g, then, lies wrapped up in the word "+LORD+" in
the first verse of this Psalm! Jehovah who is all-faithful, never
failing in His promises, almighty, all-powerful, who is able to supply
all of our needs, who created the heavens and the earth, who upholds all
things by the word of His power, who spake and it was done, who
commanded and it stood fast; the +LORD+ of whom Job said: "I know that
thou canst do anything, and no purpose of thine can be hindered"; the
"+LORD+" who never fails in the keeping of His promises, however
seemingly impossible of fulfillment, from a natural viewpoint, those
promises may be; the "+LORD+" of whom it is said, "God is not a man that
he should lie, nor the Son of man that he should repent." "Hath he said
and shall He not do it; hath He promised and shall he not bring it to
pass?" the "Lord," the incarnate One, who for our sakes took on Himself
our nature with all its sinless infirmities, who was tempted in all
points like as we are, yet without sin, and who is thus able to feel our
needs and sympathize with us in all our trials and temptations; the
"+LORD+" who, speaking to the multitudes, said, "I am the good shepherd;
the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep"--such a Shepherd,
faithful, powerful, sympathetic, is our "+LORD+." What a wealth of
meaning, then, lies in the first clause, "The +LORD+" (who is LORD, and
Lord) such a "+LORD+" is "my Shepherd."

We can then well say, "I shall not want." With such a Shepherd, how
could we want for anything for time or eternity? All that we need for
body, mind and soul shall be supplied. The God who provided the table in
the wilderness, who fed Elijah by the brook, who struck the rock in the
wilderness that the thirst of His people might be quenched, will provide
for His children according to His riches in glory.

Reviewing Israel's history in the wilderness it could be recorded,
"These forty years Jehovah, thy God, hath been with thee; thou hast
lacked nothing." How wonderfully God supplied the needs of His people
when they were traveling through that long, weary wilderness! "For the
+LORD+ thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand; he
knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness; these forty years the
+LORD+ thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing"
(Deuteronomy 2:7). "Thou gavest also thy good Spirit to instruct them,
and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water
for their thirst. Yea,