Day 6: I Shall
Faith grows when we stop glaring at our fears and start staring at our Shepherd.
Day 6: I Shall
Psalm 23:1 — “I shall not want.”
David speaks with a lot of confidence in this verse. He’s not saying “I hope” or “maybe”. He’s not qualifying it by saying “If things work out” or “When I feel like it”.
Why? Because his confidence rests on the Shepherd.
Biblical faith is not positive thinking. It is confidence in God’s character. The certainty of Psalm 23 is built upon the certainty of God.
When God makes a promise, His people can build their lives upon it. Theologians sometimes speak about the faithfulness of God. God never breaks a promise. He never forgets His covenant or abandons His children.
Every “shall” in Scripture ultimately rests upon God’s character. Confidence comes and goes but God is always there to guide us and help us.
A bridge doesn’t hold you because you feel confident. It holds because the bridge is strong. We trust it because we have been over it before. It doesn’t shake or totter. It has always held up. Likewise, our confidence comes from the strength of the Shepherd.
Philippians 1:6
“For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”
Hebrews 10:23
“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”
Faith grows when we stop glaring at our fears and start staring at our Shepherd. Take a moment and think about the burden that weighs most heavily on your heart right now. Now ask yourself this question: Is that burden bigger than the God who has promised to shepherd you?
The answer, of course, is no. Faith does not deny the size of the problem; it simply acknowledges that the Shepherd is greater still. Let His promises be louder than your fears.
The words “I shall” invite us to stop living as spiritual pessimists. David teaches us a different way. Because the LORD is our Shepherd, we can face tomorrow with confidence. Not because we know what tomorrow holds, but because we know the Shepherd who holds tomorrow.
Closing Thought: Faith is not confidence that things will turn out the way we want; faith is confidence that the Shepherd will never cease being who He is.
