The Lord is my sheperd; I shall not want...

We all know the psalm. It's almost a cliche nowadays. Psalm 23 was the first  psalm I memorized, and I can almost say it in my sleep now.
But a few weeks ago, I was really feeling discouraged and depressed, and even quoting scripture wasn't helping. I tried reciting Psalm 23, but I found that the words seemed empty and dull, and it just felt like vain repetition. But in the midst of this discouragement and fear, I had a thought; and I think it was a God thought, because it put new meaning into the words of this first verse, and brought peace where there hadn't been any. I suddenly got the idea to look up the words 'shepherd' and 'want' and do a word study. I found something very interesting...

The word Sheperd is 7462 in the Strong's Concordance, and the entry says this:
A prime root; to tend a flock, i.e. pasture it; intransitively- to graze (literally of figuratively); generally- to rule; by extension- to associate with (as a friend):— break, companion, keep company with, devour, eat up, evil entreat, feed, use as a friend, make friendship with, herdman, keep [sheep] (-er), pastor, + shearing house, sheperd, wander, waste.

I'm not sure about the things like 'evil entreat' and 'eat up', because those are most certainly negative ideas. I think this word is one of those strange ones that can be either negative or positive depending on the context. Anyway, the main (positive) idea I get from this is: Pastor, shepherd, or companion.
Okay, now on to 'want':
2637: A prime root; to lack; by implication to fail, want, lessen:— be abated, bereave, decrease, (cause to) fail, (have) lack make lower, want.

Now that could mean, certainly, simply 'to be in want of something', but if you think about it in the context of the Lord being our companion, then the lack would be specific to companionship.
And that would render a reading of Psalm 23, verse 1, that would go something like this:

The Lord is my companion, I shall never be alone.

And how awesome is that! This realization totally floored me. It took the verse out of the impersonal, generalized, "The Lord is my provider, I will never lack anything" to a personal, specific promise of His love and companionship.
And not only that, but when you pair that scripture with John 15:15, where Jesus says: "Henceforth I call you not serants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you." you get something even better.
We don't just have a ruler who is always with us; that might not seem very pleasant.

We have a best friend who will never leave us; and no matter where we are, he is there, too.

And that is a promise that can endure us through any trial or persecution.