23rd Psalm

To celebrate the new Bible study on Invitation to the Psalms, I decided that I would reflect on the Psalms in the Wednesday services. I am starting with the 23rd Psalm one of the most well known psalm. I am going to take the Psalm verse by verse using various translations and paraphrases. I started with the Tanakh from the Jewish Study Bible.
"The Lord is my shepherd; I lack nothing." v. 1 TNK
Take time to reflect on these two ideas. The Lord is my shepherd. What does that mean to you. A shepherd is responsible for keeping those who one is in charge of safe and alive. The shepherd is the one responsible. If we believe that God is our shepherd are we willing to allow God to care for us. OR do we insist on taking charge of everything in our lives. I wonder in my life how often I say I want God to be in charge or at least central to my life, yet I will often try to do everything on my own without allowing God to be at least a partner.
The second idea and I believe ties directly with the first is that I lack nothing. In the Monday class on 30 days to live, we watched a video called Empty. The young man who did the video spoke of trying to find some way of filling a void that he felt in his life, an emptiness. He spoke of trying to do that with success, work, sex, drugs, etc. and found that even when it felt full it never lasted. It was not until he was willing to surrender to God that he was able to fill that void. The lesson included the idea that there are three things that separate us from a healthy relationship with God and those were bitterness, busyness, and burnout. I would add that if we are trying to fill our lives with anything else but God we will find ourselves feeling empty. We are not missing anything. God has given us everything we need. Not saying that having things aren't nice but they are not necessary. Do we truly believe that we lack nothing.
This first verse of the 23rd Psalm speaks to me about what is important in my life especially during difficult times. Remembering the God is my shepherd and that I lack nothing.