“The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.” These are the opening words of Psalm 23, a famous psalm of David. In its original language, Hebrew, the Psalm has a different meaning from what we are used to.

When translated as “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want”, the text indicates, “The Lord is my shepherd; He shall not fail me.” In other words, He won’t fail. The translators included the “want”, which, although not wrong, takes away some of the whole meaning of this text in its original language.

“He shall not fail me” is very different from “I shall not want” because when we talk about “want”, people soon think of material things. Thus, Psalm 23 is often associated with material victories, as if the psalmist was talking about the person’s relationship with material goods. However, the true meaning of this Psalm is the person’s relationship with God, the provider of all things.

In other words, the focus of Psalm 23 is our relationship with God’s promise not to fail in our lives. One thing is: “I won’t lack my daily bread”; another is: “God will not be lacking in my life”. Obviously, if God were not lacking in my life, I would not lack bread because He would meet all my needs.

See that the difference here is significant because many people, instead of seeking the shepherd, who is the Lord, when reading this Psalm, seek the “I shall not want”. They have treated God wrongly: when they need something, they go to Him, but when everything is solved, they leave God aside and go on with their lives until the next need. However, the condition for me to lack nothing is that I make Him my Lord.

David, a shepherd of sheep, knew very well what it was like to care for this animal. He risked his life for his sheep. Then, he concluded, “If I have never failed my sheep, what will the Lord say?”

This is the focus that God wants you to have in your life: not to treat Him like a business counter. God is not a dealer; He is Father, Lord, and wants to have a relationship with us.

You need to put this understanding in your heart. Just as you, as a father or mother, want a relationship with your child, you don’t want your child to only come to you when you need to pay a bill, nor do you want to hear from them only requests for money.

Many people only turn to God when they need something physical. And do you know what the result of this treatment towards God is? The result is that everything will be lacking.

When David wrote this Psalm, he knew exactly what he was saying: “The Lord commands, I obey.” Because of his relationship with the Lord, he could say: “I will not lack the Lord; therefore, I will lack nothing.”

So, are we going to reevaluate our relationship with Him? Reevaluate whether you have treated God only as a provider of your needs or as Lord, Guide, or Director of your life so that you go where He commands and do what He says. Like every good shepherd, the natural consequence is that He will care, so nothing is missing.

Check out this message in full in the video above.

https://www.universal.org/renato-cardoso/post/verdade-sobre-o-salmo-23-no-hebraico/