"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want."
Psalms 23:1
This is an interesting statement, whether you interpret want as having a lack of something, or just wanting more. It means that with God, we will never be without the things that we need. That we will never want more. We do seem to be without from time to time though, and we often want more... we sometimes want things that we can't have and that would destroy us, in fact. So, how does this work, then? I think the main way that I see is that the sentence is one of determination. We're saying that we accept the Lord as our shepherd, and that we are determined to be content with what he provides. So, yeah, maybe we don't have money for the latest toys this Christmas. Maybe we sometimes want things that we can't have. But in both cases, our choice to accept God as our shepherd includes the determination to make due with coloring books instead of robots when necessary, and to keep our desires within the boundaries that the Lord has given us.
In addition, I think that it really does mean that we won't experience either of those things anymore, eventually. As we learn and become closer to God, we change our hearts, and we stop wanting things that would harm us. We start yearning to be the people that God has shown us we can be. We stop looking at life to see the holes and where we are missing something, and we see that our lives are filled to overflowing with blessings, and that we don't feel empty anymore.
Today, whether it is a promise for the future or a determination that guides us now, let's accept the guidance of the Lord in our lives. Let's allow him to shepherd us, and we will never be left wanting.
Psalms 23:1
This is an interesting statement, whether you interpret want as having a lack of something, or just wanting more. It means that with God, we will never be without the things that we need. That we will never want more. We do seem to be without from time to time though, and we often want more... we sometimes want things that we can't have and that would destroy us, in fact. So, how does this work, then? I think the main way that I see is that the sentence is one of determination. We're saying that we accept the Lord as our shepherd, and that we are determined to be content with what he provides. So, yeah, maybe we don't have money for the latest toys this Christmas. Maybe we sometimes want things that we can't have. But in both cases, our choice to accept God as our shepherd includes the determination to make due with coloring books instead of robots when necessary, and to keep our desires within the boundaries that the Lord has given us.
In addition, I think that it really does mean that we won't experience either of those things anymore, eventually. As we learn and become closer to God, we change our hearts, and we stop wanting things that would harm us. We start yearning to be the people that God has shown us we can be. We stop looking at life to see the holes and where we are missing something, and we see that our lives are filled to overflowing with blessings, and that we don't feel empty anymore.
Today, whether it is a promise for the future or a determination that guides us now, let's accept the guidance of the Lord in our lives. Let's allow him to shepherd us, and we will never be left wanting.
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