The Shepherd Came Looking for Me
You can be lost without knowing you’re lost.
You can have a job, family, friends, money, plans for the future, and even religion. From the outside, everything can look perfectly normal.
And yet, according to the Bible, something can still be terribly wrong.
We can be far from God.
That is why one of the Bible’s most beautiful pictures of God is that of a Shepherd, and one of its most uncomfortable pictures of us is that of sheep who have wandered away.
Psalm 23 contains some of the most familiar words ever written:
Psalm 23:4: “Yea, 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.”
We love the comfort of that verse.
But before we can fully appreciate the comfort of the Shepherd, we have to understand the condition of the sheep.
We All Have a Wandering Problem
The Bible doesn’t describe humanity as basically good people who occasionally make bad decisions.
It goes deeper.
Isaiah 53:6: “All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
Notice the phrase:
“We have turned, every one, to his own way.”
That is an incredibly simple description of sin.
Sin isn’t only murder, adultery, hatred, greed, or the things we normally place on our list of “really bad sins.”
At its core, sin says:
“God, I want my way instead of Yours.”
God is our Creator, but we want to be our own authority.
God defines what is good, but we want to define good for ourselves.
God establishes the path, but we choose another road.
And like sheep wandering from their shepherd, humanity has wandered from God.
The dangerous thing is that you can be spiritually lost while feeling completely confident about where you’re going.
The Shepherd Has a Rod and a Staff
David knew something about sheep.
Before he became Israel’s king, he had been a shepherd. So when David wrote about God’s rod and staff, he was using familiar shepherding imagery.
And they are two distinct things.
The Hebrew word translated “rod” is shebet. Scripture uses the word in contexts involving authority, rule, discipline, and oversight.
The Hebrew word translated “staff” is mish’eneth. It carries the idea of support, something upon which a person can lean.
We shouldn’t turn Psalm 23 into an ancient shepherding instruction manual or make overly specific claims that Scripture doesn’t make.
The larger picture is enough.
The rod points us toward the Shepherd’s authority and protection.
The staff points us toward His support, guidance, and care.
Together they tell the sheep:
The Shepherd has everything necessary to take care of you.
But that raises an uncomfortable question.
What happens when the sheep has wandered away from the Shepherd?
Jesus answered that.
Jesus Told a Story About One Lost Sheep
Jesus once described a shepherd who owned one hundred sheep.
One disappeared.
Ninety-nine remained.
What should the shepherd do?
Luke 15:4: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?”
Pay attention to those final words:
“Until he finds it.”
The sheep doesn’t find the shepherd.
The shepherd finds the sheep.
The sheep doesn’t suddenly become better at navigation.
The sheep doesn’t clean itself up first.
The sheep doesn’t prove that it deserves another chance.
The shepherd goes looking.
And that’s when Jesus’ story becomes our story.
Jesus explained His mission this way:
Luke 19:10: “for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
That’s Christianity.
Not humanity finally figuring out how to reach God.
God came looking for us.
The Good Shepherd Came Looking for You
Jesus said something remarkable about Himself:
John 10:11: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.”
Read that last sentence again.
“The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.”
Jesus didn’t merely come to teach lost people how to become nicer people.
He came to rescue us.
Because our greatest problem isn’t ignorance.
It isn’t lack of education.
It isn’t politics.
It isn’t economics.
It isn’t even our circumstances.
Our deepest problem is sin.
Sin separates us from the God who created us.
And we cannot repair that separation ourselves.
So the Shepherd came looking for His sheep.
But then something extraordinary happened.
The Shepherd Became the Lamb
When John the Baptist saw Jesus approaching, he declared:
John 1:29: “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’”
Don’t miss the picture.
Jesus is the Good Shepherd.
But Jesus is also the Lamb of God.
The Shepherd came looking for His sheep, and then the Shepherd became the sacrifice that would save them.
Hundreds of years earlier, Isaiah had written:
Isaiah 53:5: “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.”
Jesus was crucified.
Not because He had sinned.
Because we had.
Our rebellion deserved judgment. At the cross, Jesus willingly took the judgment our sin deserved.
And three days later, He rose from the grave.
The Shepherd who gave His life for His sheep is alive.
The Rod, the Staff, and the Cross
Now return to Psalm 23.
David sees the Shepherd carrying a rod and a staff.
The rod reminds us that the Shepherd has authority.
The staff reminds us that the Shepherd provides support, guidance, and care.
But the cross reveals how far the Shepherd was willing to go to rescue His sheep.
Jesus didn’t stand in heaven shouting directions to lost humanity.
He came to us.
He entered our world.
He experienced rejection.
He experienced suffering.
He experienced death.
And on the cross, He carried our sin.
The rod tells me He has authority.
The staff tells me He will shepherd me.
The cross tells me He loves me enough to die for me.
And the empty tomb tells me He has the power to save me and bring me home.
Maybe You’re the Lost Sheep
Perhaps you’ve always thought Christianity was mostly about religion.
Go to church.
Keep some rules.
Stop doing bad things.
Start doing good things.
Try harder.
Maybe you’ve thought:
“Once I get my life together, I’ll come to God.”
But think about what that means.
That’s like a lost sheep saying:
“Once I figure out how to get home, I’ll let the shepherd rescue me.”
That’s backwards.
You don’t fix yourself so Jesus will save you.
You come to Jesus because you cannot save yourself.
Scripture says:
Romans 3:23: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”
That’s the bad news.
But Scripture continues:
Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
That’s the Good News.
Notice that salvation is called a gift.
You don’t earn a gift.
You receive it.
Salvation isn’t God’s paycheck for people who behaved well enough.
It isn’t a reward for religious achievement.
It is God’s gift of grace, purchased through the death of Jesus Christ and made possible through His resurrection.
The Shepherd Is Calling
Jesus said:
John 10:27: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”
Maybe you’ve wandered farther than you ever intended.
Maybe you’ve been running your own life for decades.
Maybe religion disappointed you.
Maybe Christians disappointed you.
Maybe your past contains things you don’t want anybody to know.
Maybe you aren’t even sure what you believe anymore.
None of that changes what Jesus came to do.
He came to seek and save the lost.
The Gospel doesn’t tell you to find your own way home.
Jesus calls you to repent, to turn from your sin and your insistence on living independently from God, and place your faith in Him.
Not merely believing that Jesus existed.
Not simply agreeing that His teachings were good.
Trusting Him.
Trusting that His death paid for your sins.
Trusting that He rose from the dead.
Trusting Him as Savior and Lord.
Romans 10:9: “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
You Can Come Home
If you recognize today that you’ve been the lost sheep, you can respond to Christ right now.
There aren’t magic words that save you. Jesus saves.
But prayer can be the honest expression of a heart turning toward Him in repentance and faith.
You might pray something like this:
Lord Jesus, I know that I have sinned and gone my own way. I cannot save myself. I believe You died for my sins and that God raised You from the dead. I turn from my sin and place my trust in You. Forgive me, change me, and lead my life. I receive You as my Savior and confess You as my Lord. Thank You for coming to seek and save the lost. Amen.
And if those words genuinely express the faith of your heart, don’t think of this as the finish line.
It’s the beginning.
Learn His Word.
Talk to Him in prayer.
Find a Bible-believing church where you can grow alongside other followers of Jesus.
And follow the Shepherd who came looking for you.
Because perhaps the greatest comfort in all of Psalm 23 isn’t actually the rod.
It isn’t the staff.
It isn’t even the promise that we’ll make it through the valley.
It is four simple words:
“For You are with me.”
You were lost.
The Shepherd came looking.
He gave His life for His sheep.
He rose again.
And He is still calling lost sheep home.
Pslam 23
1 The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
2 He makes me to lie down in [b]green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
3 He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.
4 Yea, 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.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
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.
