From his early days watching his father’s sheep, David the poet-king heard the Lord call, “Come to me” – and he answered yes.

Throughout his life, David sang very honest songs about the hardships he faced. Throughout his life, David sang of the rest he found in God.

Indeed, his most well-known psalm is a song of rest. It begins with words we may know and love.

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. (Ps. 23:1 KJV)

In other translations: “I lack nothing.”

Centuries after David lived, Jesus said:

I have come so that they may have life, life in its fullest measure. I am the good shepherd. (John 10:10-11 CJB)

In other words: “I am the Lord your shepherd; you shall not want.”

Peter the apostle affirmed it too:

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. (2 Peter 1:3 NLT)

What may seem true

Yet sometimes we may find it hard to say with conviction: “I lack nothing.” “I can rest in God’s provision.” “I have everything I need.”

Sometimes, we may find ourselves singing a different song, that may seem very true – a song that Joseph’s tribe once sang.

Joshua had allotted the land of Canaan to the Israelite tribes, as God had specified.

Joseph’s descendants were numerous, but no more numerous than some of the other tribes. Yet, Joseph’s clan complained that their allotment was too small. In chorus, they sang in essence: “The Lord hasn’t given us enough.”

They thought they had good reasons for believing that. The land they had been given had hills, where crops wouldn’t necessarily thrive. It had lots of forests, which would take lots of work to tame. And it had plains, where Canaanites with iron chariots lived.

Yet Joshua told Joseph’s tribe (my paraphrase):

“You lack nothing. The area that you can easily occupy may be small. And, yes, you are many. But that’s the point: You are many. And you are strong. And God himself has given you this land. He will teach you how to steward it well. Rise up and make it fully yours.” (See Joshua 17:14-17.)

What God reminds me

Many things can prevent us from resting in God’s provision. Here are four that I’ve experienced:

• A sense of lack – and a mindset of scarcity.
• A sense of over-responsibility – and the belief, “It’s all up to me.”
• The belief that God has wronged me.
• The fear of not having enough in the days to come.

When it feels for all the world that I don’t (or I won’t) have enough, Jesus calls to my overburdened heart, “Come to me.” As I come to him in spirit and truth, he challenges me to be willing to see. And he teaches me to ask questions, such as:

• What do I believe is all up to me, to figure out and to do?
• What do I believe I lack, and why?
• What’s prompting my fear of not having enough in the future?
• What is goading me to accuse God of wronging me?

The sources of my unrest may be huge, or small, or anything in between. But as I’m honest with myself and with the Lord about what is going on, he reminds me, Spirit-to-spirit:

I am to you as a shepherd to his sheep. I am your keeper, protector, nurturer and provider. You lack nothing.

I am to you as a father and mother to the child they deeply love. I created you, and birthed you anew. I have passed on to you all the raw materials you need to live and thrive, to love and do good. I have cultivated in you the capacity to use those resources creatively and well. You lack nothing.

If you will relax into me, I will show you what you do have. I will teach you how to use it and increase it. I will multiply what may seem small. I will open your eyes to see the true abundance that I gave my life to provide for you. And I will give you grace to make it fully yours.

What restores my soul

Each time God reminds me who he is and what he promises, I have a choice. My heartcry is to choose to trust him. My heart’s desire is to notice when I’m thinking, “I don’t have enough!” – to notice, to quit singing that song and by faith to say instead:

Lord, you have given me everything I need for life and godliness. Your Provision Will Be Seen.  

As I seek you, wait for you and receive what you are pouring out:

• I do not lack time.
• I do not lack wisdom.
• I do not lack rest.
• I do not lack finances.
• I do not lack strength, or skill, or whatever it seems for all the world that I do not have.

What you have provided, I may not yet see or possess. I may need to labor with you, by grace, to bring it forth. It may arise from some place I would never think to look.

But I will remember Joshua’s words to the tribe of Joseph and will delight in discovering, embracing and cultivating what you have given to me.

By your presence and power within me, I will rest in knowing, “You are the Lord my Shepherd. I don’t need a thing.”

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Adapted from Return to Your Rest: A Spirit-to-spirit Journey, © 2016, 2019.

Image by skeeze from Pixabay

Posts in the Song of Rest series

• Psalm 23: Song of rest
• I shall not want: Resting in God’s provision
• He restores my soul: Resting in God’s unforced rhythms
• I will fear no evil: Resting in God’s very present help
• My cup overflows: Resting in God’s favor
• Now and forever: Resting in God’s love

See also

• The blessing of the Lord
• The blessing of rest
• God who has wronged me
• I AM the one you seek
• God who loves fiercely
• Fighting fear with fear
• God’s heartbeat