Psalm 23 | I Shall Not WantSample

Let’s take just a few moments here and read this psalm from the Amplified translation, beginning in Verse 1.

“The Lord is my Shepherd [to feed, to guide and to shield me], I shall not want.”

I love that. It’s declarative: I SHALL not want. Decisive. Determined. It reminds me visually of when we go out to a restaurant or a theme park with our daughters. It doesn’t cross their minds that they’ll be paying for the tab. They decide what they want and, at our invitation, order the food and drink items that will refresh them. I highly doubt they look at the menu price when we are paying. They simply know, “I’m here with Daddy. And he always takes care of me. I’m good.”

The Message paraphrase says this verse like this: “God, my shepherd! I don’t need a thing.“

The key? Deciding who is in charge. Who is looking after you? Yourself? Your spouse? Your boss? Your family? NO—the rest comes with the awareness that God is your Shepherd. He is the overseer, the provider, the caregiver, the protector. THE LORD is MY shepherd.

Dig a Little Deeper:

Require yourself to consider who or what is truly in charge of your life. Stop here for a moment and take a personal survey, looking back over the past few weeks, months, or even the past year. If you are in charge, or any other human or man-made entity is in charge of your life, you have cause for concern. But if the Lord is guiding your life, you can rest easy. He has the ultimate vantage point and possesses the power and wisdom to supply all of your needs.