There’s a killer decease that every human heart is prone to, that is the disease of want.

Want want want. I want an iPad 2. I want a macbook pro. I want to be famous. I want more friends. I want to be thinner. I want to be more popular. I want to be liked by others. I want to have the best clothes. I want this, I want that.

Proverbs 11:24 and 13:25 actually talk about those who ‘suffer want’. This has certainly been my experience. Your heart can so easily and quickly begin to want, and it’s not a pretty place…’suffering want’ makes you anxious, restless and unhappy, as you can’t chill until your heart has what it wants.

So what’s the answer to all this want want wanting?

Psalm 23:1-2
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.

Have you ever connected the idea that God is your shepherd, with all the wanting in your heart? God leads and shepherds us in such a way, that we finally come to the place of being free from suffering want, and finally being satisfied.

Talking about ‘green pastures’, Barnes Notes on the Bible says:

The idea is that of calmness and repose, as suggested by the image of flocks “lying down on the grass.” But this is not the only idea. It is that of flocks that lie down on the grass “fully fed” or “satisfied,” their wants being completely supplied. The exact point of contemplation in the mind of the poet, I apprehend, is that of a flock in young and luxuriant grass, surrounded by abundance, and, having satisfied their wants, lying down amidst this luxuriance with calm contentment. It is not merely a flock enjoying repose; it is a flock whose wants are supplied, lying down in the midst of abundance. Applied to the psalmist himself, or to the people of God generally, the idea is, that the wants of the soul are met and satisfied, and that, in the full enjoyment of this, there is the conviction of abundance – the repose of the soul at present satisfied, and feeling that in such abundance want will always be unknown.

But that’s not all! We can now understand Psalm 23 (and indeed all the Psalms) in a way that King David couldn’t, through the lens of the gospel. Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible shows how this is speaking of Christ…. amazing:

This is one part of the shepherd’s work, and which is performed by Christ, Ezekiel 34:14; by these “green pastures” may be meant the covenant of grace, its blessings and promises, where there is delicious feeding; the fullness of grace in Christ… Here Christ’s sheep are made to “lie down”, denoting their satiety and fulness; they having in these green pastures what is satisfying and replenishing; as also their rest and safety, these being sure dwellings and quiet resting places, even in the noon of temptation and persecution.

Oh the riches and satisfaction for our souls in Christ! The Apostle Paul talks says ‘I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want’. He was a man who knew Christ was his shepherd.

Have you learned the secret? I’m not sure I have. But I’m learning to feed my very hungry soul on the riches of Christ, particularly when I can feel myself suffering want. For, as C S Lewis puts it, he who has God and everything else, has no more than he who has God only.

I’m reading The Living God by Peter Lewis at the moment (an astonishing book) and just read about Mount Sinai and the 10 Commandments. I was so stunned by this paragraph, I had to share it. It’ll help to read Exodus 19:16-19 for the context…

On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled.  Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 18 Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the LORD descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain  trembled violently, and the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder. Then Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him. Exodus 19:16-19

Peter Lewis writes:

“It is surely fair to say that awe is in danger of becoming the forgotten emotion among Christians today. This is not because we know better but because we know less! We have lost sight somewhat of the awesome holiness of God. We have become desensitized to sin. We do not realize how extraodrinary it is that we can survive in God’s presence. The fact that it took a Calvary for us to ‘have confidence to enter the Most High Place’ (Heb 10:19) should make us think again: ‘Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, by becoming a curse for us’ (Gal 3:13)

There is only one place on earth more awesome than Sinai and that is Calvary. There God the One and Only did not come down to a mountain but was lifted up on a cross. There the Son of God, who had come in our human nature, bore the penalty for our human sin, our great rebellion against God. There the Judge was judged in our place and the One who had given the commandments died for those who had broken them.”

The living God, the true God, the God of the bible – alone – is truly awesome.