In Asia, Psalm 23 is very popular. People use this Psalm for many reasons such as a worshipping song, a wedding ceremony, a funeral service, a personalised license plate, a personal football jersey and more.
Psalm 23 is about the relationship between the sheep and shepherd. I asked many pastors what the psalm means to them. Their answers mostly referred to God, the Father of Israel or Jesus the Son of God. In the OT, the term “shepherd” referred to Israel’s leaders and the God of Israel. In the NT, Jesus referred to Himself as the Good Shepherd. “I am the good Shepherd” (John 10:11).
Many parts of the Book of Psalms are full of complaints. David expresses his feelings to the Lord in the time of his struggles, unfair treatments, anger, depression, anxiety, disappointments, fears, doubts, and darkness. Apart from these complaints, David expresses his gratitude, joy, praise, and thanksgiving to the Lord. I find Psalm 23 is full of comfort. It comforted my heart in a time of learning to cope with my own psychological trauma.
In my book “The Shepherd of my soul”, I share my psychological experiences of using the Scriptures and its imagery to heal my trauma. In my personal reflection, I share about my Christian faith—how each verse from Psalm 23 impacts my life. By the end of a summary of each verse, I have written prayers to go along with my journey (and yours too). I had been living with psychological trauma for many years after my family was killed. Nightmares, flashbacks, depression, anxieties, and fears filled my life. I did not know how to get rid of them. My personality was also shaped by these traumatic experiences. I never knew how to describe my personality or who I was back then. One thing I knew was that fear penetrated every area of my life. Let me point out that emotional and psychological damage can take only a few seconds to turn a person’s world upside down, but it can take years to get them healed and set free. Some people make a desperate attempt to come out of their emotional and psychological damage to start a new, wholesome journey. Others struggle to get out of the pit of emotional and psychological damage and they often find themselves engulfed with negative thoughts and feelings which rob them of a normal joy.
Psalm 23 brings hope to us all. A hope that is founded in the truth of the Good Shepherd, Jesus Himself.