Are You a Tommy or David?

Standing in the checkout line, I noticed the child from the corner of my eye. You couldn’t help but notice since he was wailing at the top of his lungs, “I want it!” His bedraggled mother tried her best to wrestle the package of M&Ms from his hands while at the same time apologize to the cashier. Tommy wanted the M&M’s, but his mother knew that her child was not “lacking” for food. 

Although I don’t like to admit it, there are times I can be like Tommy when things aren’t going my way. But there is another to whom we can look who points us to the key to being calm and trusting rather than demanding and complaining.  

David, the shepherd boy who became king, is an example to us. In Psalm 23:1 he stated, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” Say those words with me. “I shall not want.”

David grasped what I sometimes forget. There’s a difference between what I “want” and what I “lack.” Psalm 23:1 is best interpreted, “The Lord is my shepherd (Jehovah-Ra-Ah), I lack for nothing.” In other words, David was aware that the Lord was watching over him, leading, and protecting him. He was mindful of his Shepherd’s presence and provision. 

If there are times you focus more on what you want rather than on God’s present provision and you desire to develop a more grateful attitude, consider daily journaling that for which you are grateful. Begin being more like David and less like Tommy. 

JEHOVAH-RA-AH, thank You for being my Shepherd. Help me to be increasingly mindful that in You I lack for nothing. 

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