“I shall not want” (Psalm 23:1).
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want,” so wrote David centuries ago. But ours is the world of the twenty-first century, a world of chemical magic and space exploration, a world of computers and electronic equipment. Is the God whom David served still sufficient to meet the needs of men and women today?
It’s true that our world is different. But when it comes to what it really takes to satisfy the deep heart cries of people, have things really changed? Each one of you has three basic emotional needs: (1) The need to give and receive love. (2) The need to feel worthwhile to yourself and to other people, and (3) the need for security in an insecure world.
David had those three needs just as you do, and through a relationship with God which became intensely personal, those needs were met for him, just as they can be met for you. Regardless of how others felt or what they thought about God, David had settled the issue. “The Lord is my shepherd,” he wrote, emphasizing the pronoun my. Continuing, he said, “I shall not want.” Literally the words are, “I shall have need of nothing.”
First–every human being has the need to give and receive love, and when that need is not met, we often reach out to the wrong people and, striving to meet that need, end up in relationships which are harmful and wrong. When you accept the truth of John 3:16, which says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…, ” you realize that your life is not a matter of indifference to God. There is One who cares for you, and the Shepherd of David’s life can become your Shepherd and Guide.
You second basic emotional need is fulfillment–how you feel about yourself and other people. When you know you are needed, you feel fulfilled. You feel that your life is not being lived in vain. This need boils down to understanding that you are a person of value and worth in the sight of God. But does this need relate to the Shepherd?
The shepherd never felt that it was good enough to have the vast majority of the sheep with him. He was never willing to write off a few “black sheep,” saying, “I was able to save most of them from the lion.” No. If there was one lost sheep, he went after it and sought to find and save it.
Jesus told a story emphasizing this point. Here’s how He put it: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing” (Luke 15:4,5). The application: you are never beyond the care or concern of the Great Shepherd, who considers your value great enough to find you in your lost condition and to bring you back to the fold.
I mentioned the third need–security. Picture the lamb borne on the shoulders of Jesus, and ask yourself, “If the lamb carried by the Shepherd is a picture of my Lord’s care and concern for me, why should I worry?”
Centuries of time have elapsed since David wrote the 23rd Psalm, yet every generation has echoed the truth of his statements, saying, “When the Lord is my Shepherd, I shall have no want!” It is here that David’s faith parted with the religions of the world. Because only through a relationship with the shepherd can you have no want.
Resource reading: Psalm 23
(Editor’s note: Read this chapter every day this week).
