Is He?

Ps.23:¹ “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” [NKJV, with emphasis]

The first question Psalm 23 [please read] confronts us with is, who is your shepherd? David categorically says the Lord is my shepherd. You and I need to answer this question for ourselves, who is your shepherd? Your shepherd determines how free you are and how free you can actually be. The Hebrew word for “Lord” in Psalm 23 does not mean Lord as in master. It is simply the word YAHWEH, which is also Jehovah depending on the translation. David is saying Yahweh is my shepherd. Why did David use this particular Name of God and not another? The first occurrence of God’s Name as Yahweh in Exodus 3, when God appeared to Moses in the burning bush. Yahweh means I AM THAT I AM. If you examine the real essence of God’s Name as I AM THAT I AM, you begin to see where freedom really comes from.

I AM THAT I AM implies that God is self-existent. God is God by Himself. God exists because God exists. God is not defined by anything outside of Himself. God does not need to wear a brand label to feel significant. He does not need to wear a Gucci suit, or drive a Ferrari, or live in an exclusive residential area, or carry a Louis Vuitton bag. He is God all by Himself and where He lives is heaven because He is God. The Lord asked someone, “What if there is no heaven, will you still follow Me?” The man responded, “Yes, I will.” “Why would you still follow Me?” Jesus asked, and he said, “Heaven is wherever You are!” So many people will stop following Jesus if heaven is out of the picture. However, I believe that if God relocates to earth from heaven, and then allows man to move to physically to heaven, man will turn heaven to what we currently have on earth. Yet because God is on earth, it will become heaven. He is God by Himself and He exists in Himself.

Beyond being self-existent, God is self-sufficient. He does not depend on anything outside of Himself to be God. We depend on things, people, and systems to exist. When man is cold, man depends on a jacket or duvet for warmth. When man is ill, man depends on a doctor for healing. When man is hungry, man depends on woman to be fed. Man has to go outside of itself to have its needs met. But not God, He is everything! All that He needs to be God is within Himself. When David says, I AM THAT I AM is my shepherd, he is saying the one that is self-existent and self-sufficient is my shepherd. Therefore, I am free of want. I am free to live, I am free to exist.

Prayer: [song]: You are the love of my life. You are the hope that I cling to. You mean, more than this world to me. I wouldn’t trade You for silver or gold… You are, You are my everything. Amen!