Revealed - Session 4 - Brian Durfee

What if the God who spoke galaxies into being is also the One who leads you beside still waters? In this session, we follow that thread from the burning bush to Psalm 23, tracing how Yahweh—the I AM—reveals Himself as our Shepherd: powerful enough to part seas, yet tender enough to calm skittish hearts. Along the way, we also explore why some translations use “Jehovah” while others use “Yahweh,” and how both reveal the same self-existent, covenant-keeping God who makes Himself known not only in grandeur but in gentle guidance.

We linger with David’s poetry and let the imagery reshape how we think about God’s care. Green pastures are not symbols of ease but of recovery—places God intentionally leads us to restore what’s weary. Still waters are not random pools but crafted spaces of safety where anxious hearts can finally rest. The valley of the shadow of death does not signal God’s absence; it declares that His nearness becomes most precious in the dark. Even the rod and staff—so often misunderstood—are not instruments of punishment but tools of protection and rescue: the rod defending against what stalks us, the staff pulling us back when we’ve wandered too far.

We unpack the richness of anointing as an act of welcome, consecration, and healing—evidence that God’s hospitality extends even into hardship. The image of the overflowing cup reminds us that grace is not rationed in scarcity but poured out in abundance by a generous King who delights to fill every empty place.

As the psalm unfolds, we see how it ultimately points to Jesus—the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for His sheep and fulfills God’s covenant promise: “I am with you always.” That assurance transforms worry into worship, reorders our steps when we stray, and anchors our hope in a future where goodness and mercy will pursue us all the days of our lives.

This teaching invites you to exchange a brittle, distant view of God for a living picture of His nearness and care. He is both Yahweh—the eternal “I AM”—and Rohi, the Shepherd who knows your name, guards your path, and restores your soul.

If you’ve ever felt like faith has grown thin, or wondered if God’s attention has turned elsewhere, this session will steady your heart. The Almighty who names every star is the same Lord who walks beside you through every valley and leads you home at last. Come ready to rest, to listen, and to rediscover the Shepherd whose voice still calls His people by name.

We are Trinity Community Church in Knoxville, Tennessee.
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Chapters

• 0:00 Opening Prayer And Series Setup
• 0:21 Yahweh Versus Jehovah Explained
• 3:24 God’s Name And Covenant Faithfulness
• 5:34 From Exodus To The Names Of God
• 7:07 Yahweh’s Greatness And Holiness
• 10:14 The Infinite God Revealed In Jesus
• 11:44 Transition To Jehovah Rohi
• 12:18 Reading And Framing Psalm 23
• 12:45 Rest, Provision, And Still Waters
• 15:17 Guidance And Peace In The Valley
• 17:29 Presence, Protection, And Comfort
• 19:13 Anointing, Overflow, And Grace
• 21:14 Goodness, Mercy, And Eternal Hope
• 22:30 The Shepherd And The Stars

Transcript

Brian Durfee: 0:04

Father, thank you for all of us who that you would reveal yourself tonight. That we would have a real encounter with you, with who you are. Lord, open our eyes. Amen. So we've been in this series called Revealed, in which we've been looking at the names of God and how they reveal God's nature as it really as it relates to us. And tonight we're looking at specifically a Jehovah Rohi, God our shepherd. This name comes from Psalm 23, and it's the only place that this word, this name, Jehovah Rohi, appears in the Bible. Now you'll see the concept of God as shepherd throughout the Bible, but this specific name only appears as Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. That phrase, the Lord is my shepherd, it's just two words. The first two words of the passage, Yahweh Rohi. And it literally means God my shepherd. Now normally when we focus on when we focus when we start studying the names of God, quite often we focus on the second part of these hyphenated names that reveal who God is to us because we know the first part, Jehovah, it refers to God. So God is God. But tonight I want to take a look at both parts, Jehovah and Rohi, because both parts are important. So as I started looking at this, and I was looking at the name Jehovah Rohi, and then I looked at an interlinear Bible so I could see what the Hebrew actually says. Not that I can read Hebrew, but uh the interlinear gives you the English and the Hebrew together. And by the way, anybody can do this over on Biblehub.com. Um, I realized that Psalm 23 doesn't say Jehovah Rohi, it says Yahweh Rohi. So why have I always heard people say Jehovah in these in these names of God? And is there a difference between Yahweh and Jehovah? And as I talk to people, it looks like everybody everybody had known except for me. But actually, there's no difference. And so to understand where we get the the name Jehovah, we have to go back to Exodus 3 when Moses met God at the Brain Bush. But Moses asked God for his name. God said, I am who I am. Now in Hebrew, that's that's eyah. Now I'm probably gonna massacre any kind of Hebrew, Hebrew language, but just go with me. In Hebrew, that's ayeh from the verb that means to be. It's the one who always is. And later God told Israel, This is my name forever, Yahweh. So it carries the same meaning as I am, the self-existent one, the ever-present one, the faithful one. Now over time, Israel held that name, that name Yahweh, in such reverence that they stopped saying it out loud. They started using Adonai, which means Lord, instead. Centuries later, Jewish scribes called the Masoretes added vowel marks to preserve pronunciation. And they combined the vowels of Adonai with the consonants of Yahweh. And so then after that, Latin scholars, they they read it and transliterated it, and so they were they misread it as Jehovah instead of Yahweh. So literally, Jehovah, Yahweh, and I am, all three of those refer to the same divine name. Each one flows from the from the word meaning to be. It's the name of the eternal, self-existent God who was, who is, and will always be. So now that we know who Yahweh is, or at least we know God his name, then what who is Yahweh? Because we have Yahweh Rahi. Well, who is Yahweh? This is how God introduces himself to Moses in Israel. He uses he used three different phrases in Exodus. He said when he was talking to Moses about this, and he says, I am who I am. He says, I am has sent me to you. And he says, The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. Now this may sound a little bit redundant, you know, because I'm going to tell you the same thing, but I want you to think about it. This is Israel's first encounter with God. Okay, so Moses says, Who are you? Who do I tell them? And so God gives him these three these three names, really two, um, because I am, he uses twice, but he gives them two names to tell Israel who he is. One is Eyeh, which means I am, the self-existent one. God's being depends on nobody else. And then Yahweh, he is the God of your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And the reference, even though they they probably weren't too sure about who this Yahweh was, they would recognize the reference back to the fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Because they know their covenant. And so God is saying, Hey, I'm the covenant faithful one. I'm the one who is who he has always promised to be. God has just declared his greatness and his faithfulness at the same time. And so then, that's what so Moses goes and delivers that delivers that to the to Israel and says, This is who God is, but they still don't know their God. So to prove who he is, God begins by demonstrating that he's greater than all the gods of Egypt through the ten plagues. He exhibits he's greater than anything in nature by parting the Red Sea, and more powerful than one of the most powerful armies, the people who've oppressed them for years by decimating the entire Egyptian army as he parted the parted the Red Sea. And he continues after that in the desert by raining down manna and bringing forth water out of the rock. And we know the stories from the you know from the Exodus. This is Jehovah. This is Yahweh. And through the years, God continued to reveal himself to Israel in different ways, and Israel gave him gave him different names. And so the study we've been doing on Wednesday nights, it's allowing us to see some of those names and what they really mean. And each name came about when a person or group encountered God and then saw him demonstrate his character in some way. So, like with the previous with the previous uh sessions here in the series, we had Jehovah Jirah, the Lord will provide. That comes from Genesis 22, when Abraham names the place where God provided the ram for Isaac's sacrifice. We had Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who heals. And that's from Exodus 15. God reveals himself as the healer of Israel after bringing them out of Egypt. And then we have Jehovah Nisi, the Lord is my banner. And that comes from Exodus 17, where Moses builds an altar after uh after the victory over Amalek and names it to honor God's victory. And then what we're talking about tonight is Jehovah Rohi, the Lord is my shepherd. And that's from Psalms 23. And you can almost imagine David sitting out on an evening looking up at the stars, and he's he's thinking about the different things that he does as a shepherd of sheep, and he starts realizing God's been doing the same thing with him. And it leads him to declare the Lord as his shepherd, who provides, who guides, who protects him. But I want to I want you to, all the all these different names, there's something in common with all with all of them. They always begin with Jehovah. They begin with Yahweh. He is the great I am. It's in his name. He's the self, self-existent one, forever being, not bound by time or place. And David talks about it in Psalm 90. Before the mountains were born, or you were brought or you brought forth the whole world from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. His greatness is in his nature. He's the eternal, majestic creator. Every galaxy that burns with who knows how many suns was lit by his word. He calls each star by name, and he knows your name, each one of us. You know, Isaiah 40 26 says, Lift up your eyes on high and see. Who created these? He who brings out their hosts by number, calling them all by name. Not only that, it his nature is entirely holy and pure. You know, in Isaiah 6, when Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up, with the angels crying out, Holy, holy, holy, the whole earth is full of his glory. Isaiah didn't speak, he just kind of crumbled. Holiness is not just this moral perfection, it's the blazing purity of God's being. It's who he is. His greatness is found in his power and his sovereignty. When Job demanded answers after all the things he'd been through, God gave him a tour of creation. God answered him, said, Well, where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me if you understand that. It's in Job 38, if you want to look it up. Job realized that the one who rules the lightning doesn't have to answer to man. His greatness is in his covenant faithfulness. The God who measures the universe by the span of his hand stoops to bind himself to dust because his love endures forever. Deuteronomy 7, he says to Israel, Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations. And then David echoes it in Psalm 103 But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children's children. And that's what he's saying to us. This is our Jehovah, this is our Yahweh, this is our I am. And it's even found in the revelation of Jesus. The eternal I am stepped into his creation. The God who thundered on Sinai walks among us in grace and truth. The same voice that said, Let there be light, said to the blind man, See. Think about that. Isaiah 40, 25 says, To whom then will you compare me that I should be like him? And says the Holy One. We have this high and exalted God, this self-existent, perfect, pure, and holy, eternal, majestic creator, who is all powerful and completely sovereign, and he allows us to know him in Jesus because he's faithful and full of patient, loving kindness towards us. That's our Jehovah. He is ours not because we claim him, but because he came to us. When we look at Jehovah Jirah, Jehovah Raphah, Jehovah Nisi, Jehovah Rohi, or any of the other names by which he's known, it always begins with Jehovah, Yahweh, the great I Am. That's the first part. And we look at when we look at the part second part of any name of God, we have to remember that it's not just a nice description, it's one facet of our great and mighty God. So now, after beholding Jehovah and all his majesty, the self-existent, all powerful I am, we now see him stoop low as Jehovah Rohi, my shepherd. The infinite God becomes intimately present. And there are so many different ways we can look at Psalm 23. So how about we just start by reading it? A Psalm of David, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not lack. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside still waters, he restores my soul, he leads me a paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you're 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 goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Our great transcendent God cares for every aspect of our lives, and that's the idea of the shepherd. So very quickly, I just want to run through what the shepherd does for us. Because the shepherd here in Psalm 23 is reflected over in the New Testament too. Yahweh, my shepherd, I will not lack. Jesus says in John 10, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays his life down for the sheep. He gives us rest, and he provides for our basic needs like food. We see that in lie down in green pastures. Matthew 11 28 says, Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. But then in Matthew 6 2 33, when he's talking about worrying about what we'll eat and what what clothes we'll have, he says, But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be taken care of. All these things will be added to you. The next phrase he leaves us beside still waters, which is a place of refreshment and safety and peace. You know, sheep are cautious animals. They have poor depth perception, and so when there's fast or noisy moving water, it looks dangerous to them, and they can't judge how deep it is, and the movement really can make them feel very disoriented. Not only that, wool is pretty heavy when it gets wet. And so if they fall in, they're going to drown pretty quickly. And the shepherds in ancient times knew this, so they often dug small trenches or channels that would divert the stream into a calm pool, and they'd wait until that settled down, and then they'd let their sheep drink. You know, we go through a lot of storms in our lives, circumstances that are hard that we can't figure out, that we've got to deal with. And uh, and how do we deal with that? Well, our shepherd is the one that provides a source of st of calm and stillness where we can receive for him from him. And it's in that place that he restores our soul. He also gives us guidance, he leads us in paths of righteousness. And I love Proverbs 16:9. The heart of a man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps. That means I can't mess things up. Well, I can, but he's going to get me back on track. He's faithful to bring us right back into step with him, um, into paths of righteousness. He gives us peace in the valley. And but David says, I will fear no evil. In the darkest of times, we can have peace. It may not be it may not feel very peaceful, but as we look at him and focus on him until nothing else matters, it's there that we realize our peace because he is with us. And that's a key thing. He is with us. Psalm Philippians 4, 5 through 7. Most people start that passage, don't be anxious for anything. But actually, it starts the phrase before: the Lord is at hand, the Lord's here, the Lord's with us. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything about prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. The reason our hearts and minds are guarded, and we have peace which passes all understanding, is because our Savior is with us. And we know that he hears us when we stop being anxious in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let our requests be made known to him. And Isaiah 26, 3 kind of sums it up. You keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. So he gives us his very presence. You know, that David just says, For you are with me. But that's that phrase, you are with me, carries so much. All through the scripture, God says that he goes with us or he'll never leave us. He's he's here with us. He said it to Jacob in Genesis, to Moses in Exodus, to Israel in Deuteronomy, to Joshua in Joshua, and to Solomon in 1 Chronicles. In John 14, Jesus says that he will not leave us as orphans, but makes his home with us. And there's loads more through scripture, which includes a pretty overt one in Matthew 28, 20, where he says, I'm with you always to the end of the age. But you know, he's not just here while we're here on earth. Um, and I'm getting ahead of myself. He also brings comfort in the midst of dark circumstances. Your rod and your staff comfort me. The rod the shepherd carries is for protection and occasionally for correction. But you know, it's kind of comforting knowing that nothing is going to touch me unless Jesus allows it. He's got a big old rod up there, and that's not for beating people down, it's for beating the enemy off. And the staff that he has, the rod, why would it bring comfort? Because it guides, he uses it to guide the sheep. He pulls them from danger and rescues them. And something else I learned is often the shepherds would walk with their staff out so the sheep the sheep could could see it, and it reminded them that he's with them. So then the next couple of phrases all fit together. He nourishes us, he prepares a table before us, he anoints our head with oil. He welcomes us in, he consecrates us, and he and he refreshes us. In ancient times, anointing with oil had several meanings. One, it was an act actually it was actually an act of hospitality. Second, it was used to consecrate someone, to set them apart for a divine purpose. But third, it was also used for healing and refreshing with sheep. The sheep had these pesky flies that would be around their head, they'd fly up their nostrils, pretty gross. But they would they could actually they could actually kill the sheep. They're a real threat. But the shepherd would anoint their head with oil, which would keep the flies off. Our Savior anoints anoints us with oil. And then he says, My cup overflows. Or you could rephrase that, he gives me more than I can ask or imagine. In Ephesians 1:7 to 8, in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace. And then catch this, which he lavished upon us. So every time I read that word lavished upon us, that phrase, I think of a uh football coach who the team has just won the game and they come running up behind him with the big Gatorade and they dump it over him, and you see this thing. But I but then I think of that, and then I think, well, what about Niagara Falls? He he has just stuck me at the bottom of Niagara Falls of His grace, and he just lavishes it. He dumps this, dumps all that grace on us, on me. And then Ephesians 3.20 says, Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly all than than we can let me read this again. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we can ask or think, according to the power at work within us. Who is that power working within us? It's the Holy Spirit. Who is the Holy Spirit? He's Yahweh, Jehovah, I am. He is with me. This whole theme of Jesus with me, we uh I've got to keep going. His loving kindness is always with us because you know, David's got this whole crescendo happening in Psalm 23. He gets to the end of it and says, Surely love goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. And one of those words is hesed, which Mark has a whole sermon about, or just about. Um it means loving kindness. That's the closest word we've got in English to understand what that means. You know, Romans 8, 38 and 39, I think, I think Paul tried to capture that idea. He said, I'm for I'm sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor death, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Surely goodness and mercy will follow us, because it's all based on Him. And then He provides for our future. It's not just about this world, but David David says, I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. You know, in John 10, 27 and 28, Jesus said, My sh my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they will follow me, and I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. And then in John 14, he says, And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. So tonight, when you think about Jehovah Rohi, I want you to remember this. The shepherd who holds your heart is the same Lord who holds the stars. This is our God, both Jehovah and Rohi, God my shepherd, awesome and intimate. The same God who spoke galaxies into being is the one who leaves you beside still waters. The voice that thundered on Sinai is the same voice that calls you by name. The hand that set the stars in place is the hand that lifts you up when you fall. The infinite I am, Jehovah, Almighty Creator, stoops low to be Rohi, your shepherd. His greatness means he can, and his love means he will. Every star in the sky declares his power, but Psalm twenty-three shows his heart. He is both the God who reigns above all, and the shepherd who walks beside you. His majesty protects you, his mercy restores you, the Almighty has made himself your companion. The one who is awesome beyond comprehension is also the one who knows your name, calls you his own, and walks every single valley with you. And that's why we can say with confidence The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not lack.