PRÉCIS ON YAH’S PERFECT PROMISE TO HIS FAITHFUL REMNANT IN THE LAST DAYS

SCRIPTURE. “The Lord is my Shepherd [to feed, to guide and to shield me],
I shall not want.” ― PSALM 23:1, AMP

KEY TERM: “NOT WANT.” ‘Chaser’ [חָסֵר]: “To lack, need, be lacking, fail, lessen, or decrease; be abated, bereave, make lower [or smaller]; become destitute or void; be inferior, worthless, diminished; deficiency; defect; the absence of that which is necessary or useful; the state of not having [what is needed].”

QUOTATION. “He embraces all things that are lovely: He seals up the sum of all loveliness. Things that shine as single stars with a particular glory, all meet in Christ as a glorious constellation. Col. 1:19, ‘It pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell.’ Cast your eyes among all created beings, survey the universe: You will observe strength in one, beauty in a second, faithfulness in a third, wisdom in a fourth; but you shall find none excelling in them all as Christ does. Bread has one quality, water another, raiment another, medicine another; but none has them all in itself as Christ does. He is bread to the hungry, water to the thirsty, a garment to the naked, healing to the wounded; and whatever a soul can desire is found in Him, 1 Cor. 1:30.’” ― JOHN FLAVEL, Puritan Author and Preacher, The Fountain of Life Opened, Or, a Display of Christ in His Essential and Mediatorial Glory Wherein the Impetration of Our Redemption by Jesus Christ Is Orderly Unfolded as It Was Begun, Carryed On, and Finished by His Covenant-Transaction, 1673; edited

COMMENTARY. “‘The Lord is my Shepherd.’” ― The comparison of the care which God extends over His people to that of a Shepherd for His flock is one that would naturally occur to those who were accustomed to pastoral life. It would be natural that it should suggest itself to Jacob Genesis 49:24, and to David, for both of them had been shepherds. David, in advanced years, would naturally remember the occupations of his early life; and the remembrance of the care of God over him would naturally recall the care which he had, in earlier years, extended over his flocks. ‘The idea which the language suggests is that of tender care; protection;’ particular attention to the young and the feeble (compare Isaiah 40:11); ‘and providing for their wants.’ All these things are found eminently in God in reference to His people.

‘I shall not want’ – This is the main idea in the Psalm, and this idea is derived from the fact that God is a Shepherd. The meaning is, that, as a Shepherd, He would make all needful provision for His flock, and evince all proper care for it. The words ‘shall not want,’ as applied to the Psalmist, would embrace everything that could be a proper object of desire, whether temporal or spiritual; whether pertaining to the body or the soul; whether having reference to time or to eternity. There is no reason for supposing that David limited this to his temporal necessities, or to the present life, but the idea manifestly is that God would provide all that was needful for him always. Compare Psalm 34:9, ‘There is no want to them that fear him.’ This idea enters essentially into the conception of God as the Shepherd of His people, that all their real wants shall be supplied.” ― ALBERT BARNES, Notes on the Old and New Testament, 1884; edited

DK. This single, piercing thought in just a few words from arguably the most well-known Biblical passage in the Scriptures, takes on a weight of importance far beyond its brevity. We are in The Last Times when all people, save and unsaved alike, are about to be tested more than ever before.

For those fearing God and wearing His Armor, there is a ‘Providential Cover’ – which is not to say there shall never be harm done to us, beloved. But that it shall be controlled by the iron-firm Grip of our loving Master, who shall not let us be tried beyond our limits (1 Cor. 10:13).

This is our Divine Assurance for all the days ahead, neither shall He fail us for even one moment.