Dial In with Jonny Ardavanis - Psalm 23 Explained: 7 Life-Changing Truths About God as Your Shepherd | Jonny Ardavanis

Episode Date: July 15, 2025

Dive deep into the most beloved passage in the Bible with this verse-by-verse study of Psalm 23. Discover 7 powerful truths about God as your shepherd that will transform how you view His care, protection, and love for you.🔍 What You'll Learn:Why David calls God "MY shepherd" (the intimacy of God's care)How God actively leads and provides for His peopleThe meaning of "green pastures" and "still waters"What it means that God restores your soulWhy you don't need to fear in the valley of the shadow of deathHow God's rod and staff bring comfort and protectionThe lavish love of God as our host and providerThis Bible study explores how the Psalms speak FOR us, not just TO us, offering raw emotion and honest faith. Perfect for personal devotion, small group study, or Sunday school preparation.

Hey, we want to talk through the 23rd Psalm, Athanasius, the theologian of the 4th century, regarding the Psalms said that most of scripture speaks to us, but the Psalms speak for us. And one of the things that you see jumping out to you from the beginning of the Psalm is that taking care of the sheep is the dominating thought of the shepherd. One of the things I always want to articulate is that

God's glory and our good are not at odds. He restores our soul for His name's sake. That's the reality. God loves to replenish and restore the souls of this sheep. He was abandoned, He was forsaken, so that we would be able to say, you're with me. Hello, everybody. Welcome to Dial-In Ministries. I'm sitting here with Hank.

Hank, how you doing? Doing fantastic, Johnny. How are you doing? I'm doing pretty good. Hanging in there. You about to hit some links? I'm not hitting the links and every time I wear a polo, Johnny asks me if I'm ready to go hit the links? I'm not hitting the links and every time I wear a polo, Johnny asked me if I'm ready to go hit the links.

Well, in Tennessee, it's about 95 degrees with 95% of humidity, so 95% humidity. So if you're not trying to roast, you kind of have to wear a golf polo. Absolutely, the struggle is wearing the pants. Pants, yeah. Professionally, it's just a brutal reality. What are we talking about here today, Johnny?

Let's move on. Hey, we wanna talk through the 23rd Psalm, Athanasius, the theologian of the fourth century, regarding the Psalms said that most of scripture speaks to us, but the Psalms speak for us. This is the testimony of God's children. You know, one of the things that you've heard me say before, but I love the Psalms because you and I live in a world of posturing

and pretend like even when you say, Johnny, how you doing? And I say, hang it in there. But most people respond in a way that's kind of fabricated in plastic. They say, hey, doing really well. But in the Psalms, we find raw, uncut emotion, people pouring out their heart to God. They're asking questions like, where are you God?

Why does it feel like you've left me? You've forsaken me. And so the Christian finds their own experience articulated through the Psalms. And the Psalm that we're gonna look at in this episode is probably the most well-known passage of scripture, maybe other than John chapter three. And so this Psalm was written by David,

but it's not written by David when he was a young boy. Presumably here, this Psalm bears the testimony and experience of a King who's walked through a lot of different trials, child who has died, betrayal, hurt, pain, and tears. And as we make our way through the Psalm, I wanna highlight seven features of who God is as our shepherd and really pull out of that

maybe seven realities that we ought to be thankful for because I think in studying and observing the Psalm, it's something that should penetrate and pierce our heart in a way where we leave and we walk away going, man, I'm so thankful for these realities. So anything just before we dive in? No, I think it's a great point. And just the spectrum of human emotion found in the Psalms,

I think maybe an encouraging reality for me. I don't know if it's true for you, but oftentimes is the either end of the emotional spectrum that can be found in such close proximity of the verses. And we'll actually probably look at that a little bit today, but excited to dive in and open up. Yeah, God's children are allowed to be vulnerable. Absolutely.

Yeah, and I think that's comforting. He's big enough, he can handle it. Hey, thanks so much for taking time to listen to this resource. I want to make you aware of a few things before we continue on in this episode. First of all, I want to thank those of you who are monthly supporters that make the production of this content and the ministry that Dial-In does possible. If you sign up today for a monthly gift, you'll receive a free Dial-In mug on the house.

It makes even bad coffee taste good. Secondly, if you haven't already, you can sign up for our Thrice Weekly Devotional, which is a three to five minute devotional read to ground your day in God's word. If you head to our website, dialinministries.org, you can just enter your email and you'll start receiving those on Monday,

Wednesday and Friday morning. Third thing is I just wanna thank those of you who have reached out and offered encouragement regarding my recent book, Consider the Lilies, Finding Perfect Peace and the Character of God. It's been really neat to see both individuals and church small groups walk through this book,

which is essentially a book on the character of God and how it functions as the catalyst to peace and trust in a worried and anxious world. And then just last thing, we are always talking through different ideas for content that would be, Lord willing, a benefit to you, to encourage you, to potentially challenge you. So if you have any ideas for future episodes

or for future series, you can drop a comment in the section below. Thanks so much. Yeah, let's dive in. It says in Psalm 23, verse one, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. The first feature of this Psalm, or I would just say, is that David is acknowledging

that he belongs to the shepherd. We dole the power and mute the preciousness of this Psalm, or I would just say is that David is acknowledging that he belongs to the shepherd. We dole the power and mute the preciousness of this passage when we do not consider and comprehend the identity of the one that David says is his shepherd. He says it's the Lord. Now that's caps lock. That's God's covenantal name. It's always worth reminding ourselves that God's name is not God. That's his title. God's name is Yahweh. In thousands upon thousands of times throughout the Old Testament, God refers to himself by the name that he gives to Moses

at the burning bush. He says, I am who I am. And that is emblematic of the reality that God owes his origin to nothing and to no one. Every single creature has a link to that which precedes them. They are derived, they are dependent beings and will one day die. But God's name in of himself,

because he gives Moses this name from a bush that was burning and yet not consumed, God's name itself refers to the reality that he is self-sufficient, self-sustained and eternal. And David is about to acknowledge the reality that God meets every need in his life, but the only reason that God can meet all of our needs is because he himself has none.

And that's what his name conveys. It's I am who I am, not I will be what I will be or I can be, it's I am who I am. He has no needs and not only is God self-sufficient, I like what David Gibson says, he's not self-absorbed. So David says, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Why? Because God cares for his own.

He's a caring God. You know, throughout the Psalms, David refers to God as a king. He refers to God as a fortress, as a rock, as a refuge. And if any of those titles ever feel distant or impersonal in any way, as a refuge and if any of those titles ever feel distant or impersonal in any way, here we see the most intimate title

that David gives of God in all of the Psalms and that is a shepherd. And David doesn't say the Lord is a shepherd, he says the Lord is what? My shepherd. My shepherd. And one of the things I think is interesting about this, Hank, is you kind of grow up reading the scripture and praying in a certain way where even in Israel, the Shema, the people

would say in unison, hero Israel, the Lord, our God is one. We prayed, dear heavenly Father, God, that's the way Jesus teaches us to pray. We can start to look at everything through a corporate lens where he's our God. We understood that even the people of Israel looked at God as their father, but David is really personalizing this truth and saying the Lord is my shepherd. And then because of that, he says, I shall not want, or I lack nothing. Scripture here in verse one is beckoning us to train our sense of need to the tune of what God provides. I shall not want comes after the recognition that whatever God withholds, because he's a good and kind shepherd, it's not something we really need.

Yeah, and we're probably going to expand on that point. I think if maybe just to add one point is if you study the Old Testament, Yahweh, the Lord's name is a serious name. And we have, it should elicit images of the entire Levitical process that was in place so that you wouldn't approach God half-heartedly or distracted or inappropriately. And yet we also have this reality here. And it's both are true. The Lord is high lifted up, holy,

and not to be approached lightheartedly. And yet, we can't have that view divorced from this biblical reality David's holding out for us. Yeah, it's used 6,800 times in the scripture. And yeah, they were so afraid of using God's name in an unworthy manner that they rearranged the vows to call God Jehovah. And yet David's gonna say, no, no, God is so intimate,

so personal, He's my shepherd. So that's the first reality, I belong to the shepherd. Second of all, we could just put in verse two that he makes me lie down in green pastures because my shepherd leads me. In the verbiage of this Psalm, our shepherd is the one who is active. We read here that he leads, he makes us,

he guides, he restores, he prepares, he anoints. It's the shepherd who is doing the work, he, he, he, he. And then in two ways, it says, he makes me lie down in green pastures. Sheep in general have no peace unless it is provided to them by the shepherd. And green pastures is super important here because sheep are so unintelligent.

Sometimes I feel like guys harp on this, you know, maybe too much, you're all idiots. No, because sheep are so unintelligent. Sometimes I feel like guys harp on this, maybe too much, you're all idiots. No, but sheep are so unintelligent that they will just continue to eat what is there, the grass, and then they'll eat through the dirt and they'll eat worms and get an infection and then they'll die. And then he says here,

he makes me lie down in green pastures. Philip Keller was a shepherd and he details that sheep don't lie down. They're full of fear, they're timid. Once they lie down, he says they are tormented by flies and parasites. There are so many pests that can kill them. But it's not just that they don't lie down,

they cannot lie down because once they lie down, they cannot get back up. Because their core muscles are so weak, they'll just put their hooves, paws up him. Hands? Yeah, hands,, paws up in the air, and they'll just kind of baa there until they die. I viscerally am identifying with sheep here, just weak core muscles.

Yeah, well, they'll die. And then it says here that he leads me besides, in verse two B, still waters. This is important. Sheep can't drink from stagnant waters or those stagnant waters will fill up with algae and they'll get an infection or they'll get some sort of a disease and they'll die.

And they can't drink from waters that are moving too quickly because they're so weak of an animal that they'll be swept along with the stream. So the shepherd here has to intentionally lead the sheep, knowing what the sheep need, to still waters. Not stagnant, not swift, but still waters. David is getting at the reality that he conveys later on

in Psalm 103, that God is mindful of our frame, that he caters to our needs. And one of the things that you see jumping out to you from the beginning of this Psalm is that taking care of the sheep is the dominating thought of the shepherd. I think sometimes we have this idea of God that he meets our needs when we really need him, but it's that the shepherd is proactively thinking through the sheep's needs and then he's taking care of them.

He's giving them rest even when they are restless. He nurtures them when they need sustenance. He is leading them. And this is where the sheep find true freedom, right? Because true freedom is not found by following our own path, but by following God's path as revealed in God's word. And so this leadership is really necessary.

Yeah, it was just that last point is so critical because it's such an obvious analogy when you look at this, like sheep are so helpless. If they do anything on their own accord, it's leading to their own demise. But it's so easy for us to live our lives as if that isn't a reality. Like, no, I'm actually a really good decision maker

in my own right. And we see obedience to God as somehow like less than a robbed of joy, robbed of fun. But the obvious implication being, to the extent to which you obey and follow the shepherd closely, is gonna lead to your flourishing and your joy. Yeah, it's green pastures and still waters.

And David's not saying that life is always gonna be easy. He's saying that even when it's difficult, when we are following God's lead, we will know we are in God's will. And when we're walking in God's will, then there's a level of freedom and there's- In peace. In peace, yeah.

And that's, we're lying down and by natural temperament, by constitution, some, and that's, we're lying down and by natural temperament, by constitution, some of us are restless, anxious like a sheep and we need the shepherd. Third reality here is that my shepherd restores me. It says in verse three, he restores my soul. He leads me in the path of righteousness for his name's sake, but it says here that he restores our soul. David is a man after God's own heart.

He wrote the majority of the Bible's hymnal. He wrote songs of great jubilee and triumph. And yet David, who is writing the Psalm, is no stranger to despair and despondency, dejection, betrayal, hurt, pain, tears. We've looked at this elsewhere, but David will say in the Psalms, "'How long, Lord, will you forget me forever?

"'How long will you hide your face from me?' The sons of Korah say in the Psalms, how long Lord, will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? The sons of Korah say in Psalm 42, why are you downcast, oh my soul? These thoughts, and this is part of the way that I wanted to allude even our conversation by talking about the honesty that is conveyed in the Psalms. These thoughts, these expressions, these emotions are in the Bible.

But so is this wonderful truth, that God restores our soul. I think that, you know, maybe in your life and in my life, there are times where there is some sort of a fragmentation and disintegration of my soul when my life outpaces my soul, right, we get busy, our schedule's really full, and our soul can become like a cistern, you know, it can just become shallow, and we're running on fumes.

When it sticks out to me, I don't mean to interrupt, but just restoration can be both from, I mean, David is a man who sinned greatly, and was restored to the Lord with repentance and obedience and consequences, but he was also a man who was pursued by evil men who wanted to wrong him. And it seems like both of those realities are tucked

into this restoration can be both when we miss the mark and we have consequences, but we need the Lord to restore us. And when you're actually not doing anything necessarily wrong causing human suffering, and yet you find yourself a hundred percent. Yeah, no, I think that's a great point. Like I think from a fighting for holiness perspective, we need the law of the Lord is perfect.

It restores our soul. So David is gonna acknowledge that in Psalm 19 that the law of the Lord is God's word is what gives us a sense of not fuel, but yeah, sustenance. It brings us back to life. There are moments in life where we feel like we're limping. Or barely get by. People say things like, hey, I'm hanging in there.

And sometimes people just say that because it's a cliche. And then other times there's like, I'm hanging on. Absolutely. And David says, no, God is our shepherd. He restores our soul. And in a way where even if we're walking through discouragement or pain, He gives us life. And He also, even if there's a sin in our life,

that He not only forgives us, but He restores us in a way that David says, let these bones that you have crushed rejoice, right? So, and He restores us, and I think for a specific reason, it says, He does it for his name's sake. And I think that's an interesting thought. And one of the things I always want to articulate is that God's glory and our good are not at odds.

He restores our soul for his name's sakes. So God's glory, our nourishment, our restoration are all companions. And I think sometimes we think that, you know, we're compromising on one to the extent of the other, but that's the reality. God loves to replenish and restore the souls of this sheep. Hmm, absolutely, keep going.

Yeah, the fourth reality here is that my shepherd is with me. It says in verse four, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me." Now for a shepherd, when autumn is approaching, when the seasons begin to change, it's time for the shepherd to return to the lowlands,

which means they have to go through the valley. And in the valley, there's bandits and robbers and lions and tigers. Oh my. Yeah, that's where the sun challenges. Yeah, challenges. And it's where you feel as if danger is lurking around every single corner. And it's worth noting here that the shepherd who leads and guides in verse two

is also the one in verse four who leads us directly into the valley of the shadow of death. I think this is an important thing to think through, that God is not sending us in there without himself. He's actually with us. We'll talk about that more in a moment. But here, David is gonna go from the dominant third person thus far, where he's referring to the Lord in the third person.

The Lord is my, he's referring to God as a he. But now for the first time, David is going to say, for you are with me. And I think one of the things to just punctuate here is that God's presence, which is what we're talking about in verse four, is always an objective reality, but it is subjectively experienced the most

when we're walking in the dark, when the sun is shrouded with dark clouds and deep shadows. I mean, even in your life, you can think with me, but we always know God is there, right? So I'm 139, wherever I go, you know, if I rise on the wings of the dawn or I settle on the far side of the sea, David knows that, but then he knows God is with him,

particularly and personally, when he's walking through difficult times in his life. And I think this is one of the points that's easy to gloss over with almost a hollow doctrine. But to your point, the lived Christian experience, like this is something as you give your life to Christ and submit to him, every Christian will have an experiential reality to this experience.

I mean, reusing experience, but I feel like you can fall on either side of the pitfalls and trying to make the experience the sacrifice of the objective truth, but then you can also overly focus on the objective truth and totally leave out the fact that David does do this pivot and is speaking in a personal way with God of you. Yeah, no, yeah, I like what Moiter says. He says, the darker the shadow, the closer the Lord. And to your point, I just wrote down a thought that God's nearness is not for the ether

of doctrinal dissertations, it's for you. Meaning whatever you're going through, sometimes we say things like that casually. Yeah, God's with you. And David says, no, no, no, when I'm walking through the valley of the shadow of death, I know he's with me. That's why I don't fear any evil, he's with me. But the valley of the shadow of death, I know he's with me. That's why I don't fear any evil, he's with me.

But the valley of the shadow of death here doesn't just refer to trials, it literally refers to when we're on death's door. Death's not just being used here metaphorically, I think it's also in a literal sense. And that's a comforting reality because we're all dying. I've told you before, I remember my friend, Eric Thomas, one time looking at a group of people

and I was sitting next to him and I saw a smile on his face and then like kind of a sober look and we're looking out at like a thousand students and he's I said, what are you laughing at? And he said I'm just thinking in a hundred years from now We'll all be dead And I remember going man. Wow, okay. That's a pretty intense reality. It is an intense thought. But there is a moment in our life, I think, where our muscles are gonna begin to atrophy. We don't know that moment.

The stairs maybe that we used to be able to climb with ease are now becoming difficult to ascend. And there is a fear of going from the warmth of this world to six feet under. And David is acknowledging, it's not just the trials in my life, it's on that final graduation day, when I go from the warmth of this world

to the coldness of maybe what's underneath that God is with me. And Paul says to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. I like that we just start thinking about this in Psalm 23, but death is not the end and David understands that. We don't stay in the valley of the shadow of death. Our shepherd leads us through, that's a key word,

even when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. I think I heard H.B. Charles one time say, you're not afraid of a dog shadow, are you? And it's the shadow of death, meaning it's not really gonna affect the believer. It's something that we walk through and when we walk through it,

we emerge into the light of the face of our Savior. Charles Spurgeon said, we emerge from the dark tunnel and enter into the eternal light of our shepherd. So God is with us. The fifth is just that our shepherd protects and comforts me. It says in 4B, for you are with me,

and then it says this, for your rod and your staff, for they comfort me. A rod was a symbol of two things. One, aggression, meaning that he could fight off bandits and lions. Lions and tigers and bears. Well, you just think about it.

David says, I've killed both bear and lion. He was not doing that with a fist. He's doing that with his rod. So it's a symbol. And it says here that our shepherd has a rod and I think it was Dale Ralph Davis who once said, our shepherd is no emaciated weakling. I like to think about that. Sometimes when we think about Jesus or God being a shepherd,

we think of this guy with like perfectly, you know. Manicured hair. Yeah, perfect hair, tress and a. Nice cuticles. Yeah, and no, no, this is a warrior. A shepherd was a warrior. He had to fight off robbers, bandits, you know, the whole shebang, and he says here,

the muscles of our shepherd's arm are flexed to defend his flock. He doesn't carry a club for nothing. That's important because sheep need to be defended. They have no claws to scratch. They cannot run. They cannot jump. They just lie there and die.

And if it wasn't for the strength of the shepherd, they'd all be destroyed. Philip Keller, that shepherd I mentioned to you, he notes that two dogs have been known to kill as many as 292 sheep in a single night, he says, of unbridled slaughter. And so we have a shepherd who is ready to defend, but secondly, it's not only a symbol of aggression,

but possession. With that rod, the shepherd would inspect the sheep, he would examine the sheep, he was looking for ticks, any sort of scratch or cut, and so it was kind of- That's something we know about parenting and tennessee. Yeah, come on. Examining for ticks in the last 24 hours. Don't talk to me, I'm scared of those.

And then it says here that he not only has this rod, but he has a staff. A staff does three things. One, it draws the sheep near to the shepherd, meaning that the staff is used to bring them close. Two, draws us back into the same fold with other sheep. And then it's also used to guide the sheep along unknown paths.

This is comforting to a sheep who's walking in life. You just think about, hey, when I'm going in life and I don't know where I'm going, I don't know what tomorrow may look like, David says, your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Why would a staff comfort you? It's because God is using that to guide his sheep. The shepherd knows two things.

We are prone to wonder and we're prone to go astray. And so we need both a correcting rod and staff, but also a comforting one because we're also fearful. Yeah, that's such a good point. I mean, I haven't thought about that, but as a comforting one because we're also fearful. Yeah, that's such a good point. I mean, I haven't thought about that, but as a sheep we're walking through life and as you make major decisions that you don't know the outcome,

the Lord is directing our steps. Yeah, number six is just that my shepherd loves me. It says, you prepare a table before me in verse five, in the presence of my enemies, you anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows. And then it says, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.

And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. There's a lot going on there. There's a lot going on there. But we switched in the metaphor from a shepherd to that of a lavish host. And a couple of just thoughts as we begin to land the plane on this episode. But it says that surely goodness and mercy,

that word is, that has said, that's loving kindness of God. That's what probably one of the translations would say is surely goodness and mercy, that word is the hesed, that's loving kindness of God. That's what probably one of the translations would say is surely goodness and loving kindness shall follow me. That our shepherd is not someone who just maybe apathetically or indifferently cares for his sheep as if it's a duty. It's a love relationship.

He loves his sheep and that's why he's such a lavish host. You picture the banquet hall of heaven, and it's actually God who is the one in verse five, going from person to person, filling their cup, more meat, more wine, and that's the idea of the God of the Bible. You just think, man, why is this God so good, right? You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows. It's just saying that this shepherd, this host is so kind, so good, he's not reluctantly rationing off his goodness. He's over the top filling our cups. And then it says, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me, but that it's not really like God's mercy is following you. It's like two Rottweilers, it's pursuing us.

And one thing to note here is that the reason that God's goodness and his love follow us and are with us is because God himself is. He doesn't dispense his attributes independent of himself. So God is here, he's loving us, he's blessing us. And then seven, I already mentioned it, just the seventh reality to extrapolate. Real quick before we move to seven,

I just, hearing you talk about this, I haven't thought about when we walk through the book of John together as a church, and so this is many months ago, but you taught on Jesus's first miracle, when he converts water to wine, and how this is many, many years before Jesus will enter the scene.

But then Jesus is like in a very real way, a direct fulfillment in that scene, in a real place and time, where he converts all this water to wine. And he is, he's a banquet participant who's bringing the good time. Festival joy. Absolutely.

And it's not just, oh, he felt like he changed one water cup to a cup of wine. But to your point earlier in the message of, this is a lavish over the top amount of the best wine. Jesus is there and he's loving on his people in a very like real visceral way. Yeah, no, it's true. And I think the last word of the 23rd Psalm

punctuates the kindness of everything he's doing because it'd be one thing for God to operate this way in a moment. But it says here, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord. Final word is what? Forever. Forever.

God leads us, and then one day he'll bring us to himself where he will lavish his kindness and goodness and love on us for all of eternity. This is really personal and it has no expiration date. And that's the precious truth. And I think just as we close, if anyone was ever asking, how can I trust this God, a God who is our shepherd, who leads and guides and restores and who's with us, how do I really know I can trust the shepherd?

And I think there's no coincidence in the canonical placement of this Psalm, meaning that Psalm 23 follows Psalm 22 for a reason. Psalm 22 is one of the messianic Psalms where we read, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me from the words of my groanings? That's what Jesus is going to cry out on the cross. And one of the reasons that we can trust the Lord

as our shepherd is because the shepherd came and he died like a lamb. We read in John 10, 17, the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. In Isaiah 53, we read all of us like sheep have gone astray, but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him. 1 Peter 1 19, we're asking the question,

why can you trust the shepherd? Well, here's why you can trust the shepherd. Because Christ was a lamb unblemished and spotless, and he shed his precious blood. The shepherd was struck and become the lamb. And then final one here, 1 Peter 2, 24 and 25. He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to

sin and live to righteousness for by his wounds you were healed, for you were continually straying like sheep. But now you have returned to the shepherd and the guardian of your souls. He was abandoned, he was forsaken so that we would be able to say, you're with me. And the reason that God cries out, Jesus does, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Is so that we would be the recipients of the promise that Jesus gives.

I will never leave you or forsake you. He's a good shepherd and we have much to be thankful for. Well, thank you for those seven reasons to be thankful or seven reflections to ponder from Psalm 23. Appreciate the conversation. Yeah, thanks, Hank.