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.

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Episode Transcript

Brian Durfee (00:04):
Father, thank you for all of us who that you would
reveal yourself tonight.
That we would have a realencounter with you, with who you
are.
Lord, open our eyes.
Amen.
So we've been in this seriescalled Revealed, in which we've
been looking at the names of Godand how they reveal God's

(00:26):
nature as it really as itrelates to us.
And tonight we're looking atspecifically a Jehovah Rohi, God
our shepherd.
This name comes from Psalm 23,and it's the only place that
this word, this name, JehovahRohi, appears in the Bible.
Now you'll see the concept ofGod as shepherd throughout the

(00:48):
Bible, but this specific nameonly appears as Psalm 23.
The Lord is my shepherd, Ishall not want.
That phrase, the Lord is myshepherd, it's just two words.
The first two words of thepassage, Yahweh Rohi.
And it literally means God myshepherd.
Now normally when we focus onwhen we focus when we start

(01:08):
studying the names of God, quiteoften we focus on the second
part of these hyphenated namesthat 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 alook at both parts, Jehovah and
Rohi, because both parts areimportant.
So as I started looking atthis, and I was looking at the

(01:31):
name Jehovah Rohi, and then Ilooked at an interlinear Bible
so I could see what the Hebrewactually says.
Not that I can read Hebrew, butuh the interlinear gives you
the English and the Hebrewtogether.
And by the way, anybody can dothis over on Biblehub.com.
Um, I realized that Psalm 23doesn't say Jehovah Rohi, it
says Yahweh Rohi.

(01:52):
So why have I always heardpeople say Jehovah in these in
these names of God?
And is there a differencebetween Yahweh and Jehovah?
And as I talk to people, itlooks like everybody everybody
had known except for me.
But actually, there's nodifference.
And so to understand where weget the the name Jehovah, we
have to go back to Exodus 3 whenMoses met God at the Brain

(02:15):
Bush.
But Moses asked God for hisname.
God said, I am who I am.
Now in Hebrew, that's that'seyah.
Now I'm probably gonna massacreany kind of Hebrew, Hebrew
language, but just go with me.
In Hebrew, that's ayeh from theverb that means to be.
It's the one who always is.

(02:36):
And later God told Israel, Thisis my name forever, Yahweh.
So it carries the same meaningas I am, the self-existent one,
the ever-present one, thefaithful one.
Now over time, Israel held thatname, that name Yahweh, in such
reverence that they stoppedsaying it out loud.
They started using Adonai,which means Lord, instead.

(02:59):
Centuries later, Jewish scribescalled the Masoretes added
vowel marks to preservepronunciation.
And they combined the vowels ofAdonai with the consonants of
Yahweh.
And so then after that, Latinscholars, they they read it and
transliterated it, and so theywere they misread it as Jehovah

(03:19):
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 fromthe 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 Yahwehis, or at least we know God his

(03:43):
name, then what who is Yahweh?
Because we have Yahweh Rahi.
Well, who is Yahweh?
This is how God introduceshimself to Moses in Israel.
He uses he used three differentphrases in Exodus.
He said when he was talking toMoses about this, and he says, I
am who I am.
He says, I am has sent me toyou.

(04:05):
And he says, The Lord, the Godof your fathers, the God of
Abraham, the God of Isaac, andthe God of Jacob, has sent me to
you.
Now this may sound a little bitredundant, you know, because
I'm going to tell you the samething, but I want you to think
about it.
This is Israel's firstencounter with God.
Okay, so Moses says, Who areyou?

(04:25):
Who do I tell them?
And so God gives him thesethree these three names, really
two, um, because I am, he usestwice, 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 nobodyelse.

(04:46):
And then Yahweh, he is the Godof your fathers, Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob.
And the reference, even thoughthey 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 theircovenant.

(05:07):
And so God is saying, Hey, I'mthe covenant faithful one.
I'm the one who is who he hasalways promised to be.
God has just declared hisgreatness and his faithfulness
at the same time.
And so then, that's what soMoses goes and delivers that

(05:27):
delivers that to the to Israeland says, This is who God is,
but they still don't know theirGod.
So to prove who he is, Godbegins by demonstrating that
he's greater than all the godsof Egypt through the ten
plagues.
He exhibits he's greater thananything in nature by parting
the Red Sea, and more powerfulthan one of the most powerful

(05:49):
armies, the people who'veoppressed them for years by
decimating the entire Egyptianarmy as he parted the parted the
Red Sea.
And he continues after that inthe desert by raining down manna
and bringing forth water out ofthe rock.
And we know the stories fromthe you know from the Exodus.
This is Jehovah.
This is Yahweh.

(06:11):
And through the years, Godcontinued to reveal himself to
Israel in different ways, andIsrael gave him gave him
different names.
And so the study we've beendoing on Wednesday nights, it's
allowing us to see some of thosenames and what they really
mean.
And each name came about when aperson or group encountered God
and then saw him demonstratehis character in some way.

(06:31):
So, like with the previous withthe previous uh sessions here
in the series, we had JehovahJirah, the Lord will provide.
That comes from Genesis 22,when Abraham names the place
where God provided the ram forIsaac's sacrifice.
We had Jehovah Rapha, the Lordwho heals.
And that's from Exodus 15.
God reveals himself as thehealer of Israel after bringing

(06:53):
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 overAmalek and names it to honor
God's victory.
And then what we're talkingabout tonight is Jehovah Rohi,
the Lord is my shepherd.
And that's from Psalms 23.
And you can almost imagineDavid sitting out on an evening

(07:16):
looking up at the stars, andhe's he's thinking about the
different things that he does asa shepherd of sheep, and he
starts realizing God's beendoing the same thing with him.
And it leads him to declare theLord as his shepherd, who
provides, who guides, whoprotects him.
But I want to I want you to,all the all these different
names, there's something incommon with all with all of

(07:40):
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-existentone, forever being, not bound by
time or place.
And David talks about it inPsalm 90.
Before the mountains were born,or you were brought or you
brought forth the whole worldfrom everlasting to everlasting,

(08:04):
you are God.
His greatness is in his nature.
He's the eternal, majesticcreator.
Every galaxy that burns withwho knows how many suns was lit
by his word.
He calls each star by name, andhe knows your name, each one of
us.
You know, Isaiah 40 26 says,Lift up your eyes on high and

(08:27):
see.
Who created these?
He who brings out their hostsby number, calling them all by
name.
Not only that, it his nature isentirely holy and pure.
You know, in Isaiah 6, whenIsaiah saw the Lord high and
lifted up, with the angelscrying out, Holy, holy, holy,
the whole earth is full of hisglory.
Isaiah didn't speak, he justkind of crumbled.

(08:52):
Holiness is not just this moralperfection, it's the blazing
purity of God's being.
It's who he is.
His greatness is found in hispower and his sovereignty.
When Job demanded answers afterall the things he'd been
through, God gave him a tour ofcreation.
God answered him, said, Well,where were you when I laid the

(09:13):
foundation of the earth?
Tell me if you understand that.
It's in Job 38, if you want tolook it up.
Job realized that the one whorules the lightning doesn't have
to answer to man.
His greatness is in hiscovenant faithfulness.
The God who measures theuniverse by the span of his hand
stoops to bind himself to dustbecause his love endures

(09:38):
forever.
Deuteronomy 7, he says toIsrael, Know therefore that the
Lord your God is God, thefaithful God who keeps covenant
and steadfast love with thosewho love him and keep his
commandments to a thousandgenerations.
And then David echoes it inPsalm 103 But the steadfast love

(09:59):
of the Lord is from everlastingto everlasting on those who
fear him, and his righteousnessto children's children.
And that's what he's saying tous.
This is our Jehovah, this isour Yahweh, this is our I am.
And it's even found in therevelation of Jesus.
The eternal I am stepped intohis creation.

(10:21):
The God who thundered on Sinaiwalks among us in grace and
truth.
The same voice that said, Letthere be light, said to the
blind man, See.
Think about that.
Isaiah 40, 25 says, To whomthen will you compare me that I
should be like him?

(10:41):
And says the Holy One.
We have this high and exaltedGod, this self-existent,
perfect, pure, and holy,eternal, majestic creator, who
is all powerful and completelysovereign, and he allows us to
know him in Jesus because he'sfaithful and full of patient,
loving kindness towards us.
That's our Jehovah.

(11:02):
He is ours not because we claimhim, but because he came to us.
When we look at Jehovah Jirah,Jehovah Raphah, Jehovah Nisi,
Jehovah Rohi, or any of theother names by which he's known,

(11:23):
it always begins with Jehovah,Yahweh, the great I Am.
That's the first part.
And we look at when we look atthe part second part of any name
of God, we have to rememberthat it's not just a nice
description, it's one facet ofour great and mighty God.
So now, after beholding Jehovahand all his majesty, the

(11:47):
self-existent, all powerful Iam, we now see him stoop low as
Jehovah Rohi, my shepherd.
The infinite God becomesintimately present.
And there are so many differentways we can look at Psalm 23.
So how about we just start byreading it?
A Psalm of David, the Lord ismy shepherd, I shall not lack.

(12:08):
He makes me lie down in greenpastures, he leads me beside
still waters, he restores mysoul, he leads me a paths of
righteousness for his name'ssake.
Even though I walk through thevalley of the shadow of death, I
will fear no evil, for you'rewith me.
Your rod and your staff, theycomfort me.
You prepare a table before mein the presence of my enemies.

(12:31):
You anoint my head with oil, mycup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shallfollow me all the days of my
life, and I shall dwell in thehouse of the Lord forever.
Our great transcendent Godcares for every aspect of our
lives, and that's the idea ofthe shepherd.
So very quickly, I just want torun through what the shepherd

(12:54):
does for us.
Because the shepherd here inPsalm 23 is reflected over in
the New Testament too.
Yahweh, my shepherd, I will notlack.
Jesus says in John 10, I am thegood shepherd.
The good shepherd lays his lifedown for the sheep.
He gives us rest, and heprovides for our basic needs

(13:15):
like food.
We see that in lie down ingreen pastures.
Matthew 11 28 says, Come to meall 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 whatwhat clothes we'll have, he
says, But seek first the kingdomof God and his righteousness,
and all these things will betaken care of.

(13:37):
All these things will be addedto you.
The next phrase he leaves usbeside still waters, which is a
place of refreshment and safetyand peace.
You know, sheep are cautiousanimals.
They have poor depthperception, and so when there's
fast or noisy moving water, itlooks dangerous to them, and
they can't judge how deep it is,and the movement really can

(13:59):
make them feel very disoriented.
Not only that, wool is prettyheavy when it gets wet.
And so if they fall in, they'regoing to drown pretty quickly.
And the shepherds in ancienttimes knew this, so they often
dug small trenches or channelsthat would divert the stream
into a calm pool, and they'dwait until that settled down,
and then they'd let their sheepdrink.
You know, we go through a lotof storms in our lives,

(14:22):
circumstances that are hard thatwe can't figure out, that we've
got to deal with.
And uh, and how do we deal withthat?
Well, our shepherd is the onethat provides a source of st of
calm and stillness where we canreceive for him from him.
And it's in that place that herestores our soul.
He also gives us guidance, heleads us in paths of
righteousness.

(14:42):
And I love Proverbs 16:9.
The heart of a man plans hisway, but the Lord establishes
his steps.
That means I can't mess thingsup.
Well, I can, but he's going toget me back on track.
He's faithful to bring us rightback into step with him, um,
into paths of righteousness.
He gives us peace in thevalley.

(15:04):
And but David says, I will fearno evil.
In the darkest of times, we canhave peace.
It may not be it may not feelvery peaceful, but as we look at
him and focus on him untilnothing else matters, it's there
that we realize our peacebecause he is with us.
And that's a key thing.

(15:24):
He is with us.
Psalm Philippians 4, 5 through7.
Most people start that passage,don't be anxious for anything.
But actually, it starts thephrase before: the Lord is at
hand, the Lord's here, theLord's with us.
Do not be anxious aboutanything, but in everything
about prayer and supplication,with thanksgiving, let your

(15:45):
requests be made known to God.
And the peace of God whichsurpasses all understanding will
guard your hearts and minds inChrist Jesus.
The reason our hearts and mindsare guarded, and we have peace
which passes all understanding,is because our Savior is with
us.
And we know that he hears uswhen we stop being anxious in

(16:07):
everything by prayer andsupplication with thanksgiving,
let our requests be made knownto him.
And Isaiah 26, 3 kind of sumsit up.
You keep him in perfect peace,whose mind is stayed on you,
because he trusts in you.
So he gives us his verypresence.
You know, that David just says,For you are with me.
But that's that phrase, you arewith me, carries so much.

(16:28):
All through the scripture, Godsays 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 inJoshua, and to Solomon in 1
Chronicles.
In John 14, Jesus says that hewill not leave us as orphans,
but makes his home with us.

(16:50):
And there's loads more throughscripture, 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 justhere while we're here on earth.
Um, and I'm getting ahead ofmyself.
He also brings comfort in themidst of dark circumstances.
Your rod and your staff comfortme.

(17:10):
The rod the shepherd carries isfor protection and occasionally
for correction.
But you know, it's kind ofcomforting knowing that nothing
is going to touch me unlessJesus allows it.
He's got a big old rod upthere, and that's not for
beating people down, it's forbeating the enemy off.
And the staff that he has, therod, why would it bring comfort?

(17:33):
Because it guides, he uses itto guide the sheep.
He pulls them from danger andrescues them.
And something else I learned isoften the shepherds would walk
with their staff out so thesheep the sheep could could see
it, and it reminded them thathe's with them.
So then the next couple ofphrases all fit together.

(17:53):
He nourishes us, he prepares atable before us, he anoints our
head with oil.
He welcomes us in, heconsecrates us, and he and he
refreshes us.
In ancient times, anointingwith oil had several meanings.
One, it was an act actually itwas actually an act of
hospitality.
Second, it was used toconsecrate someone, to set them

(18:16):
apart for a divine purpose.
But third, it was also used forhealing and refreshing with
sheep.
The sheep had these pesky fliesthat would be around their
head, they'd fly up theirnostrils, pretty gross.
But they would they couldactually they could actually
kill the sheep.
They're a real threat.
But the shepherd would anointtheir head with oil, which would

(18:38):
keep the flies off.
Our Savior anoints anoints uswith oil.
And then he says, My cupoverflows.
Or you could rephrase that, hegives me more than I can ask or
imagine.
In Ephesians 1:7 to 8, in himwe have redemption through his
blood, the forgiveness of ourtrespasses, according to the

(18:59):
riches of his grace.
And then catch this, which helavished upon us.
So every time I read that wordlavished upon us, that phrase, I
think of a uh football coachwho the team has just won the
game and they come running upbehind him with the big Gatorade
and they dump it over him, andyou see this thing.
But I but then I think of that,and then I think, well, what

(19:20):
about Niagara Falls?
He he has just stuck me at thebottom of Niagara Falls of His
grace, and he just lavishes it.
He dumps this, dumps all thatgrace on us, on me.
And then Ephesians 3.20 says,Now to him who is able to do far
more abundantly all than thanwe can let me read this again.

(19:41):
Now to him who is able to dofar more abundantly than all we
can ask or think, according tothe power at work within us.
Who is that power workingwithin us?
It's the Holy Spirit.
Who is the Holy Spirit?
He's Yahweh, Jehovah, I am.
He is with me.

(20:01):
This whole theme of Jesus withme, we uh I've got to keep
going.
His loving kindness is alwayswith us because you know,
David's got this whole crescendohappening in Psalm 23.
He gets to the end of it andsays, Surely love goodness and
mercy will follow me all thedays of my life.
And one of those words ishesed, which Mark has a whole

(20:22):
sermon about, or just about.
Um it means loving kindness.
That's the closest word we'vegot 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 thatneither death nor life, nor
angels, nor rulers, nor thingspresent, nor things to come, nor

(20:43):
powers, nor height, nor death,nor anything else in all
creation will be able toseparate us from the love of God
in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Surely goodness and mercy willfollow us, because it's all
based on Him.
And then He provides for ourfuture.
It's not just about this world,but David David says, I will

(21:03):
dwell in the house of the Lordforever.
You know, in John 10, 27 and28, 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 theywill 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 andwill take you to myself, that

(21:26):
where I am you may be also.
So tonight, when you thinkabout Jehovah Rohi, I want you
to remember this.
The shepherd who holds yourheart is the same Lord who holds
the stars.
This is our God, both Jehovahand Rohi, God my shepherd,
awesome and intimate.

(21:47):
The same God who spoke galaxiesinto being is the one who
leaves you beside still waters.
The voice that thundered onSinai is the same voice that
calls you by name.
The hand that set the stars inplace is the hand that lifts you
up when you fall.
The infinite I am, Jehovah,Almighty Creator, stoops low to

(22:08):
be Rohi, your shepherd.
His greatness means he can, andhis love means he will.
Every star in the sky declareshis power, but Psalm
twenty-three shows his heart.
He is both the God who reignsabove all, and the shepherd who
walks beside you.
His majesty protects you, hismercy restores you, the Almighty

(22:30):
has made himself yourcompanion.
The one who is awesome beyondcomprehension is also the one
who knows your name, calls youhis own, and walks every single
valley with you.
And that's why we can say withconfidence The Lord is my
shepherd, I shall not lack.