To start with, let's take this song which i am sure virtually all of us know. 'Shepherd of my soul I give you full control, Wherever You may lead I will follow. I have made a choice to listen for Your voice Wherever You may lead I will go.

Be it in a quiet pasture or by a gentle stream, The Shepherd of my soul is by my side. Should I face a mighty mountain or a valley dark and deep, The Shepherd of my soul will be my guide..........'

We know very well the contents of Psalms 23 as we do recite it from time to time most especially the last verse. I would like us to lay hold on a Bible as we go on with this exhortation. The question i would like us to ask ourselves as we read that chapter and study it with full understanding is 'are we prepared to be a sheep who will be guided and guarded by our shepherd?' What prompts this question is the understanding I have of what a sheep is or how a sheep should be.

A sheep is a harmless, defenseless(possesses no claws nor sharp teeth),submissive and docile animal who needs constant guidance and needs to be safeguarded by a shepherd. That said, it means the sheep will have to depend solely on the shepherd for everything it needs and will have to trust as much as listen to and for His voice whenever He calls.

Going back to Psalms 23 now, it says the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want (that phrase is a present continuous tense) meaning I lack nothing, I have all that I need, I don't need a thing as it relates to other Bible translations. Now what that means according to how the Holy spirit made me understand is since we are supposed to be sheep while our Lord Jesus Christ should be our Shepherd, then we are supposed to depend solely and trust fully in Him even as it says in Philippians 4:19 that God shall supply all our needs according to His riches in Glory by Christ Jesus. F

rom the above scripture, it means everything we need to succeed and make progress in life has already been provided and all we need is just to tap into the resource reserve by being a sheeps and allow the Shepherd supply it to us. Please note from that scripture that it says 'needs' and not 'wants'.

So you might want a car or a spouse and you not getting it right away doesn’t mean God isn't working but you aren’t getting it at that time because He knows it is not what you need at presently so if you look inward well enough and channel your faith well enough while you are being sensitive to the Holy Spirit, you won't go wrong in seeing the good in that present situation and while you keep thanking God for all that you have and have no compromise in your life, you'll see the things working out the way you want.

Going back to the topic, since the Lord is supposed to be a Shepherd to us we as Humans even though we can defend ourselves and we are even more often than not very harmful. We are however, expected to be as a sheep lowly and meek. Be a light to the world, someone who others see and will see the fruits of the spirit operating.

Matthew 5:16 says let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your father which is in Heaven. That means when you are verbally abused, you shouldn't rain curses back on the person or as the case usually is in Lagos and its normal traffic scenario where you start abusing and cursing when people frustrate us.

That brings me to that passage that in Matthew 5:29 where it lets us know not to retaliate when we are wronged. If we were to be sheeps truly as we should be so as to be led by our Shepherd, we would trust Him to avenge us and not take the situation into our hands.

A shepherd will always belong to the sheep and will go extra lengths to protect and provide for the sheep as seen in the case of David shielding his Fathers flock from the predators such as the Lion and Bear. Loving and tending to them with all his energy.

A shepherd won’t go looking for the sheep of another. So if you aren’t of God, brought to Him through Jesus Christ who is our shepherd, how do you expect the promises to work for you? In conclusion, for us to activate the full power of Psalms 23, we must be willing to be sheeps in order for us to be led aright by our Shepherd while we make sure to be attentive to the nudgings of the Holy Spirit.

Sing that song in the beginning of this piece again and let the meaning sink while you read Psalms 23 once again and this time I pray the Holy Spirit will minister to you and give you better understanding.