fe--his duties, his solicitude, his
ceaseless care of his sheep. But here, be it noted, in this opening verse,
the reference, so direct and unmistakable, is not to an earthly shepherd;
it is to the benign and constant Providence of Jehovah towards His
children, to the untiring love of God, our Father and Saviour, for the
souls He has created and redeemed. The Psalmist is looking back, in
grateful remembrance, upon the history of his race, and upon his own life
in particular, and he traces there at every step the goodness and
watchfulness of his Creator. He sees there has never been any want. Dark
days at times have come upon his nation, sufferings and trials there have
been; and in these, as in other respects, his own individual experience
has mirrored the history of his people; but throughout it all there has
never been any lasting want. As the shepherd is ever near his sheep,
whether at peace or in trouble, to provide for their needs, so, sings the
Psalmist in gratitude, has God been near him and his people. And his
confidence is unshaken; that which has been in the past will be in the
future; as sheep put their trust in their shepherd, so will he put his
trust in his Lord and God. Nor is this gratitude for past favors and this
unshaken trust for the future to be restricted to the Psalmist alone; his
words had meaning not only for himself; he knows the same Providence
provides for us all, and therefore he would have his words find an echo in
the hearts and sentiments of all.

The Lord is my shepherd; He ruleth me with the rod of gentleness. I am His
creation, He has bought me with a great price, He has set me a divine
example and taught me the way to life. There may be times of distress for
me, brief periods of temporal need; but surely, since I am the possession
of my God, and He is providing for me, nothing can long be wanting to
me--permanent want there can never be.

The Lord ruleth me, and all my kind, as a shepherd ruleth his flock. What
a consoling thought to each one of us, if only we be faithful souls! How
unspeakable the thought, how surpassing the privilege to know and to be
assured that we belong to God! that out of countless millions of
creatures, far nobler than we, to whom He might have given the joy of
life, He has chosen to select us; to think that He has allotted to us a
short period of existence here below, during which it is our privilege to
be able to merit and draw near to Him for eternity; and t