To Tame a Wolf: Psalm 23.

Psalm 23:1 The LORD is my Shepherd, I shall not be in want.

*For those of you who are not Christians and for those of you who are---you all have probably heard this verse. The unfortunate part about that is sometimes I think this is taken in triteness. Almost like it is a cop-out verse. It’s what we say when we don’t know what else to say. But a few months ago I was doing my devotions one morning and felt like I needed to read this.

“What in the world do you want me to read that for?” I prayed. “I can quote the whole thing to you right now.”

If there is one thing I love about the Holy Spirit it is that He can make newness in the old.

That morning was just such a morning.

And I was bawling by verse two.

So often I have been in conversations with people who are struggling through something in their life. Or shall I say the perceived lack of something. “I am having a hard time with not being in a relationship right now. Why am I the one not married?” or “I don’t have any good friends,” or “My job is just not good enough, it’s becoming a burden,” or “I need some more excitement in my life, I feel so bored, so purposeless.” I could go on and on. You all know what I am talking about for two reasons.

1. You have been there, and

2. You know someone who has been there.

But all of that isn’t really the truth, is it? Oh sure, it’s a struggle for us. We cry and we pray our way, hopefully, through it. I definitely believe that praying through it is the best way to go about it, but my question is, if Psalm 23:1 is true, and I believe all scripture to be true, then for the Christians, those issues we deal with aren’t true issues. They are smoke and mirrors.

Look at this passage. It is clearly in “equivalents.” Part A is true, therefore part B is true. Like in algebra, “What you do to one side of the equal sign you have to do to the other.”

Here is what it looks like for the Believer:

THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD= I SHALL NOT BE IN WANT.

Ok, so what are the brass tacks to this?

If the Lord is your Shepherd, then any perceived lack is not actually a lack of anything. That you are “without” something is entirely untrue and, frankly, not possible.

Whoa.

Mind-blowing. How easily do I become offended by God when I am in the midst of feeling the “need”?!? “How can you not give me this God?! Surely I am living my life for you! Don’t I deserve that thing?”

I end up feeling slighted, which leads me to feeling bitter, which leads me to not trust him, which leads me to feeling like my life is empty.

What a pitiful cycle.

And what a life of lies.

The Lord is my Shepherd. There is nothing else I need.

Now let’s take this a step further.

What if you DO possess those extra things? What if there are more blessings in your life than just Jesus? What if you are not like the Levites, but rather like the other 11 clans and you have more than God as your inheritance?! What then do all of those things amount to? If they are not a need, but you have received them, what classification do they fall into in our lives?

GIFT.

They are pure gift.

Not anything we need. Not anything we can’t live without. Not anything that would leave a lack if they were taken away, but GIFT.

Total, unmerited grace are the things that bless our lives.

Family, friends, relationships, children, good jobs, lovely houses, nice cars, money in the bank, vacations, yada yada yada. Whatever it is in your life that you possess that is not Christ himself is a gift from Christ himself.

In thinking about those times when I am struggling through a lack of whatever, what a terrible, mean, awful tool of the enemy that is! To make me think that God is holding out. To view those blessings as trite, or take them for granted, or see them as something I deserve.

I was in a play in college and there was this one line that stuck with me:

“What God has given God can take away, so for what he has given---be thankful.”

God really gives us a lot, doesn’t he?! I mean, he already gave himself, what more is there? But he continually is TOO good to us. Goodness which is undeserved because certainly, the Lord is my Shepherd, it’s not as if I have any want.

And being in the spirit of thankfulness, here are a few photos from my day and life of those wonderful, unneeded gifts that I am oh-so-thankful-for.