“…I Shall Not Want.” Psalm 23:1

PERSPECTIVE

The other day I wanted to huff and puff unloading our grocery bags from the car in the hot sun. After two and a half hours at the eye doctor that morning with my littles, my flesh wanted to complain about another “chore” of unloading groceries. 

But then I felt the nudge.

My heart ached as I remembered a family our ministry donated gift cards to last week who had no money left to eat, their baby in the hospital in a city that is not their hometown.

At our kitchen counter, while putting items in their place, I began to pray and thank God for a moment of perspective.

Thank You, Lord, for providing this food in my home, with my family.

Thank You, Lord, for the opportunity to unload these groceries with my able body and my healthy kids. 

I shifted my focus from the chore to the Father.

Part of God’s physical provision for our family that day was a trunk full of groceries and snacks. I didn’t have to toil to prepare and package this food (a rural reminder), but even still, God provided the daily bread. 

The other provision in that moment was perspective. 

“The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.” (Psalm 23:1)

DAILY BREAD

In Matthew 6:11, Jesus prays, “Give us this day our daily bread.” I love the emphasis on “this day.” We’re called to be present with today’s provisions from the Lord. In a culture that calls for getting ahead, our Father offers us rest as He provides one day at a time. 

Consider manna. In Exodus 16, the Israelites saw the manna and “...said to one another, ‘What is it?’ For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, ‘It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.’”

There is deep meaning behind the simple provision of manna for the Israelites. They were told to gather just enough manna for 24 hours, but they didn’t listen. They were anxious about the next day, and they sought control and self- reliance by gathering extra - which ended up spoiling. They didn’t rest in “this day’s” provision. 

On the sixth day of the week, the Lord commanded them to gather twice as much so they wouldn’t need to gather on the Sabbath, their day of rest. In God’s perfect provision for the Sabbath, only then did the leftover manna not spoil. 

How often do we ask, “What is it?” when we’re given a provision with timing or circumstances we don’t understand?

We have to look through the lens of eternity. The answer is always, “It is the _____ that the Lord has given you.”

Maybe you’ve thought, “What’s this pregnancy, not in my timing?” It’s the new life God has given you to steward. “What’s this diagnosis I was not expecting?” It’s a season of suffering that will draw you closer to the eternal weight of glory. “What’s this toddler tantrum at the zoo I was not expecting?” It’s a moment reminding you of our Father who is filled with abundant patience.

Our call is to receive God’s provision with open hands - even if it looks completely differently than you would have ever imagined. I can personally relate to this challenge.

A PERSONAL PIECE OF PROVISION

When we entered the hospital unexpectedly in labor halfway through my pregnancy, I had nothing but the clothes on my back. Our daughter was given a 6% chance of survival. We had a toddler daughter at home. Our world stopped. A few weeks into our journey, Covid hit, and the world actually stopped. We were stripped of visitors. As protocol changed to only one caregiver being allowed in the NICU, my husband and I could no longer be with our baby together. One of our daughter’s nurses removed her precious stuffed octopus toy from her isolette. Our home bathroom was in the middle of a renovation, and the walls were stripped to the studs. I felt as if I truly had nothing left, and, like my bathroom, I was stripped to my core. 

In the midst of this, I heard the resounding question from the Lord: “If I was all you had, would I be enough?” The answer is yes.

One of the names for God is Jehovah-Jireh, meaning, “The Lord will provide.”

When we were in survival mode in the NICU, I saw practical examples of daily bread in a smile from a stranger in the hospital walls, a verse texted from a friend, a granola bar, and lotion for my hands cracked from washing so much. All were provided by the Father through people here on this earth.

On the other side of the most traumatic days of my life, do you want to know the actual daily bread that sustained me? Scripture and new mercies every morning from our Jehovah-Jireh (Lamentation 3:22-23). I was hungry for God’s Word as it was my armor every time I entered the unit. I noticed a tangible difference in my heart when I sought my strength and encouragement from the Lord. God’s Word was the fuel my body needed. The tangible provision was definitely from the Lord, but the true provision was the Shepherd Himself there walking alongside me in every moment.

The Lord is your shepherd; you shall not want. The Shepherd Himself is all you need.

EVERYTHING YOU NEED

I love Sally Lloyd-Jones’ childrens’ book Found: Psalm 23. She writes, “God is my Shepherd. And I am his little lamb. He feeds me. He guides me. He looks after me. I have everything I need.”

I have everything I need. 

What questions arise in your head when you say that sentence? Do I have everything I need? Do I have everything I want? Do I desire more than I need?

I hope you can read that sentence with a feeling of affirmative peace. I have everything I need.

In A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, Phillip Keller emphasizes a misconception about needs, writing, “One of the fallacies that is common among Christians today is the assertion that if a man or woman is prospering materially, it is a significant mark of the blessing of God upon his or her life. This is simply not so.” Consider Matthew 16:26: “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” What’s the common thread between a man with wealth and a man in poverty? Their equal need for God.

Job was stripped of almost everything material and physical in his life: his property, his children, his health, and his friends. In the book by Mike Mason, The Gospel According to Job, I learned more about how Job’s spirit was broken and yet he said, “Though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him…” Job is a living example of someone who wrestled with his faith in the midst of worldly suffering but came out on the other side still acknowledging that the Lord is all he needed.

This is important to recognize because it highlights how focusing on our material possessions in this life will miss the mark. Keller details, “Based on the teachings of the Bible, we can only conclude that David was not referring to material or physical poverty when he made the statement, ‘I shall not be in want.’” What should we want? We should want the anchor of our soul, our Shepherd, leading us in this life – and He has promised to do it! 

Keller writes, “...the Christian has to take a long, hard look at life. He has to recognize that as with many of God’s choice people before him, he may be called on to experience lack of wealth or material benefits.” It’s easy to look around us and want more than we have. But the reality is, we have quick access to everything we need and abundantly more in Christ Jesus.

Do we idealize the “abundantly more” instead of being thankful for the actual provision of guidance from our Father in this life?

Are we seeking a life of leisure or a life of worship of the Lord?

I’m not here to identify your list of needs vs. wants, but I am here to remind us all to keep our sights set on the Shepherd. Jonah 2:8 says “Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.” Our Shepherd loves us steadfastly, which means He will provide for all our needs. There is no lack in the expert care and management of our Master. 

The abundance of God’s love, His forgiveness for us, His overflowing new mercies every morning - those are promised to fulfill our daily needs. Those promises are why we shall never be in want. 

CONTENTMENT IS OUR MARK

Remember the mark on the ear of the sheep to identify its owner? 

As Believers, contentment is one of our identifying marks.

In his book, Keller notes the difference between content sheep versus those who aren’t. When a sheep trusts its owner and is satisfied in its care, it is “...permeated by a deep, quiet, settled peace that is beautiful to behold.” Is that how you would describe yourself? Keller puts it in human terms when he writes of Christians who are  “...utterly contented in the Good Shepherd’s care and consequently not craving or desiring anything more.”

Satisfied. Content. Peaceful. Not desiring anything more.

He explains how Believers “...are under God’s care and they know it. They have entrusted themselves to Christ’s control and found contentment. Contentment should be the hallmark of the man or woman who has put his or her affairs in the hands of God.” (emphasis added).

Keller describes discontent sheep as, “...somewhat dissatisfied, always feeling that somehow the grass beyond the fence must be a little greener.” He references “joyless people held in the iron grip and heartless ownership of the wrong master.” 

Our contentment flows from our understanding of the Shepherd’s provision for us, knowing that we are never in want when we are in Him. 

As we live on this earth, may we have contentment as our mark as we seek Him for our daily provision. May we long to stay inside our Shepherd’s pasture trusting He will give us everything we need.

Join us next week as we study Psalm 23:2 “...He makes me lie down in green pastures.”

REFERENCES

A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 by Phillip Keller

Found: Psalm 23 by Sally Lloyd Jones

The Gospel According to Job by Mike Mason