“The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want….” is the beginning of the 23rd Psalm. I think nearly everyone is familiar with this Psalm. Often it is recited at a funeral as a testimony of confidence, of faith. This is also echoed in Ephesians (1:3) which attest to Paul’s statement that we have been blessed with ‘every’ spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ. If we have every then we don’t want.
The 23rd Psalm starts with a statement of relationship: The Lord is my Shepherd. Obviously this means that you have a relationship with the Lord and it is based in the reality that He is your shepherd. One of the definitions of shepherd is a leader – the shepherd does the leading. We humans sometimes have difficulties with being led and it isn’t necessarily based in a lack of trust of the one leading, it’s just that we like to do our leading.
The shepherd doing the leading is not forcing you to follow but if/when you don’t then the relationship is, at least temporarily, changed. Severed? Two cannot lead simultaneously unless they be agreed and if agreed then there is only need for one leader. And it follows that the one with the greater understanding and knowledge should assume that leadership. Believing is a statement of your willingness to follow the Shepherd.
Believing that you will not want is a bold statement of trust. It is a confident trust that doesn’t need to boast and is peacefully confident in God. Trust is a critical consideration and is typically reinforced through experience. If you’ve never trusted the Lord in/for something then you have no strong foundation for trust. But to believe that you will never want for anything again is also illogical if you apply it to the natural world. Spiritually defined, you will never want. Carnally…. totally different.
