The Lord is my shepherd

Psalm 23:1 (NLT)

The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need. 

All or part of the 23rd Psalm is memorized by many people with likely most of us having memorized the first verse as “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want”.  In looking up the original Hebrew word for “want”, the word is “ehậçẻr ” that means “to lack”, “to fail”, “to decrease”, even “to bereave”. 

David composed this Psalm.  By reading stories about him primarily in I and II Samuel (e.g. the story of David and Goliath is found in I Samuel 17), we know that David always had a strong and confident trust in the Lord.  He always believed that God was in control of everything, no matter how bad some situations were, like when King Saul was pursuing him, wanting to kill him.  Think about how scared you would be if you knew someone was out to kill you, would you have faith that God was in control of your life and would never allow this to happen?  Can you say that your faith and trust is like David’s such that you could face any Goliath in your life and not fear being hurt or killed?  Hard to say, isn’t it? 

So it is this David who wrote these words that God is his shepherd and he has all that he needs.  Can you claim this moment that God is your shepherd who can take care of you no matter what is happening, even if your life is in danger?  In fact, take a few minutes and think about, better yet, write down, who God is to you?  How do you describe Him and who is He to you?  For example, do you believe with all of your heart and soul that He is the omnipotent (all-powerful), omniscience (all-knowing), and omnipresence (all-present) God of the Bible?   Or is your definition and understanding of God something that has limits and who only is around when you really need Him?  Basically, I am asking how much you take God for granted? 

What is it that you want right now?  Well, really, the better question is what do you need right now?  This verse claims that if you believe that God is your shepherd, you will have all that you need.  You will have no wants.  A true believer who sincerely and deeply trusts in the love, caring, guidance, and protection of the shepherd God will have no fears, no worries, no lackings.  Does this describe you right now?  Probably for most folks reading this, the answer is ‘no’.  You do have fears and worries and you are lacking in something, perhaps inner peace most of all.  What can you do about this?  The only answer I know is to bury yourself in His Word, read the Psalms over and over, read and claim passages like John 14, Romans 8, Philippians 4, and I Peter 5.

Contentment about your life might be an elusive pursuit, but you will help yourself immensely by saturating your mind in and with His Word.