But I think there must be more to it than that. I know, several times in the scripture, God says, "If you will, I will." What could that possibly mean?
Do you think that God must have expectations of us?
What are His expectations? When God says in Jeremiah 29:11, "I know the plans I have for you", do you truly believe it? Do you search out what His plans are with an open heart, or do you just wander around in your day to day life, waiting for God's blessings to just pour out upon you, with no effort on your part.
You must STUDY His Word. I'm not talking about reading the Bible each day, and saying, Oh, I've done my duty for the day. I'm talking about truly STUDYING the Word of God, cross referencing scripture, reading commentary when a particular phrase has meaning. If YOU will. . .GOD will. . .that is a promise. He WILL speak to you personally. . .and then you will understand the meaning of "I shall not Want".
My understanding of "I shall not Want", came at two different times in my life.
The first was when, at the age of 23, we lost our twenty month old son in a tragic incident, and I lay across my bed screaming, "Where were you God"? It seemed as though life would never be worth living again, but guess what? Life goes on. None of us will ever be immune to the tragedies of life, but somehow, through our tragedies, God gives us the strength to survive, and to become stronger.
The second understanding came, at the age of 32, when I read a series of books by Frank Peretti entitled, This Present Darkness. Only then, having been raised on a church pew, did I truly begin to understand the awesome power of God. A light bulb literally went off, and I began to seek God.
This began my journey of becoming a "prayer warrior", a journey I am still on to this day. This journey led me to read, A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 by W. Phillip Keller, as I began preparing a series of lessons for Children's Prayer Class.
Psalm 23
And I truly knew the meaning of "I shall not want", when I read a magazine article describing a young woman who was searching for something, something to fill the hole in her life, a void she could not even explain. She just knew the hole was there, and that with all of her accomplishments, there was still this huge hole, UNTIL, she discovered prayer.
And that is when I knew. I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt, the true meaning of, "I shall NOT want". Having the assurance that God is there, no matter the circumstances, just knowing that God is absolutely in control, gives me a measure of confidence to know, the Lord is MY Shepherd, I shall NOT want.
My prayer today is that each person I come in contact with will want to know who my Shepherd is.
My Daily Morning Devotion: My Utmost for His Highest
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war rise up against me, yet I will be confident. (Psalm 27: 1, 3)
No comments:
Post a Comment