Doesn't this sound like our Lord? He is the Good Shepherd. He told us,
"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me." John 10.27
And the gentle shepherd leads us all the way home.
AND ALL OF THIS CHANGES OUR LIVES
At the end of the Psalm David exalts in the life of a believer. A believer, who has all of his or her needs met in God, has a new heart and an eternal home.
"My cup runs over." Psa. 23.5
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"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me 11 the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." Psa. 23.6
God meets our every need and in meeting our needs, He changes our lives. We are given joy for sadness. We are given a shelter for our lives in the place of a wandering nomadic existence apart from God.
THANKING GOD FOR THE NEEDS
So by the end of the Psalm, we see that the need actually leads us to the Lord. Our desires when dealt with according to God's Word lead us to Christ. Our hopes and our dreams, our longings and our human aspirations for meaning, happiness, hope and comfort lead us to the God of all comfort.
John Donne, the great seventeenth century Preacher-Poet of St. Paul's in London, prayed:
"O God, never suffer us to think that we can stand by ourselves, and not need Thee."
Our needs are known to God. They are important to God. And they are given to us by God to lead us to Him.
And in coming to Him, we may say with David, "I shall not want."
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Michael A. Milton is Senior Pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Chattanooga, TN.
