“Shall Not Want”

Blessed experience! Wanting nothing. Having everything we want. Some of our younger saints may not have arrived at this experience. Older Christians are supposed to have. David said, “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.”* (Psalm 23:1) This seems to have been his experience. We are told in Hebrews 13:5 to be content with such things as we have. To be wishing for something we do not have is proof that we are not content with what we have.

Does not the Bible say that there is no want to those that fear Him? Yes, it says those very words (Psalm 34:9). If you are wanting something, is it not proof that you do not fear God? The Bible says, “They that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing.”* (Psalm 34:10) If you are wishing and wanting some good thing, is it not proof that you are not seeking the Lord? Again the Bible says, “No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.”* (Psalm 84:11) If you are wanting and wishing, is it not proof that you are not walking uprightly?

The fact is, we all have what we want. You say that you want more patience, you want more love, you want more power, you want to be more spiritual. We think you are mistaken. We think you have about what you want.

Does God want you to be more spiritual?

“Yes,” you say. “I think He does.”

If He wants you to be more spiritual and you want to be more spiritual, why are you not more spiritual? There is a reason. Let us see if we can find it.

Suppose you go to the shoe store to get a pair of shoes. You look at a pair that you like very much. You ask the price. The merchant says, “$7.50.”

You look at them a while longer, then you look at others. None of them suit. You come back to the $7.50 pair; you say, “That is the pair I want.”

The merchant says, “That is the pair I want you to have.”

Now why don’t you get what you want? The fact is, you don’t really want them. You don’t want them as you should want them that you might get them. You want something more than you want the shoes. You want the $7.50 more than you want the shoes or you would get them.

You don’t really want more patience, more love, or to be more spiritual. There is something you want more than these or you would have them, just as certain as you would have the shoes if you did not want the $7.50 more.

You say, “I do not know what I want more than to be more spiritual.” We can tell you. It is the price it takes to get it. You are not willing to pay the price. Perhaps you do not want to consecrate all to God, or deny yourself, or to wrestle in prayer, or to take the time to read, meditate, and pray that you might be more spiritual. You do not want to give up all those little things that hinder spiritually.

People get what they want, as a rule, if they want it hard enough.