I shall not want Ps 23:1b
The psalmist said I SHALL not want. He didn’t say I DO not want. Those statements have very different connotations. One is present tense. The other (shall) talks of the future. It is interesting to me because it answers a lot of our questions. I’m living in the pasture but I am barren or sick or want other basic stuff in my life. Why is it like that?
Why is my reality different from the reality in God’s mind? Is it that God is unable to defend me? Is it that the devil somehow has found his way also into the pasture?
I do need but I shall not want.
Get this clear, this statement is not based on the green pasture. When you look to the green pasture as your supply then you will want. Before David talks of the pasture he first declares his sufficiency. It is not your job that sustains you no matter how fat the pay is. It is not your hard work that makes you excel no matter how skillful you are. The pasture is not the source of your satisfaction.
Paul declares:
Php 4:11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
Php 4:12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
Php 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
All you need can’t be supplied by the pasture where you are right now but the shepherd knows where to lead you. Needs arise in the present, but the supply is in the future. So your walk from the place of need to the place of supply is what this psalm describes. It is what we call the walk of faith. It does not deny the reality of the moment, but it is also not ruled by it. It is driven by the assurance that no matter what life throws at me, no matter the circumstances I find myself in, my source and provider will always be there for me. I shall not want.
© THE LAMB OF GOD
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Transforming Word Series 