Do a thought experiment with me. Can you think of anything that will actually cause you to lack nothing? As in, after you receive the thing that you desire, you will no longer desire anything?

I love to run ultra races. I really assumed after my 100-mile race last summer that I would be done racing. And yet the past few days I have done nothing but look up another race. Even after accomplishing a goal that was years in the making, I still desire more. Whatever it was that I was looking for in that race, I did not find it.

My brother is hiking the Appalachian Trail, and I find myself longing to be in the mountains. But I’ve hiked many mountains and realized that, even if I summit one mountain, I will want the next mountain.

I see people posting pictures of themselves in warmer places, and I desire a little more sunshine than Ohio has been offering. But I know when summer comes out, I will complain about the heat.

I am hungry, so I eat. In a short time, I will be hungry again.

In consuming, there is no end to our desire.

I would argue that the real desire that infects our heart is the desire to stop desiring. We allow ourselves to partake in the desire because we hope that in partaking, we end our desiring. But it is a false hope. Desire re-emerges, either in the same way or in a new way.

There is something special about the Bible, and it directly speaks towards this condition of unending desire. Psalm 23 says, “The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want.” Something about the Lord being our Shepherd ends our desire. There is something so fulfilling about God as our Shepherd that satisfies our soul in such a way that the constant hunger pains cease.

The Shepherd takes us where he wants to go, not where we desire to go. He makes us lie down in green pastures, and he leads us to still waters. And being led by the Shepherd restores our soul. Even in moments where we walk through the shadows of death, we find we have nothing to fear. The Shepherd is beside us, comforting us. The shepherd does not steal us away from trouble, but instead prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemies. It is when we give up pursuing and dwelling in our own kingdoms, made by our own faulty hands, and trade it for residing in the presence of the Shepherd will we find goodness and mercy following us all the days of our life.

The escape from desire is not going to come from you working harder, building your own walls, breaking down the walls built by others, or any other plan for peace this world has on offer.

Contentment comes from an unceasing presence and participation with the good Shepherd, who is God. In God, we find the source of our being, a knowledge of who we are, and the courage to face any day.

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