Psalm 23:1 is more than a comforting verse. It’s a reorientation. David starts with two statements meant to reshape how you live: “Yahweh is my shepherd. I shall lack nothing.”

In this episode of Formation to Transformation: A Worship Devotional, we slow down and sit with what it means that “LORD” is God’s covenant name. David is not talking about God in general being kind of like a shepherd. He is talking about the covenant God who binds Himself to His people and stays faithful. That God is “my shepherd.”

We also unpack what “I shall lack nothing” actually means. It does not mean you will never desire anything, never experience need, or never feel longing. David is naming what will rule his inner life. “Want” is that restless posture that says, “I don’t have enough, and I can’t be okay until I get more.” More security. More control. More certainty. More affirmation.

Psalm 23:1 confronts the habit of self shepherding. The impulse to manage everything, control outcomes, and carry the weight of life on your own, even while using spiritual language. This verse gives us a daily confession that forms worship in the real world. Worship is not only singing. Worship is training your heart to live under a different reality, that God is present and God is shepherding you.

Gentle question to carry with you today: Where do I feel want rising up in me right now, and what would it look like to let the Shepherd meet me there instead of me trying to manage it?

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