I SHALL NOT WANT FOR PROVISIONS

You prepare a table before me… – Psalm 23: 5a

Jehovah-Rohi, the Shepherd of my soul is also El-Shaddai, my Great Provider! He not only supplies my food; He actually prepares a banquet just for me. The Israelites of old once queried “Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?” (Ps.78:19b). Likewise, some of God’s people have not learnt to know Him as their Great Provider. They are yet to access the Father’s banqueting house. They are yet to align with His wonders in the wilderness, where He released water from the Rock and rained bread from heaven (Ps.78: 20). Verses 24 and 27 describe how God “rained down manna on them to eat, and given them of the bread of heaven…He also rained meat on them like the dust, and feathered fowl like the sand of the seas.”

We serve the God of abundance; the Lord of the Overflow. He is not the author of poverty. Rather He delivers the destitute from want and penury: “He raises the poor out of the dust, and lifts the needy out of the ash heap” (Ps.113:7). Deuteronomy 8:7-9 portrays the riches and wealth of the land He earmarked for His people: “a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, that flow out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil olive and honey; a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing…” Our Shepherd is willing and able to give us “power to get wealth that He may establish His covenant…” (Dt.8:18).

Jehovah-Rohi is our God of Plenty. He says: “You shall eat in PLENTY, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, who has dealt wondrously with you…” (Joel 2:26). Paul reiterates the same thoughts: “And my God shall SUPPLY all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Phil.4:19). The Lord introduced Himself: “I am the Bread of Life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst” (Jh.6:35). God is the “Blesser” of His children, but His blessings stem from obedience (Dt.28:1-14). The Shepherd’s provisions are for the sheep that follow obediently (Jh.10:27; Mal.3:10; Lk.6:38). Am I such a willing sheep? Are you such an obedient sheep?