Psalm 23: 1 - The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.
We often look past certain scriptures, almost taking them for granted because of their inherent familiarity. Psalm 23 contains overall truth as a Psalm and individual truths within the lines the Psalmist pens. This opening verse addresses two major points for us today. The first is who leads our life? Who is our shepherd? The shepherd provides protection and provision for his sheep. Who do we rely upon for our provision and protection today? The provision the world sells us can be outsourced quicker than we realize. In these desperate economic times we see people every day losing their careers, not just their jobs. People who felt they had been loyal for decades to a company that simply decided that they were no longer economically viable. Likewise the protection the world sells is equally unreliable. You go to a midnight movie and wonder who has a gun. You fly on a plane and are looking around at the other passengers. Protection is an illusion in this world. Different strength locks, alarm systems, fences, barbed wire, barred windows, and camera systems don't really matter. It is enough to make you want to dig a moat around your apartment.
David starts the Psalm with a declarative statement however that it is the Lord that is his shepherd. It may seem simple enough but I have seen too many Christians who do not follow the Lord as if He were their Shepherd. I have seen too many Christians who think of God as their spiritual advisor or their co-pilot. If God is your co-pilot then you are sitting in the wrong seat. God is not in the advice business. A shepherd does not advise the sheep -- he leads them. Some of this is an outgrowth of the poor church growth theories that are infecting our churches today. Theories that lead people away from the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Christianity is about turning our lives over to Him:
My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. -- Galatians 2: 20 (NLT)
Trusting in the Son of God -- as our Shepherd. The second half of this verse however is equally important -- I shall not want. Note that God does not use the word need. We all have needs. A need is something basic and essential in our lives. The obvious are food, air, and water. Needs go beyond that as well though. In order to fulfill the plans God has for us we might need other things like companionship, love, or a certain skill set to accomplish the works He has planned or us.
Wants however interject our feelings into the heart of the matter. Simply put, a want is something we feel we need. The world believes that wants are a normal part of living. Wants are to be addressed, pursued and satisfied. The world sells the notion that if it feels good just do it. If you want something the world encourages you to pursue it and obtain it. The problem is that quite often what we want is really something that we do not need in our lives. God has promised us:
And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus. -- Philippians 4: 19 (NLT)
We often find ourselves in disagreement with God over what our needs truly are. That is where the tie in David is making here in this verse is so crucial. It is the shepherding of Christ that assures us that our needs are being addressed. It is trust in the Shepherd that assures us that we do not need what it is that we might want. It is explicitly because Jesus Christ is my Shepherd that I shall not want. They are directly related to one another. In fact, if we find ourselves wanting something that God is not bringing to pass, we may need to recognize that we have not turned an area of our life over to be shepherded. That is the connection David is making here in the opening of Psalm 23. The sheep doesn't doubt the Shepherd. He doesn't debate the Shepherd. He doesn't disagree with the Shepherd. Jesus explains:
But you don't believe me because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father's hand. The Father and I are one." -- John 10: 26-30 (NLT)
Two things -- we need to listen to His voice and follow Him. Sounds simple enough but we often resist when we feel our wants are not being fulfilled. We literally need to over-simplify it like this:
Me: God I really want this
God: Trust me, you do not need it
Me: You're the Shepherd, I will follow
It is not a matter of God being mean because we know the Psalm 84 says that God will not withhold any good thing from us. If that is the case then the issue is that what we think we want, which God is denying, is actually something that will ultimately not be good for us. We may not see it yet. We may not feel it. God is not saying that we ever will see it or feel it. He is merely asking for the faith in who the Shepherd is. Because when we have true and unwavering faith in Jesus Christ as our Shepherd we will then truly have a life that will want for nothing.
Rev. Anthony.
