Ebook DSBS The Lord Is My Shepherd

D S
Fo
SI roup
The Lord
B S
rG
X sO
ST r I
UD nd
DISCOVERY
IE ividu
SERIES
S als
BIBLE
STUDY
Is My
SPIRITUAL RE S T
Shepherd
EXPERIENCING
REST IN A
TROUBLED
WORLD
By David Roper
FROM THE
PEOPLE WHO
BRING YOU
OUR DAILY BREAD
T
DISCOVERY SERIES BIBLE STUDY
For individuals or groups
he sight of sheep grazing peacefully on a grassy hillside

brings a sense of well-being to even the most troubled
heart. Perhaps it is because of the symbolism the image
carries—helpless, defenseless creatures able to munch
contentedly under the watchful eye of one they have learned to trust.
Jesus called His followers sheep, and as His sheep we long to
comprehend what it means to find contentment under the watchful
eye of our loving, trustworthy, heavenly Shepherd.
In this excerpt from Every Day Is a New Shade of Blue: Comfort
for Dark Days from Psalm 23, author David Roper examines the first
two verses of this well-known psalm. He looks at the importance of
the shepherd metaphor throughout Scripture and then gives practical
help in experiencing the rest that our Shepherd has prepared for us.
—Mart DeHaan

1
This Discovery Series Bible Study is based on
The Lord Is My Shepherd (HP952), one of the popular Discovery Series booklets from
Our Daily Bread Ministries. Find out more about Discovery Series at
www.discoveryseries.org
Copyright © 2012 by Discovery House Publishers

All rights reserved.
Discovery House Publishers is affiliated with Our Daily Bread Ministries,

Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Requests for permission to quote from this book should be directed to:
Permissions Department, Discovery House Publishers, PO Box 3566, Grand Rapids, MI 49501,
or contact us by e-mail at [email protected]
Scripture quotations for the study guide portions are taken from the New King James Version.
©1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc., Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations for the reading portions are taken from the New International Version.
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. TM
All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com
Managing Editor: Dave Branon

Study Guide questions: Sim Kay Tee
Graphic Design: Steve Gier
Cover Photos: Terry Bidgood; Mark Robinson/StockXCHNG

INSIDE PHOTOS: Freerange Stock Archives, p.6; Via Stock.XCHNG: Nick Eberhhardt (inset), p.6; yl lotse, p.12;
Arsel Özgürdal, p.22; Elly Kellner/www.ellykellner.com, p.30; Michaela Kobyakov, p.31; John Nyberg, p.36; Zsuzsanna
Kilian, p.38; Jesuino Souza, p.39; Mattox, p.47: Tomasz Piskorski, p.52; Julia Freeman-Woolpert, p.54. Hemera, p.10;
Terry Bidgood, pp.13,20,23,28.
ISBN: 978-1-57293-736-9
2
Table of Contents
FOREWORD: The Lord Is My Shepherd......................................... 1
HOW TO USE DISCOVERY SERIES BIBLE STUDIES...........................4
FOR DEVOTION AND PRAYER:.......................12, 22, 30, 38, 46, 54
Our Daily Bread articles about our great Shepherd
1 A PORTRAIT OF GOD
WHO IS HE? DAVID AND THE SHEPHERD METAPHOR
STUDY GUIDE 1
6
10
2 MORE ABOUT THE SHEPHERD METAPHOR

JACOB, ISAIAH, JEREMIAH, EZEKIEL
STUDY GUIDE 2
13
20
3 JESUS AS SHEPHERD
FAITHFUL, SACRIFICIAL, TENDER
STUDY GUIDE 3
23
28
4 REST AND RENEWAL

GREEN PASTURES, TAKING TIME ALONE WITH GOD
STUDY GUIDE 4
31
36
5 LISTENING TO GOD
TAKING TIME TO BE QUIET AND REFLECT ON HIS WORD
STUDY GUIDE 5
39
44
6 RESPONDING TO GOD IN PRAYER

THE SATISFACTION OF GOD’S PRESENCE
STUDY GUIDE 6
47
52
Leader’s and User’s Guide 56
3
How To Use
DISCOVERY SERIES BIBLE STUDIES
The Purpose
The Discovery Series Bible Study (DSBS) series provides assistance to pastors
and lay leaders in guiding and teaching fellow Christians with lessons adapted
from Our Daily Bread Ministries Discovery Series booklets and supplemented
from items taken from the pages of Our Daily Bread. The DSBS series uses
the inductive study method to help Christians understand the Bible more clearly.
The Format
READ: Each DSBS book is divided into a series of lessons. For each lesson, you
will read a few pages that will give you insight into one aspect of the overall
study. Included in some studies will be FOCAL POINT and TIME OUT
FOR THEOLOGY segments to help you think through the material. These
can be used as discussion starters for group sessions.
RESPOND: At the end of the reading is a two-page STUDY GUIDE to help

participants respond to and reflect on the subject. If you are the leader of a
group study, ask each member to preview the STUDY GUIDE before the group
gets together. Don’t feel that you have to work your way through each question
in the STUDY GUIDE; let the interest level of the participants dictate the flow
of the discussion. The questions are designed for either group or individual
study. Here are the parts of that guide:
MEMORY VERSE: A short Scripture passage that focuses your thinking on

the biblical truth at hand and can be used for memorization. You might sug-
gest memorization as a part of each meeting.
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WARMING UP: A general interest question that can foster discussion (group)
or contemplation (individual).
THINKING THROUGH: Questions that will help a group or a student interact

with the reading. These questions help drive home the critical concepts of
the book.
DIGGING IN: An inductive study of a related passage of Scripture, reminding

the group or the student of the importance of Scripture as the final authority.
GOING FURTHER: A two-part wrap-up of the response: REFER suggests ways

to compare the ideas of the lesson with teachings in other parts of the Bible.
REFLECT challenges the group or the learner to apply the teaching in real life.
OUR DAILY BREAD: After each STUDY GUIDE session, you’ll find an Our
Daily Bread article that relates to the topic. You can use this for further reflection
or for an introduction to a time of prayer.
Go to the Leader’s and User’s Guide on page 56 for further suggestions about using
this Discovery Series Bible Study.
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1
A Portrait
of God
Who Is He?
T he problem with most of us is that we have no clear picture of the God

we long to worship. Our image of Him is clouded by the memory of
cold cathedrals and bitter religions, by pastors or priests who put the
fear of God into us, or by all that we suffered as children from fathers who were
absent, emotionally detached, brutal, or weak. All of us have inexact notions
about God.
So the question is God himself: Who is He? This is the question to which
all others lead—the question that God himself put into our hearts. (And if He
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put it into our hearts, there must be an answer in His heart waiting to be re-
vealed.) David gave us a comforting and compelling answer: “The Lord is my
shepherd” (Psalm 23:1).
“Yahweh is my shepherd” is what David actually wrote, using the name
that God gave himself. An older generation of scholars referred to the name as
the “Ineffable Tetragrammaton”—the unutterable four-letter word. The letters
that make up God’s name (written without vowels as YHWH) were poorly pro-
nounced by the Jews for fear of arousing God’s wrath. Instead, they substituted
some lesser word like Adonai (“my Lord”) or Elohim (the generic name for God).
The term Yahweh, sometimes shortened to Yah in the Old Testament,
comes from a form of the Hebrew verb “to be.” This suggests that God is a self-
sufficient God. But that explanation is cold comfort to me. I prefer David’s
description: “Yahweh is my shepherd.”
Shepherd is a modest metaphor, yet one that is loaded with meaning. Part of
the comparison is the portrayal of a shepherd and his sheep; the other is David’s
experience and ours. David painted a picture and put us into it. The genius of the
psalm is that it belongs to us. We can use David’s words as our own.
David’s opening statement, “The Lord is my shepherd,” introduces the
controlling image that appears throughout the poem. Each line elaborates the
symbol, filling out the picture, showing us how our Shepherd-God leads us to
that place where we shall no longer want.
David and the

Shepherd Metaphor
David himself was a shepherd. He spent much of his youth tending his “few
sheep in the desert” (1 Samuel 17:28). The desert is one of the best places in
the world to learn. There are few distractions, and there is little that can be
used. In such a place we’re more inclined to think about the meaning of things
than about what those things provide.
One day as David was watching his sheep, the idea came to him that God
was like a shepherd. He thought of the incessant care that sheep require—their
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helplessness and defenselessness. He recalled their foolish straying from safe paths
and their constant need for a guide. He thought of the time and patience it took
for them to trust him before they would follow. He remembered the times when
he led them through danger, and they huddled close at his heels. He pondered
the fact that he must think for his sheep, fight for them, guard them, and find
their pasture and quiet pools. He remembered their bruises and scratches that he
bound up, and he marveled at how frequently he had to rescue them from harm.
Yet not one of his sheep was aware of how well it was watched. Yes, he mused,
God is very much like a good shepherd.
Ancient shepherds knew their sheep by name. They were acquainted with
all their ways—their peculiarities, their characteristic marks, their tendencies,
their idiosyncrasies.
Back then, shepherds didn’t drive their sheep; they led them. At the
shepherd’s morning call—a distinctive guttural sound—each flock would rise
and follow its master to the feeding grounds. Even if two shepherds called their
flocks at the same time and the sheep were intermingled, they never followed
the wrong shepherd. All day long the sheep followed their own shepherd as he
searched the wilderness looking for grassy meadows and sheltered pools where
his flock could feed and drink in peace.
At certain times of the year, it became necessary to move the flocks deeper
into the wilderness, a desolate wasteland where predators lurked. But the sheep
FOCAL POINT
“David’s selection of the shepherd-sheep relationship
to illustrate the benefits of God’s grace was most
appropriate; first, because he knew by experience the
great challenges, dangers, and joys of pastoring large
flocks. And second, he understood the thrill of a personal
relationship with the Lord, the Shepherd of Israel. ”
—John J. Davis
The Perfect Shepherd
8
FOCAL POINT
“David says that a good shepherd provides protection:
‘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’ (v. 4). This is a very picturesque
scene. The shepherd is leading the sheep back home
at evening. As they go down through a narrow gorge,
the long shadows lie across the trail. In the Hebrew this
is a ‘valley of deep shadows.’ The sheep, because they
are so timid and defenseless, are frightened by their
experience. But they trust the shepherd, and therefore
they are comforted. They will fear no evil, because the
shepherd is with them.” —Ray Stedman
Folks Psalms of Faith
were always well-guarded. Shepherds carried a “rod” (a heavy club) on their belts
and a shepherd’s staff in their hands. The staff had a crook that was used to extri-
cate the sheep from perilous places or to restrain them from wandering away.
The club was a weapon to ward off beasts. David said, “When a lion or a bear
came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued
the sheep from its mouth” (1 Samuel 17:34–35).
Throughout the day each shepherd stayed close to his sheep, watching
them carefully and protecting them from the slightest harm. When one sheep
strayed, the shepherd searched for it until it was found. Then he laid it across his
shoulders and brought it back home. At the end of the day, each shepherd led
his flock to the safety of the fold and slept across the gateway to protect them.
A good shepherd never left his sheep alone. They would have been lost
without him. His presence was their assurance.
It’s this good shepherd that David envisioned as he composed each line
of Psalm 23.
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STUDY GUIDE
read pages 6–9
1 A Portrait of God
To understand how David modeled the picture
of a shepherd.
MEMORY VERSE Warming Up
Psalm 23:1—
Why do you think many people consider Psalm 23 their
“The Lord is my shepherd;
favorite Bible passage? Is Psalm 23 one of your favorite
I shall not want.”
texts? Why or why not?
Thinking Through
1. On page 6 we read, “All of us have inexact notions about God.” What does the
author mean by that? What are some “inexact notions” you have had of God? Why is it
important that we correct our “inexact notions”?
2. David’s answer to the question “Who is God?” was to respond, “The Lord is my
shepherd.” Why is the word shepherd such an apt metaphor for God’s work in our lives?
(see pp. 6–7).
3. How did David see God’s care for His people paralleled in a shepherd’s care for his
flock? (see pp. 8–9).
Going Further
Going Further
Refer
What are some ways that the Lord’s shepherding care is seen in David’s care for his own
sheep in 1 Samuel 17:34–35?
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Digging In
In Read
Read Psalm 23:1
1. In verse 1, David used the four-letter Hebrew word 1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall
YHWH (Jehovah, which is translated “Lord” in our not want.

English Bibles) to refer to God. What does this tell
you about the kind of shepherd God is?
2. What did David mean when he said, “I shall not

want”? Why was he able to say that in the context
of the Lord as his shepherd? What are some of the
“wants” that David may have been referring to?
3. How do David’s words carry a tone of confidence

in God’s trustworthiness? Was his confidence
justified? Is it a confidence that you are able to share?
Why or why not?
Prayer Time >

Use the Our Daily Bread
article on the next page
as a guide for a devotional
and meditation time relating
to the Good Shepherd.
Reflect
Consider David’s statement, “The Lord is my shepherd.” Are you comfortable making this
declaration of dependence and trust? In what ways have you experienced the reality that
God is your shepherd?
In light of the circumstances and needs in your life at this moment, are you able to say that
you “shall not want”? Why or why not?
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Our Daily Bread: For reflection & prayer about the Shepherd
On Your Feet
I
n his classic book A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, W. Phillip
Keller gives a striking picture of the care and gentleness of
a shepherd. In verse 3 when David says, “He restores my
PSALM 23:3—
soul,” he uses language every shepherd would understand.
He restores my
Sheep are built in such a way that if they fall over on
soul.
their side and then onto their back, it is very difficult for them
to get up again. They flail their legs in the air, bleat, and cry.
After a few hours on their backs, gas begins to collect in their
stomachs, the stomach hardens, the air passage is cut off, and
the sheep will eventually suffocate. This is referred to as a “cast
down” position.
When a shepherd restores a “cast down” sheep, he re-
assures it, massages its legs to restore circulation, gently
turns the sheep over, lifts it up, and holds it so it can regain
its equilibrium.
What a picture of what God wants to do for us! When
we are on our backs, flailing because of guilt, grief, or grudges,
our loving Shepherd reassures us with His grace, lifts us up,
and holds us until we’ve gained our spiritual equilibrium.
If you’ve been cast down for any reason, God is the only
one who can help you get on your feet again. Allow Him to
restore your confidence, joy, and strength.
—Marvin Williams
Read today’s
Our Daily Bread at
www.odb.org
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2 More About
The Shepherd
Metaphor
Jacob:
God Accepts Us
T he patriarch Jacob was a shepherd and the first person in the Bible to
make use of the shepherd metaphor for God. As he lay dying, he looked
back over his life and summed it up with these words: “God . . . has been
my shepherd all my life to this day” (Genesis 48:15).
Jacob was born with a difficult disposition. Gripping his twin brother’s heel
at birth, he continued throughout his life to try to trip him up and get ahead of
him. In fact, Jacob’s whole life was characterized by wheeling, double-dealing,
13
grasping, grabbing, and jerking people around to gain selfish advantage. Yet God
was not ashamed to be called “the God of Jacob” and to be his shepherd every day
of his life.
Jacob is reminiscent of those who come into life with a pervasive tendency
to go wrong. They inhabit inherited hells—saddled from birth with insecurities,
insanities, and sinful predilections. They are addicted to food, sex, alcohol, drugs,
spending, gambling, or working. They have disturbed and difficult personalities,
and have, as C. S. Lewis said, a “hard machine to drive.”
God knows our tiresome stories. He understands the latent forces and
all the sources and possibilities of evil in our natures. He sees the hurt and the
heartbreak that others cannot see
and that cannot be explained, even FOCAL POINT
to our closest friends. He’s aware of
“Jacob was the rascal
the reasons for our moodiness, our
of Genesis. He was the
temper tantrums, our selfish indul-
schemer, the man who
gences. Others may be put off by
thought he could live by
our disposition, but God never
his own wits and his own
turns away. He sees beyond the
efforts. He went out trying
prickliness to the broken heart. His
to deceive everybody
understanding is infinite.
and ended up being
How damaged we are or how
deceived. He troubled his
far wrong we’ve gone doesn’t make
own household by playing
a difference to Him. Our vileness
favorites, indulging one
does not alter His character. He is
of his sons over the rest,
eternal love—the same yesterday,
creating bitterness and
today, forever. We are not what He
resentment among his sons.
wants us to be, but we are not un-
Yet, despite all his faults,
wanted. If we will have Him, He
Jacob is a beautiful picture
will be our shepherd.
of sanctification.”
Fredrick Buechner marvels at
—Ray Stedman
the folly of God to welcome “lame- Adventuring Through the Bible
brains and misfits and nit-pickers
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and holier-than-thous and stuffed shirts and odd ducks and egomaniacs and
milquetoasts and closet sensualists,” but that’s the way He is. Whatever we are,
wherever we are, His heart is open to us.
Isaiah:
God Knows Us Intimately
Isaiah envisioned a stellar Shepherd who each night called out His star-flock
by name:
Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out
the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great
power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing (Isaiah 40:26).
It’s not by chance that the stars have their assigned orbits and places in
the universe. They do not rise at random, nor do they wander haphazardly
through space. They rise at God’s beck and call. He brings out the starry host
one by one and calls them each by name. Not one is forgotten. Not one is
overlooked. Not one is left behind.
It’s a terrible thing to be unknown. We live in fear that we will never be
known enough—that others will never know who we really are, what our
dreams are, and where our thoughts are taking us. Yet we have nothing to fear.
God knows every one of His sheep by name.
He’s aware of each personality and peculiarity. There are the little ones
that have to be carried, the cripples that can’t keep up, the nursing ewes that
won’t be hurried, the old sheep that can barely get along. There are the bell-
wethers that always want to be out front, the bullies that butt and push to get
their way, the timid ones (the sheepish) that are afraid to follow, the black sheep
that are always the exception. There are those who graze their way into lostness
and others more deliberately on the lam. The Good Shepherd knows us all.
The Sovereign Lord comes with power, and his arm rules for him. . . .
He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and
15
carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young
(Isaiah 40:10–11).
God knows our pace. He knows when grief, pain, and loneliness over-
whelm us. He knows when the full realization of our limitations comes home
to us. He knows when we’re shamed and broken and unable to go on. God
does not drive His sheep, He gently leads them. He allows for hesitation and
trepidation. He gives credit for decisions and resolutions that are strenuously
tested. He understands courage that falters in the face of terrible odds. He can
accommodate a faith that flames out under stress. He takes into account the
hidden reasons for failure. He feels the full weight of our disasters. He knows
our pain as no one else knows it. Our bleating reaches His ears. He even hears
our inarticulate cries.
When we lag behind, He does not scold us. Rather, He gathers us up, en-
circles us with His strong arm, and carries us next to His heart. The essence, the
central core of God’s character, lies here: He has the heart of a tender shepherd.
Jeremiah:
God Pursues Us In Love
The prophet Jeremiah saw a flock of ruined sheep:
My people have been lost [ruined] sheep; their shepherds have led them astray
and caused them to roam on the mountains. They wandered over mountain
and hill and forgot their own resting place. . . . But I will bring Israel back
to his own pasture (Jeremiah 50:6, 19).
We readily forget God, our “resting place,” and wander away. Yet He
pursues us wherever we go, with no complaint of the darkness, the cold wind,
the heavy burden, the steep hill, or the thorny path over which He must pass
to rescue one lost sheep. His love does not count time, energy, suffering, or
even life itself.
His pursuit is not a reward for our goodness but the result of His decision
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to love. He is driven by love, not by our beauty. He is drawn to us when we have
done nothing right and when we have done everything wrong. Jesus said:
What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them
wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look
for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is
happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not
wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of
these little ones should be lost (Matthew 18:12–14).
Lost sheep are not doomed. They’re the ones He came to find.
Ezekiel:
God Tenderly Cares For Us
Ezekiel announced the birth of that best of all shepherds long before He was
born. He said that when He came He would tend God’s flock with tender,
loving care:
My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were
scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them. . . .
For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “I myself will search for my sheep
and look after them. As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is
with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places
where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. . . . I will tend
them in a good pasture . . . . There they will lie down in good grazing land,
and there they will feed in a rich pasture . . . . I myself will tend my sheep
and have them lie down,” declares the Sovereign Lord. “I will search for the
lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the
weak” (Ezekiel 34:6,m11–12, 14–16).
It was Ezekiel’s task to care for scattered exiles far from home. He de-
scribed them as sheep that were scattered “because there was no shepherd . . . .
and no one searched or looked for them” (vv. 5–6).
17
Israel’s disbanding was their own fault, the result of years of resistance to
God. They had looked to their idols and shed blood, and they had defiled their
neighbors’ wives and done other detestable things (Ezekiel 33:25–26). That’s
why they were estranged. Yet God said, “I will search for the lost and bring
back the strays” (34:16). Good shepherds don’t look down on lost sheep; they
look for them.
Sheep don’t have to go looking for their shepherd—it’s the other way
around. He’s out looking for them. Even if the sheep aren’t thinking about the
shepherd, he pursues them to the ends of the earth. Simon Tugwell wrote, “He
follows them into their own long, dark, journey; there, where they thought fi-
nally to escape him, they run straight into his arms.”
There is, in fact, no way to escape our Shepherd except by running into
His arms. Although we are stiff-necked and stubborn, He is equally stiff-necked
and stubborn. He will never give up His pursuit. He cannot get us off His
mind.
Furthermore, Ezekiel said, when the Good Shepherd finds His sheep He
looks after them: “As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with
them, so will I look after my sheep” (34:12). “Look after” suggests careful ex-
amination of each animal. Our Shepherd-God is a good shepherd. He knows
well the condition of His flock. He sees the marks of sorrow on each face. He
FOCAL POINT
“God calls some men to be spiritual leaders as His under-
shepherds, but He also wants all of His own to reach out
to the lost. Although Ezekiel’s words denouncing self-
proclaimed and self-centered shepherds had a unique
significance for Israel’s leaders, they apply to us as well.
God’s picture of himself as the true Shepherd who
genuinely cares for the sheep sets the pattern for us,
pastors and parishioners alike.”
—Herb Vander Lugt
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knows every cut and bruise, every ache and pain. He recognizes the signs of
hounding, misuse, and abuse—the wounds that others have given us and the
residue of our own resistance.
He promises to do what other shepherds cannot or will not do: “I will
bind up the injured and strengthen the weak” (34:16). He has compassion on
the afflicted and the handicapped, on those wounded by their own sin. He un-
derstands sorrow, misfortune, broken homes, shattered ambition. “He heals
the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” (Psalm 147:3). He applies the
balm that makes the wounded whole. That’s the comfort of God to our belea-
guered hearts.
But there is more. Another Good Shepherd was on the way—One who
would be one with the Father in pastoral compassion:
I will place over them one [unique] shepherd, my servant David, and he will
tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. I the Lord will be their
God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the Lord have
spoken (Ezekiel 34:23–24).
God was speaking of David’s long-awaited Son, our Lord Jesus, that
Great Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep (John 10:11).
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More About
STUDY GUIDE
read pages 13–19
2 The Shepherd Metaphor
To see how the Old Testament uses the
shepherd metaphor to describe God’s care
for His children.
MEMORY VERSE
Isaiah 40:11—
“He will feed His flock
Warming Up
like a shepherd; He will The Bible repeatedly uses the image of sheep to describe
gather the lambs with people. In what ways are we similar to sheep?
His arm, and carry them
in His bosom, and gently
lead those who are with
young.”
Thinking Through
1. In this section, we see how Jacob, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel used the shepherd
metaphor to demonstrate four elements of God’s concern for His people. What are those
four things?
2. Of the four expressions of God’s concern seen in answer to the previous question,
which one is the most meaningful to you at this point in your life? Why?
3. How does the phrase “look after” (see p. 18) describe the care of our Shepherd for His
sheep? How have you seen those indications of care reflected in your own experience?
Going Further
Refer
In Ezekiel 34:23–24, what is God’s promise to His flock? Who is this promised Shepherd,
and why is it important?
20
Digging In Read Ezekiel 34:11–12, 14–16
1. Various groups of sheep are mentioned in Ezekiel 11 “For thus says the Lord God:
34:14–16. What are they? How do they represent ‘Indeed I Myself will search for My
various groups of people? sheep and seek them out. 12 As a
shepherd seeks out his flock on the
day he is among his scattered sheep,
so will I seek out My sheep and
deliver them from all the places
where they were scattered on a
cloudy and dark day.’”
14 “ ‘I will feed them in good pasture,
and their fold shall be on the high

mountains of Israel. There they shall
2. What kind of care does each of these groups of lie down in a good fold and feed in
sheep need? In this passage, what did God say rich pasture on the mountains of
that He himself would do for each of these kinds Israel. 15 I will feed My flock, and I
of sheep? will make them lie down,’ says the
Lord God. 16 ‘I will seek what was
lost and bring back what was driven
away, bind up the broken and
strengthen what was sick; but I will
destroy the fat and the strong, and
feed them in judgment.’ ”
3. In verse 16, there are expressions of mercy

followed by expressions of judgment. Why are the
statements of judgment there, and why do you think
the “fat and the strong” will be judged?
Prayer Time >
Reflect
On page 17 we read, “Lost sheep are not doomed. They’re the ones He came to find.”
Describe how the Good Shepherd came looking for you and found you.
In your opinion, what kind of a sheep are you: protected, well-fed, satisfied, fat, restless,
wandering, rebellious, lost, hungry, injured, tired, weak, dying, forgotten? Why? How
does God care for sheep like you?
21
Carried By the Shepherd
M
issionary couple Ray and Sophie de la Haye served
heroically in West Africa for more than 40 years.
As she grew older, Sophie suffered from the loss
ISAIAH 46:4—
of all motor control of her body. This once-strong servant
I have made,
of Christ, who had carried on a ministry of unimaginable and I will bear;
stress, was suddenly reduced to helplessness, unable to Even I will carry,
button her clothes or lift a cup of water to her lips. But she and will deliver
you.
refused to become bitter or self-pitying. In her moments of
utter weakness, she would quietly remind herself, “For this
you have Jesus.”
Many centuries ago our heavenly Father gave a reassur-
ing message to a burdened prophet of Israel—a message that
we need today: “Listen to Me, O house of Jacob, . . . who
have been upheld by Me from birth, who have been carried
from the womb: Even to your old age, I am He, and even to
gray hairs I will carry you! I have made, and I will bear; even
I will carry, and will deliver you” (Isaiah 46:3–4).
What an encouraging picture of divine grace! It calls
to mind the Good Shepherd bearing a helpless lamb.
Whether young or old, we can learn to let God carry us.
Weak and burdened, we can lean on His everlasting arms
and remind ourselves, “For this I have Jesus.”
—Vernon Grounds
Read today’s
Our Daily Bread at
www.odb.org
22
3
Jesus as
Shepherd
Faithful
Some 600 years after David composed his Shepherd Song, Jesus said with
quiet assurance:
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So when he sees the
wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks
the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and
cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd; I know My sheep and
My sheep know Me—just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father—
and I lay down My life for the sheep (John 10:11–15).
This is our Lord Jesus, “that great Shepherd of the sheep” (Hebrews 13:20).
23
He was one with the Father. He too saw us as “sheep without a shepherd.” He
“came to seek and to save what was lost” (Luke 19:10). He’s the one who left the
“ninety-nine on the hills” and went “to look for the one that wandered away,”
forever establishing the value of one person and the Father’s desire that not one
of them should perish (Matthew 18:12–14).
F. B. Meyer wrote, “He has a shepherd’s heart, beating with pure and
generous love that counted not His own life-blood too dear a price to pay
down as our ransom. He has a shepherd’s eye that takes in the whole flock and
misses not even the poor sheep wandering away on the mountains cold. He
has a shepherd’s faithfulness, which will never fail or forsake, leave us comfort-
less, not flee when He sees the wolf coming. He has a shepherd’s strength, so
that He is well able to deliver us from the jaw of the lion or the paw of the
bear. He has a shepherd’s tenderness; no lamb so tiny that He will not carry it;
no saint so weak that He will not gently lead; no soul so faint that He will not
give it rest. . . . His gentleness makes great.”
Sacrificial
But there’s more: The Good Shepherd laid down His life for the sheep. Since
the beginning of time, religions have decreed that a lamb should give up its life
FOCAL POINT
“In the New Testament, God provides His shepherdly
protection through the Lord Jesus Christ. The Gospels,
however, see the enemy not as a nation, but the evil
one and his domain. The enemy is sin and holds mankind
in chains. It was against this enemy that Jesus promised
His protection to us, for He defeated Satan and the
power of sin and death by His victory on the cross.”
—George Sweeting
Psalms of the Heart
24
for the shepherd. The shepherd would bring his lamb to the sanctuary, lean
with all his weight on the lamb’s head, and confess his sin. The lamb would be
slain and its blood would flow out—a life for a life.
What irony! Now the Shepherd gives up His life for His lamb. “He was
pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punish-
ment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and
the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:5–6).
The story is about the death of the Shepherd. “He himself bore our sins
in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness;
by his wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24). He died for all sin—the
obvious sins of murder, adultery, and theft as well as for the secret sins of self-
ishness and pride. He himself bore our sins in His body on the cross. This was
sin’s final cure.
The normal way of looking at the cross is to say that man was so bad
and God was so mad that someone had to pay. But it was not anger that led
Christ to be crucified; it was love. The crucifixion is the point of the story.
God loves us so much that He himself took on our guilt. He internalized all
our sin and healed it. When it was over, He said, “It is finished!” There is
nothing left for us to do but to enter into forgiving acceptance—and for those
of us who have already entered it, to enter into more of it.
Tender
The Shepherd calls to us and listens for the slightest sounds of life. He hears the
faintest cry. If He hears nothing at all, He will not give up or go away. He lets us
wander away, hoping that weariness and despair will turn us around.
Our discomfort is God’s doing. He hounds us. He hems us in. He thwarts
our dreams. He foils our best-laid plans. He frustrates our hopes. He waits until
we know that nothing will ease our pain, nothing will make life worth living ex-
cept His presence. And when we turn to Him, He is there to greet us. He has
been there all along. “The Lord is near to all who call on him” (Psalm 145:18).
25
But, you say, “Why would He want me? He knows my sin, my wandering,
my long habits of yielding. I’m not good enough. I’m not sorry enough for my
sin. I’m unable not to sin.”
Our waywardness doesn’t have to be explained to God. He’s never sur-
prised by anything we do. He sees everything at a single glance—what is, what
could have been, what would have been apart from our sinful choices. He sees
into the dark corners and crannies of our hearts and knows everything about us
there is to know. But what He sees only draws out His love. There is no deeper
motivation in God than love. It is His nature to love; He can do no other, for
“God is love” (1 John 4:8).
FOCAL POINT
“Christ invites all to come to him for rest to their souls.
He alone gives this invitation; men come to him, when,
feeling their guilt and misery, and believing His love
and power to help, they seek Him in fervent prayer.
Thus it is the duty and interest of weary and heavy-
laden sinners, to come to Jesus Christ. This is the gospel
call; Whoever will, let him come. All who thus come
will receive rest as Christ’s gift, and obtain peace and
comfort in their hearts.” —Matthew Henry
Do you have some nameless grief? Some vague, sad pain? Some inexpli-
cable ache in your heart? Come to Him who made your heart. Jesus said,
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in
heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden
is light” (Matthew 11:28–30).
To know that God is like this and to know this God is rest. There is no
more profound lesson than this: He is the one thing we need.
26
The word shepherd carries with it thoughts of tenderness, security, and pro-
vision, yet it means nothing as long as I cannot say, “The Lord is my shepherd.”
What a difference that monosyllable makes—all the difference in the
world. It means that I can have all of God’s attention, all of the time, just as
though I’m the only one. I may be part of a flock, but I’m one of a kind.
It’s one thing to say, “The Lord is a shepherd.” It’s another to say, “The
Lord is my shepherd.” Martin Luther observed that faith is a matter of personal
pronouns: My Lord and my God. This is the faith that saves.
27
STUDY GUIDE
read pages 23–27
3 Jesus As Shepherd
To see and embrace Jesus as the Good
Shepherd.
Isaiah 53:6—
In the parable of the lost sheep (Matthew 18:12–14), the
“All we like sheep have shepherd left ninety-nine sheep in the fold and pursued the
gone astray; we have
one that was lost. Can you remember times when you were
turned, every one, to
his own way; and the the lost sheep Jesus pursued? What was it like when you
Lord has laid on Him the were back in the fold?
iniquity of us all.”
Thinking Through
1. F. B. Meyer is quoted on page 24 as naming five characteristics of Jesus as the Good
Shepherd. What are they, and which is the most comforting to you? Why?
2. According to page 25, why is it ironic that the Good Shepherd sacrificed himself for
His sheep? Why was His sacrifice necessary, and what did it accomplish?
3. A key thought on page 27 is the need to call Jesus “my shepherd,” not just “a shepherd.”
Why did Luther describe the difference between those two ideas as “the faith that saves”?
Going Further
Going Further
Refer
In Matthew 18:12–14, why did the shepherd leave the ninety-nine sheep to search for
the one that was lost? Why would he “rejoice more” over finding that one lost sheep than
over the ones who remained?
28
Digging In Read John 10:11–16
1. What distinguishes the hireling from the shepherd 11 I am the good shepherd. The good
in this passage? Why would the good shepherd lay shepherd gives His life for the sheep.
12 But a hireling, he who is not the
down his life for his sheep? (see vv. 11, 15).
shepherd, one who does not own the
sheep, sees the wolf coming and
leaves the sheep and flees; and the
wolf catches the sheep and scatters
them. 13 The hireling flees because he
is a hireling and does not care about
the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd;
and I know My sheep, and am
known by My own. 15 As the Father
2. What distinguishes his flock from other flocks? knows Me, even so I know the
How would his sheep know him? Who are the other Father; and I lay down My life for
the sheep. 16 And other sheep I have
sheep the shepherd must bring into his fold? How is which are not of this fold; them also
this accomplished? I must bring, and they will hear My
voice; and there will be one flock and
one shepherd.
3. What does Christ mean in verse 16 when He says,

“There will be one flock and one shepherd”?
Prayer Time >

Reflect
Are you prone to drift from Christ? Why? When you felt like the one sheep that had
wandered off, how did the Good Shepherd bring you back into His care?
Keeping in mind the Shepherd’s attitude toward wandering sheep and our own tendency
to drift, what should be our response to others who have gone astray? Support your answer
with Scripture.
29
Herd Instinct
N
ear the village of Gevas in eastern Turkey, while
shepherds ate their breakfast, one of their sheep
jumped off a 45-foot cliff to its death. Then, as the JOHN 10:27—
stunned shepherds looked on, the rest of the flock followed. My sheep hear
In all, 1,500 sheep mindlessly stumbled off the cliff. The My voice, and
only good news was that the last 1,000 were cushioned in I know them,
and they
their fall by the growing woolly pile of those who jumped follow Me.
first. According to the Washington Post, 450 sheep died.
The Bible often refers to human beings as sheep
(Psalm 100:3; Isaiah 53:6; Matthew 9:36). Easily distracted
and susceptible to group influence, we would rather follow
the crowd than the wisdom of the Shepherd.
I’m glad the Bible also describes sheep in a positive
way. Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd . . . . My sheep
hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me”
(John 10:14, 27).
So the big question for us is this: Whom are we follow-
ing? One another? Self-centered shepherds? Or the voice
and direction of the Good Shepherd?
Our challenge is to avoid the mistake of the sheep who
blindly followed one another over a cliff. We must make it
our daily purpose to ask ourselves: Am I listening for the
voice of the Good Shepherd? Am I following Him?
—Mart DeHaan
Read today’s
Our Daily Bread at
www.odb.org
30
4
Rest and
Renewal
L eft to ourselves we would have nothing more than restlessness, driven

by the realization that there is something more to know and love.
But God will not leave us to ourselves. According to Psalm 23:2, He
makes us lie down in green pastures. He leads us beside quiet waters. The verbs
suggest gentle persuasion—a shepherd patiently, persistently encouraging his
sheep to the place where their hungers and thirsts will be assuaged.
In David’s day, “green pastures” were oases, verdant places in the desert
toward which shepherds led their thirsty flocks. Left to themselves, sheep
would wander off into the wilderness and die. Experienced shepherds knew
the terrain and urged their flocks toward familiar grasslands and streams where
they could forage and feed, lie down and rest.
The picture here is not of sheep grazing and drinking, but at rest, lying
down—“stretched out” to use David’s word. The verb leads suggests a slow and
leisurely pace. The scene is one of tranquility, satisfaction, and rest.
31
The common practice of shepherds was to graze their flocks in rough
pasture early in the morning, leading them to better grasses as the morning
progressed, and then coming to a cool and shaded oasis for noontime rest.
The image of placid waters emphasizes the concept of rest—the condition
of having all our passions satisfied. Augustine cried out, “What will make me
take my rest in You . . . so I can forget my restlessness and take hold of You, the
one good thing in my life?”
The compulsion begins with God. “He makes me [causes me to] lie
down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters” (23:2). The Good
Shepherd “calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has
brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him
because they know his voice” (John 10:3–4).
God makes the first move. He takes the initiative by calling us and lead-
ing us to a place of rest. It’s not because we’re seeking God; He is seeking us.
God’s cry to wayward Adam and Eve, “Where are you?” suggests the loneli-
ness He feels when separated from those He loves. G. K. Chesterton suggests that
the whole Bible is about the “loneliness of God.” I like the thought that in some
inexplicable way God misses me; that He can’t bear to be separated from me; that
I’m always on His mind; that He insistently calls me and seeks me, not for my
own sake alone, but for His. He cries, “Where are you?”
Deep within us is a place for God. We were made for God and without
His love we ache in loneliness and emptiness. He calls from deep space to our
depths: “Deep calls to deep” (Psalm 42:7).
David put it this way, “My heart says of you, ‘Seek his face!’ ‘Your face,
Lord, I will seek’ ” (Psalm 27:8). God spoke to the depths of David’s heart, utter-
ing His heart’s desire: “Seek my face.” And David responded with alacrity, “I will
seek your face, Lord.”
And so it is: God calls us—seeking us to seek Him—and our hearts res-
onate with longing for Him. That understanding has radically changed the
way I look at my relationship to God. It is now neither duty nor discipline—a
regimen I impose on myself like 100 sit-ups and 50 push-ups each day—but a
response, an answer, to One who has been calling me all my life.
32
What are those green pastures and quiet waters
to which God leads us?
Where are they? What is the reality behind these metaphors? God himself is
our “true pasture” (Jeremiah 50:7) and our pool of quiet water. He is our true
nourishment, our living water. If we do not take Him in, we will starve.
There is a hunger in the human heart that nothing but God can satisfy.
There is a thirst that no one but He can quench. “Do not work for food that
spoils,” Jesus said, “but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of
Man will give you. . . . I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never
go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:27,35).
Malcolm Muggeridge’s confession is a striking expression of this thought:
I may, I suppose, regard myself as being a relatively successful man.

People occasionally look at me on the street. That’s fame. I can fairly
easily earn enough to qualify for the highest slopes of inland revenue.
That’s success. Furnished with money and a little fame, even the elderly,
if they care to, can partake of trendy diversions. That’s pleasure. It
might happen once in a while that something I said or wrote was
sufficiently heeded to persuade myself that it represented a serious
impact on our time. That’s fulfillment. Yet I say to you, and I beg of
you to believe me, multiply these tiny triumphs by a million, add them
all together, and they are nothing, less than nothing, a positive impedi-
ment, measured against one draught of that living water that is offered
to the spiritually hungry.
But how do we “graze” on God and “drink” Him in?

Once more we’re confronted with symbolism. What do the metaphors mean?
The process begins, as all relationships do, with a “meeting.” David said:
As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet
with God? (Psalm 42:1–2).
33
God is a real person. He is not a human invention, a concept, a theory, or a
projection of ourselves. He is overwhelmingly alive—real beyond our wildest
dreams. He can be “met” to use David’s commonplace word. A. W. Tozer wrote:
God is a Person and as such can be cultivated as any person can. God is
a Person and in the depths of His mighty nature He thinks, wills, enjoys,
feels, loves, desires, and suffers as any other person may. God is a Person
and can be known in increasing degrees of intimacy as we prepare our
hearts for the wonder of it.
That’s the reality, but it’s also the rub: Are we willing to prepare ourselves
to meet Him? He responds to the slightest approach, but we’re only as close as
we want to be. “If . . . you seek the Lord your God, you will find him,” Moses
promised, then added this proviso: “if you look for him with all your heart and
with all your soul” (Deuteronomy 4:29).
We don’t have to look very hard or very long for God. He’s only as far
away as our hearts (Romans 10:8–9), but He will not intrude. He calls us, but
then waits for our answer. Our progress toward Him is determined by our desire
to engage Him in a personal way—to know Him.
We say, “Something’s wrong with me. I’m not happy. There must be
something more,” but we do nothing about our discontent. It’s this mood of res-
ignation that keeps us from joy. Our first task is to get honest with ourselves. Do
we want God or not? If we do, we must be willing to make the effort to respond
to Him. “Come near to God,” said James, “and He will come near to you”
(James 4:8). It’s a matter of desire. “O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek
You,” the psalmist said (Psalm 63:1).
Taking Time
Alone With God
“Begin small and start promptly” is an old Quaker saying. The idea is to keep
things simple and to begin soon. Simplicity begins with solitude—not mere
time alone, but time alone with God.
34
Henri Nouwen wrote, “Solitude begins with a time and place for God,
and Him alone. If we really believe not only that God exists, but that He is ac-
tively present in our lives—healing, teaching, and guiding—we need to set
aside a time and space to give Him our undivided attention.”
But where can we find that solitude? Where can we find a quiet place in the
midst of the din and demands of this world? “In a crowd, it’s difficult to see God,”
Augustine said. “This vision craves secret retirement.”
“Go into your room,” Jesus said, “close the door and pray to your Father,
who is unseen” (Matthew 6:6).
There is a meeting place as close as our closet door—a time and place
where we can meet with God and hear His thoughts and He can hear ours; a
time for the two of us when He can have our full attention and we can have His.
Solitude is where we are least alone and where our deepest loneliness can
be relieved. It’s a healing place where God can repair the damage done by the
noise and pressure of the world. “The more you visit it,” Thomas á Kempis
said, “the more you will want to return.”
“I will awaken the dawn,” said David (Psalm 57:8). There’s something to
be said for meeting God before our busy days start and our schedules begin to
tyrannize us, though we must not understand this in some legalistic way to
mean we have to get up before the sun to merit a meeting with God. For
many, morning is the most opportune time; for others, it’s more of an oppor-
tunity for the devil. There are times when it not only seems easier to meet with
God, it is easier. It’s something you have to work out with your body. The
main thing is eagerness to meet Him. The advantage of meeting with Him ear-
ly is that we hear His thoughts before others invade our minds.
The first step is to find a Bible, a quiet place, and an uninterrupted period
of time. Sit quietly and remind yourself that you’re in the presence of God. He is
there with you, eager to meet with you. “Stay in that secret place,” A. W. Tozer
said, “till the surrounding noises begin to fade out of your heart, till a sense of
God’s presence has enveloped you. Listen for His inward voice till you learn to
recognize it.”
35
STUDY GUIDE
read pages 31–35
4 Rest and Renewal
To know the Shepherd’s rest by spending
time in His presence.
Psalm 23:2—
What person would you be most uncomfortable to be
“He makes me to lie down
alone with? With whom would you most desire to spend
in green pastures; He
time alone? Why?
leads me beside the still
waters.”
Thinking Through
1. What does G. K. Chesterton mean when he suggests that the whole Bible is about the
“loneliness of God” (p. 32)? Do you think Chesterton is being irreverent or
presumptuous, or is he presenting a profound biblical truth? Why?
2. In his confession on page 33, Malcolm Muggeridge mentions four inadequate responses
to spiritual hunger. What are they? Which ones have you experienced? Do you share
Muggeridge’s conclusion?
3. On page 35, A. W. Tozer encourages us to stay in our “secret place.” What is he

referring to? Why should we spend time there? Where is your personal “secret place”?
GoingFurther
Going Further
Refer
Psalm 42:1–2 shows us another picture of being renewed by calming waters. What
spiritual reality is represented in this picture of a deer drinking at a stream? What are the
spiritual conditions that motivated the psalmist to want to meet with God?
36
In
Digging In ReadPsalm 23:2; 42:1–2
Read
1. What idea was the psalmist portraying when he 2He makes me to lie down in green
described sheep lying down? pastures; He leads me beside the still
waters.
1 As the deer pants for the water
brooks, so pants my soul for You, O

God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for
the living God. When shall I come
and appear before God?
2. How does the shepherd “lead” his sheep to

“green pastures” and “quiet waters”? What condition
does the shepherd have to create before his flock will
“lie down”?
3. What is the reality behind the “green pastures” and

“quiet waters” metaphors?
Prayer Time
Reflect
Are you ever afraid to be alone with God? Why? In what way can it be a fearful thing to
spend time alone with God?
Our lives often seem restless. What must occur before we can experience the peace we read
about in this lesson? How can the picture of the shepherd leading us to green pastures and
still waters strengthen us in the stressful times of life?
37
Quiet Time With God
T
he word connected captures our contemporary experi-
ence of life. Many people rarely go anywhere without
a cell phone, iPod, laptop, or pager. We have become PSALM 23:2—
accessible 24 hours a day. Some psychologists see this crav- He makes me
ing to stay connected as an addiction. Yet a growing number to lie down in
of people are deliberately limiting their use of technology. green pastures;
He leads me
Being a “tech-no” is their way of preserving times of quiet beside the still
while limiting the flow of information into their lives. waters.
Many followers of Christ find that a daily time of Bible
reading and prayer is essential in their walk of faith. This
“quiet time” is a disconnection from external distractions in
order to connect with God. The “green pastures” and “still
waters” of Psalm 23:2 are more than an idyllic country
scene. They speak of our communion with God whereby
He restores our souls and leads us in His paths (v. 3).
All of us can make time to meet with God, but do
we? In Robert Foster’s booklet Seven Minutes With God,
he suggests a way to begin: Start with a brief prayer for
guidance, then read the Bible for a few minutes, and
close with a short time of prayer that includes adoration,
confession, thanksgiving, and supplication for others. It’s
vital to take time today to connect with the Lord, who is
our life.
—David McCasland
Read today’s
Our Daily Bread at
www.odb.org
38
5
Listening
to God
U ntil we take time to be quiet, we’ll not hear God. God cannot be
heard in noise and restlessness; only in silence. He will speak to us
if we will give Him a chance, if we will listen, if we will be quiet.
“Be still,” the psalmist wrote, “and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10).
“Listen, listen to me,” God pleads, “and eat what is good, and your soul
will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your
soul may live” (Isaiah 55:2–3).
Listen to Him. There’s no other way to take Him in. “When your words
came, I ate them” said Jeremiah (Jeremiah 15:16). Sit at His feet and let Him
feed you. That’s the “better” place to be (Luke 10:38–42).
The problem with many of us is that though we read God’s Word, we’re
not feeding on God. We’re more intent on mastering the text—finding out its
39
precise meaning, gathering theories and theologies—so we can talk more intel-
ligently about God. The main purpose of reading the Bible, however, is not to
accumulate data about Him, but to “come to Him,” to encounter Him as our
living God.
Jesus said to the best-read Bible students of His day, “You diligently
study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life.
These are the Scriptures that testify about me” (John 5:39).
The scholars read the Bible, but they didn’t listen to God; they “never
heard His voice” (John 5:37). We should do more than read words; we should
seek the Word exposed in the words. We want to move beyond information
to seeing God and being informed and shaped by His truth. There’s a passing
exhilaration—the “joy of discovery”—in acquiring knowledge about the
Bible, but there’s no life in it. The Bible is not an end in itself but a stimulus
to our interaction with God.
Start with a conscious desire to engage Him in a personal way. Select
a portion of Scripture—a verse, a paragraph, a chapter—and read it over
and over. Think of Him as present and speaking to you, disclosing His
mind and emotions and will. God is articulate: He speaks to us through His
Word. Meditate on His words until His thoughts begin to take shape in
your mind.
Thoughts is exactly the right word, because that’s precisely what the Bible
is—“the mind of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 2:16). When we read His Word, we
are reading His mind—what He knows, what He feels, what He wants, what
He enjoys, what He desires, what He loves, what He hates.
Take time to reflect on what He is saying. Think about each word. Give
yourself time for prayerful contemplation until God’s heart is revealed and
your heart is exposed.
Jean-Pierre de Caussade wrote, “Read quietly, slowly, word for word to
enter into the subject more with the heart than with the mind. From time to
time make short pauses to allow these truths time to flow through all the re-
cesses of the soul.”
Listen carefully to the words that touch your emotions and meditate on
40
His goodness. “Feed on His faithfulness” (Psalm 37:3 NKJV). Think about
His kindness and those glimpses of His unfailing love that motivate you to
love Him more (Psalm 48:9). Savor His words. “Taste and see that the Lord is
good” (Psalm 34:8).
Mother Teresa said, “Spend one hour a day in adoration of the Lord and
you’ll be all right.” She might say something different to you and me. So much
depends on our temperament, our family and job demands, the state of our
health, our age and level of maturity. At first, ten or fifteen minutes may be all
we can manage. Then perhaps we will be ready for an hour every day. It’s not
important how much time we spend at first. The important thing is to make a
beginning. God’s Spirit will let us know where to go from there.
Our reading should be toward relishing God and delighting in Him—
“to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord,” as David said (Psalm 27:4). When we
approach God in that way, it inclines us to want more of Him. “I have tasted
Thee,” Augustine said, “and now I hunger for Thee.”
There’s no need to worry about texts that we don’t understand. Some
meanings will escape us. Everything difficult indicates something more than
our hearts can yet embrace. As Jesus said to His disciples, “I have much more
to say to you, more than you can now bear” (John 16:12). There’s much that
we will never know, but some of the hard questions will be answered when
we’re ready for them.
God can never be understood through the intellect. Insight arises from
purity of heart—from love, humility, and a desire to obey. It’s the “pure in
heart” who “will see God,” Jesus said (Matthew 5:8). The more of God’s truth
we know and want to obey, the more we know.
George MacDonald wrote, “The words of the Lord are seeds sown in
our hearts by the sower. They have to fall into our hearts to grow. Meditation
and prayer must water them and obedience keep them in the light. Thus they
will bear fruit for the Lord’s gathering.”
We shouldn’t worry about our doubts either. How could God possibly
reveal himself in a way that would leave no room for doubt? Madeleine
L’Engle said, “Those who believe they believe in God . . . without anguish of
41
mind, without uncertainty, without doubt, and even at times without despair,
believe only in the idea of God, not in God himself.”
Uncertainty is the name of the game. The best thing is to take our
questionings and doubts directly to God, as David often did. His psalms are
filled with discomfort and disagreement with God’s ways. He fills page after
page with confusion and disbelief. It’s good to do so. God can handle our
hesitancy.
Sometimes we’re mentally dull or emotionally flat, weary, and tired.
On such occasions it’s worthless to try to make ourselves think more deeply
or respond more intensely. If the value of our times alone with God depends
on our emotional state, we will always be troubled. We should never worry
about how we feel. Even when our minds are confused or our hearts are cold
we can learn from our solitude. Don’t try to make your heart love God. Just
give it to Him.
If we’re having a hard time with God, if we don’t yet trust His heart, we
should read the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. There we hear
what Jesus said and did and what was said about Him. There we see Him mak-
ing visible the invisible God. When Philip, Jesus’ disciple, asked to see God,
Jesus replied, “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you
such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you
say, ‘Show us the Father’?” (John 14:9).
One commentator has written, “Philip’s request is the profound expres-
sion of deep hunger behind the whole religious quest, speaking for saints and
mystics, thinkers, moralists, and men of faith of every age. ‘He that hath seen
Me hath seen the Father,’ is Christ’s staggering response. That is what the doc-
trine of Christ’s divine Sonship really means, and why it matters. In His words
we hear God speaking; in His deeds we see God at work; in His reproach we
glimpse God’s judgment; in His love we feel God’s heart beating. If this be not
true, we know nothing of God at all. If it be true—and we know it is—then
Jesus is God manifest in the flesh, the unique, incomparable, only begotten
Son of the Living God.”
The main use of the Gospels is to help us see the character of God made
42
real, personal, and understandable in Jesus. What we see Jesus doing—caring,
suffering, weeping, calling, seeking—is what God is doing and has been doing
all along. If you can’t love God, try to see Him in Jesus. There He’s revealed as
One who has no limits to His love; One to whom we can come with all our
doubts, disappointments, and misjudgments; One “whom we can approach
without fear and to whom we can submit ourselves without despair” (Blaise
Pascal). In the Gospels we see that God is the only God worth having.
43
STUDY GUIDE
read pages 39–43
5 Listening to God
To experience the Shepherd’s renewal by
spending time in His Word.
Psalm 37:3—
“Trust in the Lord, and Have you ever tried to have a serious conversation with a
do good; dwell in the distracted and busy person or with someone in a hurry?
land, and feed on How was it difficult? How did you feel about the lack of
His faithfulness.” attention that person gave you?
Thinking Through
1. On page 40, we are warned of the danger of studying the Bible to master the text
instead of feeding on God. How are these things different? Why is studying only to
master the text potentially dangerous?
2. What did Augustine mean when he said, “I have tasted Thee, and now I hunger for
Thee” (p. 41)? How did these words express his hunger for worship and his delight in
God himself?
3. On pages 42 and 43 we read, “The main use of the Gospels is to help us see the
character of God made real, personal, and understandable in Jesus.” How did Jesus reveal
different aspects of God’s character?
Going Further
Refer
According to Psalm 19:7–8, what are four characteristics of the Word of God and four
ways it benefits us?
44
Digging In
In Read Lu. 10:38–42; Ps.19:7–8
Read
1. Both Mary and Martha desired to please the 38 “Now it happened as they went
Lord, but they went about it in different ways. that He entered a certain village;
and a certain woman named Martha
What are the positive and negative elements in welcomed Him into her house.
both approaches? 39 And she had a sister called Mary,
who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard

His word. 40 But Martha was dis-
tracted with much serving, and she
approached Him and said, ‘Lord, do
You not care that my sister has left
me to serve alone? Therefore tell her
to help me.’ 41 And Jesus answered
and said to her, ‘Martha, Martha,
you are worried and troubled about
2. What did Jesus mean when He said, “One thing
many things. 42 But one thing is
is needed” (v. 42)? Why do you think the Lord did needed, and Mary has chosen that
not say that Martha’s choice was wrong, only that good part, which will not be taken
Mary’s was “good” (v. 42)? In what ways was Mary’s away from her.’ ” (Luke 10:38–42)
choice good? 7 “The law of the Lord is perfect,
converting the soul; the testimony of

the Lord is sure, making wise the
simple; 8 the statutes of the Lord are
right, rejoicing the heart; the com-
mandment of the Lord is pure, en-
lightening the eyes.” (Psalm 19:7–8)
3. What does this passage teach about the need for

balance between our need to be busy for the Lord and
our need for intimacy with the Lord?
Prayer Time >
Reflect
We live in a world where quietness is rare. Why is quietness often uncomfortable for us?
What do we sometimes do to avoid the discomfort of quiet?
Do you identify more with Martha or Mary? If Martha, how can quiet times in God’s Word
help you to be more effective in your practical service for the Lord?
45
Exalt Him
B
e still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted
among the nations” (Psalm 46:10). These words
from a song sung long ago at the temple in Jerusalem Psalm 46:10—
remind us of one of our main tasks—worshiping our awe- I am God;
some God. I will be exalted.
One way to do that is to meditate on His many attri-

butes. Exalt God, for He is faithful, eternal, all-knowing,
just, unchangeable, gracious, holy, merciful, longsuffering,
impartial, and infinite. Our God is perfect.
Exalt God also by realizing that He is all-powerful,
almighty, personal, righteous, unsearchable, wise, triune,
accessible, self-existent, glorious, and compassionate.
Another way to worship God is to contemplate His
names. Exalt God, for He is Creator. He is Love. He is
Redeemer. He is Shepherd. He is Savior, Lord, and Father.
He is Judge. He is Comforter. He is Teacher. He is I AM.
Our God is the Mighty One.
Dwell on His identity. God is our shield. Our strong-
hold. Our light. Our strength. Our sustainer. Our rescuer.
Our fortress.
Meditate on God’s attributes. Contemplate His names.
Dwell on His identity. Adore Him. Respect Him. Honor
Him. Love Him. Exalt Him. Use the rest of your life getting
ready to worship our awesome God forever.
—Dave Branon Read today’s
Our Daily Bread at
www.odb.org
46
6
Responding
to God
in Prayer
A s we listen to God, we should answer. This is prayer—our response

to the revelation and unfolding of God’s heart. “My God, Thy
creature answers Thee,” said the French poet, Alfred de Musset.
Prayer, understood in that way, is an extension of our visits with God rather than
something tacked on.
Our meetings with God are like a polite conversation with a friend.
They’re not monologues in which one person does all the talking and the other
does all the listening, but dialogues in which we listen thoughtfully to one an-
other’s self-disclosure and then respond.
One of my colleagues describes the process this way: If we’re reading a
note from a loved one in which we’re praised, loved, appreciated, counseled,
corrected, and helped in various ways and that individual is present in the
47
room while we read, it’s only right that we should express thanks, reciprocate
love, ask questions, and in other ways react to the message. It would be rude to
do otherwise. This is prayer.
Around 1370, a book was published with the title The Cloud of
Unknowing. It’s thought that the author was a spiritual director in a monastery,
but we don’t know his name. Much of what he wrote is hard to understand,
but when it comes to prayer he was profoundly simple.
God, he said, can be known, even through “the cloud of unknowing” by
responding to Him with “just a little word . . . the shorter it is the better.” His
book is a textbook of succinct and simple prayer:
It is good to think of Your kindness, O God, and to love You and praise
You for that. Yet it is far better to think upon Your simple being, and to
love You and praise You for Yourself. Lord, I covet You and seek You and
nothing but You. My God, You are all I need, and more; whoever has
You needs nothing else in this life.
If you don’t know where to start, pray David’s psalms. David’s life was
characterized by prayer. In Psalm 109:4 David wrote, “In return for my friend-
ship they accuse me, but I am a man of prayer.” The translators supplied “a
man of,” but the text reads simply, “but I am prayer.” Prayer was the essence of
David’s life and his genius, as it is ours. We have this access to God, this inti-
macy with Him, this opportunity to receive all that the heart of God has
stored up for us. It is the means by which we receive God’s gifts, the means by
which everything is done. David teaches us to pray.
Prayer is worship. Our praying should be full of adoration, affection, and
fondness for God that He is who He is, that He created us in order to have
someone on whom He could shower His love, that He stretched out His arms
on the cross, and that He intends, in the fullest sense, to make whole men and
women out of us. In worship, as the old word worth-ship implies, we declare
what we value the most. It is one of the best ways in the world to love God.
Prayer is the highest expression of our dependence on God. It is asking
for what we want. We can ask for anything—even the most difficult things.
48
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition,
with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (Philippians 4:6). Anything
large enough to occupy our minds is large enough to hang a prayer on.
Prayer, however, by its nature is requesting. It is not insisting or clamor-
ing. We can make no demands of God or deals with Him. Furthermore, we’re
coming to a friend. Friends don’t make demands. They ask and then wait. We
wait with patience and submission until God gives us what we request—or
something more.
David wrote, “I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child
with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me” (Psalm 131:2).
David was in exile, waiting for God, learning not to worry himself with God’s
delays and other mysterious ways. No longer restless and craving, he waited for
God to answer in His own time and in His own way. He is able to do far more
than anything we can ask or imagine, but He must do it in His time and in
His way. We ask in our time and in our way; God answers in His.
Prayer is asking for understanding. It is the means by which we compre-
hend what God is saying to us in His Word. The process by which we gain
awareness of His mind is not natural, but supernatural. Spiritual things are
discerned spiritually (1 Corinthians 2:6–16). There is truth that can never be
grasped by the human intellect. It cannot be discovered; it must be disclosed.
Certainly we can understand the facts in the Bible apart from God’s help, but
we can never plumb its depths, never fully appreciate “what God has prepared
for those who love him” (v. 9). We must pray and wait for truth to come hon-
estly into our minds.
Prayer moves what we know from our heads to our hearts. It’s our hedge
against hypocrisy, the way by which we begin to ring true. Our perceptions of
truth are always ahead of our condition. Prayer brings us more into conformity.
It bridges the gap between what we know and what we are.
Prayer focuses and unites our fragmented hearts. We have a thousand
necessities. It’s impossible for us to purify them and simplify them and inte-
grate them into one. David prayed, “Give me an undivided heart” (Psalm
86:11). He wanted to love God with his whole heart, but he couldn’t sustain
49
the effort. Other interests and affections pulled him and divided him, so he
asked God to guard his heart and unite its affections into one.
The prophet Isaiah wrote, “He wakens me morning by morning, wakens
my ear to listen like one being taught. The Sovereign Lord has opened my ears,
and I have not been rebellious; I have not drawn back” (Isaiah 50:4–5).
Centering on God each morning should be done as though it had never been
done before. In that quiet place He comforts us, He instructs us, He listens to
us, He prepares our hearts and strengthens us for the day. There we learn to
love Him and worship Him again. We esteem His words and defer to Him
once more. We get His fresh perspective on the problems and possibilities of
our day.
Then we should take His presence with us all through the day—journey-
ing, pausing, waiting, listening, recalling what He said to us in the morning.
FOCAL POINT
“Prayer is not merely what we say to God, it is responding
thoughtfully to what He has already said and what
He is constantly saying to us through His Word. For this
reason, the Bible is an important part of our ongoing
conversation with the Lord. One way to develop
conversations with God is to open the Scriptures to
a psalm or paragraph from one of the Epistles. Read
thoughtfully to discover what the text is telling you
about the thoughts, affections, and values of God.
Listen carefully and reverently to the mind of the One
who inspired these words. Ask Him to help you discover
the interests and desires of His heart. Then respond
conversationally from your own heart to what you are
hearing.”
—Dave Egner
Praying with Confidence
50
He is our teacher, our philosopher, our friend; our gentlest, kindest, and most
interesting companion.
He is with us wherever we go. He is in the commonplace, whether we
know it or not. “Surely the Lord is in this place,” Jacob said of a most unlikely
location, “and I was not aware of it” (Genesis 28:16). We may not realize that
He is close by. We may feel lonely and sad and desolate. Our day may seem
bleak and dreary without a visible ray of hope, yet He is present.
God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So we say
with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid” (Hebrews
13:5–6).
The clamor of this visible and audible world is so persistent and God’s
quiet voice sometimes is so faint that we forget that He is near. But not to
worry: He cannot forget us.
In God’s presence there is satisfaction. His lush meadows are boundless.
His still water runs deep. “There,” I say to myself, “[I] will lie down in good
grazing land, and there [I] will feed in a rich pasture” (Ezekiel 34:14).
51
6
Responding to God in Prayer
STUDY GUIDE
To enjoy the Shepherd’s presence as we learn
read pages 47–51 to go to Him in prayer.
Philippians 4:6—
What frustrates you about your prayer life? Why? What
“Be anxious for nothing,
but in everything by
encourages you in your prayer life? Why? How do those
prayer and supplication, frustrations and encouragements affect your desire to pray?
with thanksgiving, let
your requests be made
known to God.”
Thinking Through
1. On page 48, David Roper says that “prayer is worship.” If so, what elements should
always be a part of your prayer time? Why are these elements so important?
2. What are the implications of the statement, “Prayer is the highest expression of our
dependence on God” (p. 48)? How is this seen in your prayers, and how does it define
the difference between requesting and insisting (p. 48–49)?
3. According to page 49, why is it so important that you pray with the psalmist, “Give
me an undivided heart” (Psalm 86:11)? How can the distractions and necessities of life
undermine your prayers? In what ways have you experienced this?
Going Further
Refer
Jesus is described as being motivated by compassion for those who are suffering. See if you
can find at least five places in the Gospels where this occurs. What does this tell you about
praying for God’s comfort when you are plagued by anxiety?
52
Digging In Read Philippians 4:6–7
1. How are anxiety and prayer powerful yet opposing 6 “Be anxious for nothing, but in
forces in the Christian experience? everything by prayer and supplica-
tion, with thanksgiving, let your
requests be made known to God;
7 and the peace of God, which sur-
passes all understanding, will guard

your hearts and minds through
Christ Jesus.”
2. What do you tend to do with your worries? Is

prayer your first option, or your last? Does prayer
help to relieve your anxiety and stress? If so, how?
3. What is the “peace of God” that Paul mentions

in verse 7? What does Paul mean when he says that
this peace is one that “surpasses all understanding”
and “will guard your hearts and minds through
Christ Jesus”?
Prayer Time >

Reflect
Reflect
If prayer is so important, why don’t we devote more time and effort to it? What changes
doIsyou
1. there
needanything
to makeothers
if youcan
are do for us if awe
to become are facing
person temptations? How can the body
of prayer?
of Christ provide protection from the negative results of temptation?
How
2. Howhascan
thisthe
study helped“the
doxology youkingdom,
trust the Shepherd
the power,inand
the the
hardships
glory” of life?usWhat
help to seelife
how
principles can you apply on a daily basis, not
God should work in our lives and in our prayers?only in your own experience but also in your
ministry to others who are hurting?
53
Have You Prayed?
S
everal years ago I moved to England, but I have trav-
eled back to the USA many times, often staying with
the same families. One family lived in a farmhouse
where a tiny upstairs room always awaited me. PHILIPPIANS
4:6—
I will never forget one visit when, as usual, I lugged my
Be anxious for
suitcase up the familiar stairs. This time, however, a secret nothing, but in
burden on my heart felt heavier than my luggage. As I everything . . .
neared the top of the steps, I saw an old plaque that I had let your
requests be
forgotten. It read: made known
Have You Prayed About It? to God.
Panting physically and spiritually, I had to admit,

“No, I haven’t!” So I slipped to my knees and finally talked
to God about the problem.
Instead of being anxious for nothing, I had become
anxious about everything. Instead of praying about every-
thing, I had prayed about nothing. But now, through
prayer, my heavy load of worry became God’s, and His
lightweight gift of peace became mine.
In his book Tyranny of the Urgent, Charles Hummel
writes that if we are prayerless, “we are saying, with our
actions if not our lips, that we do not need God.” The de-
ciding factor on how we carry our burdens lies in our answer
to the question on that old-fashioned plaque: Have you
prayed about it?
Read today’s
—Joanie Yoder
Our Daily Bread at
www.odb.org
54
LEADER’S and USER’S GUIDE
Overview of Lessons: Ten Reasons To Believe in . . .

STUDY TOPIC BIBLE TEXT READING QUESTIONS
1................... A Portrait of God.................. Psalm 23:1. . ................................. pp. 6–9.................... pp. 10–11
2............ The Shepherd Metaphor.. .......... Ezekiel 34:11–12, 14–16........ pp. 13–19.. .............. pp. 20–21
3................... Jesus as Shepherd.................. John 10:11–16............................ pp. 23–27.. .............. pp. 28–29
4................... Rest and Renewal.................. Psalm 23:2; 42:1–2. . .................. pp. 31–35............... pp. 36–37
5................... Listening to God.. ................. Luke 10:38–42; Ps. 19:7–8..... pp. 39–43............... pp. 44–45
6......... Responding to God in Prayer........ Philippians 4:6–7...................... pp. 47–51............... pp. 52–53
Pulpit Sermon Series (for pastors and church leaders)

Although the Discovery Series Bible Study is primarily for personal and group
study, pastors may want to use this material as the foundation for a series of
messages on this important issue. The suggested topics and their correspond-
ing texts from the Overview of Lessons above can be used as an outline for a
sermon series.
DSBS User’s Guide (for individuals and small groups)

Individuals—Personal Study
• Read the designated pages of the book.
• Carefully consider the study questions, and write out answers for each.
Small Groups—Bible-Study Discussion

• To maximize the value of the time spent together, each member should do
the lesson work prior to the group meeting.
• Recommended discussion time: 45 minutes.
• Engage the group in a discussion of the questions—seeking full participation
from each member.
55
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57
N avigating your way through circumstances in life
can be difficult, especially when you don’t have a
clear picture of what lies ahead. However, having
a guide who knows the course can bring a sense of
comfort to the journey.
In the Bible study The

Lord Is My Shepherd
author David Roper
shares an excerpt from
his book Every Day Is
a New Shade of Blue:
Comfort for Dark
Days from Psalm 23 to
help you find hope,
encouragement, and Six studies for groups
rest even in the most or individuals
troubling times of life.
You’ll explore the relationship expressed throughout Scripture
between the Shepherd and the sheep, as Roper offers insights from
the lives of biblical characters such as David, Jacob, and Isaiah.
An excellent resource for individuals or groups, this six-lesson

study encourages you to rely on God as the heavenly Shepherd and
allow Him to lead you to a place of contentment, peace, and rest.
Includes reflections from Our Daily Bread.
To find other Discovery Series Bible Study titles, go to

ourdailybreadpublishing.org.
DS862
BK476
I S B N 978-1-57293-736-9
odb.org
9 781572 937369
PO Box 3566, Grand Rapids, MI 49501-3566

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D S

he sight of sheep grazing peacefully on a grassy hillside

Copyright © 2012 by Discovery House Publishers

Discovery House Publishers is affiliated with Our Daily Bread Ministries,

Managing Editor: Dave Branon

Cover Photos: Terry Bidgood; Mark Robinson/StockXCHNG

2 MORE ABOUT THE SHEPHERD METAPHOR 

4 REST AND RENEWAL

6 RESPONDING TO GOD IN PRAYER

Leader’s and User’s Guide 56

RESPOND: At the end of the reading is a two-page STUDY GUIDE to help

MEMORY VERSE: A short Scripture passage that focuses your thinking on

THINKING THROUGH: Questions that will help a group or a student interact

DIGGING IN: An inductive study of a related passage of Scripture, reminding

GOING FURTHER: A two-part wrap-up of the response: REFER suggests ways

T he problem with most of us is that we have no clear picture of the God

David and the

YHWH (Jehovah, which is translated “Lord” in our not want.

2. What did David mean when he said, “I shall not

3. How do David’s words carry a tone of confidence

Prayer Time >

14 “ ‘I will feed them in good pasture,

and their fold shall be on the high

3. In verse 16, there are expressions of mercy

Carried By the Shepherd

3. What does Christ mean in verse 16 when He says,

Prayer Time >

L eft to ourselves we would have nothing more than restlessness, driven

I may, I suppose, regard myself as being a relatively successful man.

But how do we “graze” on God and “drink” Him in?

3. On page 35, A. W. Tozer encourages us to stay in our “secret place.” What is he

1 As the deer pants for the water

brooks, so pants my soul for You, O

2. How does the shepherd “lead” his sheep to

3. What is the reality behind the “green pastures” and

Quiet Time With God

who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard

converting the soul; the testimony of

3. What does this passage teach about the need for

One way to do that is to meditate on His many attri-

A s we listen to God, we should answer. This is prayer—our response

passes all understanding, will guard

2. What do you tend to do with your worries? Is

3. What is the “peace of God” that Paul mentions

Prayer Time >

Have You Prayed?

Panting physically and spiritually, I had to admit,

Overview of Lessons: Ten Reasons To Believe in . . .

Pulpit Sermon Series (for pastors and church leaders)

DSBS User’s Guide (for individuals and small groups)

Small Groups—Bible-Study Discussion

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In the Bible study The

An excellent resource for individuals or groups, this six-lesson

To find other Discovery Series Bible Study titles, go to

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2 MORE ABOUT THE SHEPHERD METAPHOR

4 REST AND RENEWAL

6 RESPONDING TO GOD IN PRAYER

Leader’s and User’s Guide 56