From the UCC Network: 05/10/2011 "Wants and Needs"

Wants and Needs

Excerpt from Psalm 23

"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." 
                                                                                                                
Reflection by Kenneth L. Samuel

I don't know about you, but I’ve been wrestling with Psalm 23 for a long time.  As a boy, I used to read the first line of this Psalm as one complete thought, with no comma or semi-colon.  Then my mother kindly instructed me that it would make no sense to worship the Lord if I didn’t want him.  After I separated the two thoughts of the first line, I then had to wrestle with the reconciliation of those two thoughts. I eventually came up with this:  "Because the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want."

This resolution seemed pretty clever to me, and certainly in keeping with church orthodoxy.  The only problem I had then was that as much as I affirmed the Lord as my shepherd, I nonetheless could not deny that I still had some rather serious wants.  So, was I to understand the first line of Psalm 23 as a declaration of hope, or eschatological expectancy?  I couldn’t determine if Psalm 23 was a distant hope or a present day assurance.

In light of all my present wants, what does it mean to say, "The Lord is my shepherd"?  Instead of jumping so abruptly from the shepherd to my wants, I've learned to linger and live in the simply profound declaration: "The Lord is my shepherd."  With my focus on the shepherd’s care, the shepherd's guidance and the shepherd's sacrifice for me, I have come to understand that because the Lord is my shepherd, I have everything I need.  Now those are two thoughts that I can reconcile and relate to my present-day situations.  My wants, still notwithstanding.

Prayer

Lord, we do thank you for being our good shepherd.  And we do thank you for being all that we need right now and forever more.  Amen.

About the Author Kenneth L. Samuel is Pastor of Victory for the World Church, Stone Mountain, Georgia.