Life In The Deepest Darkness Series

April 2nd Psalm 23:4 Life in the Deepest Darkness

When you are at your darkest, He is there.

This psalm makes three claims when we are in our deepest darkness:

His presence can be enough

“I fear no danger, for You are with me”

Hebrews 13:5 Isaiah 43:2, 5

“Believers are never in situations the Lord is not aware of, for He never leaves or forsakes His people.” A.P. Ross

His power can be enough

“Your rod and Your staff —they comfort me.”

The rod of protection

The staff of correction

Proverbs 3:12 Psalm 34:18 Psalm 51

His victory WILL be enough

“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.”

Romans 8:18

One of the most common characteristics of our culture today is that EVERYBODY experiences overload. We have so much stuff going on we feel overloaded, overburdened, overwhelmed, right? Kind of like these trucks (3 pics, 3 seconds on screen a piece)

Let’s stand and recite the 23rd Psalm—remember—we’re working together to memorize this great Psalm.

The Lord is my shepherd;

there is nothing I lack.

2 He lets me lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside quiet waters.

3 He renews my life;

He leads me along the right paths

for His name’s sake.

4 Even when I go through the darkest valley,

I fear no danger,

for You are with me;

Your rod and Your staff —they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies;

You anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

6 Only goodness and faithful love will pursue me

all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the house of the Lord

as long as I live.

Last week we studied the first 3 verses and discovered that we can experience renewal in this incredibly fast-paced, over stressed society when we focus on our relationship with Jesus and when we rest in His provision. Life gets exponentially more complicated and we get overloaded when we take our eyes on Him and focus on the problems rather than the Solution—and when we allow ourselves to grow discontent with His provision. If we can’t be content with what the Lord has provided for us, then fear and anxiety and stress will follow us all the days of our lives.

Now this morning we turn our attention to the next verse.

“Even when I go through the darkest valley, I fear no danger, for You are with me;

Your rod and Your staff —they comfort me.”v.4

There is so much in this verse I want to share with you it would take me 3-4 weeks to get it all downloaded in you. But here’s the main teaching point I want you to get from this: When you are at your darkest, He is there.

The old King James put it this way, “When I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.” Literally, “When I walk through the deepest darkness”

What is the deepest darkness for you? Does it come when you sit down to pay your bills? Does it come when you walk into your home after work? Does it come when you turn off the lights and try to go to sleep? Does it come when you reflect back on the rejections or regrets or raw wounds you have?

This psalm makes three claims when we are in our deepest darkness:

His presence can be enough

“I fear no danger, for You are with me”

When I was single, at first, so afraid of being alone..

Times that I’ve gone through great adversity and anguish of the soul, I was in the deepest darkness. I had to come to the point where the knowledge of His love for me and His presence with me was enough. Not that I didn’t need encouragement…(Sue, etc), not that I didn’t need prayer (…), but in the end, I knew that I had to get to a place where Jesus was enough for me.

“I will never leave you or forsake you. Hebrews 13:5

“I will be with you when you pass through the waters,

and when you pass through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. You will not be scorched when you walk through the fire, and the flame will not burn you. Do not fear, for I am with you.” Isaiah 43:2, 5

“Believers are never in situations the Lord is not aware of, for He never leaves or forsakes His people.” A.P. Ross

His power can be enough

Notice the next phrase: “Your rod and Your staff —they comfort me.”

A shepherd normally had a number of accessories he would carry with him at all times. He’d have a knife if he needed to cut something or protect himself. Then he would have what in the rod/staff (shebet): rod or staff. Same word. (pic) As a rod it would be used as a club to fight off or kill predators. This is how young David expressed it in 1 Samuel 17:34-35 “David answered Saul: “Your servant has been tending his father’s sheep. Whenever a lion or a bear came and carried off a lamb from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it down, and rescued the lamb from its mouth. If it reared up against me, I would grab it by its fur, strike it down, and kill it.”