A few words on the 23rd Psalm from Dallas Willard:
The Lord is my shepherd.
In other words, I’m in the care of someone else. I’m not the one in charge. I’ve taken my kingdom and surrendered it to the kingdom of God. I am living the with-God life. The Lord is my shepherd. And what follows from that?
I shall not want.
That’s the natural result. I shall not lack anything. That’s what Jesus teaches: “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,” and everything else will be added (Matt. 6:33).
He makes me to lie down in green pastures.
What kind of sheep lies down in a green pasture? A sheep that has eaten its fill. If a sheep is in a green pasture and she’s not full, she’ll be eating, not lying down.
He leads me beside the still waters.
A sheep that is being led beside still water is a sheep that is not thirsty.
He restores my soul.
The broken depths of my soul are healed and reintegrated in a life in union with God: the eternal kind of life.
He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.
The effect of the restoration of my soul is that I walk in paths of righteousness on his behalf as a natural expression of my renewed inner nature. As I walk these paths, my trust in the Shepherd runs so deep that I can declare:
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. A life without lack is one that carries no fear of evil.
Our confidence in God soars far above wants and fears. Would you like to have a life without fear, a life of soaring faith? It seems like Jesus was constantly saying to his friends, “Fear not! Fear not!” Imagine what that would be like. No fear of life, aging or death, disease or hunger, no fear of any person or creature, not even the loss of all your possessions. You can live without fear even in the midst of a world dominated by fear.
While the psalmist clearly knows about life’s dangers, he can still say, “I will fear no evil.” Why? Please read his answer out loud:
For You are with me.
The complete sufficiency of the life without lack is based upon the presence of God, and he is most clearly and fully present to us in Jesus Christ, Immanuel, God with us.
Dallas Willard, Life Without Lack: Living in the Fullness of Psalm 23 (pp. xvi-xx). \