Need

Need

The LORD is my shepherd; I have all that I need.

THE PRAYER REQUEST popped up in a small, online community group: a mom on a fixed income with mounting legal expenses from a pending divorce, significant health challenges, children whose clothes were too small, and no incoming money for food or gas in the week ahead. She was asking for prayer, but it was obvious she had tangible needs too.

Immediately I thought about extra funds stashed away from selling some things online that I didn’t use anymore. What do I really need? I thought. The answer came quickly: Nothing. I need nothing. I have a home, food, clothes, my health.

The desire for less has been a slow shift and an ongoing struggle. But in the last couple of years, I’ve been meditating on Psalm 23. In a world that feeds us the lie of scarcity—that we can always use more, consume more, enjoy more—the psalm reminds us that if we have God, we have all that we need. It’s fitting that it was written by David, a king who was once a shepherd and had experience with both roles, who chose to envision God in the beginning of the psalm as a guardian and caregiving shepherd rather than a powerful, privileged king.

The words he speaks echo those that were spoken to the Israelites about their forty years of wandering in the desert, describing their past—“you have lacked nothing” (Deuteronomy 2:7)—as well as their future in the Promised Land where “nothing is lacking” (Deuteronomy 8:9). The Israelites’ past experience not only influenced the present; it gave them a confident hope for the future. David’s echo is a reminder—for him and for us—that with God, we have all that we need.

With a quick prayer, I dashed off a note and some funds to the stranger, who responded with gratitude. But I waved off her thanks—generosity was a gift from the Father long before it was a gift from me.

Lord, thank you for supplying all our needs. Help us to recognize that, in you, we already have all that we need.

-Kristin

One Good Step: Share something —a coffee, a favorite recipe, your time—with someone in need.