Spurgeon’s contemporary, Dr Joseph Parker, pastored the City Temple Church in London. One day he walked up to his pulpit and read this verse: ‘The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.’ After a long pause, he closed his Bible, looked at the congregation, and said, ‘Friends, that is enough!’ And scripturally and practically speaking, he is right! When God is your shepherd, you ‘lack nothing’. Even in the grimmest circumstances, you need ‘fear no evil’ because He is always with you (v.4 NIV). And you get to enjoy two things every human being craves – sufficiency and security – because with God, there is no lack of ability or resources to take care of us in any situation (see Philippians 4:19). It’s the reason Paul said that although he had nothing, he possessed everything (see 2 Corinthians 6:10). From God’s perspective we need nothing but God Himself. The Bible tells us, ‘He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?’ (Romans 8:32 KJV). And since He has already given us His greatest treasure, will He withhold from us any lesser resource? But there are some things we need to remember regarding God’s timing. 1) Because of His superior wisdom, He calls the shots, and when the time is right, the answer will come. 2) There are commandments He gives us, and until we obey them, the answer won’t come. 3) Faith is crucial in receiving the answer. Jesus Himself said, ‘I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours’ (Mark 11:24 NLT).

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.