Doggy Love

Don't accept your dog's admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful. ~Anne Landers

To know not want

The  most well beloved psalm  begins with the phrase, the Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. (Psalm 23)

Notice that it says, I shall not want,

Not, I shall not need.

For I will easily admit I have everything I need: food, shelter, family, education, a Savior, some good friends.

But, I have many things I still want: a plan for the future, a good job, my student loans paid off, the list goes on.

The psalmists David says,

The Lord is my Shepherd

I shall NOT WANT

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David was once a shepherd, before he became a king. He knew what he was talking about when he compared our Lord to the shepherd, and us to sheep. The shepherd knows his sheep, what they want and do not want. Their baaaas must ache His heart. He knows when they are thirsty, so he leads them to the right waters. He feeds them with the best grass from the greenest pastures. And when they foolishly try to run away, he uses his rod and staff to bring them safely home, and into His comforting arms.

As of now, I cannot honestly say with the psalmist that I shall not want, for as I have said before, there are many things that I want. But my desire, somewhere deep inside is to say I shall not want, because the Lord is also my shepherd. 

 I do not know how I go from wanting all of these things one day, and not wanting the next. But I am thinking that maybe it is a long process, and that sacrifices need to be made, for the Bible says, "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it." (Luke 9:24) More than physical sacrifices, however, it requires me to sacrifice my desire for control over my life - that is, I need to trust my Shepherd.

If sheep could think, I imagine it is hard for them to trust the shepherd when the wolves lurk around at every corner intend on preying on the strayaways. It is equally  difficult for us to trust that God is good in a world that has gone so wrong.

But the good Shepherd laid  His life down for the sheep. God, in Jesus, gave up His life for me, as a punishment for my sins. This is where my trust begins. For of course, the wolves are there, and life is not fair. But when I know that the Shepherd will give His own life so that the sheep will be safe, I can agree that there is no want that I have that surpasses His grace and love towards me."He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things." (Romans 8:31)

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 So I can say, along with the psalmist and thousand others who have gone before me, that I shall not want, because the Lord is my Shepherd.