The Real Work of a Shepherd - Traditional (Psalm 23)

Modern people romanticize shepherds. In ancient Israel, it was dirty, dangerous, lowly work. Shepherds slept with their sheep, fought off lions and bears, searched for wanderers in ravines. They literally smelled like their flock. When David called God his Shepherd, he meant: God does the hard, unglamorous work of keeping me alive. "I shall not want"—because someone is working constantly for my provision and protection. The Lord isn't a distant monarch; He's in the muck with us.