He is our Plenty

Psalm 23:1 “The Lord is my Shepard, I shall not want.” {some versions say “I have what I need”.}

The concept here is plenty. David is giving thanks. Obviously it’s super easy to give thanks or offer praises in times of plenty, when you have all you need. As a kid I was taught to pray at every meal to thank God for the food. We always prayed some rendition of “thank you lord for this food, use it to nourish our bodies & bless the hands that prepared it. Amen.” Then we dig in and move on. What about how easily we thank God when we get what we want. Thank you lord for this new job, my new house, and for a wonderful husband. Or thank you God for _____ fill in the blank of your #blessed life. Or when we even thank God & give him credit for the little things… nowadays this looks like “thank you Jesus for providing this last pack of toilet paper at Target just for me” or one I all too often find myself saying “thank you lord I didn’t run out of gas” as I pull up to fill my tank. Recognizing God is so easy when we are not in want & we have what we need.

Plenty in the dictionary is defined as “more then enough” or “sufficiently large quantities” but I don’t think this verse is referring to having plenty of our physical or material needs. Right now during this season of COVID-19 so many of our normal needs are lacking, like our need for toilet paper, or our need for socializing, or on a more serious note, so many are in need of a paycheck. There is so much lacking right now in our normal lives. But our thanks to God should not be dependent on where we find ourselves on the scale of lacking to plenty.

In this scripture David is not referring to the wants and needs of this world like we so often assume. He is not referring to material measures like the state of our bank accounts or the size of our home. He is not even referring to the people we have or don’t have in our lives. In verse 6 picking up at “my cup overflows, only goodness and faithful love pursue me, all the days of my life.” Or some versions say “only goodness and mercy” you see here David is defining plenty… HE is our plenty. HE is our need. His mercy, His goodness & His faithful love is ALL that we need, therefore we lack nothing.

Where ever you find yourself during this season on the scale of lacking or plenty, remember it is not our circumstances that lead us to praise and worship of our provider, it is His grace, goodness & mercy that is more then enough, and he supplies it to us in sufficiently large quantities.

Thank you Jesus for giving me ALL that I need in you.