Everyone faces a certain level of lack at some point, whether it's financial, emotional, spiritual or relational lack. One thing we must understand about lack is that it is not part of God's eternal plan for us. God wants us to live in abundance and grace and gives us an avenue to experience His abundance.
When we see the size of our lack, it becomes hard for us to gain a clear perspective of the size and magnitude of our God's riches. God's Word tells us that God owns everything and wishes to hand to us everything we need so that we can abundantly walk in His purpose and ways.
One scripture that has stood firm for me when experiencing lack is Psalm 23:1 which tells us, "The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want."
From this verse we can draw out three truths that should convince that we need not fear lack when God is with us.
1. Jesus Is The Loving Shepherd
It's interesting how we never have a picture of a worried sheep. Sheep do not worry about whether they'll have food, water or shelter. That's because they find assurance in their shepherd. In the same way we can find assurance in knowing that Jesus calls Himself our shepherd.
And just like a shepherd cares for his sheep, Jesus cares for us. He leads us to still waters and green pastures (Psalm 23:2) so that we may experience not just abundance for the sake of abundance, but so that we may experience Him free of fear and doubt.
2. Jesus Is Lord
The assurance of God comes only through understanding that He is Lord. If Jesus is not Lord of all, He is not Lord at all. It doesn't matter how much money, friends, fame or success we have. If Jesus is not in charge, we will always struggle with lack.
Lordship entails surrender and it calls us to put our trust on nothing else but the love, mercy and grace of our loving God. Because He is Lord, He is in charge.
3. Jesus Is Ours
Jesus is not just "a" shepherd; He's also not just "the" shepherd. He is our shepherd. God calls us His and He invites us to call Him ours. This speaks to us of relationship. Because God is a loving Shepherd, He will be our Provider, Protector, Redeemer, Lover and Father.
Truth be told, we probably deserve the lack we experience and even more because of our sin. But God in His rich mercy allowed Jesus to pay the ultimate price of our lack, shame and punishment so that we may experience life and life to the full through Christ.
