It’s interesting how the whole Bible points to Jesus, our Mesiah. In my younger days of reading the Psalms, which were written thousands of years before Christ, I thought Jesus was not considered there since no one knew Him then. Today, as I was reading the 23rd Psalm, however, something jumped out at me. The opening verse “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is a direct reference to Jesus and life with Jesus. Jesus said, “I am the good Shepherd.” And indeed He is. The good Shepherd laid down His life for His sheep. But the other part of the verse is even more profound: I shall not want. At one point, I interpreted this verse differently. David was a King who lived in luxury. So this verse could be interpreted to mean that “I shall have everything I desire, so therefore I shall not be in a state of want.” Indeed, God is a great provider, and He can furnish all our wants and needs. But the problem happens because of the things we want. We must remember that God is not our fairy godmother. He is the supreme King and Judge of the world. The things people want are sometimes outside of the righteousness and glory of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Imagine a community of just 500,000 people, each one of them wanting to rule over the others. Imagine the chaos, lack, wars, infighting, and scarcity that would create. But imagine the same community living by the words and commandments of Jesus: loving, forgiving, and serving one other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When we accept Jesus as our savior, we don’t need anything, and we don’t want anything. We don’t lust after the material things of the world, the temporal worldly treasures, and the fleeting pleasures. Yes, material things are good, and pleasures may come from God. The problem is when we want what is outside what God permits, and what is therefore impractical and leads to conflict with the will of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When we truly know Jesus; we are truly at peace. His peace fills us up. We don’t even care what people say or think about us. We are safe and protected under the blood of Christ and our hope is fixed on the Cross. Jesus shields us from the noise of the world and fills us up with a peace beyond all understanding, and that’s all we’ll ever need or want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Remember, when the Lord is your Shepherd, you shall not want.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"