I Shall Not Want
Tom Shrader unpacks the second half of Psalm 23:1, arguing that 'I shall not want' does not mean the absence of suffering or hardship, but rather that God as Shepherd withholds nothing genuinely good from His sheep. Drawing on John 16:33, 2 Corinthians 4:8–9, Hebrews 11, Matthew 6, and Philippians 4, he demonstrates that Scripture consistently pairs faith in God with tribulation, and that contentment is learned through trust in the Shepherd, not through the accumulation of things. The teaching closes with a call to seek God's kingdom first, resting in the promise that the Lord as Shepherd supplies everything His people truly need.
“What I have in God is greater than what I don't have in life, and God is also greater than the things I do have — greater than the cancer, the broken relationship, the rebellious child.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: Psalm 23
Recorded: 2007 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 53 min
Themes: contentment, trust, suffering, provision, faith, shepherding, worry, seeking god, struggling with anxiety, facing hardship, feeling lack, new believer, questioning god's goodness, adult, going through loss, spiritually dry season
Scripture: Psalm 23:1-6, Psalm 84:11, John 15:18-19, John 16:33, 2 Corinthians 4:8-9, Hebrews 11:1-38, Mark 10:35-37, Mark 11:1-10, Matthew 6:25-33, Philippians 4:6-7, Philippians 4:11-13, Hebrews 13:20-21
Theological Themes: psalm 23, divine providence, contentment, sanctification, lordship of christ, suffering and faith, kingdom of god, sheep and shepherd
Full Transcript
I Shall Not Want
Will you open your Bibles, please, to Psalm 23? If you have a pew Bible, that is page 401. We are going to spend some time — I don't know how long — working our way through this psalm. What I want to do, and hopefully I know that I learn best with repetition, is keep certain components of this psalm in front of us as we go.
in your life where you recognized your sinfulness and confessed that to God, where you accepted Christ's atoning work on your behalf, where you trusted in Him fully? That's how He becomes your shepherd. That's how you can get to the place where you can say along with David, the Lord is my shepherd.
The Lord Is My Shepherd: A Weekly Reminder
Every week when we gather together, we are going to read through this psalm together. I want to really explain the first half of verse 1 almost every week, just to keep it fresh in your mind, because that really sets up and explains the balance of the psalm. So let's look at this together.
Psalm 23, verse 1: "A Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul. He guides me in the path of righteousness for His name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me. Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You have anointed my head with oil. My cup overflows. Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."
Let's pray together. Father, thank You for these words, for this truth. Thank You that because You, the Lord, the Creator God, are our shepherd — my shepherd — all these other things are true, and we find supply and rest and refreshment, and You will discipline us when necessary and guide us. You are faithful, and we find security in You and nowhere or no one or nothing else. Lord, I pray that as we work our way through this psalm, You will use this as a significant moment in each and every one of our lives individually and in our lives collectively as East Valley Bible Church. Bring us back again and again to the truth that You are God, You are the shepherd, and we are but sheep. Yet in the midst of that, You are our God and our shepherd — my God, my shepherd. I pray Your Spirit would this morning open eyes and hearts. I pray especially for those who are here today who are hurting, and in the midst of that, I pray You offer to them encouragement. Maybe some are running and trying to hide from You — let them know that there is no place where one can escape the hound of heaven. God, take this time and melt our hearts. If necessary, disassemble us. Break us apart for the sake of putting us back together again. All of this for Your honor and for Your glory. We pray to You in Christ's precious name. Amen.
Who the Lord Is
The Lord is my shepherd. We spent last week looking at that truth, and we need to keep it fresh in front of us. Who the Lord is — the triune God. In his classic work, *A Shepherd Looks at the Twenty-Third Psalm*, Philip Keller writes this: "God the Father is God the author, the originator of all that exists. It was in His mind first of all that all took shape. God the Son, our Savior, the artist, the creator of all that exists. He brought into being all that had been originally formulated in His Father's mind. God the Holy Spirit is God the agent who presents these facts to both my mind and my spiritual understanding, so that they become both real and relevant to me as an individual."
The Lord — the Creator God, the One who said, "Let there be light," and there was light. The awesome, mighty God. The God whose name was so revered by the Jews that they would not even say that name, Yahweh. If the scribes were to write the name, they would first go and bathe, wash their faces, and cleanse themselves. Then they would take a writing instrument, and once they had written that singular word, Yahweh, they would destroy the instrument itself. That is this God. He is the almighty, powerful, holy, righteous, awesome God.
A Personal Shepherd
What is so amazing is that this holy God we just described can also have a personal relationship with you and me. That is often the response people have as they begin to encounter the God of the Bible — they recognize how awesome He is, yet they forget that in the midst of being God, He can be a personal shepherd. Isn't that exactly what David does here? He does not use a plural personal pronoun. He does not say we, or us, or they. He says me, my, I. This awesome God is my shepherd.
Jesus is the good shepherd. I want to work through the psalm again in overview — I know it is repetitive, and I hope it is not dull and boring to you. But I want to keep this in front of you every week. Because the Lord is my shepherd, all these things are true. If the Lord is not your shepherd, these things are not true. We are children of God, but not everyone who lives is a child of God. We are children of God because of His work in our lives.
Walking Through the Psalm
Because the Lord is my shepherd and I have this relationship, I shall not want — I am lacking nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures — I have rest. He leads me beside still waters — I have refreshment. He restores my soul — He heals me. He guides me in the path of righteousness — He is my guide, He directs me. And He does that, why? For His name's sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, there is testing — yet I do not fear, because I have protection. Why? Because He is faithful. He will discipline me with His rod and His staff. He will prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies — there is hope. He anoints my head with oil — there is consecration. And my cup overflows — because the Lord is my shepherd, there is abundance.
Goodness and lovingkindness follow me all the days of my life — there is blessing that comes from Him. And I dwell in the house of the Lord. That is secure, and it is forever. It is eternal.
Is the Lord Your Shepherd?
Today we look at the second part of verse 1. Because the Lord is my shepherd — do you understand that? We need to come back to it each week, and we simply need to ask the question plainly: Is the Lord your shepherd? Is there a point in time in your life where you recognized your sinfulness and confessed that to God, where you accepted Christ's atoning work on your behalf, where you trusted in Him fully? That is how He becomes your shepherd. That is how you can come to the place where you can say along with David, "The Lord is my shepherd."
The Lord Is My Shepherd, I Shall Not Want
Can you say, "The Lord is my shepherd"? I don't want to unpack this and have you walk away thinking this is pretty cool but not true for you. "I shall not want" is not true if the Lord isn't your shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd, and because He's my shepherd, I shall not want. I have supply.
The NIV translates the verse this way: "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want." The New Living Translation says, "The Lord is my shepherd, I have everything I need." Eugene Peterson, in The Message, paraphrases it this way: "God, my shepherd! I don't need a thing."
What Does "I Shall Not Want" Actually Mean?
As I began to unpack that phrase, I asked myself: is He saying that because the Lord is my shepherd, I don't have any desires? That doesn't line up with my own life. When God saved me, I didn't cease to be human. The word means, literally in the Hebrew, because the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be wanting — I shall not lack anything. That helps a little, but it doesn't give me everything I need.
I'm still left asking: is David trying to insinuate that because the Lord is my shepherd, there are no lean times, no difficult times, no moments when we feel the pressures of life? I don't think David is saying that. He's not painting a portrait where having the Lord as shepherd means no challenges, no difficulties, no suffering or pain — no somehow just sweeping through life.
That certainly doesn't line up with David's own life. Study the life of David and you see pain and hardship, rebellious children, hiding from enemies, people out to kill him, affliction and suffering all around him. He is obviously saying you're going to need rest — rest from what? From all those things of life.
Weaving Through the New Testament
What I want to do is take some time and weave our way through some passages in the New Testament, making sure we get our arms around what God is saying in His Word. He is not saying that if the Lord is my shepherd, there isn't going to be difficulty, hardship, or passing through the valley of the shadow of death. Let's turn to the Gospel of John, chapter 14. If you have a pew Bible, look for page 84.
Now, a few months ago we spent a significant amount of time unpacking John chapters 14 through 17, so let me just remind you of the setting. Jesus has told His followers that He is about to suffer, die, and leave them. Peter has said he'll go wherever Jesus goes, and Jesus has replied that Peter doesn't have a clue — that Peter will deny Him before the night is over.
As Jesus communicates these things to them, He's planting words in their minds that carry some significance in the moment, but will carry far greater significance three or four days later. He says, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me." He gives them comfort by saying He is going to His Father's house, where there are many dwelling places, and that He will prepare a place for them, come back for them, and that the place is prepared just for them.
The World Will Hate You
In chapter 15, as He's talking about all sorts of things, He reminds them that He is the vine and they are the branches. They can do nothing apart from Him, but in Him they can do great things. Then in chapter 15, verse 18, He says: "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, 'A slave is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also."
Those are strong words. He is saying that as you go into this world, the world is going to hate you. You are in opposition to the world, and as a result, the world is in opposition to you.
Peace in Christ, Tribulation in the World
He then summarizes and continues to warn them in chapter 16, verse 33: "These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world." He has told them all of this for a reason — so that in Him they will have peace. In this world, we will find peace in one place and one place only: in Christ, in a relationship with Him, when He is my Shepherd.
In the world, you will have tribulation. But He is your Shepherd. He will protect you, guide you, be faithful to you, and you will be secure — and yet you will have tribulation. Jesus is not saying that once you come to Him in repentance and faith, the tribulation disappears.
Peace in the Midst of Turmoil
He is saying that everything will be okay, but it is a different kind of peace. It is not the absence of turmoil — it is His presence in your life. More precisely, it is the presence of the Holy Spirit. He has revealed to them this remarkable truth: He is going to go away, and it is to their advantage that He goes away, because with His departure, God comes not merely alongside but actually indwells you. You are better off that He is gone.
What I love about Scripture is that it never glosses over this. Jesus is saying, I am telling you this up front, because when hardship comes, your natural instinct might be to say, where is God? Why is this happening? I have made Him Lord and Savior, and I have given all of this up — God, if You were going to bring hardship into my life, why didn't You do it when I was wandering around? Why are You doing it now? He said, I am preparing you for this.
This idea that because Jesus is my shepherd I will have no desires or experience no affliction or pain simply does not line up with the balance of Scripture.
Paul's Assessment in 2 Corinthians 4
Turn to the right to two familiar passages. I find myself returning to these again and again, and even yesterday, as I was closing everything down and reviewing it all, I thought, can I find another passage? But I cannot find any better than Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 — that is page 141 in the pew Bible — where he is assessing his own life.
Paul makes the point that God designed the gospel message to be placed in what he calls earthen vessels — common pots, you and me. Not extraordinary people, not particularly bright or sharp people, certainly people of no renown in the world. He said, I have entrusted this message in you for a specific reason: so that when great things happen, people will not praise you, they will praise Me. That is the whole thought process there.
Look at what he says in verse 8. Paul said, here is our assessment of our life — and this has not been easy. "We are afflicted in every way but not crushed, perplexed but not despairing, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed." Let me read from Eugene Peterson's paraphrase, The Message, for these three verses.
He writes: "If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious message" — talking about the gospel — "around in unadorned clay pots, our ordinary life. That's to prevent anyone from confusing God's incomparable power with us. As it is, there's not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we're not much to look at." Then he begins to unpack: "We have been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we're not demoralized. We're not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do. We've been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn't left our side. We've been thrown down, but we haven't been broken."
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Does that line up? If you went to this great apostle and said, are you familiar with Psalm 23? — because according to some readings, none of this should be happening to you. We are beginning to see that maybe that is not what God is saying in Psalm 23.
The Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11
Now turn a little further to the right, to the book of Hebrews, chapter 11 — page 175. When we were at summer camp last summer, this is what we studied: Hebrews 11, which is about faith.
The author of Hebrews defines faith — he says it is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. Faith is seeing, understanding, and believing the promises of God, and then obediently following them. When He says do it, we do it. When He promises it, we live our lives according to that promise.
How important is faith? Verse 6: without faith it is impossible to please God. So if your desire is to please God, faith is at the center of that. No faith, no assurance, no promises believed and obeyed — then you are not pleasing God.
Then the author does something incredible. He says, let me give you illustrations. Verse 3, by faith, Abel. Verse 5, by faith, Enoch. Verse 7, by faith, Noah. Verse 8, by faith, Abraham. It just keeps going — verse 20, by faith, Isaac; verse 21, by faith, Joseph; verse 23, by faith, Moses; verse 31, by faith, Rahab. The author himself says he has much more to say, but time fails him. He does not have time to write all the illustrations.
Then the author mentions some further names, and begins to say, look at all of these — they are pictures, verse 33, of people, men and women, who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword. From weakness they were made strong, and by might in war put foreign armies to flight, and women received back their dead by resurrection.
These are the wonderful stories some of us learned as young children in Sunday school — Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, thrown into the fire and yet not consumed. As the onlookers are watching, they say, wait a minute, how many men did we put in the fire? Three. Well, there are four of them in there. Who is the fourth? Jesus. And then there is Daniel in the lion's den, and Joseph and all that he went through. If we stopped right there, we might say, oh, there is the picture of —
The Normal Christian Life and the Problem of Want
The normal life of a God follower, somebody who is serious about God, is not simply that because there's faith in their life it always turns out okay. Consider the second part of verse 35 in Hebrews: "Others were tortured, not accepting their release so that they might obtain a better resurrection. Others experienced mockings and scourging, yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, and they were sawn in two. They were tempted. They were put to death with a sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins. They were destitute and afflicted and ill-treated, men of whom the world was not worthy, wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes on the ground." The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. And yet there is a great deal of want in verses 35 through 38. To be honest, there is a great deal of want in this whole book.
The Prosperity Gospel Misunderstands God
I was watching a gentleman on television the other night, on Christian television, and he was encouraging people to plant seeds — by which he means money, which God will then return. He had just planted a seed of $8,500, and God had returned that to him, and then he began to wonder why he would plant such a small seed. Why would he plant only an $8,500 seed? Why would he limit himself to wanting only an $8,500 miracle?
That thinking feeds into a deep misunderstanding of God and who He is. The idea is that if you plant this little seed, God is then somehow obligated to return it financially tenfold, a hundredfold — pressed down, shaken together — the greatest economic investment of all time. Now, when you give to God, He does give back to you, but perhaps not in like and kind. When you give to God, He may give back to you all sorts of things you never even dreamed you needed, let alone wanted.
The Triumphal Entry and the Crowd's Misplaced Expectations
This tendency to misunderstand what God owes us seems so natural to man. Let's turn to Mark chapter 11. We find this incident in the Gospels, and all four Gospel writers tell us about it. This is Jesus in the triumphal entry, just a few days before He is killed, and there is fulfillment of prophecy here. You can read through that in verses 1 through 3 — going to get the donkey, asking for permission, getting the colt.
Verse 7 tells us: "They brought the colt to Jesus and put their coats on it, and He sat on it, and many spread coats on the road, and others spread leafy branches that were cut from the fields, and those who went in front of them, those who were following, were shouting, 'Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the kingdom of our Father David, Hosanna in the highest!'" These are people who sense that a Messiah is coming, and in their minds He is a Messiah who is going to bring political, economic, and even religious redemption and freedom. These are the same people who, just a few days later, are chanting, "Crucify, crucify."
James and John Ask for the Wrong Thing
Even the disciples sense that Jesus is about to do something. Granted, He has talked a great deal about suffering, but He is also beginning to talk about His kingdom, His Messiahship, and His being the one who has been promised. Leading up to the triumphal entry, there is a fascinating conversation, because James and John come to Jesus and say something to Him that your own children say to you. Put dad or mom in place of teacher: "Mom, we want you to do whatever we ask you to do."
Now, when your children come to you and say, "Will you do whatever I ask you to do?" what is your answer? You think I'm going to do whatever you want me to do? No. But Jesus is gracious about this. He says, "What do you want me to do for you?" And they say, "Can one of us sit on your right hand and one sit on your left when you are in glory?" Even in the midst of anticipating something great about to happen, they are asking: somehow we are going to reign with you — can we be in on this deal?
What "I Shall Not Want" Actually Means
I want to go back to Psalm 23, because I want us to get our arms around what the psalmist is actually saying. "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." What does he mean? John Piper offers this insight: it means that God's sheep never lack anything — pay attention now — that the shepherd thinks is good for them. That did not turn out the way we wanted, did it?
This is confirmed when we ponder verse 4 about walking through the valley of the shadow of death. The picture here is of a situation with extreme danger that could take the sheep's life if the shepherd were not there to protect and guide with rod and staff. But why would a sheep be going through such a place? That is the wonderful question we are really asking. I thought we should not want — why would we have to go through this?
The Shepherd Leads Through the Valley
The sheep is not going through the valley because he has wandered off into sin. That is not the point here, because the shepherd is pictured as going with the sheep, not snatching him back to a pasture he already left. The reason the sheep is going through the valley is because the shepherd is leading it there.
The connection between verses 3 and 4 confirms this. "He restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for His namesake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death" — the path through the valley is also one of the paths of righteousness in which God leads us. He leads me in the path of righteousness for His namesake. Even when I walk through the valley, You are with me.
So why would the shepherd lead the sheep into a valley filled with danger and death threats? There is only one possible answer: to get us to a better place. From verse 4, I have learned that I may indeed have to walk through the valley — and the shepherd will be there leading me through it.
The Shepherd's Care
I may lack many things in following the sheep, but I will never lack anything that the Shepherd thinks is good for me. Psalm 84, verse 11: "No good does the Lord withhold from those who walk uprightly." David is not saying, because the Lord is my shepherd, there are not going to be shortfalls. Here is what he is saying: because the Lord is my shepherd, I do not lack the care and love and oversight and concern of the Shepherd. That is what he is saying.
This calls to mind what we talked about last week. Sheep are stupid, dirty, defenseless, and prone to wander. Now in this equation, you are the sheep. I am dirty, I am dumb, I am defenseless, I am prone to look for greener pastures, as if a different and new source of hope rests somewhere else. And all of that begins when I start to wander away from the Shepherd and pursue my own way.
When I as the sheep begin to wander, I am saying one of three things. Either I don't need any shepherd and I'll handle myself, or I'll go and find another shepherd, or I'll be my own shepherd. That becomes a picture of life for many, including those who would say Jesus is Lord.
The Perpetual Search
We start to look around for the things we talked about — supply and blessing, rest and refreshment, healing and guidance, purpose and testing, protection and hope — and we start to look for them in all these other places. So often it seems that we are on a perpetual search. I hear that all the time. There is not a week that goes by that somebody doesn't come to me with some issue, and here is what they will say: Do you have a tape? Do you know a video? Is there a conference? Tapes and videos and conferences are good, but I find myself saying, do you know that the Lord is your shepherd?
We find people going from person to person to person, place to place to place, thing to thing to thing, all of them saying, you be my shepherd. You watch over me. You protect me. You guide me. You make it so I don't want or lack for anything. It seems to be almost a universal human condition.
The Prison of Want
Maxwell Cato paints a beautiful picture of this. He writes:
> Come with me to the most populated prison in the world. The facility has more inmates than bunks, more prisoners than plates, more residents than resources. Come with me to the world's most oppressive prison. Just ask the inmates. They'll tell you. They're overworked, underfed. The walls are bare. The ceilings are hard. No prison is so populated. No prison is so oppressive. And what's more, no prison is so permanent. Most inmates never leave. They never escape. They never get released. They serve a life sentence in this overcrowded facility. The name of the prison — you see it over the entrance, rainbowed over the gate in four cast iron letters — spells out W-A-N-T. Want. It's the prison of want.
You've seen the prisoners. They want something bigger, nicer, faster, thinner. They don't want much, mind you, just one thing — one new job, one new car, one new house, one new spouse. And when they have that one, they're never happy. Then Cato writes this wonderful sentence: if your happiness comes from something you deposit, drink, drive, or digest, then face it, you're in prison — the prison of want.
And you will never be satisfied. Isn't that what Solomon says — "Whoever loves money never has money enough"? I've watched it, and I know the reality of it. I know the temptation of it in my own life, and certainly in the lives of people around me. If only this, if only that, if I could get out of this, if I could move from that.
Never Enough
I remember when I used to work with a lot of pro athletes. We came to the realization one year that the highest divorce rate on any team in Major League Baseball, for something like seven years out of ten, was the team that had won the World Series the year before. Because there is that thinking — if I could just get that ring, everything will be fine. But life just becomes going from thing to thing to thing.
I see it in the spiritual area as well. If I could just have this one epiphany moment, everything would change. But that is not the way we are wired. God continually takes these sheep through a day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute relationship between Shepherd and sheep.
What I Have in God
"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." David has found the pasture where discontent goes to die. It is as if he is saying: what I have in God is greater than what I don't have in life. What I have in God is greater than the things I don't have.
So let's unpack it. What are those things I don't have? I don't have that job, I don't have that car, I don't have that house — you fill in the blanks. I don't have that promotion, I don't have that cabin, I don't have that mountain hideaway. I don't have success. I think in those terms: the Lord is my shepherd, and God is greater than all these things I don't have.
Greater Than What We Have Too
Here is the flip side of that, and I have been sitting with this for a few days. The Shepherd — God — is also greater than the things I do have. He is greater than the cancer. He is greater than the broken relationship. He is greater than the rebellious child. He is greater than the fact that my dad was never there. He is greater than the fact that my business has extraordinary challenges. He is not only greater than the things I don't have; He is greater than the things I do have. There is nothing that comes into my life that hasn't —
The Shepherd Who Knows What We Need
Everything that comes into our lives has first passed through God Himself, and He provides the promise that will never allow us to be tempted or tested beyond what we can endure. God is not just greater than the things I don't have — God is greater than the things that I do have. The Lord is my shepherd. He knows each one of His sheep, each one of us individually. He knows what you need and what I need, and He is going to do whatever it takes as the shepherd to make sure that in our life we have rest and refreshment, but also discipline.
He is going to bring some difficulties and challenges into our life. Why? Because it will draw us closer to Him. He knows what you need.
Count Your Many Blessings
I never know how many of these stories are true — I always hope that they are; they almost become legend. There is a wonderful story of a young lady on a short-term mission trip who was visiting an island leper colony. One evening a man was leading worship and asked if anyone had a favorite song. A woman in the back spoke up and said she did, and the girl tells the story of turning around to see the most disfigured person she had ever seen — no nose, no ears, her lips were gone, and her hands were fingerless. The woman said, "I have a favorite song. Could we sing 'Count Your Many Blessings'?"
The man started the song and could not finish it. A little while later, someone said to him, "I suppose you'll never be able to sing that song again." He replied, "Oh no, I'll sing that song again. I'll just never sing it the same way."
Thanking God for the Thirty Days
I remember Larry's story — he was going through all sorts of difficulties, was not yet a follower of Christ, and his wife Sue was on his case. He had quit drinking for thirty days, and then started again. Sue went to a pastor looking for help, wondering what she should do for Larry, how she could intervene and what she could say. The pastor asked a wonderful question: "Have you bothered to thank God for the thirty days?"
My favorite holiday is coming up — Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving. So often at Thanksgiving we thank God for our house and our food and all these things, but for the last few years, part of our Thanksgiving has been, "God, thank you for cancer. Thank you for difficulty, and thank you for hardship." Why? Because obviously we need it. I may not know exactly why, God, but we need it, or You would not put it in our life.
I Shall Not Want a Different Shepherd
The Lord is my shepherd — I shall not want. Shall not want what? I shall not want a different shepherd. I am not going to go around looking from shepherd to shepherd to shepherd, from thing to thing to thing. We live in a disposable world where we dispose of relationships. I see it in the church — people go from church to church, from teacher to teacher, until they find somebody who tells them exactly what they want to hear, something that works out exactly the way they want. There is one shepherd.
The Lord is my shepherd, and we are prone to wander. We are prone to say, "This is pretty good for now," until something different or something better comes along. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want — because I am a sheep who needs a shepherd, and He is the good shepherd, the perfect shepherd, the shepherd who loves me and cares for me, the shepherd who alone is worthy of my praise and my adoration. He will allow my life to contain affliction and hardship and difficulties and suffering and pain and challenge. But that is acceptable, because the good shepherd gives me exactly what I need. I shall not lack anything the shepherd thinks I need.
Matthew 6: Do Not Worry
Turn with me to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter six. We are in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount, and Jesus is making a point. There has been a discussion about storing up treasures, and He is saying do not store up treasures here on earth but store up treasures for yourself in heaven. He then points out that no one can serve two masters. Verse 25: "For this reason I say to you, do not worry about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?" He then says, look at the birds of the air — the Father takes care of them.
Verse 27: "And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?" Worried about clothes? He says look at the lilies of the field — there is grass that will be gone tomorrow, and yet God takes care of it. Verse 31: "Do not worry then, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear for clothing?'" Why not worry about those things? Verse 32 — and I am paraphrasing here — because when you worry about those things, you are acting as though someone else is your shepherd. You are thinking just like a Gentile. That is what you are doing. But your heavenly Father, your good shepherd, knows everything you need.
So what do you do? Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness — His agenda, His plan, His care, His love. Seek those things, and all the rest gets taken care of, because He is the good shepherd and you lack nothing that the shepherd says you need.
Philippians 4: Be Anxious for Nothing
Turn to the book of Philippians, chapter four. As a note, when we finish our study of the 23rd Psalm, we are going to study the book of Philippians chapter by chapter, verse by verse. Paul has talked about all sorts of things, including his own imprisonment, and here is his conclusion: "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God." Tell Him. Express your heart.
The Peace That Surpasses Comprehension
Do not be anxious. Do not be nervous. Do not be overly concerned or obsessing over things. When you do that, the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ. Worry about nothing. Pray about everything. The peace of God — the reality of God in your life — passes human comprehension.
Everything humanly, instinctively, and naturally says to worry. Be concerned. What will I do? What is my plan? How will I make it work? Here is how it works: the Lord is my shepherd. He has it figured out. He is going to do what He needs to do in my life so that I am a man, a woman, a student, a boy or girl of faith — one who will believe the promises of God, and once I know them, obediently follow them.
The Secret of Contentment
People like secrets. They love to gossip. It is a pet peeve of mine — it drives me crazy that people cannot keep their mouths shut. People traffic in it, and it is deadly and destructive, but that is the way it is. I do not want to tell you a secret in that sense.
Verse 11 says, "I do not speak from want, I have learned to be content. I know how to get along in humble means and I know how to live in prosperity. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret. I have learned the secret of being filled and the secret of going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need." Here is the secret: "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me."
I have learned to be content. I have learned to understand that my physical and financial condition are not necessarily reflective of my spiritual condition. I have learned how to pass the test of abundance as well as the test of lean times. I know the secret. And it is not me. Do you see it? The secret is not me. The secret is Him. I can do all things — how? Through Him who strengthens me.
He Is My Shepherd
He is my shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. I do not lack anything — anything that the shepherd thinks I need, He puts into my life, including hardship and difficulty and shortage and abundance.
The story goes of a man who came to a counselor in the middle of incredible financial difficulties. He said, "I have lost everything." The counselor said, "I am so sorry to hear you have lost your faith." The man said, "No, I have not lost my faith." The counselor said, "Well, I am so sorry to hear you have lost your character." The man replied, "I have not lost my character." The counselor continued, "Well, I am sorry to hear you have lost your salvation." The man answered, "I have not lost my salvation." The counselor then said, "So you have your faith, and you have your character, and you have your salvation. It seems to me that you have lost none of the things that really matter."
The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not wander. I do not lack a shepherd, or guidance, or direction. I shall not wander.
Benediction
We have been beginning every week in this series on the 23rd Psalm by reading that Psalm aloud together, so that it becomes so familiar it is simply in our minds. Now, as we close, let me read aloud Hebrews chapter 13, verses 20 and 21:
"Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen."