I posted a photo on my Instagram recently of the actual area where a shepherd boy named David cared for his sheep in biblical times. Here is the photo:

The photo got a crazy reaction, mostly because when most people think of David and his sheep, we think of the famous poem he wrote, which starts; “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures …” I mean, does this look like a green pasture to you? Even when I was standing here looking over this landscape, I found it hard to believe that sheep could survive here—but it’s true!

In fact, if you have a closer look you can actually see some tufts of grass growing out from underneath the rocks.

See, at night, a breeze from the Mediterranean blows across this desert bringing small amounts of moisture in the form of humidity. When this breeze hits the side of a hill, some moisture forms around rocks and a tuft of grass can appear overnight!

Now, I’ve watched shepherds lead their flocks in this area, going from rock to rock where the sheep eat a mouthful and then look for their shepherd to lead them to the next rock and the next tuft of grass.

I think this is an amazing picture of how God wants us to depend on Him! It’s far better than the picture we all have in our heads when we read the opening line of Psalm 23, which is probably more like this photo I took in Georgia;

I posted a two-minute video to my YouTube channel on why this image negatively impacts our faith. You can watch it here: