I’ve climbed the stairs in my home hundreds of times; up and down, multiple times every day. But sitting here thinking about that, I realized I really don’t know how many steps there are. I know there are two banks of steps linking the downstairs to the upstairs part of my house, but if you were to ask me, I couldn’t tell you how many steps there are.

Pretty fascinating. My familiarity with those stairs hasn’t led me to really pay attention to how many treads there are.

Familiarity doesn’t always translate into attentiveness or awareness. That idea has nudged me to give a little attention to what is likely one of the most well-known psalms: Psalm 23.

You know this psalm; you’ve heard it. It’s widely quoted. It can be found on posters and needlepoints hanging on walls. But has that familiarity ended up leaving us thinking we “know” this psalm . . . without really looking closely, without paying attention to what David wrote?

Let’s start with just the first verse: “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.”

When David refers to God as “the LORD,” he is using God’s personal name. Most English translations render the name of God with the title “master” and capitalize it to indicate that it stands in place of the name of God.

“God” is a noun, indicating what He is; He is divine. “Lord” is a title, pointing to the place He has in life; He is master of all. But He also has a personal name. It would probably be best rendered into English as “Yahweh.”

That name is used over 6000 times in the Old Testament. The Old Testament saints—like David—had an intimate, personal relationship with the God of the universe. And it was so intimate that they spoke to Him by name!

When David speaks of Yahweh as his shepherd, he isn’t using the word “shepherd” as a title; it’s a verb form that suggests he is thinking of God as the one who does this thing, not merely one who has this title. Yahweh is the one who is caring for him like a shepherd. David knows the one who cares attentively for him by name.

With that foundation, David says that he “shall not want.” That’s how the phrase is traditionally rendered. But the idea isn’t, primarily, nothing is stirring in my heart that I long for. This idea of “shall not want” is really about “I have no lack.” There is nothing missing with regard to what I need.

As he continues, David reflects on why he has no lack. But we need to slow down and listen carefully to what this opening verse says. Read it again:

“The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.”

This reminds me of the old Gershwin song with a simple lyric: “I got rhythm, I got music, I’ve got my girl, who could ask for anything more.”

There’s nothing wrong with how David said it; it’s perfect. But for me to not miss what he meant, I might rephrase it:

“The God I know by name is the one who attentively cares for me and, because of that, I lack nothing.”