I have been slowly working my way through the Psalms, and I recently made it up to Psalm 23. This is such a familiar passage that it would have been very easy to just roll right through it without stopping to contemplate its great meaning and depth. After all, I've had it memorized since childhood. I decided to go through it very slowly, but I didn't think I'd be this slow. I was stopped at the very first verse ----
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I lack nothing. Nothing? Do I really believe that there is nothing
I lack, or do I constantly have a long list of things that I think I need?
“The
Lord is my shepherd, I have all that I need” (NLT).
Is everything that is on my list actually a need, or is it mostly wants?
“The
Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want”
(ESV).
I shall not?
Is being able to say “I lack nothing” just a matter of will? Can I just decide
that I will be satisfied with what I have and not beg God for a long list of
more and more?
Psalm 23:1 reminds me of the apostle Paul's very well-known statement that he “can do all this through him who gives me strength” (Phil 4:13 NIV). Paul is not saying that he can accomplish every goal that he sets for himself, but in order to see what it is that he can do and how this verse reflects Psalm 23:1, we need to
back up to verse 12.
It had never occurred to me before, but it appears
that Paul’s statement in Philippians 4:12-13 can be seen as a restatement of
Psalm 23:1. Paul says,
“I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength” (Phil 4:12-13 NIV).
In other
words, I think Paul is saying, The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing –I have
all that I need –I shall not want.
Paul says that he has learned the secret of being
content in any circumstance. How do we learn his secret ---this ability to be content, the ability to honestly say "I lack nothing," the ability to be satisfied with what we do have –especially in a
culture where we are daily bombarded with all the stuff that we “need”?
Whatever our current situation – whether we have very
little or very much –we can succumb to an attitude of discontentment and of
always wanting more. If I’m not content when I have more than enough, might God take it
away until I have learned to be content in Him, trusting Him as my shepherd and
provider? In the same way, if I’m not content when I have little to nothing,
might God leave me in that situation until I have learned to be content with
what I have and not constantly be searching for and desiring more and more?
“The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing –I have all that I need –I shall not want…I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation…”
The secret to being able to say "I lack nothing" seems to lie with trusting the Lord as my shepherd --my guide, my provider, my master, my strength. While I can’t say, like Paul, that “I have learned the secret…” maybe I can say “I am learning the secret of being content and of being able to say "I lack nothing."
