ENOUGH (Psalm 23)

"My cup overflows....."

The Lord is my Shepherd.  I have everything I need. –Psalm 23:1 (New Living Translation)

As much as I love the King James translation of Psalm 23:1 (“I shall not want”), I am especially drawn to this version. “Everything I need.”  In my heart, it pairs so well with the apostle Paul’s declaration of contentment: “And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” He wrote this as part of his thank you to the church at Philippi for a monetary gift for his basic living expenses.  Remember, he was a missionary, living on the erratic First Century version of “support.”  At times he had to go back to work stitching tents in a local business.

Years ago I also read W. Phillip Keller’s A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, and was enlightened further about sheep when I visited a friend during her lambing season. She talked about fractured nights helping ewes in difficult deliveries and keeping the bad-tempered ram in another pen. Other things she shared from her experience with sheep reminded me of how David’s patience was tried in his early occupation as a shepherd.  And yet, his most beautiful picture of God comes from just that.

Being “down” or depressed is like putting on eyeglasses with a bad prescription.  You don’t see clearly and stumble in confusion. Psalm 23 bids us rest and just look to the shepherd, who takes care of our needs.  Not our wants, necessarily, but our needs.

 I’ve been around people who have a pretty long “entitlement” list that they think God should supply. Yet they do not walk in the “paths of righteousness” that God has shown them.  They stumble off the path into the brambles of bitterness and anger. While they’re thrashing in the thorns, the Shepherd is nearby with His crooked staff, waiting to pull them out.

Contentment eludes them because they stray from the shepherd. Pastor and author F.B. Meyer said it so well:

This is the blessed life—not anxious to see far in front, nor eager to choose the path, but quietly following behind the Shepherd, one step at a time.  The Shepherd was always out in front of the sheep.  He was down in front.  Any attack upon them had to take him into account.  Now God is down in front.  He is in the tomorrows.  It is tomorrow that fills us with dread.  God is there already.  All the tomorrows of our life has to pass before him before they can get to us.”*

*F.B. Meyer (1847-1929), a contemporary of D.L. Moody, was a pastor and author who focused on inner city work on both sides of the Atlantic. Quote accessible at AZquotes.com/author/19129/F.B.Meyer