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Dwell in the House of the Lord Volume 1, Day 8

by David Joynt on June 14, 2020

Dwell in the House of the Lord Volume 1, Day 8

PSALM 23:1 |  1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want;

The revolutionary claim in this sentence is that we can experience a life without any kind of lack in communion with the Shepherd. Is this possible? Can we trust this conviction enough to live by it? What would a life without lack look like?

 The rest of the 23rd Psalm can be seen as an answer to these questions, an extended mediation on the full, secure, and satisfying life with the Shepherd. Most of our thinking and activity is an attempt to supply our perceived needs and to fulfill our desires, overcoming what we lack. Some of this is physical. We have needs that relate to our hungers and our thirst. Much of it is psychological, including our needs for attention, for a sense of security, for greater purpose, for connection, and love.

 Can you imagine a life without lack?

 How do you picture it?

Tags: desires, lacking

About the Author
David Joynt

Dave Joynt began his service as a pastor at Valley Presbyterian Church in Paradise Valley, Arizona in September 2014. This meant a move away from the Northeast, where he has a long history, growing up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and then serving congregations in Delaware and New Jersey for a total of 23 years.

Dave was nurtured in a great church in Bethlehem where his parents, Anne and Carey, served as elders. He graduated in classics from Lehigh University where his Father taught, and then from Oxford, where he met his wife Julia. Ordained in 1988, he completed a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1993.

He and Julia have a son, Tristan, and a daughter, Madeleine.

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