I shall not want. Psalm 23:1b

The Christian life is a steep climb.  With every ledge we reach, the view changes. Scripture that once felt like a simple sing-song memory verse suddenly opens like a canyon ~ deeper and wider than we first knew. “I shall not want” is one of those lines.

Right now, I’m doing one of the things I love most. It’s 2:00 a.m. I’m on my porch, the low Corinthian bells are ringing outside my window, rain is whispering on the roof, and I’m talking to Jesus at length. “Come sit with me and listen to the rain,” I say. “I’d hungry for you to teach me something.”

These midnight rendezvous with Him are precious to me. And as I sit there, the familiar words of Psalm 23 come to mind. But they feel different, weightier: I shall not want. How many times have I carried false expectations into that verse? I’ve read it as if God were promising to fix whatever I think I need fixed.

But then I remember the confessions of my spiritual forefathers: Pressed, persecuted, in danger, misunderstood. This is not the fine print. This is the path. 

What, then, is actually promised here—if not a life where every circumstance is neatly repaired?  I must go back to the beginning of the verse.  The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.    

I will not want for a shepherd.   That is the promise.

I will not lack a wise Guide, a strong Protector, a tender Friend. I may carry a “thorn in the flesh,” but I will not lack the grace to bear it. I may weep over losses I do not understand, but I will not be abandoned in them. Life is not “fixed” yet. Hard things remain hard. But my deepest need is already answered. That part is settled.

Life isn’t fixed yet but my need for a Savior and constant Friend is.  No matter what may come – I shall not want.  Amen