9. Everything I Need

The Lord is my shepherd; I have what I need. He lets me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside quiet waters. He renews my life;

Pslam 23:1-3

I recently read that it is around the 2 hour mark when marathoners experience “hitting a wall”. This is when the body runs out of carbohydrates and glycogen and starts to burn fat. They say the key to avoiding this is by proper fluid replacement and ensuring that you drink electrolytes and remain hydrated.

I can’t think of a better analogy for what we’re living through right now. I feel like we have hit the two-hour mark and I’m running on empty. And I’m not going to lie, I did not properly carbo-load (anyone else having visions of Michael Scott eating fettuccini alfredo before the rabies fun run??) and I didn’t think to plan ahead for electrolytes. Just like a runner, I need some nourishment. Big time.

We don’t know exactly when David wrote this, the most famous Psalm. But there is good reason to believe that it was during the civil war in which his own son, Absalom, had rebelled against David and was trying to destroy his Kingdom. Talk about a bleak situation. And while my sons haven’t incited a rebellion against me (yet), I feel like my world has been turned upside down with no real end in sight.

There are two verses that I underlined in my bible: “I have what I need” and “He renews my life”. What does it look like to live from a place where I sincerely believe that not only do I have all that I need, but that God renews my life? All my shortcomings, undoings, wrong steps and mistakes. He renews it. And he does it by providing all that I need. Even in this bleak season, I have all that I need.

Like a marathon runner needs electrolytes, I am desperate for the living waters that Jesus promised the Samaritan woman. He told her,

Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again. But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again. In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up in him for eternal life

John 4:13-14

It is the only water that can satisfy my soul. So as we enter into this new phase of the Covid-19 pandemic — where we are all settling in to isolation and social distancing and getting tired and feeling like we might be hitting the wall of our tolerance — I have to remind myself that he is still there. He is still good. And he is still renewing my life with living waters. Even when it feels like I’m not moving forward anymore. And even when, like right now as I write this, it feels like renewal is a long way away.

I’m choosing to start living from a place of abundance. Not in what I have, but in what God has given me: all that I need. I have an abundance of peace and joy. Not that I am peaceful and joyful all the time, but rather that it is always there for me to access, so long as I keep coming back for water. There is no finite amount of renewal God will give us, let’s come to him with open hands and expectant hearts, trusting him alone to satisfy.

Check out All Glory Be To Christ by King’s Kaleidoscope. “Let living waters satisfy the thirsty without price”