The psalmist tells me that the Lord is my Shepherd, and the Lord Himself declares that He is the good Shepherd. Can we conceive of anything more comforting?
Who is it that is your shepherd?
✦ Who Is Your Shepherd?
Smith asks the question that contains its own answer. Who is it that is your shepherd? Not a good man. Not a wise teacher. Not a sympathetic friend. The Lord. And she lets the weight of that answer land before she says another word. The question is not rhetorical. It is an invitation to stop and consider the staggering reality of what is being claimed. 🙏
The Lord! Oh, my friends, what a wonderful announcement!
The Lord God of Heaven and earth, the Almighty Creator of all things, He who holds the universe in His hand as though it were a very little thing — He is your Shepherd, and has charged Himself with the care and keeping of you, as a shepherd is charged with the care and keeping of his sheep.
✦ Charged Himself
Smith erupts — The Lord! — and then unfolds what that name means when attached to the word shepherd. Not a local guardian. Not a hired hand. The Almighty Creator of all things. The One who holds the universe in His hand as though it were a very little thing. That God — the infinite, the omnipotent, the One before whom mountains tremble — has charged Himself with the care and keeping of you.
Charged Himself. Not delegated. Not assigned someone else. Taken it upon Himself. The Creator of galaxies has personally assumed responsibility for one soul — the way a shepherd assumes responsibility for the sheep in his care. Every need. Every danger. Every pasture. Every path. His charge. 🙏
I myself am not one bit better or stronger, but I have discovered that I have a good Shepherd, and that is all I need.
I see now that it really is true that the Lord is my Shepherd, and that I shall not want.
✦ Not Better — But Shepherded
Smith makes the confession that separates the honest soul from the pretending one. I myself am not one bit better or stronger. The discovery of the good Shepherd did not make her a better sheep. She is the same weak, wandering, needy creature she always was. But she has a good Shepherd. And that — not her improvement, not her growth, not her spiritual achievement — is all she needs.
The comfort of Psalm 23 does not come from the quality of the sheep. It comes from the quality of the Shepherd. I shall not want — not because I am sufficient, but because He is. Chapter 2's sufficiency returns: our sufficiency is from God. The sheep does not supply herself. The Shepherd supplies. And the sheep who has discovered this — who has stopped trying to be a better sheep and has started trusting the good Shepherd — shall not want. 🙏
Let us imagine two flocks of sheep meeting at the end of the winter to compare their experiences — one flock fat and strong and in good condition, and the other poor and lean and diseased.
Will the healthy flock boast of themselves, and say, "See what splendid care we have taken of ourselves, what good, strong, wise sheep we must be?" Surely not.
Their boasting would all be about their shepherd. "See what a good shepherd we have had," they would say, "and how he has cared for us. Through all the storms of the winter he has protected us, and has defended us from every wild beast, and has always provided us with the best of food."
✦ The Boasting of the Sheep
Smith creates an image so simple that a child could understand it — and so profound that a theologian would pause. Two flocks. One healthy. One not. And the healthy flock does not boast about itself. It does not say: look what strong, wise sheep we are. It boasts about its shepherd.
See what a good shepherd we have had. The health of the flock is the proof of the shepherd's care — not the proof of the sheep's virtue. Through the storms — he protected. Against the wild beasts — he defended. In every season — he provided. The fat sheep is not a self-made sheep. The fat sheep is a well-shepherded sheep.
This is the heart of the gospel in one parable. The boasting is not in the creature. It is in the Shepherd. Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord. 1 Corinthians 1:31. The flock that arrives in good condition at the end of the winter has one explanation: a good shepherd. Nothing more. Nothing less. 🙏
This is so easy for me to witness today, because we see flocks and shepherds everywhere in Portugal and other countries in Europe. Their care for their sheep — it's a blessing to watch.
The local people respect the shepherd and their flock. They stop traffic and no one is bothered — they patiently wait for them to cross the street for better grazing areas.
It's always a Psalm 23 moment. 🙏
✦ A Psalm 23 Moment
In Portugal and across Europe, the psalm is alive. Not in a book. Not in a church. On the road. A shepherd walks with his flock. The traffic stops. No one honks. No one is bothered. The people wait — patiently, respectfully — for the flock to cross to better grazing areas. And the shepherd walks among them, guiding, watching, knowing which way to go.
It's always a Psalm 23 moment. The ancient text written three thousand years ago by a shepherd-king — and the reality of it visible from the window of a motorhome on a Portuguese road. The care is visible. The trust is visible. The sheep follow because the shepherd leads. And the world around them — stops and waits. Because the shepherd and his flock have a right to the road. They were here before the cars. They will be here after.
David wrote it from memory. Smith taught it from conviction. And Le sees it with her own eyes — living Scripture, walking across the road to better pasture. 🙏
"We see flocks and shepherds everywhere in Portugal. It's always a Psalm 23 moment."
Le · Caldas da Rainha · Living Scripture on the roadCenturies before Jesus came to be the Shepherd, the Father said: "Therefore I will save my flock. And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd."
And it seems to me I catch a glimpse of the Father's yearning love as I read these words; and I feel sure He laid help upon One who is mighty; and that none, therefore, who are in this flock need fear any evil.
✦ A Glimpse of the Father's Yearning
Smith reads the Old Testament promise — I will set up one shepherd — and sees something beneath the words: the Father's yearning. Not just a plan. Not just a prophecy. A yearning. The Father looking at His scattered, shepherdless flock and saying: I will save them. I will set up a Shepherd. He will feed them.
The yearning is the love behind the plan. The plan is precise — one Shepherd, set over the flock, feeding them, keeping them. But the impulse behind the plan is not precision. It is love. The Father yearned. And the yearning became the sending. And the sending became the Shepherd. And the Shepherd became the good Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep.
He laid help upon One who is mighty. The Father did not send a weak helper. He sent His Son — the mighty One. And those who are in this flock — need fear no evil. Not because the valley is absent. Because the Shepherd is present. 🙏
If each one of you will just enter into this relationship with Christ, and really be a helpless, docile, trusting sheep, and will believe Him to be your Shepherd, caring for you with all the love, and care, and tenderness that that name involves, and will follow Him whithersoever He leads —
You will soon lose all your old spiritual discomfort, and will know the peace of God that passes all understanding to keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
✦ Helpless, Docile, Trusting
Smith closes Chapter 4 with three words that describe the only posture the sheep needs: helpless, docile, trusting. Not strong. Not wise. Not capable. Helpless — unable to provide for herself. Docile — willing to be led. Trusting — believing that the Shepherd knows the way.
These are not the words the world admires. The world wants strength, independence, self-sufficiency. And Smith says: be a sheep. A real one. The kind that cannot survive without the shepherd. The kind that follows wherever he leads — not because the sheep understands the route, but because the sheep knows the shepherd's voice. The kind that depends entirely on another for everything.
And the promise — you will soon lose all your old spiritual discomfort. Not eventually. Not after years of struggle. Soon. The peace of God — the peace that passes all understanding — is not far away. It is as close as the decision to stop being a self-sufficient sheep and start being a helpless, docile, trusting one. The peace is not earned by effort. It is found by surrender.
Follow Him whithersoever He leads. Lewis said: Follow Me. Smith says: follow Him whithersoever He leads. The destination is the same — the peace of God keeping hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. And the means is the same: a sheep who follows. Nothing more. Nothing less. 🙏
"I myself am not one bit better or stronger, but I have discovered that I have a good Shepherd, and that is all I need."
Hannah Whitall Smith · The God of All Comfort · Chapter 4Who Is Your Shepherd?
The Lord God of Heaven and earth. The Almighty Creator. He who holds the universe in His hand. He has charged Himself with the care and keeping of you — as a shepherd is charged with his sheep.
The Boasting of the Sheep
The healthy flock does not boast of itself. It boasts of its shepherd. See what a good shepherd we have had — through storms, against wild beasts, in every season. The health proves the shepherd, not the sheep.
A Psalm 23 Moment
Flocks and shepherds everywhere in Portugal. Traffic stops. No one is bothered. They patiently wait for the crossing to better grazing. Living Scripture — visible from the road, three thousand years after David wrote it.
Helpless, Docile, Trusting
Be a real sheep — helpless, docile, trusting. Follow wherever He leads. The peace of God is not earned by effort. It is found by surrender. The Shepherd knows the way. The sheep knows the voice.