In the 23rd Psalm, the Phrase,\u00a0“I Shall Not Want”….. have you ever given that phrase much thought?\u00a0 I must admit that I have thought about it some but maybe not to the degree that I should have.\u00a0 In my study on the 23rd Psalm I have found some intriguing things that I would like to share with you.\u00a0 The Lord used a great source to help me understand these things and I would highly recommend you checking it out.\u00a0 It is a book by Phillip Keller entitled “A Shepherd Looks at the 23rd Psalm”.\u00a0 It is an excellent book and one that will grab your attention and you will not be able to put it down.\u00a0 All of the posts on the 23rd Psalm will deal with information discovered by Keller in his work as a literal shepherd with sheep.<\/p>\n
The Word “want” here actually has a broader meaning than one might imagine.\u00a0 No doubt the main concept is that of not lacking but can we really know what David was referring to here as he was a shepherd of sheep for many years as well.\u00a0 It was discovered here that a broader meaning is that of being utterly contented in the Good Shepherd’s care and consequently not craving or desiring anything more.<\/p>\n
We can be sure that David was not really speaking of a materialistic or financial means because we find him experiencing extreme, intense personal poverty\u00a0and acute hardship and adversity\u00a0at times in his life.\u00a0 One would recall as David was on the run from Saul in his early years and again as being estranged and on the run from his own son Absalom.\u00a0 Just recently in the Ladies Bible study that I teach on Wednesday mornings we\u00a0looked at the passage in Revelation 3.\u00a0 We focused in on Rev. 3:17 that states, “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’\u00a0 But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.”\u00a0 Wow…there is it in Scripture that we can posses all that this world affords us physically, materialistically, socially, and relational\u00a0and I can still be wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked in a spiritual sense.\u00a0 When these attributes characterize my spiritual life,\u00a0my fascination\u00a0and excitement with these earthly things will fail me and I will not be able to\u00a0find peace and contentment deep within me even though all manner of things that this world can give me are scattered about in front of me.<\/p>\n
So what exactly does he mean here?\u00a0 I think David could be saying here, “I shall not want or lack the expert care and management of my Master.”\u00a0 Who is your master?\u00a0 Jesus himself even said that it is impossible to serve two master’s.\u00a0 We will hate one and love the other.\u00a0 It is important to understand\u00a0who our master is and the significance of belonging to that master or shepherd.\u00a0 One is a Good Shepherd and the other is an imposter.\u00a0 The imposter cares nothing for his flock.\u00a0 Because he doesn’t love and care for the sheep, they are weak, thin, impoverished, malnourished\u00a0and sickly.\u00a0 They are riddled with ticks, parasites, disease, and filth.\u00a0 The imposter abandon’s them and leaves them to fend for themselves.\u00a0 The imposter that I am speaking of here is our enemy Satan.\u00a0 You know you belong to either him or Christ.\u00a0 We are either children of darkness or children of Light, children of a scandalous\u00a0imposter or children of the King….and the only thing scandalous\u00a0about our King is His great affection and love for us.\u00a0 There are no boundaries that will prevent Him from being all that a Good Shepherd is for us.\u00a0 The Sheep under His care and management will never want or lack any good thing.<\/p>\n
If you and I can entrust ourselves to Christ’s control and management we will find there a radiant, serene\u00a0and joyous confidence and quiet joy that surmounts all the tragedies of our time.\u00a0 We will find that contentment we long so for.\u00a0 Which, incidently….Contentment should be the hallmark of the man or woman who has put his or her affairs in the hands of God.\u00a0 The paradox we see though in our society is the intense fever of discontent among people who are ever speaking of security.\u00a0 The very thing that they pursue with all their might believing that it will be the thing that provides security for them is the very thing that can be sucked right out from underneath them in a heartbeat.\u00a0 My friend, Christ – the Good Shepherd is the only sure foundation upon which to build ones life.\u00a0 Spend your energies, time, and resources pursing Him and He will fill you and you will never want again.<\/p>\n
John 4:13-14 “Jesus replied, “People soon become thirsty again after drinking this water.\u00a0 But the water I give them takes away thirst altogether.\u00a0 It becomes a perpetual spring within them, giving them eternal life.” NLT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the 23rd Psalm, the Phrase,\u00a0“I Shall Not Want”….. have you ever given that phrase much thought?\u00a0 I must admit that I have thought about it some but maybe not to the degree that I should have.\u00a0 In my study on the 23rd Psalm I have found some intriguing things that I would like to share with you.\u00a0 The Lord used a great source to help me understand these things and I would highly recommend you checking it out.\u00a0 It is a book by Phillip Keller entitled “A Shepherd Looks at the 23rd Psalm”.\u00a0 It is an excellent book and one that will grab your attention and you will not be able to put it down.\u00a0 All of the posts on the 23rd Psalm will deal with information discovered by Keller in his work as a literal shepherd with sheep. The Word “want” here actually has a broader meaning than<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anewlifedesign.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anewlifedesign.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anewlifedesign.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anewlifedesign.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anewlifedesign.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/anewlifedesign.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anewlifedesign.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anewlifedesign.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anewlifedesign.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}