The Lord, the Psalmist’s Shepherd.
A Psalm of David.
23 The Lord is my shepherd,
I [a]shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside [b]quiet waters.
3 He restores my soul;
He guides me in the [c]paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.4 Even though I walk through the [d]valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no [e]evil, for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You [f]have anointed my head with oil;
My cup overflows.
6 [g]Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life,
And I will [h]dwell in the house of the Lord [i]forever.
This is a well-known Psalm, and for good reason. There are so many valuable truths in here, it’s difficult to focus on just one. But two bits stood out even more this morning, the first in verse one, “I shall not want.” We often focus on God providing our needs, and many times God has promised that He will indeed take care of us. So all the more reason we ought to say “I shall not want.”
But can we say that? Are we content with what God gives us? In our daily lives, I think it’s only natural to pursue “more”, but what is driving us, and what is “more”? Is it a thirst for more things, or a thirst for more of God? I’ve often heard it said, “You can have as much of God as you want, and you already do…” Because the key isn’t to get more of God, but to give God more of your own life, to surrender all to Him.
Those are sobering words, how much of God do I have right now? It’s as much as I want… God help us all to want more, and to give more of ourselves. Which leads into the second portion that jumped off the page this morning, “My cup overflows”. One might say, “Well, it’s easy not to want, when your cup is overflowing!” But is it? Does having more automatically make you content?
Certainly not! Yet if we can wrap our minds, and hearts, around the first truth, to want only more of God, and be content with what we have, then we can move to the second. We can have a cup that overflows, and yet nothing goes to waste–because we are giving and sharing that abundance with others. It may not even be material goods or financial resources.
God’s greatest blessings are for our soul, and if we are serving Him, then our cup is already running over. Are we pouring that into those around us, or are we so focused on ourselves, or wanting more things, that the overflow is wasted? Today, make a conscious decision to be content, to be able to say “I shall not want.” Then, look for those to whom you can be a blessing, with whatever is pouring over the edges of your cup–not trickling, mind you, but pouring!