I Shall Not Want

 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

Psalm 23:1 (ESV)
 
God compares us to sheep. Sheep are dependent animals. They have enemies they did not ask for or provoke, and they cannot defend themselves. They are helpless without a helper, defenseless without a defender, and lost without a guide. They are followers by nature, and this following can be great or tragic, depending on who they follow.
 
God made sheep and God made us, and He knows to what He is comparing us. This comparison might be one of the most important for us to grasp if we are to live life the way it was meant to be. The lamb's life under the protection and guidance of the shepherd is wonderful. A lamb's life apart from the shepherd is a disaster. We cannot change it because of how we are made.

Sometimes It Tough To Figure Out

 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest. Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame. But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads; "He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!"

Psalm 22:1-8 (ESV)
 
Sometimes, we cannot figure things out. As Job was on display for those on earth and the heavenly host, yet had limited answers, we, too, are on display. We must ensure that what we say in the light aligns with how we live through the darkness.

Trust In God.

 May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble! May the name of the God of Jacob protect you! May he send you help from the sanctuary and give you support from Zion! May he remember all your offerings and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices! Selah May he grant you your heart's desire and fulfill all your plans! May we shout for joy over your salvation, and in the name of our God set up our banners! May the Lord fulfill all your petitions Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed; he will answer him from his holy heaven with the saving might of his right hand. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

Psalm 20:1-7 (ESV)
 
Wherever I trust other than God, it will prove futile. Money, health, power, position, family, and friends will all eventually be unreliable. God alone is reliable. This concept is challenging because we do not want it to be true. It's too bad believing something does not make it true.

It is an evil thing to empty your mind.

 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Psalm 19:14 (ESV)
 
"Meditations into which a man puts his heart will prove the spring of action. The depths of this prayer are reached in the petition concerning the meditations of the heart. Meditation is only unuttered speech. We think in words. Yet the words we utter have a separate existence, and most powerfully affect the thoughts of our mind. Language has a reflex influence upon our thoughts. Thought is revealed in speech, but speech reacts upon thought. The Bible is fully alive to the importance of right words." (Biblical Illustrator)
 
Often, good concepts from the Bible are taken and tried by the secular world to profit personally or corporately. Meditation is good if you meditate on God and His Word and reflect about how your life aligns with it.
 
It is an evil thing to empty your mind, for then you are prime to have someone else fill it for you. We must meditate on God's Word day and night, not on nothing.
 

Satisfaction can be found in God alone.

 The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.

Psalm 19:7-10 (ESV)
 
God's Word is perfect, reviving, sure, wisdom-giving, right, pure, and enlightening. God's Word makes the heart glad. ESPN can never deliver those things.
The fear of the Lord is pure and enduring. Money could never make that promise
 
The rules of the Lord are trustworthy, correct, and to be desired above all else. The laws of the land do not come close to that.
 
Why would anyone skip time in God's Word? Why would we read it only under obligation rather than because of the joy it brings our souls?
 
Satisfaction can be found in God alone, and His Word allows us to see Him.

God has no language barrier.

 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy. Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat.

Psalm 19:1-6 (ESV)
 
When my wife and I go for a walk, I often look down at the pavement and ignore the surrounding National Forest. I see a lot of dirty grays when I can see the brilliance of a forest while listening to the sounds of the tufted grouse.
 
God has no language barrier. Perhaps it's time to look up and listen. It could change your life.

Twice Rewarded!

 So the Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight. With the merciful you show yourself merciful; with the blameless man you show yourself blameless; with the purified you show yourself pure; and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous. For you save a humble people, but the haughty eyes you bring down. For it is you who light my lamp; the Lord my God lightens my darkness. For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall. This God—his way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.

Psalm 18:24-30 (ESV)
 
Scripture clearly teaches cause and effect. If we seek God, we find God. If we ignore God, we ignore the source of life, hope, peace, joy, and more, and thereby never find them.
 
In a way, you get rewarded twice when you do as you should. While doing what you should is one reward in and of itself, having God say "Well done" is the icing on the cake.