What I Lack – Emotional Theology #2
“The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.” Psalm 23:1
Want – But this isn’t quite right, is it? David is not speaking about my “wants”; he is speaking about what I lack. Even the NIV translation (“I shall not be in want”) still confuses the thought. What David says is this: the Shepherd God provides all that I lack. David’s psalm is not an expression of God’s blessing machine. It is an expression of my essential inability to provide for myself.
Emotional theology must begin here. If my god is simply a god who gives me what I want, then I worship an idol made in my own self-fulfilling image. That kind of god is the god of me, disguised in religious ritual. Any god that we treat as a means to our ends is not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible is a God Who invites us to join in His purposes, not ours, and Who provides what we lack in order to accomplish what He desires. So, David can say with a pure heart, “My Shepherd God will take care of everything that I lack.”
Now just wait a minute. With a verse like this, we might think that God only supplements what we don’t already have. He takes care of the gap between what I can do and what I hope to do. But once again we would not be dealing with the God of the Bible. The God David worships is the God Who provides all that I lack, and all that I lack is everything. I come into this world with nothing. I leave with nothing. What I have in between those two events is God’s gift to me. In fact, I even lack the ability to give myself the very next breath I take. God gives. That’s why I do not lack. If my God were not willing to give, I would be finished right now.
What I discover when I contemplate what I lack is that there is a God Who is willing to provide. If I can trust Him for my next breath, am I willing to trust Him for all the other things that I need to accomplish His purposes for the life He gives me? This is not simply intellectual trust. Do I have to think about trusting Him before I can draw the next breath? No. I just breathe and in the process my very breathing is homage to His provision. Do I have “breathing trust” for the other things I lack? When I come to the place where I accept His provision as easily as I accept the breathing He gives, then I will really know Him.
This is absolutely and wonderfully clear – thank you!
I was just listening to a Christian radio program on my way home tonight and, while I did not hear the entire program, it sure sounded as though he was teaching about WANTS – he said as much, but again – he could have been making a point; I am not 100% certain. In any case, it just SO did not set right with my spirit, and I HAD to come home and check it out! Thank God, I was taught correctly. I’ve been in several different doctrines and have come to be rather confused over various subjects.
This is seriously frustrating, HOWEVER, it’s been a good thing, really. BECAUSE He is not the author of confusion and of all that doctrine is bouncing around up there CAUSING confusion, I HAVE to take what I hear and read and think, etc., before Him and His Word to rightly discern the truth. That is actually INCREDIBLE, to me, as my very name means “The Seeking One” or “Seeker of Truth”! So it serves my spiritual desire and NEED to seek and find THE TRUTH in things.
I hope to learn the name of that speaker/pastor and listen to the broadcast in its entirety to see just what this man was saying in the FULL picture of his message. Thank you for your page and your explanation, etc. I just wanted to say I really appreciate it.
Kimmy, kick the “several different doctrines” to the curb where they belong and stay here each day. You will be far better off as I found out after decades of the alternative.
Well, over the years, I have learned to try EVERY “doctrine” against His word. Itching ears I do not have. 🙂 I did subscribe so I’m sure I will be considerably more present as the days go by. Thanks!