I SHALL NOT WANT

Psalms 23:1 (KJV)

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

James 1:14-15 (KJV)

But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

I once read an article about a family in Portland who live comfortably on $1300 per month and, at the same time, put $300-400 per month in a savings account.

Because of their frugality, they were able to buy their home with cash.

And they do not live in anything near poverty.

While I do not believe I would set them up as examples, they do illustrate the fact that it takes much less to live than we generally like to believe.

The basic reason why most of us do not live like the family found in this article, and the reason why many of us probably would not want to live like this family...

IS BECAUSE WE WANT TOO MUCH.

The Bible says:

The Lord is my shepherd, I SHALL NOT WANT.

·   I will find my satisfaction in Christ.

· I will have my desires fulfilled in Christ

And rather than looking around this old world at all the things I could want, I will be happy in Christ AND NOT WANT ALL THE TIME.

I have listed six things that happen when we WANT.

When we want

I. WE CANNOT BE CONTENT.

1 Tim 6:6

Godliness with contentment is great gain.

But when we always want something new, something different, something we do not have, we will never be content.

We loose out on one of the greatest of all things we can gain when we want all the time.

When we want,

II. WE ARE TEMPTED TO GET SOMETHING WE SHOULD NOT HAVE.

There are some things we should not have.

·   Some things that are wrong for us to have,

·   Some things that are dangerous for us to have, and

·   Some things that would slow us down for God if we had them.

But if we want them, we are so tempted to try to get them even if we know we ought not to have them.

Remember the story of Naboth and and King Ahab?[1]

Naboth owned a piece of property that King Ahab wanted.

The trouble was, it was one of the laws of God that property could not pass from one tribe of Israel to another tribe.

It was wrong for Ahab to have that property.

And it was not like Ahab was without property himself.

He was a wealthy and prosperous king.

But he allowed himself to be discontent with what he already did have, which led him to want that which he did not have.

And eventually meant he got something he should not have.

When we want,

III. WE ARE TEMPTED TO GET SOMETHING BEFORE WE SHOULD HAVE IT.

Exod 23:29-30

I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee.

By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land. (KJV)

God told the Jews that he was not going to give them the Promised Land all at once, cause THEY COULDN'T HAVE HANDLED IT.

There are a lot of things that I believe God wants to give us, but He doesn't want us to have them right now.

What happens is, the thing that could have been a blessing to us and have been used by the Lord becomes a curse and does nothing but cause sorrow.

When we want,

IV. WE ARE TEMPTED TO GET SOMETHING IN A WAY WE SHOULD NOT GET IT

Abraham and Sarah are a case in point.

God told them he would give them a baby boy.

Nothing wrong with that.

But when God didn't give him to them when they wanted him, THEY DEVISED AN IMMORAL PLOT TO GET THE BABY WITHOUT GOD'S HELP.

If we allow ourselves to want, we can become so enticed by the thing THAT WE GO OUTSIDE OF THE WILL OF GOD TO GET IT.

That is exactly what motivates the thief.

He wants something.

He then becomes so enticed, so trapped in his want, that he resorts to crime in order to have it.

Many an otherwise honest man has been drawn into illegal activities in order to earn money to get the things he wants.

When we want,

V. WE ARE TEMPTED TO KEEP THAT WHICH DOES NOT BELONG TO US.

Malachi 3:8-9 (KJV)

Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.

Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.

It is important to see that these Jews were not totally disobeying in the area of giving to God.

They gave, but they didn't give the first, and they didn't give the best.

Malachi 1:7-8 (KJV)

Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the LORD is contemptible.

And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the LORD of hosts.

Why would they give God their blind, crippled and maimed animals as a sacrifice?

Because they were not worth as much.

Why would they care what it was worth?

Because they wanted something.

When we allow ourselves to be dominated by wants, we will be tempted to keep the tithes and give God the scraps of our income.

Sixth, when we want,

VI. WE WILL NOT GIVE WHAT WE OUGHT TO GIVE.

In Exodus 36[2] Moses had a need.

He was preparing to build the tabernacle and all of the other things that Israel needed to worship the Lord.

Moses took an offering from the congregation

And THEY GAVE MORE THAN ENOUGH.

I figure they would have had an excuse not to give;

They were out in the wilderness, and they did not know when they would be able to get more of what they gave.[3]

But, they gave anyway!

The work of God has many great needs.

·   The need to support missions

·   The need to build larger buildings to house a growing church

·   The need to finance new ways to reach people

·   The need to provide support ministries

·   The need for a van to haul more to church

· The need to fuel those vehicles

And on and on.

I know that we can't all give to them all, and I am not trying to say that.

But if we thought about it I think we would all see that sometimes the reason we do not want to give IS BECAUSE WE WANT THINGS FOR OURSELVES.

That is ok if God doesn't want you to give to a certain need,  but if He does and you don't do it because of something you want can you see the problem with that?

"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want"

The reason why so many people cannot live with their money is because they want.

There is something they do not have, and cannot get with the money they have.

I am suggesting to you that

·   if you do not learn to be content and

·   if you do not learn not to want

You will never learn to live with your money.

Let's Pray

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[1] 1 Kings 21:1-16 (KJV)

And it came to pass after these things, that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria.

And Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, Give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near unto my house: and I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it; or, if it seem good to thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money.

And Naboth said to Ahab, The LORD forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee.

And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him: for he had said, I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers. And he laid him down upon his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread.

But Jezebel his wife came to him, and said unto him, Why is thy spirit so sad, that thou eatest no bread?

And he said unto her, Because I spake unto Naboth the Jezreelite, and said unto him, Give me thy vineyard for money; or else, if it please thee, I will give thee another vineyard for it: and he answered, I will not give thee my vineyard.

And Jezebel his wife said unto him, Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? arise, and eat bread, and let thine heart be merry: I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.

So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters unto the elders and to the nobles that were in his city, dwelling with Naboth.

And she wrote in the letters, saying, Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people:

And set two men, sons of Belial, before him, to bear witness against him, saying, Thou didst blaspheme God and the king. And then carry him out, and stone him, that he may die.

And the men of his city, even the elders and the nobles who were the inhabitants in his city, did as Jezebel had sent unto them, and as it was written in the letters which she had sent unto them.

They proclaimed a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people.

And there came in two men, children of Belial, and sat before him: and the men of Belial witnessed against him, even against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, Naboth did blaspheme God and the king. Then they carried him forth out of the city, and stoned him with stones, that he died.

Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, Naboth is stoned, and is dead.

And it came to pass, when Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned, and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab, Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give thee for money: for Naboth is not alive, but dead.

And it came to pass, when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, that Ahab rose up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.

[2] Exodus 36:3-5 (KJV)

And they received of Moses all the offering, which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary, to make it withal. And they brought yet unto him free offerings every morning.

And all the wise men, that wrought all the work of the sanctuary, came every man from his work which they made;

And they spake unto Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work, which the LORD commanded to make.

[3] Theirs was truly a “fixed income.”