“I shall not want,” he says. It is sometimes translated, “I lack nothing.” Dallas Willard, who used to raise sheep, noted that the verses that follow reinforce the message of contentment. Sheep typically do not lie down in green pastures, they eat green pastures. Likewise, sheep are expected to drink from quiet waters, not walk beside them. The

Economists say America transitioned from a manufacturing-based to a consumer-based economy in the 1950s. That means our society depends on discontentment; on people buying more and more of what they desire not merely what they need. During WWII the government severely restricted public consumption of certain goods needed for the war effort.

When I seek contentment in God’s blessings my wants only subside temporarily, and they soon return stronger than ever. When I learn to seek my satisfaction in God himself, however, the pleasures offered by the things of this world grow dim in comparison.

Too often I look for my desires to be met in God’s good gifts rather than in God himself. I don’t want to dismiss the wonderful things I have received from his hand, just as David is not minimizing the value of green pastures and quiet waters. Still, there is an infinite qualitative difference between the gifts and the Giver; between the green