S8 Episode #12- The Names of God Hidden in Psalm 23
THE ONE WITH Jes + PSALM 23
Happy New Year! In this hope-filled episode of The Collected Podcast, Jes returns to Psalm 23 for a deep, refreshing look at how this beloved passage weaves together so many of the Names of God we’ve explored over the years. Moving line by line, she uncovers the shepherding heart of God—our Provider, our Peace, our Healer, our Righteousness, our ever‑present Help, our Victory, and the One who makes us holy. Along the way, Jes connects Psalm 23 to the powerful arc of Psalms 22–24, reminding us that Christ’s sacrifice, His tender care, and His coming glory are the foundation of our hope. If you’re longing for comfort, clarity, or a renewed sense of God’s nearness as you step into a new year, this episode will meet you right where you are and invite you to drink deeply from the overflowing cup of His blessing.
SOURCES
Herbert Lockyer, All the Divine Names and Titles in the Bible
David Guzik, https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/1-samuel-1/
Quotes from the Enduring Word Bible Commentary by David Guzik are used with permission. Source: enduringword.com
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
LISTEN
CATCH UP
If you’ve missed any of our Names of God series, here is a quick reference guide to help you locate each episode. Happy listening!
El Olam: The Everlasting God — S4E5
El Roi: The God Who Sees — S5E5
El Shaddai: God Almighty — S5E14
Jehovah Shammah: The Lord is There — S6E13
Jehovah Rohi: The Lord Our Shepherd — S7E5
Immanuel: God With Us — S7E7
Jehovah Jireh: The Lord Who Provides — S6E1
Jehovah Rapha: The Lord Our Healer — S6E6
Jehovah Nissi: The Lord Our Banner — S6E8
Jehovah M'Kaddesh: The Lord Who Sanctifies — S6E11
Jehovah Shalom: The Lord Our Peace — S7E10
Jehovah Tsidkenu: The Lord Our Righteousness — S7E12
Jehovah Hoseenu: The Lord Our Maker — S7E19
Elohim: Creator God — S8E1
Jehovah Tsebaoth: The Lord of Hosts — S8E9
Abba: Father — S8E11
SHOW NOTES
Happy New Year! Our last episode was the official end of the Names of God series, but as I’ve continued to pray and study, I’ve come up with a few Names of God adjacent messages that I’d like to share over the next few weeks. Back in S7E5 I taught about Jehovah Rohi– The LORD our Shepherd– and we looked briefly at Psalm 23. I mentioned in that episode that I could do a whole episode (probably a whole series) on Psalm 23, so I decided that today is the day for it!
This is the perfect way to review our series, because as we are about to see, Psalm 23 gives us a glimpse of many of the different names of God that we have been studying over the past 5 years.
Let’s start by reading Psalm 23 so that it is fresh in our minds:
Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
He refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
They comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
BACKGROUND + Training Gruond
It is believed that David is writing this after he has become the king of Israel, however he is still very deeply connected to the role of a shepherd because it is what he did for the better part of his youth. He was not ashamed of his former occupation, instead he recognized how it shaped him into the man who would one day be King-- it was his training ground.
Are there any seasons in your life that you’ve walked through in the past, or might be walking through right now that were particularly challenging? Have you considered that they might have been a training ground to prepare you for something bigger and better that God has in your future? This doesn’t make a hardship any less painful or intense, but I do believe that there is hope in knowing that God can use every part of our stories for His good and for our future.
Looking back at Psalm 23, this chapter is such a beautiful picture of how The Lord shepherds his people. He provides for our needs, he leads us, he gives us peace, he refreshes our souls, he defends and protects, he walks us through the darkest times in our lives, he comforts, he anoints, he makes us righteous, his goodness and love will never leave us.
Context is key
In our episode on Jehovah Rohi, we looked at the significance of the placement of this chapter within the book of Psalms. I want to take a quick moment to review this before we move on to something new today because I believe this lays a solid foundation for where we are headed.
You see, right before Psalm 23 is Psalm 22 (duh), which is a foreshadowing of the coming Messiah– specifically that God would send his Son Jesus to suffer and die on the cross.
Ps 22:1 “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” Which Jesus echos in the moments before he takes his last breath on the cross.
Ps 22:16-18 “My enemies surround me like a pack of dogs; an evil gang closes in on me They have pierced my hands and feet. I can count all my bones, My enemies stare at me and gloat. They divide my garments among themselves and throw dice for my clothing.”
Each of these chilling images would happen to Jesus nearly 1,000 years later.
Jesus’ death and resurrection are the ultimate acts of the shepherd because before the shepherd can even begin to care for his sheep, he must purchase them. Charles Spurgeon explains, “A sheep is an object of property, not a wild animal; its owner sets great store by it, and frequently it is bought with a great price.”
Jesus paid the ultimate price so that we would be able to come to him and experience him as our shepherd. So when Psalm 23 breaks down the gentle, tender, merciful, fiercely protective role of a shepherd, we must understand that the cost for the shepherd was greater than we can fathom. Yet, the reward will also be far greater than we can imagine as Christ establishes his rule over all of creation, which is foreshadowed in Psalm 24.
Here are a few of my favorites from Psalm 24:1-2, 8-9
“The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it. The world and all its people belong to him. For he laid the earth’s foundation on the seas and built it on the ocean depths… Who is the King of Glory? The LORD, strong and mighty; The LORD, invincible in battle… The LORD of Heaven’s Armies– He is the King of Glory.”
So for a a Quick Recap:
Psalm 22- Jesus suffered and died for us
Psalm 23- He shepherds His people
Psalm 24- He established His rule over the earth
So sandwiched between Christ’s death and glorification is a perfect reminder that He did it all for us and because of this, we can experience all of the beauty and grace offered in Psalm 23 as we are shepherded by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
And as we have seen over and over in our Names of God Series, this is another example of how everything in the Old Testament points to the coming of Jesus, and we are really about to drive this point home!
So let’s head back to Psalm 23 and break it down line by line. These verses reveal to us many precious names of God, as well as insights into His character. We will also use this as an opportunity to review some of the names that we have studied together.
VERSE 1 “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”
*Jehovah Rohi– The Lord is our shepherd, He is our defense, care and guide
This name highlights The Lord as our loving shepherd. In the Ancient Near East, a good shepherd would endure danger, extreme weather conditions and sleeplessness in order to protect and provide for his sheep. In the same way, God protects us from danger, provides us with nourishments through His Word, stays by our side through times of struggle, and seeks after our hearts when we wander away. This is such a beautiful picture of care and selfless love!
*Jehovah Jireh– I shall not want, The Lord is our provider
This name embodies how The Lord foresees and provides for every need. He is sovereign, all-knowing, and able to provide when our own resources have run dry.
The first and only time that we see this name of God in the Bible is in Genesis 22:14 when God provided a ram for Abraham to sacrifice in place of his son, Isaac. This story foreshadows the ultimate sacrifice that God would provide to fulfill our needs– himself. Jesus gave His own life, because God foresaw the need for a Savior from the beginning of the world. Every single story in the Old Testament is pointing toward Jesus and our need for a Savior.
You may not get the job or the relationship or the house, or the …. fill in your blank…. BUT you WILL get access to the peace, power and presence of the God of the Universe. He will always provide a way for His promises to be true. He did not promise that life would be easy, but HE did promise that He would never leave you nor forsake you.
VERSE 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.”
*This is an act of Jehovah Shalom– The Lord Our Peace
The image here is of resting in The Lord. God first revealed this name to His people through Gideon during the time of the Judges, when the people were in a constant cycle of falling away from God and turning to false idols. The name reminded the people then – and us today– that true peace can only be found by returning to Jehovah and that Jehovah alone is the Author and Giver of peace. This name implies that God IS peace, therefore peace is not something, but someone. When we return to The Lord and rest in Him, we can experience His peace.
Through the study of the life of Gideon, we are reminded that nothing surprises God or is too hard for God. God will end up reducing Gideon’s army, military strategy, and weapons. And yet, Gideon will still believe and trust in God. He will often give us what we need before we even realize we need it. God may be teaching you something now because He knows you will need it for what is yet to come. This season of Israel’s history could easily be described as one of turmoil, hardship and oppression. Yet, in this season, God revealed himself as Peace. Throughout all of Biblical history, man’s expectations rarely line up with what God had planned. God’s ways are higher than we can imagine and the peace that He is bringing is a spiritual peace.
VERSE 3 “He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.”
*Jehovah Ropheka– He restores our souls, he is healer and solace as we walk through the valleys in life
The healing power of The Lord has the ability to bring sweetness to the things in your life that were once bitter. The ultimate act of Jehovah Rapha, our Healer, is sending Jesus to die on the cross to bring healing and freedom from sin.
The first time that we see this name of God in the Bible is in Exodus 15:26. The Israelites had just been freed from slavery in Egypt, but they now find themselves without drinking water and on the brink of disaster. The Lord “heals” the water at Marah by making sweet that which was once bitter. The water that was undrinkable, leading to certain death, now brought life. The healing power of The Lord has the ability to bring sweetness to the things in your life that were once bitter. The ultimate act of Jehovah Rapha, our Healer, is sending Jesus to die on the cross to bring healing and freedom from sin.
*Jehovah Tsidkenu– The Lord is righteousness and He leads us, but never forces us.
He brings us to a place where we can be restored. He brings us to a place of repentance— He brings us back to Himself.
When God shares this name in Jeremiah 23, the Israelites are in the midst of utter destruction, and yet God provides the hope of a coming savior. Just as the Israelites were helpless to save themselves from captivity in Babylon, so are we unable to save ourselves from our own sin and depravity. God is a righteous God, therefore He demands righteousness from his subjects. Yet, in his great grace and mercy, he provided a way for us to be righteous. The beauty and power of this name is that the perfect righteousness of Jesus is ours, if we only chose to accept it.
4 “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
*Jehovah Shammah- the Lord is there, through all time and eternity
The first time we see this name in the Bible is in the book of Ezekiel, when the prophet receives a vision of God– Jehovah Shammah– in the New Jerusalem.. At this point, the Israelites have been in captivity in Babylon for 25 years. The temple and city was in ruins, and yet this vision from God was a reminder that God is still there in the city and with His people– even when they are in captivity because of their sin. This name is a powerful reminder to the ancient Israelites that God has NOT forsaken them, He was there with them, and He will be faithful to fulfill His promises. This name is also a powerful reminder to us that wherever we are, whatever our circumstance, God is there. You are not forsaken or forgotten, no matter what you have done!
A few more insights from verse 4:
“Walk through”- under the shepherds' lead we may walk through, but it isn’t a dwelling place.
“Fear no evil”- walking with the LORD doesn’t eliminate evil, but rather our need to fear it.
“You are with me” - This is HOW to not fear. The promise of God is HIMSELF… it’s His presence. It’s that HE IS WITH US. Even if we can’t feel it or see it, God is always there.
5 “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows.
*Jehovah Nissi– God is our Victory, the Banner we carry into battle
The Lord is our banner, our source of victory, He fights for us. In ancient times, a banner was a bare pole with a bright shining ornament that would sparkle in the sun. The Lord is the light that we shine into the world, and the world will recognize we are His by the light that we carry.
The first time that we see this name of God in the Bible is in Exodus 17:15, during the nation of Israel's war against the Amalekites. Many Biblical scholars believe that the Amalakites are a representation of our flesh, or our sinful nature. Therefore, The Lord, Our Banner, is shining light into the darkest places of our sinful nature. He is the One providing victory over the darkness in our lives.
Whatever season you are in, you can be confident that Christ has the ultimate victory! Even if we don’t experience the freedom and relief on this side of Heaven, we know that Christ has the final say and one day every knee will bow and every tongue will proclaim that He is Lord.
*Jehovah M’Kaddesh– The Lord who Sanctifies, He sets us apart for His service, purifies and makes us holy
The first time that we see this name in the Bible is in Exodus 31 when God is speaking to Moses on Mt. Sinai. After 40 days of receiving 613 laws, the grand finale is the revelation that it is only The LORD God, Jehovah M’Kaddesh, who can sanctify us and make us holy. The Lord knew it would be impossible for us to uphold our end of the covenant. He knew that there was no way we could possibly uphold all 613 laws in our own strength.
From the very moment that sin entered the world, God had a plan for our redemption– for our sanctification. Out of His great love, He was not going to leave the pursuit of holiness in our own hands, because all would fall short. Instead, He allowed for the blood of a spotless animal to be shed in our place. Throughout the Old Testament, we see over and over again the use of blood sacrifice to take the place of the people, protect them from the wrath of God, and make them right with God when they fall short.
Jesus lived a perfectly holy life– set apart for a divine purpose. The life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is what created a way for us to be seen as holy by a Holy God. When Jesus took his last breath on the cross, the curtain to the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle was ripped in half, signifying that all people could now have free access to the presence of God. The final and ultimate sacrifice had been paid. Jesus atoned for the sins of humanity– past, present and future.
A few more insights from verse 5:
“Prepare”- He’s done the work for us! He set it! BELIEVE YOU BELONG!
“My enemies”- a picture of protection-- even in the midst of enemies, I am secure and provided for.
“Anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows”- rich, abundant goodness!
VERSE 6 “Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”
“Dwell in the house of the LORD forever”- THIS is where we dwell!! Not in the valley of verse 4-- we walk through the valley… yet we DWELL, we REMAIN, we are ROOTED in the LORD!
The way that we defeat the enemy is by enjoying God’s presence each day. When we feel full in Christ, we will not hunger for the things of the world.
We so often look to the world for things that we already FREELY have in Christ. Anthony Ateck says, “Christ drank the cup of God’s wrath so that we can drink the overflowing cup of God’s blessing.”
This is my prayer for us as we enter into 2026– that regardless of the circumstances we face, we can drink from the overflowing cup of God’s blessing and know that our hope is in Christ alone who conquered death and is coming again one day!
NEXT STEPS
Here are a few action steps to help you dip deeper this week!
What character trait of The Lord spoke to your heart today?
Can you think of a time in your life when you have experienced one of these character traits of God?
What “valley” have you walked through in the past, or are you walking through right now? How have you seen The Lord provide for you in this season?
How might your view of yourself or your situation change if you truly believed that God is who He says He is?
As you spend time with The Lord this week, ask Him:
Lord, what do you want me to know about who you are?
Lord, what do you want me to know about who I am in you?
Lord, what do you want me to do?
Thank you, as always, for listening! Please remember that everything we do is funded by those who benefit from our ministry. Our ministry a 501(c)3, so your contribution is tax-deductible.
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The Collected Podcast is a production of Collected Ministries, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping disciples of Jesus discover and live from their true identity in Christ, recognize and walk in their divine purpose within the Kingdom of God, and experience growth in their capacity for mature, healthy relationships.
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The Collected Podcast is produced by Jes French and edited by Jacob Early. Cover art designed by Ben Biondo.