Chapter 4 of God of All Comfort is entitled, “The Lord Our Shepherd.” King David tells us in Psalm 23 that the Lord is our shepherd. And Jesus Himself tells us in John 10 that He is not only our shepherd, but He is the good shepherd. Hannah Whitall Smith asks, “Can we conceive of anything more comforting?” She says, “Perhaps no aspect in which the Lord reveals Himself to us is fuller of genuine comfort” than the aspect revealed in these passages of Jesus as our good shepherd.

Smith explains that in her study of the Bible, she has found that “the highest and grandest truths of the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ are so often shut up in the simplest and commonest texts in the Bible.” She was taught the 23^rd Psalm in nursery school and had memorized it. But Smith explains that passages that we have learned and read repeatedly from such a young age can “sound so old and familiar to [us], that [we] cannot see what meaning they can convey. But in truth they tell us the whole story of our religion in words of such wondrous depth of meaning that I very much doubt whether it has ever yet entered into the heart of any mortal man to conceive of the things they reveal.” She says that we must look again at the verses we learned as children. We need to read them with the intelligence of our grown-up years in order to see new insights, and then we need to believe them with all our old childhood faith.

Repeat the words of Psalm 23 to yourself: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”

Who is your shepherd? The Lord!

Smith says, “Oh, my friends, what a wonderful announcement! The Lord God of Heaven and earth, the Almighty Creator of all things, He who holds the universe in His hand as though it were a very little thing, He is your Shepherd, and has charged Himself with the care and keeping of you, as a shepherd is charged with the care and keeping of his sheep.”

Smith explains that as she was thinking about Jesus being her shepherd, she searched through the pages of the Bible with eagerness to see “whether it could possibly be true that such untold treasures of comfort were really and actually [hers].’’ Smith says, “I did what I have often found great profit in doing, I built up a pyramid of declarations and promises concerning the Lord being our Shepherd that, once built, presented an immovable and indestructible front to all the winds and storms of doubt or trial that could assail it. And I became convinced, beyond a shadow of doubt, that the Lord really was my Shepherd, and that in giving Himself this name He assumed the duties belonging to the name, and really would be, what He declares Himself to be, a “good shepherd who giveth his life for his sheep.”

What makes a shepherd good or bad? Jesus Himself draws the contrast between a good shepherd and a bad shepherd. In John 10:11 (NIV), the verse Smith just quoted, Jesus declares, “I am the good shepherd,” and explains that, “The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.” So, the good shepherd is willing to die in order to save the lives of his sheep – as Jesus did on the cross. But in verses 12-13, Jesus explains that the bad shepherd does not have the same regard for the lives of the sheep. He says, “The hired hand,” the bad shepherd, “is not the shepherd and does not own 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.” Smith explains that in the books of the prophets, God condemns the bad shepherds.

Then Smith says, “Surely one would think that no Christian could ever accuse our divine Shepherd of being as faithless and unkind as [the bad shepherds] He thus condemns. And yet, if the secrets of some Christian hearts should be revealed, I fear that it would be found that, although they do not put it into words, and perhaps hardly know themselves that such are their feelings about Him, yet at the bottom they do really look upon Him as a faithless Shepherd. What else can it mean when Christians complain that the Lord has forsaken them; that they cry to Him for spiritual food and He does not hear; that they are beset by enemies on every side and He does not deliver them; that when their souls find themselves in dark places He does not come to their rescue; that when they are weak He does not strengthen them; and when they are spiritually sick He does not heal them? What are all these doubts and discouragements but secret accusations against our good Shepherd of the very things which He Himself so scathingly condemns?”

Smith tells the story of a Christian who had just discovered he had not really understood what it meant for Jesus to be called the good shepherd. The Christian says, “I believe I read the Twenty-third Psalm as though it was written, ‘The Lord is the sheep, and I am the shepherd, and, if I do not keep a tight hold on Him, He will run away.’ When dark days came I never for a moment thought that He would stick by me, and when my soul was starving and cried out for food, I never dreamed He would feed me. I see now that I never looked upon Him as a faithful Shepherd at all. But now all is different. I myself am not one bit better or stronger, but I have discovered that I have a good Shepherd, and that is all I need. I see now that it really is true that the Lord is my Shepherd, and that I shall not want.”

Smith says it is important for us to reflect and ask ourselves if we truly see Jesus as a good, tender shepherd. Are we able to feel safe and carefree like a sheep under the guidance of a shepherd who is thinking of our well being and lovingly guiding us? Do we trust Him to stay with us when the path grows dark? Do we trust He is guiding us the right way? Or do we question His goodness and His plan for our lives and often feel like He has abandoned us on our journey and run away like the bad shepherd? As we are learning who Jesus is and how to trust Him, God will give us clearer vision to see that Jesus is always next to us, lovingly guiding us on the pathway home to heaven and that those dark places on the pathway are part of His plan for us, too – remembering how in the last chapter Smith explained that sometimes God works through afflictions.

We’ll pick up here in Part 2 of the Chapter 4 summary in my next post.

Hannah Whitall Smith: God of All Comfort – Christian Classics Ethereal Library