A look at Psalm 23's letdown

Sometimes we miss out on something magnificent because there's something else magnificent right next to it.

You've likely noticed the difference in the night sky when viewed while camping or in the mountains, as opposed to viewing it from the city. It's not that all those stars weren't there before, it's that in the city, you sit in the middle of bright light already.

This is the dilemma we have with Psalm 23. It's full of magnificent bright lights. Yesterday we saw the incredibly bright "The Lord is my shepherd." Then on the heels of it, we get the bright lights of green pastures, quiet waters, a refreshed soul, and right paths.

We could jump right into those. It sounds like a resort. But to jump straight to those would miss the magnificence of what sits in between them. I'll warn you though - it feels more like a wet blanket than a bright light.

Psalm 23's wet blanket

I wonder what David was thinking, when in between the statements “The Lord is my shepherd” and "green pastures, quiet waters, a refreshed soul, and right paths" he placed the following:

“I shall not want.”

A list of things everyone wants, preceded by a statement about not wanting? This is how I interpreted Psalm 23:1 for a long time. I read it as a command that said, “Since the Lord is my shepherd, I’m not allowed to want.”

Have you met people that follow Jesus that way? Or perhaps you've thought this is what a relationship with the shepherd looks like? This is the view that our relationship with him is a list of do and don’t...but mostly don’t.

It's at this point we're prone to go back to the posture of wearing the crown or holding the staff from yesterday's email, thinking we know best.

While I understand we could all interpret "I shall not want" as a command, it just doesn’t align with the “yoke is easy, burden is light” statement Jesus made, or the numerous times Paul spoke of freedom in Christ.

From wet blanket to bright light

One of the useful tools of Bible study is that we can look at how a word or phrase is used elsewhere in Scripture to help us get at the meaning of it. We can also look at other English translations. Or the original language. Just making use of those tools points us toward a different understanding.

Where we read in English the words "I shall not want," the Hebrew language gives a phrase pronounced ‘lo chacer,' which means ‘no lack.' Looking around, the phrase used here is also used in passages in which those who belong to the Lord are never without his good.

Further clarity is given as we look at other English translations, which say it this way:

“The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.”

What if David isn’t stating a command in the relationship with our shepherd, but an effect of it?

"I want" vs. "I have"

When we hear, "don't want," it's very possible we're focused more on the green pastures, quiet waters, refreshed souls, and right paths of life, than on the one we've declared as "my shepherd."

But when we make our shepherd the focus, something magnificent happens. We realize he doesn't say "don't want." He says "you have."

Do we realize all that we already have in him? When all we see are parched fields, rough waters, and uncertain paths, we can chase the "I want" of it all, or remember we have all things in Jesus Christ, our shepherd.

When we make him our aim, we discover what King David was getting at: our shepherd leads us, refreshes us, and guides us to that wonderful list for his name's sake. When he does it, it's clearly and unmistakably him, and only him.

He's no wet blanket.

Until tomorrow,

Nathan