Psalm 23 – Verse 1

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. – Psalm 23:1 NKJV

Do you want to live a Psalm 23 life? Do you want to live a life of true contentment? Do you want to live in peace knowing that, no matter what, the Lord is there for your every need?

To begin this journey of living a Psalm 23 life, today we are looking at the first verse of this well-known Psalm. “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” I’m sure you’re familiar with these famous words. Even so, let’s take a closer look at the different aspects of this verse.

The Lord

Who is the Lord? It’s important to know who the Lord is if we want to truly live this Psalm. God is so magnificent and vast that we could spend a lifetime studying who He is.

In the story where Moses encountered the burning bush in Exodus, it helps bring some perspective. God planned to rescue the Israelites from Egypt and He wanted Moses to help. Moses wasn’t too eager about this plan because he could only see his own shortcomings. He was focused on himself, rather than God. It makes me cringe when I read how he argued with God on this. But each time Moses spoke, God came back with a solid answer.

I particularly want to point out verses 13-15 (NKJV):

13 Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”

14 And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”

15 Moreover God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.’ ”

(A brief lesson that might be helpful: the words “I AM” and “I AM WHO I AM” are linked to the Hebrew letters YHWH. In the past, theologians translated this to the name Jehovah. However, it was later determined that Yahweh was the best pronunciation. This is why sometimes God is referred to as Jehovah and sometimes He is referred to as Yahweh.)

When we read the verses above, they might be a bit confusing and leave us wondering exactly what God meant by “I AM WHO I AM.” However, in this statement God is helping us to understand how completely unchanging and trustworthy He is.

“This explains his name Jehovah, and signifies, 1. That he is self-existent: he has his being of himself. 2. That he is eternal and unchangeable, and always the same, yesterday, to-day, and for ever. 3. That he is incomprehensible; we cannot by searching find him out: this name checks all bold and curious inquiries concerning God. 4. That he is faithful and true to all his promises, unchangeable in his word as well as in his nature; let Israel know this, I AM hath sent me unto you. I am, and there is none else besides me. All else have their being from God, and are wholly dependent upon him.” [1]

Thinking about God from this angle, we get a bigger picture of who He is. He is above everything we know. He is eternal and unchangeable. He is faithful. He is the most dependable being there ever was or ever will be. And to think we can call Him our Shepherd is a weighty thought.

The Shepherd

If we truly want to live Psalm 23 it also helps to understand the life of a shepherd. The best kind of shepherd in particular. If the shepherd is a good shepherd, then his life will revolve around his sheep. Every season and every day. The sheep’s best interest is on the shepherd’s mind. The shepherd wants his sheep to be healthy, to be protected, and to be provided for. Whatever the sheep needs in any given moment is where the shepherd’s mind and energy are. And the shepherd has to plan ahead too, anticipating what may come. The shepherd is always alert, watching for anything that might bring harm to the sheep.

This is our Savior! This is our Good Shepherd. To think how His mind is always on us and our every need – this is stunning. 😭 Just think about that for a moment. What a gift we have in Jesus! 🙌

The Lord is my Shepherd

Now we have a better outlook on just how incredible it is to say “The Lord is my Shepherd.”

But I really appreciate something Robert J. Morgan pointed out, “You can’t say, ‘The Lord is my Shepherd’ unless you also say, ‘The Shepherd is my Lord.’” [2]

Is Jesus your Lord and Savior? Are you willing to follow Him and surrender to His will? Do you trust Him, because you know He will always have your back? Are you willing to make Him your life, knowing that He gave His life for you?

(If you have not accepted Jesus, but you are ready to do so, please go here.)

Now we have to ask ourselves – who is our Shepherd? Is the Lord our Shepherd? Are we our own shepherd? Is someone else our shepherd? Is something we continually seek our shepherd?

“All of us are shepherded—whether we realize it or not—because we’re all led by something.” [3]

We all need a shepherd. And I pray we will allow the Lord to be our Shepherd. He is the very best Shepherd. And He will never let us down. What a gift it is that we can claim the Good Shepherd as our Shepherd.

I shall not want

When the Bible was originally translated into English, scholars agree that this one line was inadequate. The original Hebrew would have been better translated as “I lack nothing.” In this life there is nothing we will ever lack or need, when we choose to follow Jesus.

In the words of Jesus, “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” (Matthew 6:33 NLT).

This is where we find true contentment – when we allow the Lord to be our Shepherd and we realize we are in need of nothing. He will supply all of our needs (see Philippians 4:19).

“There is absolutely nothing that God lacks. We must understand this, because the overflowing sufficiency that we will experience when Yahweh is our Shepherd lies in the all-sufficiency of the Shepherd himself. If we do not understand the all-sufficiency of the Shepherd, we will never experience that sufficiency in relationship to him. What we need, God has—in infinite supply.” [4]

When the apostle Paul was imprisoned, he wrote about true contentment. He told the recipients of his letter that through Christ Jesus he was never in need. He learned to be content with whatever he had. (See Philippians 4:10-13.) Can we too live this kind of life? Yes, we can!

It takes effort on our part. The enemy will try to feed us lies. But we have to remind ourselves of truth. The Lord loves us beyond measure and He is always looking out for us. He is always there, protecting us and providing for us. We walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corin 5:7). We keep our focus on our Shepherd and His love, allowing Him to guide our steps.

Every day we have a choice. Will we live in our own strength? Or will we rely on our Good Shepherd? If we choose the latter, we will find that when the Lord is our Shepherd, we lack nothing.

In the coming weeks, as we study each verse of this Psalm, we will get a better understanding of how our Shepherd truly does meet all of our needs.

Bonus Reading – Check out Don White’s heartwarming reflection titled My Shepherd.

Thank you for reading. I will be back next week to look at verse 2. I hope you have a wonderful week. God bless you!

© 2018-2025 Bridget A. Thomas. All rights reserved.

[1] Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible. Copyright © 1997 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

[2] The Lord is My Shepherd by Robert J. Morgan. Copyright © 2013 by Rob Morgan. Published by Howard Books.

[3] Grace and Glory by Louie Giglio. Copyright © 2024 Louie Giglio. Published by Thomas Nelson.

[4] Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23 by Dallas Willard. Copyright © 2018 Willard Family Trust. Published by Thomas Nelson.