Recently the Honorable Louis Farrakhan asked his followers to study Psalm 23.  I got as far as verse 1—I shall not want—and I’ve been stuck there for the past month.  Actually, I’m not stuck.  Truth is the words I shall not want are so very comforting for me during these severely trying times that I simply do not want to move past them.

I shall not want.  I shall not want.  I shall not want.  Why, I wondered until a few days ago, was I clinging so desperately to these seemingly simple words as if my life depended on them?

Moreover, what exactly did David mean when he said “I shall not want?”  What do you mean when you say I shall not want?  What should we all mean when we say I shall not want?

The answers to the above questions can be extracted from the words of other translations of this popular psalm.  Instead of I shall not want Young’s Literal Translation reads: “I do not lack.”  The Amplified Bible reads: “I shall not lack.”  The Holman Christian Standard Bible reads: “There is nothing I lack.”  Today’s New International Version reads: “I lack nothing.”  The New Living Translation reads: “I have all that I need.”  The Contemporary English Version reads: “I will never be in need.”  The New Century Version reads: “I have everything I need.”  GOD’S WORD Translation reads: “I am never in need.”  And the New International Reader’s Version reads: “He gives me everything I need.”

When David said I shall not want he wasn’t saying he didn’t and we wouldn’t and shouldn’t have wants, needs or desires.  He was saying that because he had learned and was learning to totally trust in and rely on his Shepherd, his Lord, he was convinced that there was not one single thing he could ever want, need or desire that the Most High would not give him in due season and if it was divinely meant to be his or if it was God’s will for his life.  The same applies to us.

Thus, we are to never feel or express our wants, needs or desires to the point of worrying, being anxious or being fretful about receiving them because doing so will not add one cubit to our stature.[1] That is, these emotions or worse won’t serve us any good whatsoever.  Therefore, we should strive harder to say like David: I shall not want.

Greater still, we should endeavor to actually live the words I shall not want.  This means, we must mature to the point where every time we begin to feel anxiety, worry, and fretfulness to any degree we will rise above those emotions by remembering, speaking, and acting with conviction and fearless faith that for the righteous there is no lack (in God).  In fact, for the righteous or those who seek to please the Heavenly Father every need they have will be supplied.  God said so in His word.[2]

So I encourage you, as I encourage myself, each and every time you begin to feel overwhelmed or overcome by your perception of lack and your impatience to have your need(s), want(s) or desire(s) met in your time instead of God’s time to inhale deeply and think: I shall not want.  Then exhale slowly and say: I shall not want.  I do.  And the more I’ve done this over the past month the more spiritually and psychologically rejuvenated and empowered I’ve felt.

Let us say like David: The Lord IS my Shepherd, I shall NOT want.

Peace & Encouragement!

© 2010 Tair Ta’ir, H.H.B.M., and BE! of the 144,000 Publishing.  Say Like David: “I Shall Not Want” is copyrighted.  Please do not reproduce without permission.

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[2] Read Philippians 4:19