Psalm 23: Our Good Shepherd

Dannah Gresh: How does a sheep end up in a dark valley? Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth tells us. 

Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth: The Shepherd leads them there for the purpose of getting them up to higher ground. When you get into this kind of valley, maybe you're in one right now, I want to encourage you to remember why you're there. Now, if you got there because of your own sin and willfulness and rebellion, then you need a Shepherd to restore your soul. But it may be you got there following your Shepherd, following His voice.

Dannah: This is the Revive Our Hearts podcast with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, author of Dwell: 30 Days with God in the Psalms [available January 2026], for October 8, 2025. I’m Dannah Gresh.

How would you rate your level of wonder at the Word of God? Nancy is hoping to raise it. We’re listening to a preview of Nancy’s upcoming series "Wonder of the Word." In 2027, she’ll be teaching through the entire Bible, book by book. And today’s sneak peak is from a well-loved Old Testament passage. Here’s Nancy.

Nancy: Today we come to what is definitely the most familiar psalm in the whole 150 psalms in the Scripture, and maybe one of the most familiar passages in all of God's Word, and that is Psalm 23. So if you're following along in your Scripture and you can open to that, that's what we're going to look at today. 

Now, Psalm 23 falls in the middle of three psalms of David that form a trilogy—Psalm 22, 23, and 24. These three psalms, in an unusual way, point to David's greater Son, the Messiah. We looked at Psalm 22, the first of that trilogy, in the last session. There we see Jesus prophetically depicted as the suffering Savior. Then we come to Psalm 23, and we see Him depicted as the Good Shepherd. Jesus said, “I am the Good Shepherd.” That's the psalm we're going to look at today. And then in Psalm 24, we see Jesus as the sovereign King of Glory.

So, the suffering Savior, Psalm 22. Then the Good Shepherd who cares for His sheep in Psalm 23, which we'll look at today. Then Jesus as the sovereign King of Glory. First the cross and then the crown. We see that progression in Psalms 22, 23, and 24. 

Now, zeroing in on Psalm 23, the middle of those three psalms. This is a psalm that is often quoted at funerals. I'm sure you've heard that. That's why many people think of it as a psalm about dying. Someone told me about a friend of hers whose husband had an accident and they didn't know if the man was going to survive. While he was in the hospital, a pastor came in to see him and began to quote Psalm 23. The wife said, “Stop, don't say that.” Because she associated Psalm 23 with dying, and she didn't want her husband to die, so don't quote Psalm 23 right now. 

Actually, Psalm 23 is not a psalm about dying as much as it is a psalm about living. And Psalm 23, there's likely that you have some place in your house (I know I do in our home), where you have some aspect of Psalm 23 shown on a framed piece, or some Scripture quotes, or a sentimental plaque on a piece on your wall. 

People love Psalm 23. There are all kinds of ways that you can showcase that psalm in your house. But this psalm deals with the reality that we don't necessarily want to put hanging around on the walls of our home. It talks about the realities of death, of dark valleys, of evil, of enemies, of living with these enemies. 

It's an intensely personal psalm. It's a psalm of relationship. It has to do with knowing and trusting the Shepherd's heart and the Shepherd's ways, and when we do, that makes all the difference in the world. Just as a shepherd is involved in every situation and season of a sheep's life, the shepherd is fully responsible, always engaged, always there. 

So every season of life in our lives as children of God is covered in this passage—the ups of life and the downs of life, the peaceful times and the stormy times, prosperity and adversity. It's all covered under our Shepherd's care when we're walking close with the Lord, and when we've wandered away from Him. We're going to see hints of that today. All the way through life, through death, and through all eternity, we have a good and great Shepherd.

I believe that if we really grasped and believed these six verses in Psalm 23, that it would radically alter our lives. We know it. We've quoted it. We've known it since we were little. We have the pictures on our walls. But if we really got these verses, I think everything in our lives would look different. We would have peace; we would have joy; we would have confidence; we would have faith, and we would have courage in the middle of every season and every kind of stress and situation in our lives. 

I want to just refresh our memories today of this passage that most of us are so familiar with. I pray that the Lord will make it fresh to our hearts today. So Psalm 23 in the CSB, the Christian Standard Bible that I'm using, is titled “The Good Shepherd,” and that's a great title for it. We're also told that it's a Psalm of David. As King David reflects back on all that he's been through in his life and all that God has been to him in the hard times and the good times, it brings to his mind the picture of the relationship that he had as a shepherd with his sheep when he was a young man. 

He was a shepherd of his family's sheep. He had been through so many experiences with them, so he was able to use that experience to bring this word picture of the relationship that God has as our shepherd with His people. Let me just read the psalm, and then we'll talk about it. 

The Lord is my shepherd;
I have what I need.
He lets me lie down in green pastures;
he leads me beside quiet waters.
He renews my life;
he leads me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even when I go through the darkest valley,
I fear no danger,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff—they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Only goodness and faithful love will pursue me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
as long as I live. (vv. 1–6)

“The Lord is my shepherd.” Let's just start there with that first phrase. David knew that sheep need a shepherd. They are clueless left to themselves. They are helpless. They are defenseless. They are dependent. They can't shepherd themselves. It's a reminder that we need a shepherd. We can't shepherd ourselves. And the encouragement here is that we have a shepherd, a good shepherd, the Great Shepherd. 

When you go to the book of Isaiah, chapter 40, you have a wonderful, powerful description of the awesomeness and the greatness of God. He's infinite, He's immense, He's sovereign, He's majestic. And yet, as you continue through Isaiah 40, that same God, verse 11 of Isaiah 40, 

. . . protects his flock like a shepherd; he gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them in the fold of his garment. He gently leads those that are nursing. 

So you see this great, omnipotent, powerful God, and then you see this tender, caring shepherd God. He is all of that and more. Because the Lord is my Shepherd, my Shepherd says David, “I have what I need.” Or as one translation says, “I will not be in need,” because the Lord is my Shepherd. I will always have everything that I need, and because the Lord is my Shepherd, I will choose to be content with what I have. 

“I have what I need.” That means there's no room for complaining, for murmuring, for discontent, for anxiety, or for fear, because the Lord is my Shepherd. He's given me everything that I need, and I will be content with what He has given me. 

Verse 2, “he lets me,” or you may remember learning this as a child, he makes me, “lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside quiet waters,” literally, waters of rest. Now, as you think about this verse, he makes me lie down in green pastures, probably because all the pictures picture some lush green meadow with just green grass everywhere. The problem is, that kind of landscape doesn't exist much at all in Israel. Where David would have been a shepherd, for the most part, the land of Israel is dry and it's barren. The shepherd has to find tufts of grass that his sheep can eat. So he leads his sheep to those places where they can find grass, they can find rest and refreshment.

So this verse points us to rest and refreshment that come with the care of our shepherd. We tend to really elevate productivity in many of our cultures. So, we end up living these hurried, harried lives; we’ve got so much to do. People today particularly in the West, are impressed by busyness, by how many activities we're involved in, how much we get done. It can sound lazy or unproductive to talk about lying down in green pastures or hanging out beside still waters. But here's the fact, we need to let Him nourish our hearts before we can effectively give out to others. 

There needs to be times when we slow down, when we stop, when we rest in Christ, remembering that our Shepherd knows what His sheep need. Our Shepherd knows where to find what we need and how to lead us to what we need. 

I got an email recently from one of our staff who serves with our Spanish team. She lives in Mexico, but she was in Cuba where there were a couple of women's retreats that were taking place that Revive Our Hearts was involved in. This woman who was visiting and involved in these prayer retreats said, “You can't imagine this situation. We went two days without power and one without water. But this was the green pasture every woman needed—myself included.” 

You see, green pastures and still waters and rest and refreshing for our souls, you don't have to be on a Caribbean island or on some beach or at some mountains—places where everything's quiet around you. Listen, you can be a mom with a lot of littles hanging on you. You can have a long list of things to do, but find in that place that your Shepherd will lead you to green pastures where your mind and your heart can find rest and stillness in Him. We all need that. 

Verse 3, “He renews my life,” or as most of us memorized it, “He restores my soul.” A reference to this tendency of sheep to wander away from the flock, to get lost, and how the shepherd has to go and bring them back, restore them, find them. You read about how sheep can lose their balance, fall down on their backs, their legs are up in the air. They can't right themselves, especially if they're heavy with all the wool on them. You've maybe heard that called a sheep being cast. It's cast down. It can't right itself. It could die if the shepherd doesn't come along, turn it right side up, lift it up, set it back on its feet. 

It’s a picture of being renewed, being restored, so it can go on. This is what our Shepherd does for our souls. If we've lost our way, or we've fallen for the wrong—upside down and inside out— He comes and restores us. When do we need to be restored? When do we need to be renewed? Well, when we're wayward and when we're weak. When we are weak we're stressed from serving or from suffering. When we're wayward, we have sinned, we have strayed, we have stumbled. In all of these situations, our Shepherd comes. He uses His grace and His Word and His Spirit to renew us, to restore us, to bring us back to a right place and relationship with Him. 

Verse 3 goes on, “He leads me along [my Shepherd leads me along] the right path for his name's sake.” We can trust Him to lead us by His Word and by His Spirit, but we've got to let Him lead. We can't lean on our own understanding, or try to run our own lives. If we do, we're going to be like those silly, miserable sheep, getting lost, getting confused, getting in trouble. 

So as we follow our Shepherd, He's going to lead us along the right path, paths of righteousness. Now, those paths that our Shepherd leads us on don't always seem to be right. Sometimes He leads us into hard places. Sometimes He leads us the long way around. We say, “This is not the way I would have gotten from here to there.” But when we are following our Shepherd, He is leading us in right paths. 

There have been times in my life when I've wondered, Is this really the right path? Now, I don't think I would have said, “Does God know? Does my Shepherd know what He's doing?” But I've sometimes wondered, Is this really the right path? But looking back, I can see that His paths for my life have always been the right paths. He is fulfilling His eternal purposes in my life, even through those paths that seem hard or roundabout. 

He does it for His Name's sake. It means we have to come to the place where we care more about His glory, His reputation, than our comfort, our convenience, or our own sake. He leads me in those right paths. 

And then look at the next verse talking about Him leading in right paths and right on the heels of that verse 4, “even when I go through the darkest valley,” the “valley of the shadow of death” is the traditional, authorized translation there. The deep darkness. It's really the dark valleys. It's not just talking about death here. Death can be a dark valley, but there are other dark valleys. This dark valley, we’ve got to not necessarily think about the pictures we've seen. You might think of a valley as being kind of a rolling meadow between two hills. But that’s not what is envisioned in Israel. This would be referring to a deep, dangerous, dark ravine in the land of Israel. 

And how did the sheep get there? Well, early in the year the flocks would graze in the lowlands where there was food and water for them. But then in the summer, the sun would melt the snow on the mountains, and the shepherd would lead his flocks to higher ground to graze. But in order to get from below in the lowlands up to the higher ground, the shepherd had to take his sheep through these dangerous ravines. 

These are places where the tall trees block out the sunlight. Even in the daytime, these places can be dark and gloomy. It can be hard to see, and one misstep, you can fall down a deep precipice onto jagged rocks. There are also wild animals in these places. There are serpents and wolves and hyenas lurking that are ready to attack the sheep. This isn't a very pleasant picture. 

So how do the sheep get there into those dark valleys, into those dangerous places? Well, the Shepherd leads them there for the purpose of getting them up to higher ground. Verse 4, the dark valleys follows verse 3, He leads me in the right path. This dark valley is one of those right paths where our Shepherd leads us. Sometimes He takes His sheep into these deep, dark, seemingly dangerous valleys. 

When you get into this kind of valley, maybe you're in one right now, I want to encourage you to remember why you're there. Now, if you got there because of your own sin and willfulness and rebellion, then you need a Shepherd to restore your soul. But it may be you got there following your Shepherd, following His voice, and He led you into this dark valley, this hard place, this dangerous place, because He's leading you upward to a higher ground.

The thing is, we want the Lord to take us on to higher ground where there are vistas of glory and beauty and fresh refreshment for us. But we don't want to have to go through the valley of deep darkness to get there. As we're in those valleys, we need to remember they're necessary. They're part of the Christian life. But it's also said here that as we go through these dark valleys, our Shepherd is not going to leave us there. He leads us to them. He leads us through them, and He leads us on to higher ground.

You may be in a season with unrelenting trials and attacks and no relief in sight. Trust your Shepherd. He knows what He's doing, and His goal is to lead you to higher, greener pasture, spiritual heights, places of greater growth and spiritual maturity. So verse 4, “Even though I go through the darkest valley, I fear no danger.” It's a dangerous place. I fear no danger. It doesn't mean danger isn't there, but I'm not going to be afraid of it. Why? “For you are with me.” My Shepherd is with me. 

Now, up to this point, David has been talking about the Lord being his Shepherd, about the Shepherd. But now David talks to the Shepherd. “You are with me” in the place of the greatest potential danger for this sheep, David being the sheep, and God being his Shepherd. There's this great statement of faith in the deep darkness. David affirms what he knows to be true, even when he cannot see that his Shepherd is with him. It's not the feeling of God's presence with us, but the fact of His presence that brings safety and freedom from fear. 

That's part of what happens in these deep valleys: we learn to walk by faith. Anybody can love God when you can see His hand and see His provision and His blessing, and things are going well. “Yeah, the Lord is my shepherd.” I have this beautiful picture on my wall. I love it. I love being His sheep. But when He takes us in these paths that lead through deep and dark and painful valleys, then we find out, do we really trust our Shepherd? Even when it's dark and we can't see Him, we will walk through valleys of deep darkness. 

But if He is our Shepherd, if we are the child of God, we will never go through that deep valley, that dark valley, alone. Remember, we saw in the last psalm, Psalm 22, “Why have you abandoned me? Why have you forsaken me?” Well, Jesus was forsaken so that we would never have to walk through this dark valley alone. He walks with us, and He experienced separation from God so that we would never have to be separated from God. 

“I fear no danger, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me” (v. 4). The rod and the staff are a symbol of the shepherd's power, his protection, his correction, his guidance. He uses these instruments to protect, to rescue, and to lead His sheep. So ultimately, they bring us comfort, a picture of the Word of God, the Spirit of God, the chastening of God to the people of God. The instruments He uses to keep us close to Himself, to restore us, to correct us, to guide us, to direct us; they bring comfort to our hearts. 

Now, as we come to verse 5 in this familiar psalm, we have a new metaphor. The first verses have been about God as the Good Shepherd. And then we come to verse 5, and we see God is the gracious Host. Look at verse 5, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” I love that through the Psalms, they don't pretend like problems are non-existent. They're not this whitewashed, beautiful picture of everything being idyllic. The Psalms squarely face the reality of death, of darkness, of evil, and of enemies. The problem is not that those things exist. They do exist. The problem is that we tend to focus on the enemies instead of focusing on what God is doing in the presence of our enemies. 

What is God doing? He's providing for us in the presence of our enemies. This is an intense scene. You've got somebody eating at this table and there are enemies surrounding him, looking on. But those enemies, David is saying, can't stop you from feasting. They can't stop you from enjoying the meal God has provided. Why? Because they see the reality of God's presence and God's provision in our lives. 

There will be enemies from here until heaven in our lives—the world, the flesh, the devil, and all their different varieties are always lurking from now until we see Jesus. But we don't have to be overwhelmed and intimidated by our enemies. In the face of opposition, in the face of danger, we can enjoy God's presence. We can experience His provision, His blessing, and His protection. 

Darlene Deibler Rose was a woman who spent four years in a Japanese prison camp during World War II. She faced threats, torture, sickness, every conceivable type of torment at the hands of her captors. She writes about this in a wonderful book, one of my favorites called, Evidence Not Seen. She talks in that book about a point when she was extremely weak there in that prison camp. She began to crave a banana, and here's what she writes. She says: 

Everything in me wanted one. I could see them; I could smell them; I could taste them. I got down on my knees and said, “Lord, I’m not asking you for a whole bunch . . . I just want one banana.” I looked up and pleaded, “Lord, just one banana.”

Then I began to rationalize—how could God possibly get a banana to me through these prison walls? I would never ask the guard. If he helped me and was discovered, it would mean reprisals . . . There was more chance of the moon falling out of the sky than of [someone] bringing me a banana.”

Then she tells about how the next day, after she prayed this prayer, there was a series of events. And then she says:

I heard the guard coming back and knew he was coming for me. [She expected to be beaten as was often the case.] Struggling to my feet, I stood ready to go. He opened the door, walked in, and with a sweeping gesture laid at my feet—bananas! “They’re yours,” he said, “and they’re all from Mr. Yamaji.”

Mr. Yamaji was the commander of another camp where Darlene had previously been held. He had a fierce temper. He was a vicious and cruel man, but incredibly, this ruthless commander had been softened through Darlene's witness to him, and here now he has sent this bunch of bananas to his former prisoner. She said:

I sat down in stunned silence and counted them. There were ninety-two bananas! I pushed the bananas into a corner and wept . . . “Lord, forgive me; I’m so ashamed. I couldn’t trust You enough to get even one banana for me. Just look at them—there are almost a hundred.”

I knew in those moments that nothing is impossible to my God . . . “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.” (Psalm 23:5)

I've never forgotten that story. I read it many years ago. The gracious Host who sets a table prepares a feast for us in the presence of our enemies. Question is, “Are you looking at your enemies or at your Host?” Yes, there is evil all around us, but we don't have to fear it. Yes, there are enemies, but our gracious Host hosts us in their presence while they look on. 

The enemies are real, but He is more real. God hasn't promised to remove you or me from the presence of our enemies . . . not yet. That day is coming when there will be no more night or sin or death or sorrow, and every enemy will bow before Him. But in the meantime, you can feast with Him in the presence of your enemies. It's not here talking about an escape from your enemies, but triumph over them by God's grace.

Well, just quickly, he goes on verse 5, “You anoint my head with oil,” the oil of the Spirit. The oil of gladness and joy speaks of abundance and fullness and satisfaction. Here's a welcoming host with a valued, welcomed, esteemed guest. “He anoints my head with oil. My cup overflows,” speaking of God's abundant, plenteous grace that leads us to an overflowing life. 

His is not a calling us to a scrimping, scraping, barely surviving life, but one of the fullness of His Spirit, as we read in John chapter 7: 

Whoever believes in me . . . “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” (v. 38) 

And in a New Testament lens, we have overflowing grace. Yes, we have overflowing sin, but God's grace is greater. We have overflowing problems, but God's grace is greater. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 7: 

In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy. (v. 4) 

The child of God can experience overflowing grace and gratitude and generosity. And then verse 6, “Only goodness and faithful love,” hesed, God's covenant-keeping love, His “goodness and [His] faithful love will pursue [or follow] me all the days of my life.” David is saying, in effect, “His covenant love has been with me when everything was going well, when I was by still waters and in green pastures, but God has also been with me with His goodness and His faithful love when I walked through deep, dark valleys. So I know that His faithful love and His goodness will follow me all the days of my life, from here till heaven.” 

His goodness, His mercy are always on our trail, always pursuing us. And you know what that means? Everywhere we go, we leave behind a trail of goodness and mercy and grace to bless those who are coming behind us. 

Verse 6, “And I will dwell in the house of the Lord as long as I live.” Your translation may say at the end, “forever,” forever to live in the presence of the Lord. This is what David longed for, and this is what David's greater Son, King Jesus, longed for. 

He sang and He prayed this psalm during his years on earth. Jesus trusted and followed His heavenly Father as He walked through the valley of the shadow of death. He feared no evil. He knew God was with Him. God comforted Him in the midst of His sufferings. Jesus partook of a feast that God prepared for Him in the presence of His enemies, and blessings overflow from His life and His death and resurrection. 

So today, we who are in Christ can pray and sing this psalm to our Good Shepherd, because He has gone before us through the most treacherous places. He is our Shepherd who leads us in right paths, who provides for us, and who causes our lives to overflow with grace and pursues us with His goodness and His unfailing love. 

Yes, evil and death and dark valleys and enemies, they're all real. But whatever you're facing now, it is not the final chapter. This is your eternal hope to be forever, always at home with God. That's the picture that's captured in Revelation chapter 7 as we see the ultimate fulfillment of Psalm 23. The description of believers coming out of persecution on the earth. Revelation 7:

They are before the throne of God . . . 
the one seated on the throne will shelter them:
They will no longer hunger; they will no longer thirst; . . . 
For the Lamb who is at the center of the throne will shepherd them; 
he will guide them to springs of the water of life. (vv. 15–17) 

And so Lord, we give You thanks, and we pray You are our Shepherd. Help us to live here and now in the light of that present and eternal reality. We pray in Jesus' name, our great Shepherd, amen.

Dannah: That’s Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth on Psalm 23. I hope you enjoyed that little sneak peak of what’s to come in 2027. I can’t wait for our “Wonder of the Word” series to launch. Nancy will be teaching an overview of the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. I just know God’s going to use it mightily.

In the meantime, we hope you’re cultivating regular rhythms of time with the Lord. Nancy wrote A Place of Quiet Rest to help you do that. One reader said,

I’ve read A Place of Quiet Rest two times now, and it’s changed my life! I was saved at twenty-five, but discovered I didn’t really have an intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus. I thought I want that kind of relationship! Now I have it! 

You know what? The same could be true for you! Request your copy when you make a donation of any amount to support Revive Our Hearts. You can do that by visiting ReviveOurHearts.com, or calling us at 1-800-569-5959.

If you’re in the valley right now and you’d like someone to pray for you, I’d love to point you to our prayer form at ReviveOurHearts.com/prayer. When you submit a request, a member of our Revive Our Hearts team will come alongside you in prayer. We might not be able to physically enter into that valley with you, but we can lift you up to the One who’s already there—right beside you. 

Well, if you’ve ever been tempted to believe your devotional life is a daily box to check, tomorrow’s program is going to lay that myth to rest. Nancy is joined by Dr. Henry Blackaby, and he wants you to know one thing: God’s Word is your life. 

Please be back for Revive Our Hearts.

This program is a listener-supported production of Revive Our Hearts in Niles, Michigan, calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

*Offers available only during the broadcast of the podcast season.