Week 4 Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall lack nothing.
I think about what David means by saying I shall lack nothing. I take it to mean that “I shall lack nothing of real importance” (not “I shall lack absolutely nothing”).
David goes on to talk about things like soul-restoration & righteousness & fearlessness & comfort & goodness & love. Those are some of the elements where he won’t be lacking for anything. He doesn’t say anything about other “lacks”. Nothing about a bigger house. A better job. Better health. More money in the bank. Nothing like that.
I think David is focusing on only one of the Two Worlds where he lived.
He definitely lived in the in-your-face rock-solid Material World.
At the same time he was trying to manage a semi-independent parallel life in the Non-Material World. And it was in that Non-Material World where he wasn’t troubled by material needs. He lacked nothing.
One of the delicate problems with life in Two Worlds is that at the exact same instant that David lacked nothing in the one he might be feeling some anxiety about – let’s say – paying the rent in the other. It’s a bit of a tightrope. Lacking nothing and lacking some things at the same time.
David was living his life here in the Lower World. At the same time he was living a different sphere of his life in the Upper World…and in it he had what he needed.
Note: quote from psalm 23:1 (NLT)