What We Want

 March 9, 2024

Psalm 23:1 “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.” 

These words are perhaps the most well known in all the Bible. Even those who never darken the door of a church have heard them uttered in funeral services. This, along with the rest of the 23rd Psalm, has been a source of comfort to the grieving for generations.

This first sentence has two parts: The statement of fact followed by the result of that fact; God is, followed by the implied therefore. If the LORD is my shepherd, some things naturally follow, the most important being “I shall not want.”

That little word, “want” may not mean what you think it means. Originally, like when used here, it meant “I won’t lack anything I need.” To be in want meant you didn’t have even the basic necessities of life. To not be in want meant having all we really need. Isn’t it amazing how that word has changed over the years? Now, we think of any trifling thing and say, “I want it.” We all want things; some things we want are good, some not so good. What we want can become a blessing or a curse because often the things we want in the short term keep us from what we want in the long term. God never promised to give us all the things we want, but instead is in the business of shaping our wants to his purposes, and giving us all we need to fulfill them.

So what do you really want out of life? Are you willing to abstain from the immediate want to get the better long term want?