LW Baptist
By Rolland Coburn
Pastor
Paul the apostle made a remarkable claim. He said, “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances,” (Philippians 4:11). How is such contentment learned? Paul’s contemporaries, the Greek philosophers, claimed that a person must reduce or eliminate normal human desires, which of course are God-given. But the ancient Psalmist David gave another answer. “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want,” that is not lack for anything (Psalm 23:1). This is the promise of contentment for those who personally make the Lord their God.
David explains the contentment God gives as satisfying a person with good even in one’s senior years, “so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s,” (Psalm 103:5). Jesus also spoke of this satisfying content with life. “I have come that you might have life and have it abundantly. I am the good Shepherd,” (John 10:10-11). Psalm 23 is the classic statement of the Lord giving full contentment in every circumstance by being our great shepherd. Often paraphrased and set to music through the centuries, perhaps none better than Ralph Carmichael’s “The New 23rd” helps show how to learn contentment. “Because the Lord is my shepherd, I have everything that I need./ He lets me rest in meadows green and leads me beside the quiet stream./ He keeps on giving life to me, and helps me to do what honors him the most./ Even when walking thro’ the dark valley of death,/ I will never be afraid, for He is close to beside me./ Guarding, guiding all the way, He spreads a feast before me;/ In the presence of my enemies He welcomes me as his special guest./ With blessing ever flowing, his goodness and unfailing kindness/ shall be with me all of my life./ And afterwards I shall live with him forever in his home.” What more could we ask than for our shepherd to supply all our needs, to refresh us with strength daily, physically and spiritually, to be our guide in the right way, and to be ever with us in sickness and in health, and ultimately to take us into his presence forever in heaven?
