Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale Daily DevotionalSample

Jehovah-rohi One day, David decided to compose a song that expressed God's place in his life. As we all tend to do, he thought in terms of the things he was most familiar with. And the things He was most familiar with were sheep and shepherding. The result is probably the most-loved, most-memorized, and most-repeated piece of writing in the entire Bible ... and in literary history. Psalm 23 is the song we're talking about. But as familiar as we may be with this Psalm, many of us don't realize it starts out with a descriptive name for God. Our English translation reads this way: "The Lord is my shepherd." But in the original Hebrew, the text simply reads Jehovah (God), rohi (shepherd). When combined, the name Jehovah-rohi is produced, and it paints a picture as powerful and poignant as the Psalm it introduces. There's so much included and implied in this word rohi that it's difficult to fully define it. "Keep, tend, feed, pasture, and herd" are all words that contribute to the essential meaning of rohi. It conveys the idea of competently and faithfully caring for the needs of an animal that is completely and utterly dependant. David took this word and joined it to the covenant name of God, Jehovah, to create an image that represented his relationship with Jehovah-rohi, and ours, as well...an image that's elaborated upon and fleshed out in the rest of the Psalm. As we read through Psalm 23, there's something inside us that automatically connects with the idea of God feeding us, protecting us, leading us, and comforting us. It's not because we're shepherds, as David was, but because we've come to recognize how completely and utterly dependant we are. We see how varied and vast our needs are, and that they can only be met by Jehovah-rohi. But as familiar as we may be with this Psalm 23, many of us don't realize it starts out with a descriptive name for God. In the original Hebrew, the text simply reads Jehovah (God), rohi (shepherd). Think about it... What does this passage reveal to me about God? What does this passage reveal to me about myself? Based on this, what changes do I need to make? What is my prayer for today?