Lacking Nothing

Lately my attention has been drawn to the Israelites and their 40 years in the wilderness. I can’t even begin to imagine the conditions and the difficulties; and yet at the same time I find myself oddly jealous of the necessity of their dependency.

It’s hard to be dependent when you have “a lot.” And yet we all live within a system that promotes material progress the longer we work and the longer we live. And it seems whichever notch on that ladder we sit, it’s engrained in us to always look towards the notch above.

But for a generation of people, there was no obvious progression. Forty years of walking in circles… forty years of going to bed hoping that tomorrow’s bread would be there… and forty years of more questions than answers.

And yet through those circumstances, God’s Word tells us that as long as the Israelites followed God’s presence (“the pillars”), He would supply all their needs.

Nehemiah 9:21 says this about their experience: “For forty years you (God) sustained them in the wilderness; they lacked nothing…”

They Lacked Nothing?

It really makes no sense from the human perspective. What about the nice house? The car? And that new iPhone that just came out?!

But what I’ve learned about God is that oftentimes things get flipped upside down. And so, you can seemingly have it all… and yet have nothing. And at the same time you can have nothing… and yet have it all.

The principle is simple. When you follow God, you will lack nothing. And that doesn’t mean you will have all the material possessions in the world… and at the same time it doesn’t necessitate having $0 in the checking account.

It just means that when you are with God you have Him. And He is everything. He is all you need.

And this makes sense when we heed David’s words in Psalm 23: “The Lord is my Shepherd, I lack nothing.”

Because when you choose to follow… you get everything. And when you become dependent…

You Lack Nothing.