A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 is now quite old, but has been republished several times. Phillip Keller writes about the 23rd Psalm from the perspective of a shepherd. He is well qualified to do this as he grew up in East Africa amongst herdsmen and also owned a sheep ranch in the US.
Keller draws many spiritual parallels between the shepherd’s role in caring for his sheep and the way God cares for his people. Working his way through the psalm, Keller believes it’s based on a yearly cycle that describes the shepherd’s role in each season. There are 12 short chapters, each one focuses on a different spiritual lesson we can learn as we consider the metaphor of a Shepherd and his sheep. Keller gives explanations and examples from his own experiences.
The book is well-written and gives us great encouragement that God is our Good Shepherd who cares for us. Keller also provides a significant challenge. If God is such a Good Shepherd, why don’t we trust him more? Keller confronts us with our lack of belief. If we really believe that God is looking after us, we would be satisfied with our lot in life and content with the care God provides. We would trust that God knows what he is doing in every season of our lives
Overall, a great encouragement and a serious challenge.
More reviews of this book can be found on Goodreads and for more of my book reviews click here.
