherd.” I want you to take apart this verse this morning and make it internal in your heart. The first thing it tells you is the identity of the shepherd. The Bible says it is none other than the Lord who is our Shepherd, and the identity of the shepherd makes all the difference in our life. You need to know who is our Shepherd. In fact, in the Book of Ezekiel 38, the Holy Spirit reminds us that not all shepherds are Good Shepherds. In fact, there are a lot of bad shepherds in the world, and you and I should have great comfort and joy in our hearts this afternoon that the Lord is our Shepherd, and that makes all the difference in the world. In the midst of all the false shepherds, in the midst of all the shepherds that really do not care about us, we have the Lord who is our Shepherd, and that makes all the difference. Remember the passage that we read in the Gospel of John this afternoon. He says a hired hand does not care for the sheep as much as the shepherd who owns the sheep. When the wolf comes, guess what the hired hand thinks. He’s thinking about how much money he’s paid, and he’s thinking, “My, this is not worth ten dollars,” and you know what he does? He runs away from the sheep because he’s trying to protect his life. But the shepherd, the one that actually owns the sheep, even when the wolf comes, he will stand back. You know why? Because he’s not a hired hand, he actually really owns the sheep.

In John 10, Jesus reminds you, “I am your Shepherd, and you should have a lot of joy in that because, unlike the people of this world who do not own you, I created you, I own you, I have a personal interest in you. When the wolf comes, I do not run away because I am not a Hired Hand. I have bought you with a price, I have created you, I own you, I will protect you with my life,” and that is the promise of Jesus, and that makes all the difference in the world.

Philip Keller has written a beautiful book about this whole topic of the Lord being our Shepherd, and he has written in this book as a theologian, but he was also a shepherd who once lived in South Africa. He tells a story about him having a field where he actually had his own sheep, but he said there was a problem with the neighboring shepherd. He was a Shepherd who did not care and he did not properly take care of his sheep, he did not feed them properly, he did not take care of them, they were malnourished, and oftentimes he says, standing on my side of the fence, I will see the sheep that belonged to the other pasture coming to the fence and sticking their head into our pasture as if longing and hoping and wishing that they belong to me and not to the bad shepherd. See, why this other shepherd did not care about his sheep and was not feeding them properly, but Philip Keller was taking care of his sheep so much so that the other sheep was jealous of all the sheep in the fold of this shepherd. See who is your shepherd makes all the difference, and this afternoon, I cannot think of anyone better to be the shepherd of my life than what the Bible says, “The Lord is my shepherd.”

The next word in that verse is this, “The Lord is.” Oh, don’t you love that? It’s not “The Lord was my shepherd.” He doesn’t say “The Lord will be my shepherd.” The Lord is my shepherd. We sang about this morning, “Not for a moment did he forsake me.” In this very moment, in this very minute, in This very hour, he is my shepherd. You think you are alone, you are not, as long as you have the Lord Jesus Christ as The Shepherd of your life, you are never alone, even when you want to be alone, he does not leave you, he keeps on coming and knocking on the door and says, “Open the door, let me come in and dine with you.” Why? He is always our Shepherd who is present in every moment of our lives, and I need a God just like that. I need a God who is present in every moment of my life, whether there be moment of gladness, moment of sadness, moment when I have a lot of money, moment when I don’t have a lot of money, moment when I’m sick, moment when I’m fully healthy, whatever I’m going through, I need a God who is present, and the Bible says the Lord is, and I pray and wish that you will confess that in your life this afternoon. How many of you can say with confidence this very moment, “He is my shepherd?” Oh, it is not enough that he was my shepherd in the past, this one moment, this very hour, this very day, this very month, this very season of my life, I need him to be my shepherd.

Then the Bible says something else, “He is my shepherd.” The Lord is my shepherd, my shepherd, my shepherd, oh He is mine. He knows me, He cares about me, oh He is not somebody else’s shepherd. He is my shepherd. He cares about me. Yes, there are billions and billions of galaxies, yes, there are billions of people in the world, but he cares about me, and he is my shepherd. Oh, what comfort this truth brings into my life, a personal God who knows me, who has a unique voice for me, and he knows me very well. See, we have a God who has so much to teach us about the way he cares for us. He is my shepherd because of the fact that the Lord is my shepherd, and that he is, and that he is my shepherd, you know what we can say the next verse, “I shall not have any want in my life.” All these three things are coming together to give you the conclusion at the end of it, “I shall not want,” because it is the Lord, he has inexhaustible resources to give to me, because he’s always present, I will never go any single moment in my life needing or lacking anything that is needed for that moment, because of the fact that he is my shepherd. He knows exactly what I need in my life. See, our needs are unique just as we are unique people in this world, but thank God that he is a personal, loving Shepherd in each one of our lives.

Look at the things that he does for us, verse two: “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, he leadeth me beside still waters.” I love God’s word. God’s word doesn’t say he gives me green pastures and that would have been enough. God’s word doesn’t say he gives me still waters. Look what he says, “He makes me lie down in green pastures.” Shepherds will tell you sheep usually never lie down. You know there are three things that have to happen and come together simultaneously for a sheep to lie down. Here are they: one, they have to be free of any fear in their life; two, there cannot be any fleas or flies pestering them; thirdly, this doesn’t happen very often, they have to be completely full in their stomach before they will lie down. What if God’s word says, “He maketh me lie down in green pastures?” You know what God’s word is saying? You are a God, you serve a God and you have a Good Shepherd in your life who satisfies you completely, that you are lying down in green pastures, not feeding anymore, because you’re completely content and satisfied with everything that he has provided. The true life of a true Christian is one of true contentment. The life of a true Christian is one of complete satisfaction. It is the people of the world that have a restless heart, but the believer has contentment in the presence of God and it doesn’t have anything to do with whether you have plenty or whether you have little, but God’s spirit gives that to you because you find your ultimate satisfaction in God and God Alone. He gives you green pastures that no one else can give, he gives you still waters that no one else can give, and having received that satisfaction, that fullness, that contentment that only the God of the universe could give to you, what do you do? Oh, he makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside still waters. Still waters, oh how caring he is. Flowing waters are not easy to drink from, they’re filled with danger, they could carry the sheep away. Still waters are always preferred, and he does that for us because he is our Good Shepherd. 

“I shall not want,” first of all, why? He supplies all of our physical needs in our life, and if you are sitting here this afternoon, troubled in your heart over anything that is physical, material in your life, trust in the Lord, he is your Good Shepherd who will satisfy you with only the things that he can give to you. Secondly, verse 3, what does he do? He restores my soul, he leads me in the path of righteousness for his name’s sake. Oh, the soul restoration that no one else can give, my Good Shepherd gives to me. My ultimate restoration he did for me, and we read that in John 10, by laying down his life for me and reconciling me to my Heavenly Father. My soul that had been broken, my soul that had been shattered, my soul to have been separated, he restores it back to the place where it’s supposed to be, to the place of God, through his grace in my life. And a lot of times I don’t know where to go, but he leads me in the path of righteousness for the name’s sake, for the glory of his name. Second thing that God does is this, he meets my spiritual needs in my life. He meets my physical needs and he meets my spiritual needs.

Thirdly, verse 4: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.” I want you to picture this very beautifully. I walk in the valley of the shadow of death. Now, where is the valley? A valley is between two mountains, a valley is a piece of land in the middle, in a valley, in a low place that is between two mountains, which means that you have been on a mountain before, and you come down to the valley, but when you’re in the valley, what you’re not realizing is that if you just keep on walking, you know, guess what is ahead of you? Another mountain. But the problem is that we don’t walk, we sit there and cry, we sit there and grumble, we sit there and murmur, and so we don’t get to the next mountain. But if you keep on walking, trusting in the Shepherd that is leading you through the valley, from the one mountain top that you came, what is waiting for you is another mountain top, if you keep one walking. When the sheep is in the valley, all that he can see is his own shadow, there’s darkness in the valley, he does not know where to go, but here is the good news of God’s word, there’s a Shepherd that is walking in front of it, that is leading it, as long as the ship keeps on walking and does not remain in the valley, there is a mountain that is waiting for it, and that is the promise of God’s word. Yes, we will all go through valleys, but what we have to do is what? Look to the Shepherd and find our comfort and hope in him and him alone.

Paul Miller says so beautifully, “We are left obsessing over our wants in the valley of the shadow of death, paralyzed by fear in the presence of our enemies. No wonder so many are so cynical.” A lot of people, when they go through a valley, whether it be a loss of a job, illness, whether it be children are rebellious, things getting delayed, all these things, they become cynical. “Both the child and the cynic,” he says, “walk through the valley of the shadow of death. The cynic focuses on the darkness, the child focuses on the shepherd.” See, we all go through valleys because that is the only way you can get to the next mountain, but the difference is what you’re focusing on. The cynic, the one with the lack of faith, focuses on all the darkness around him, but the child of God focuses on the shepherd. And what we find is that when you do that, you will get to the next mountain. Why? The next sentence, “Thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.” Thou art with me, that’s the only way you can go through the valley. Because remember what I told you, there’s darkness all around, the sheep does not know where it’s going, it has to follow the shepherd. And there are two instruments that he uses: the rod and the staff. The staff is the long stick with a hook at the end, able to control the sheep and pull it back into the right course. You know what the rod is for? To beat those animals and enemies that are coming against it. You know what this is? The staff on the rod. The staff is representative of the grace of God that pulls you back into the fold of God. The rod is the power of God that fights for his people. When you combine the grace of God with the power of God, you can go through any valley in your life, even if it is the shadow of death, as long as he is with you, his grace, his power, he is able to sustain you and bring you unto the other end.

People that live in the Middle East, shepherds often talk about this, and many visitors to the Middle East have seen this. As you know, in the Middle East, there’s a constant conflict going on between the Palestinians and Israelis. It has kind of died down and it will spring up here and there. When the gunshots are so frequent in the Middle East, especially Israel, the shepherds who are tending sheep in the mountains find it very difficult to keep the Sheep calm because they’re hearing bombs falling and gunshots and all these sounds, and they get scared. And he said, you know how the sheep are comforted in the midst of all the things they’re hearing? The shepherd will take the staff and he will gently touch the head of the sheep and the moment the sheep feels the touch of the staff on his head, the sheep completely calms down in the midst of everything that he’s hearing. That’s why God’s word says, “Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.”

Yes, when we go through the valley of the shadow of death, everyone, including me, get so fearful. We are people who so often easily forget the fact that he is with us. And when I forget, when I get fearful, oh, I thank God that he stretches out his hand and reaches me, touches my head with this staff and says, “I am here, don’t worry, you can go through the valley, I will be with you, and I will provide for you.” That’s the third thing God does, he removes my fear and meets my emotional needs. Even when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, he meets my physical needs, he meets my spiritual needs, he also meets my emotional needs and removes fear in my life.

Continuing on, verse 5. The Bible says, “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies, thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over.” It prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies. The Bible doesn’t just say that God will deliver you from your enemies. God goes further, he actually, you know, has maybe not a Chinese buffet, but some kind of buffet in front of you, even in front of your enemies. And this is coming from the culture of that time. It is said that, especially in Bedouin shepherds, in their culture, when they invite someone into their tent, if they see a stranger walking by and he is even maybe running from some enemies, and if the shepherd and the Bedouins feel generous towards them, he will invite him to his tent, and you know what they do for them right away? They’re very hospitable people. They’ll prepare a table before them, and then you know what they do? They will stand watch, protecting them from anyone who would attack them. In fact, it was the old custom of that time that any time you are in the hospitable tent or a household of a person, the protection of that person is a responsibility of the host who has prepared a meal for them. That is the imagery here. Even when the enemies are running after us, we have a God who prepares the table for us. When he prepares a table, it’s not just showing off. You know what he’s saying? As long as he is dining at my table that I prepared for him, his protection is of utmost importance to me. I will not let any enemy come near him. I am preparing a table before him in the presence of his enemies. 

And not only that, I am going to anoint his head with oil. Hallelujah. Why is the head anointed with oil? I only read about that, I don’t know this for sure, this says the sheep has a great enemy against it, it is known as a nose fly. The nose fly can take hold on the head of the sheep and lay eggs. After a while, you know what happens, this egg starts hatching, and the sheep is itching all over the place, and so constantly, it is rubbing his head up against the ground and bushes, trying to scratch the head that is now itching because of all the infestation of the nose fly. And it starts bleeding and all these things. And you know what the shepherd does? He anoints the head with oil to prevent the infestation of the nose fly. You know what the flies are in our life? When you read the New Testament, our thoughts that are not good, our thoughts that are unholy, thoughts that are filled with fear and faith. That’s why all over in God’s word, New Testament, tells you to fill your mind with the things of God and think on the things that are lovely. And you know what God does for us to do that? He anoints our head with oil. The anointing of the Holy Spirit is poured out on the life of the believer so that he can think thoughts that are holy, pure, so that the enemy cannot take a foothold in your life. So he anoints our head with oil, to protect us from the infestation of the enemy. And not only that, he does it so well that my cup runneth over. Fifth thing that he does, he gives us victory over our enemies and guards us from the evil one.

Finally, verse 6: “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” The language in the original is so beautiful. Surely, he doesn’t say perhaps, he doesn’t say maybe, he doesn’t say by chance, he doesn’t say maybe I will think about it, it doesn’t say maybe. None of those things that are speculative in nature are mentioned in God’s word. The word that is used is one of absolute confidence, surely, surely as sure as a person who is making the promise. “Oh, I will have two things running after you, goodness and mercy.” The Bible says, “Shall follow me, pursue you.” We sing this all the time, “Your goodness is running after me, your goodness is running after me, even when I am running away.” The grace of God is so marvelous, Hallelujah, his goodness, his mercy comes running after me to bring me back to the fold of God. And it is not a one-time event, oh praise God, it is a lifelong event, all the days of my life, Hallelujah, not for one moment, not for one month, not for one year, from the time of my birth until I take my last breath on the face of the earth, oh he runs after me with his goodness and mercy. What promises we have in God’s word. That’s why when you come to Genesis 48:15, Jacob can say this testimony with confidence, “I bless you in the name of the Good Shepherd who has been my shepherd all the days of my life.” If anyone needed a Good Shepherd, it was Jacob, born as a cunning young man, given to deception, even his name means just that. But God’s goodness, God’s mercy, kept on molding him, kept on pursuing him, kept on wrestling with him, literally wrestled with him, touched him, made him to be Israel, and so that at the end of his life, even though it was filled with so many valleys and mountains, he can say, “I praise God who has been my shepherd all the days of my life.” Why? Goodness and mercy pursued him.

The psalmist doesn’t stop there. See, not only does God pursue us while we are on this earth, look at the next words, “I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” That’s our eternal destiny. He not only provides for us everything that we need this side of eternity, the ultimate destiny of us believers, as long as we are under the care of this Good Shepherd, is that we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever and ever. What does that look like? In Revelation, John gives us a glimpse of what that looks like in Revelation 7:16-17, he says this, “They will hunger no longer,” no more need for still waters and good green pastures, hunger has been taken away, “nor thirst anymore,” still waters are not needed, “nor will the sun beat down on them, no more shadows, no more sun, nor any heat, for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd,” just talking about how God is going to guide us even in eternity, and will guide them not just to still waters, look at what God’s word says, “he will guide them to springs of the water of life.” Wow, all throughout this earth, I am led beside still waters, but a day is coming when he will lead me beside the water of life. For now, that water will give me eternal life that can never ever be taken away. “And God will wipe every tear from their eyes.” I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. His leading and provision will continue for all eternity, meeting our need for all eternity.

In John 10, the passage we read, Br. Sabu read it, talks about the sheep knowing the voice of God, the sheep responding to his voice. See, the Good Shepherd doesn’t change, the problem is with sheep, with us listening to his voice and following him. When we were in Gujarat, we often see herds of sheep and even this last trip over, told this story, I saw about maybe 150 sheep in one bunch led by two, three different shepherds. And then little brother told me, you know these people are contract shepherds. What happens is that every morning in the village, they come together, one designated place, and all the sheep of the village are brought to them. And then sheeps belonging to this house and that house, all come together in one bunch, and they all go in the morning as one group towards pasture land, and they would go pasture, they’d get water, they come back at the night. When they come at the night, the sheep has no confusion as to where to go. At the end of the night, each shepherd will start walking in three different directions, and the sheep that belongs to each shepherd will follow the shepherd it’s supposed to follow. Why? The sheep knows the voice of the shepherd. As dumb as it is, this is one thing that it gets right, every night it knows which fold to lay down its rest. Do you know the voice of your Shepherd? Do you listen to him? Do you follow his lead? If you don’t, you will find yourself in pastures you’re not supposed to be in, you will find yourself beside waters that are not still, you will find your soul not restored the way God wants to restore it. When you walk to the valley of the shadow of death, and you surely will, your mind will be filled with fear because you’ve lacked the confidence of listening and following the shepherd. And also, in the presence of your enemies, there may not be anyone to set a table for you. And also, you will miss out on the greatest blessing, goodness and mercy running after you, pursuing you all the days of your life. And you may not also miss out on dwelling in the house of the Lord forever and sure. Make sure that you’re following the right one, the one Jehovah Rohi, the Good Shepherd of your life.

Heavenly Father, we thank you, O God, that you are our Shepherd. You are the Shepherd of our church, you are the Shepherd of our lives, our families. our Shepherd. We pray that we will always run after you and follow your leading, O God, for in you is everything that we need, physical, spiritual, emotional, protection, deliverance, goodness, mercy, eternal satisfaction is all found in you and you alone. We ask you for forgiveness, where we have often wandered away from you, God. Thank you for bringing us back time and time again. We pray that you be with us the rest of the service, give you the glory that is due into your name. It’s the name of the Lord that we pray.