Wants

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Ps 23:1

I remember being a child and wondering at the meaning of these words. I won’t want the Lord as my shepherd? What? That doesn’t make any sense! As I grew in knowledge and understanding, the words themselves began to make more sense, but the meaning still eluded me. Seriously, is it really possible to go through life not really being in want? In need?

The difficult answer is yes. It is possible. Why is that difficult? Because so often I get caught up in what I am fully convinced I desperately need. I have longings. Desires. Intense wants. It seems that nothing will satisfy me until those specific hungers are met.

But when I really stop to think about those times of intense desire, I realize that they rarely come when I have full focus on my Savior. Instead my focus is on what I lack. And what I lack begins to consume me.

When I am able to focus instead on my Shepherd, my desires change. My one true hunger is for more of Him, and that is a desire that can always be met because His desire is to give me more of Himself. Meanwhile, He doesn’t withhold those other temporal things from me. But, they become true delights because I see them as gifts from His hand; things to more greatly show me His love. They become tools to accomplish His purposes rather than objects of my affection.

Unfortunately, that’s not where I typically live. My more typical response is to cling to my desires until they are fulfilled. Then I find that they aren’t nearly as fulfilling as I’d imagined they’d be. I’m still lacking, all because my focus is on those desires instead of on my Shepherd.

My challenge is to live less in the valley of want and more in the shadow of my Shepherd. Then I can truly say with David, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”