Dr. Steve Farrar: I think Psalm 23, for many of us, is so familiar that it’s lost its bite, it’s lost its significance, it’s lost its edge. Psalm 23, to me, is a remarkable song. I think Psalm 23 is a Cliff Note to the entire Christian life.
John Fuller: Dr. Steve Farrar continues a fascinating look at Psalm 23 today on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly. Thanks for joining us. I’m John Fuller.
Jim Daly: This really is an upbeat, interesting look at a Psalm most of us have read many, many times. On our last, uh, broadcast, Steve explained how we really are like sheep. That’s, (laughs), no kidding. Uh, it’s not a compliment. And why we can and should depend on our good shepherd. And today we’ll flesh out the rest of the Psalm. And if you missed part one of Steve’s presentation yesterday, please get in touch with us. We can send you the entire message on CD or audio download, or you can get the Focus on the Family app for your phone. And, uh, that way you never miss an episode.
John: Yeah, you’ll find those tools at focusonthefamily.com/broadcast or give us a call 800, the letter A, and the word FAMILY.
Jim: And as we said last time, Steve Farrar was a local church pastor for 15 years, before he founded his own ministry, specifically targeting the needs of men. He was a favorite speaker at Promise Keepers back in the day, and conducted over 600 men’s conferences across North America until his untimely death in 2022. He was also a prolific bestselling author.
John: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Here’s Steve Farrar, speaking at Fullerton Free Church in Southern California, on today’s Focus on the Family. And we’re gonna start with a brief recap.
Steve: Psalm 23 is written from the perspective of a sheep. “The Lord is my shepherd.” What does that make him? It makes him a sheep. Over 200 times in the Bible, God calls His people sheep. I, I realized that about 15 years ago and I thought, “You know, if God calls me a sheep 200 times, I better do some homework on sheep.” And I did. I spent a couple days, researching sheep. And, and I gotta tell you folks, that’s not real flattering.
Audience: (laughing).
Steve: Three things stood out to me. First thing I found out about sheep is this. Sheep are stupid.
Audience: (laughing).
Steve: Now, I don’t know any other, any other way to put it. They are very stupid animals. Second thing I learned about sheep is this. Sheep are not only stupid, but sheep are defenseless creatures. I’d never thought of this. Most animals that God has created have some kind of defensive mechanism to protect themselves from, from an enemy. Not sheep.
There’ve been known instances of a raven or a crow swooping down on the head of a sheep and, and plucking out its eyeballs. And that’s a horrible thing. Well, lemme ask you something. What’s the sheep gonna do? Bark?
Audience: (laughing).
Steve: What’s he gonna do? Emit a noxious odor? What’s he gonna do? Claw the bird to death? He’s not gonna do anything, ’cause he is a sheep, and sheep are defenseless. Third thing about sheep that I found out, sheep are, uh, they’re dirty. They’re very dirty creatures. I, I grew up in the city, I figured pigs were dirty, but, but sheep are dirty.
We used to have a little kitten at our house. She was always sitting around doing this.
Audience: (laughing).
Steve: My children did that for years.
Audience: (laughing).
Steve: They were impacted by this cat. God has put within kittens an instinct for hygiene and for keeping themselves clean. God did not put that into sheep. Verse three. See folks, honestly, we could spend an hour on every verse. I found a book two weeks ago written by a Puritan preacher. It was 400 pages thick. Uh, those were his sermons on Psalm 23. He gives me rest. He gives me leadership. Verse three also tells me that He gives me restoration, because sometimes I need it as a sheep. It says, “He restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” Christ is out in front of me. He’s leading me. He wants me to follow Him in, in paths of righteousness. But sometimes I think I know better.
Sometimes I wanna veer off the path of righteousness. Sometimes I wanna go my own way. Sometimes I wanna go over here, I wanna take this exit. I don’t wanna follow the path that He has marked for me. Every night at twilight, the shepherd does the same thing. What he does is, he counts his sheep. And let’s say on a particular evening, he realizes he’s one sheep short. And a lot of times it’s a young sheep. It’s an immature, inexperienced sheep. Oftentimes a male sheep. So what he has to do is, he has to leave the other sheep, and he has to go look for this young buck, sheep, who thinks he knows what he’s doing. This sheep has wandered off. This sheep is stupid.
He doesn’t realize that there are predators out there that could take him out in 30 seconds. He doesn’t realize he could get up on the side of a mountain. He could slip. He could fall to the rocks below. So the good shepherd goes out and pursues him. Might take him several hours, but he goes and finds him, puts him over his shoulders. You ever seen those paintings of Jesus with the sheep, little sheep around His neck? He’ll walk him back to the flock.
Several nights later, he counts the flock, and that little sheep, once again is gone. He’s gotta leave the other sheep, he gotta go look for this wandering sheep. Isn’t it interesting what the Bible has to say? “All of us, like sheep,” Isaiah said. “All of us like sheep have gone astray. We have turned each one to his own way.” The old hymn says, “Prone to wander, prone to leave the God I love.” He goes and finds this other sheep. Now he can’t let this become a habit. So he does something that’s absolutely uncharacteristic of the good shepherd. When he finds this little wandering sheep a second time, he’ll put the little sheep down on his side, he’ll kneel down next to it, hold it in place with one of his knees, then he’ll take one of the sheep’s little legs, put it across his leg, and with a quick swift thrust of his heavy staff, he’ll just quickly bring it across the leg of the little sheep and he’ll snap the leg of the sheep.
Now, why would the shepherd do what seems to be such a cruel act? Little sheep doesn’t understand it. He cries out in pain. Once again, the shepherd picks up the little sheep, puts it around his neck, on his shoulders, takes him back to the flock. He’ll prepare a little splint, splint that little leg up, the next few days, he’s gotta carry the sheep on his shoulders. After a few days, he can put the little sheep down. The little sheep, it’s all the little sheep can do, it’ll hobble, and stay up with the others. Why would the shepherd break the leg of a little sheep? That little sheep is gonna survive. He must learn the central lesson of being a sheep. And the central lesson of being a sheep is, if you are a sheep, you must learn to stay close to the shepherd or you’re not gonna make it.
You see, uh, some of us, in fact, a lot of us, if I, if I guess this right, a lot of us walked in here with limps. Not physical limps, we walked in here with, uh, limps of the heart. Oftentimes, when God breaks our leg, He breaks our heart. W- why does He have to do that? Because folks we’re so stubborn, we’re bound and determined we’re gonna go that way. But He loved me too much to let me keep going that way, so He snaps my leg. And we learn… See, that’s how we learn to stay close to the shepherd. He’s, He’s not trying to ruin us, when He does that, He’s trying to redirect us. He’s trying to give us life. He wants His hand on our lives. But we’ve gotta learn to submit to His, to His wisdom.
Verse four is often read, um, at a funeral service, very familiar to us. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil for thou art with me.” Th- this might be rendered, uh, this way. “Even though I walk through the valley of deepest darkness, I will fear no evil.” There is no valley deeper or darker than death. If you’ve lost a spouse, if you’ve lost a child, uh, perhaps recently lost a parent, someone close to you, that’s the deepest, darkest valley that anyone can possibly walk through it. I- it’s, it’s grievous.
I was just with a pastor friend of mine in Atlanta. 20 years ago, they were so excited because his wife was giving birth to their, to their first baby. Tha- that was before they would… Actually, 25 years ago now. And they hadn’t done the Lamaze. They were still the old school and he wasn’t in with her. He couldn’t wait. And they walk out and say, “I’m sorry, but the wife and baby died.” There’s no valley deeper or darker than that folks. But, there are valleys other than death that are very, very deep, are very, very dark.
If you’ve lived with an abusive husband, that’s a very, very deep valley and a very, very dark valley. Divorce is very, very deep and very, very dark. A child who goes off the wrong path that they’ve been taught and ruins their lives, that breaks our hearts. That’s deep and it’s dark. Uh, quite frankly, life is full of deep and dark valleys.
We lived in Coppell for about eight years, and we had a nightlight. We had two nightlights. We had one in the upstairs hall, we had one in the downstairs hall. My kids thought I put those nightlights in for them, but I didn’t. I put ’em in for me. See my kids, and they still do, they, they think I’m not afraid of the dark, but I’ll be honest with you, I don’t like dark. I don’t like it at all. That’s why if I hear a noise at 3:00 in the morning, I say, “Mary, go down and check that out, will you?”
Audience: (laughing).
Steve: No, I gotta go check it out. You know, when you’re the dad, it’s your job. But if I gotta go check out a noise, I wanna know if Rachel left her skates in the hall. If it’s dark, I can’t see what’s there, I might slip. If I’m downstairs, maybe John left his bat. See when it’s dark, we can’t see what’s there. Have you ever been to Carlsbad Caverns? That’s worth going. I ra- I’ve been there twice. Um, and, and I took the self-guide… When we, when, when our family went, we all strapped on the little… You can take that self-guided tour and you put the headphones on. And as I recall, you’re going 48 stories below the earth. I’d like to know the guy that went down there first. I mean, what was he on? I mean, that’s nuts.
Audience: (laughing).
Steve: But, but we’re going, now, it’s safe. They got asphalt paths and this soft lighting, so you can see what’s going on. As you, as you put this self-guided tour, this thing around your neck and put on the headphones, the very first thing they say to you is, “In case of a power outage, stay where you are.” They didn’t have to tell me that.
Audience: (laughing).
Steve: If the lights go out in Carlsbad Caverns, I’m not moving. There are still pits. They don’t know how deep they are. It gets so dark, 48 stories below the earth, you go like this, you don’t see your hand. Life gets that dark. You’ve been there. Some of you are there right now. You’re going like this and you can’t see your hand. It’s never been this dark. And when it gets that dark, you know what enters our mind? I’ll never get through this. Never. Well, let me ask you something. Who is your shepherd?
See, the fact of the matter is, David says, “Even though I walk through,” not around, not tunnel under, “Even though I walk through the valley of deepest darkness, I will fear no evil for thou art with me. Thy rod, thy staff, they comfort me.” The shepherd is with you. When life gets that dark and life gets that hard, so you’re not trying to make it through the week, you’re trying to make it to lunch. And you’re not sure you’re gonna make it. And, and so, you’re unclear. What do I do? See, if you take a wrong step, when it’s that dark, if you take a wrong step, it could be your end. You don’t know where to step. You can’t see. There are no nightlights. So what do you do? You get up in the morning and say, “Lord Jesus, I need to hear from you. Show me.” Open your Bible. Start reading Proverbs. I need some wisdom. Talk to Christian friends and He’ll give you the next step.
And what He’ll do is, He’ll lead you to the next step, ’cause He wants you to step here. And, and it’s dark and so you, you go, “Okay. Okay. So wait a minute. What now? What am I gonna do tomorrow?” Well, it’s not tomorrow yet. It’s today. Tomorrow He’ll give you that step. And then the next day He’ll give you that step. And He’ll get you through six months from now. He’ll get you through a year from now. He’ll get you through two years from now. That’s what He does.
John: What great insight from the late Dr. Steve Farrar on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly. And you can find more insight in his book for men called, Gettin’ There: A Passage Through the Psalms. We’ll send that to you for a gift of any amount to the ministry of Focus to today. Uh, a monthly pledge of any amount or a one-time gift. And we’re also going to include a free audio download of this entire two-part presentation. So donate today and request those at focusonthefamily.com/broadcast. Or call for details, 800, the letter A, and the word FAMILY, 800-232-6459. Let’s return now to the presentation from Steve Farrar.
Steve: Where is the Shepherd when you’re in the darkness? Now, I know He’s everywhere. I know He is omnipresent. But in the purposes of this context, where is He? Is He behind you? No. Is He to the side of you? No. He’s in front of you, leading you. You see, verse four tells us that He’ll protect me. That’s what that’s all about. He’ll walk me through the valley of deepest darkness. Some of you desperately needed to hear that this morning, ’cause it’s never been this deep, it’s never been this dark. And your hope is starting to flicker. Listen, you just hold onto the Shepherd and watch Him work. There’s no dark to Him. He knows precisely what He’s doing. Say, “But Steve, I got, it’s not like that, I got enemies. I got people that are against me.” Well then, verse five is for you.
He says this. He says, “Thou dost prepare a table before me, in the presence of my enemies.” If, uh, you’re a sheep, the last thing you want is a rookie shepherd. If you like football, it’s not unusual to watch a game and what’ll happen is the starting quarterback will get hurt. And then the backup comes in, and then he gets hurt a quarter later. And, and, and they’re stuck because all they got left is some rookie quarterback from East Appalachian State. This kid doesn’t even speak the language. Uh, the thing about a rookie is, they have no experience. They have great potential, but no experience. So the rookie comes in, he takes a snap from center. Uh, he scrambles and on pure athletic ability gains 20 yards, everybody goes crazy. And then so everyone’s pumped. Then the next play he goes, takes the snap, goes to handoff, but the play’s going over there. So he gets sacked and fumbles and turns it over. See, that’s a rookie. Great, uh, potential, no experience.
If you’re a sheep, you don’t want a rookie shepherd, you want a veteran shepherd. The number one job of a, of a shepherd is to feed the flock. Just like a pastor. Sometimes when there’s drought and Palestine, the shepherd has to take his flock outta their normal geographical boundaries to find grass. They might be out two weeks, three weeks, looking for grass past your land. Say one morning he’s out in front of the sheep leading the sheep, he comes over a little rise and they’re down before him is a little, just a little pasture of 20, 25 acres. Full of grass. Well, the, the rookie shepherd is gonna take the sheep, run ’em right in there. Never the veteran shepherd.
Veteran shepherd will leave the sheep over here. By himself, he will go over the rise, into the little pasture area of 20, 25 acres. And what he will do is, he will walk every square foot. He’s stooped over, he is looking real close to the ground. Now what’s he looking for? He’s looking for holes in the ground about this size. The veteran shepherd knows that in certain parts of Palestine, not all parts, there are poisonous snakes called adders. Adders in Palestine live 18 to 24 inches below the ground. They’re notorious for coming up out of the hole and nipping the nose of a grazing animal, killing it within minutes, with their venomous bite. Now what if he sees those holes? Well, you know what he does? Takes that flask off his belt full of linseed oil, and he carefully lubricates each hole, lubricates the lip, making sure the oil goes down deep. It might take him several hours, depending on how many holes he finds.
Once he’s done that, he goes, he gets the sheep, he brings them in. And the sheep see the grass. That’s what they’ve been after for a couple weeks. Sheep are having a great time. They’re happy. They’re content. They’re chewing. Uh, they’re, it’s, it’s great. Life’s good. As they’re doing that the adders hear them. The adders are tempting to get up to bite their noses. But because of the wisdom, ’cause of the foresight of the shepherd, the adder’s slippery skin up against the viscosity of the oil, they can’t get out. They’re trying. And unbeknownst to the sheep, the sheep are literally eating in the presence of their enemies.
God has never said that He will take away our enemies. He’s just said, “I’ll take care of you in the presence of your enemies.” So if you got an ex-husband or ex-wife that every time the kids are with them, they’re tearing you down. Don’t you do that, you bless them. Not evil for evil, insult for insult, but you give a blessing instead, Peter said. Someone at work that’s got it in for you, should you have gotten that promotion? He’ll take care of you in the presence. He did it for Esther. He did it for Mordecai. He’ll do it for you.
I’m gonna jump to verse six, ’cause we’re about out of time. It it, verse six sums it all up. David says, “Surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me, all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Um, now folks, let’s just be real honest here. Would this not be more accurate, if it said, surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me most of the days of my life? Uh, our son, Josh, when he was born, we had some friends in San Diego that had a little girl born about the same time, and we were all excited and staying in touch. On her, uh, second birthday, they took her in for her physical. Everything appeared to be fine. They got home, the red light was going off on the answering machine. It was the doctor’s office asking to bring her back in immediately. And by six o’clock that night, they knew their little two-year-old daughter had leukemia. Now, this says, “Surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life.” Well, what about that day?
I have a friend in South Carolina and a buddy of his just bought a small plane for his business. It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon after church and he said, “Hey, bring your boy over. Let’s go fly around a little bit.” He did. Two guys, their two sons, hit the side of that hill. Both boys killed, my friend in a body cast for 10 months, thought he’d never walk again. “Surely goodness and loving kindness will follow me all the days of my life.” What about that day?
When my daughter Rachel was born, she was so cute. I had to get a new camera.
Audience: (laughing).
Steve: I had this old one, but it wasn’t, it, it just, it… I don’t know anything about cameras. I talked to a buddy of mine and he, I got a thing of my Exxon credit card bill, you know? And it was a 35 millimeter camera with three lenses and a bag and I said, “What do you think about it?” He said, “That’s actually a good deal.” I got it. I don’t know anything about cameras, but I got this thing and I’d stand, I’d stand here… And it comes with a normal lens. I don’t, it says something in Japanese, I think it says normal. And you stand here.
Audience: (laughing).
Steve: And, uh, when I stand there, I just see everything, like I do now, just sort of normally. But I can reach into my bag and I can stand in the exact same place and I can get this lens that’s longer and narrower, and I put it on. And standing in the exact same place, my perspective changes. See, with a telephoto, I can focus on a doorknob, 75 yards away, and not see anything else. When leukemia and divorce and bankruptcy and rebellious kids and drugs and whatever it is, and cancer comes into our lives, we put on the telephoto lens. And all we can see is the pain and the hurt and the brokenness. And, and that’s okay. We’re just sheep. We’re just people.
Did no, did David know anything about pain? Did he know anything about broken heart? Did he know anything about grief? Gosh. And, and a lot of it he brought on himself just like us. How in the world can David say, “Surely goodness and loving-kindness will follow me all the days of my life?” You know what I think David did? I think David here had reached into his bag, he grabbed another lens that was shorter and stubbier. And when he puts that lens on, it’s called a wide angle lens. See, how do you know it’s a wide angle? Well, look at the last verse. He says, “And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” David is looking at his whole life from the wide angle. And you know what David says? He says, “Whatever has come into my life, whatever events, whatever circumstances, whatever heartache, whatever heartbreak, whatever has occurred in my life in some way, shape or form, it’s been the goodness and mercy of God.” You say, “Steve, that can’t be true.” Well, then, Romans 8:28 isn’t true.
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good. To those who love God and are called according to his purpose. Is bankruptcy good? I don’t think so. Was divorce good? I don’t think so. Was cancer good? I don’t think so. What’s the worst thing that someone has ever done to you? For Joseph, it was the day his brothers sold him into slavery. Isn’t it remarkable that years later, he looked his brothers in the eye, and he said to them, the worst thing that ever been done to him, he said to them, “You intended it for evil, but God intended it for what? Good.”
See, the Shepherd is bigger than anything anyone can do to you. The Shepherd is bigger than the pain. He’s bigger than the hurt. And in some way, shape, or form, He’s able to fashion it into good in some way, shape or form, in your life, because He’s the Shepherd. You say, “I don’t know how He’s gonna do that,” of course you don’t. I don’t either. C.S. Lewis said, “When we die and go to heaven, the first words out of our mouths will be, of course. Of course.” We can’t see it now. But folks, one day we’re gonna see it. But in the interim, let’s trust Him. Because He knows what He’s doing.
John: Those are such great words of comfort and encouragement from the late Dr. Steve Farrar, on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly.
Jim: I gotta say, I just love Steve’s analogy of looking at life through a wide-angle lens, uh, like you’d have on a camera. When troubles come, it’s so important to not focus on the problems, but step back and take that wide view. Uh, take a minute to remember all that the Lord has done for you in the past. Remember His promises for the future. And then read Psalm 23, as a prayer to your good shepherd and follow His lead. That will give you the right perspective.
And if we can help you along the shepherd’s path, by being a listening ear, we’d love to do that. Please give us a call and let our friendly staff encourage you and pray with you. And if your situation warrants it, we’ll, uh, have a counselor call you back for a free one-time consultation. If you need ongoing help, we’ll help you find a Christian counselor in your local area.
I also highly recommend Steve Farrar’s book written specifically to men. It’s called Gettin’ There: A Passage Through the Psalms. And the subtitle is, How a Man Finds His Way on the Trail of Life. It is a great read.
Request the book from us here at Focus on the Family, and we’ll include a free audio download of this entire presentation from Steve Farrar. Uh, we can send that out to you for a monthly pledge of any amount. It doesn’t have to be a large amount, it’s that consistency, which really, uh, helps us month by month. And if you can’t make a monthly pledge, we get it. Uh, we can send Steve’s book to you for a one-time gift of any amount.
John: That’s right. Uh, request your copy of Gettin’ There by Steve Farrar, when you call 800, the letter A, and the word FAMILY. 800-232-6459 or donate online and request that book at focusonthefamily.com/broadcast. On behalf of the entire team, thanks for joining us today for Focus on the Family with Jim Daly. I’m John Fuller, inviting you back as we once again help you and your family thrive in Christ.
