I shall not want. Psalm 23:1b
When I was younger I had to memorize the 23rd Psalm. I have to admit that I was really confused why I was supposed to be so happy about a shepherd that I did not want. I got really confused when the rest of the Psalm sounded pretty nice. Why wouldn’t I want the shepherd if He is so nice? It wasn’t until I got older that I realized I was misunderstanding what the Psalmist meant. Truly English can be a confusing language.
The Psalmist was simply saying that he would have no lack of what he needed; that he would always be taken care of. We can stand and say today that as Christians we have everything that we need, we do not want for anything. Now some would say they disagree, there are a lot of things that I want that I do not have. Some would even say there are things that we need that we do not have, clean water for example. We as people tend to think in terms of all things physical/temporal. While God cares about our physical well being He is more concerned with the spiritual/eternal state of our soul.
A Christian in China for example may have all his earthly possessions taken away, he may be refused food and water, and even be beaten severely; all because he will not stop following his Shepherd. All his physical needs have been taken away. With our mindset this man should be depressed and disheartened; he has want of everything. However, I am confident that the same Christian would be uplifted by Psalm 23, and would proudly and joyfully tell you, “I do not want for anything!”.
When we get in a spiritual mindset we start to understand that no matter what life brings our way, as followers of Christ we will always have what we need. When we turn our eyes on Heaven we realize that though we may be physically starving, we have been given the “bread of life” (John 6:51 ), and although we may be in desperate need of water we have been given access to the “living water” in which we never thirst again. Our physical bodies will falter and die, but our soul will live and flourish forever with “The Good Shepherd”.
Now don’t be confused, God does care and provide for our physical needs. I personally know several people who God has caused to be very passionate about bringing clean water to countries where it is not readily available. I do not want you to think that God does not take care of our physical needs, because He does. I just want you to understand that He is more concerned with the eternal state of our soul. A man in a great mansion with all luxuries and amenities without Jesus is a man in great want. While a man who has nothing, no home, no food, and no clothes but has a relationship with the Shepherd has no want.
