Psalm 23: The clock is my dictator, I shall not rest. It makes me lie down only when exhausted. It leads me into deep depression, it hounds my soul. It leads me in circles of frenzy for activities’ sake. Even though I run frantically from task to task, I will never get it all done, for my “ideal” is with me. Deadlines and my need for approval, they drive me. They demand performance from me, beyond the limits of my schedule. They anoint my head with migraines, my in-basket overflows. Surely fatigue and time pressure shall follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the bonds of frustration forever. Author Unknown
On the first day, God created the dog and said: ’Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past. For this, I will give you a life span of twenty years.’ The dog said: ’That’s a long time to be barking. How about only ten years and I’ll give you back the other ten?’ So God agreed. On the second day, God created the monkey and said: ’Entertain people, do tricks, and make them laugh. For this, I’ll give you a twenty-year life span.’ The monkey said: ’Monkey tricks for twenty years? That’s a pretty long time to perform. How about I give you back ten like the Dog did?’ And God agreed. On the third day, God created the cow and said: ’You must go into the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer’s family. For this, I will give you a life span of sixty years.’ The cow said: ’That’s kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty years. How about twenty and I’ll give back the other forty?’ And God agreed again. On the fourth day, God created humans and said: ’Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. For this, I’ll give you twenty years.’ But the human said: ’Only twenty years? Could you possibly give me my twenty, the forty the cow gave back, the ten the monkey gave back, and the ten the dog gave back; that makes eighty, okay?’ ’Okay,’ said God, ’You asked for it.’ So that is why for our first twenty years we eat, sleep, play and enjoy ourselves... For the next forty years, we slave in the sun to support our family. For the next ten years, we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren. And for the last ten years, we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone. As we walk “through the valley we find Your rod and your staff give me courage.”
Psalm 23:4
As we have been going through this psalm we found out in the last two messages that God is with us as we walk through the valley. We said last week that this is a time that we are traveling as sheep to a better place but to get there we have to go through the valley. It is during this time that we are alone with the Shepherd and so we come to the place where we find out about what He can do with His rod and staff as He guides us. I like to think of it as “A FEARLESS WALK THROUGH A DANGEROUS VALLEY.” The Shepherd is there with His rod and staff for our comfort and leadership.
I want us first to understand what these tools are from what we can find out. First we have the Rod which was club about 2’ long with a knob on the end of it about the size of one’s fist. Into that knob was driven sharp pieces of metal. It was used to ward of enemies such as a bear or a lion because with one quick blow you could put to death such an animal. This rod was the Shepherd’s symbol of authority, power, discipline and defense against danger.
The Staff was slender stick with a small prong on the end of it which served as a hook. It was used to help get the sheep out of trouble such as when it was stuck in thick branches. It usually came from an almond tree. An almond tree represented long life. It was strong so one could lean upon it which points to an emblem of Divine strength and support.
Today we would liken this to the Holy Spirit. Think of how dark life would be without what God has provided?
“Oh, to have no Christ, no Savior, How lonely life must be. Like a sailor boat and driven on a wide and shoreless sea. Oh, to have no Christ, no Savior, no hand to clasp thine own. Through the dark, dark vale of shadows, thou must press thy way alone. W. O. Cushing
The place that we are traveling is in the valley with the Shepherd and this is the middle of the Psalm.
“I have gone through the valley of weeping, the valley of sorrow and pain; but the God of all comfort was with me, at hand to uphold and sustain. As the earth needs the clouds and the sunshine, our souls need both sorrow and joy: so he places us oft in the furnace, the dross from the gold to destroy. When he leads through some valley of trouble, his powerful hand we can trace; for the trials and sorrows he sends us are part of his lessons of grace. Oft we shrink from the purging and pruning, forgetting the husbandman knows the deeper the cutting and paring, the richer the cluster grows. Well, he knows that affliction is needed; he has a wise purpose in view, and in the dark valley, he whispers, here after you will know what I do. AS we travel through life’s shadowed valley, fresh springs of his love ever rise; and we learn that our sorrows and losses are blessings just sent in disguise. So we’ll follow wherever he leads, through pathways be dreary or bright; for we’ve proof that our Lord can give comfort, our God gives us songs in the night.’
Let us look as some of the valleys we will face.
1. It could be a valley of affliction. 2 Cor. 4:17-18 “For our present troubles are quite small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us an immeasurably great glory that will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see right now; rather, we look forward to what we have not yet seen. For the troubles we see will soon be over, but the joys to come will last forever.” 2 Cor. 5:1 “For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down, when we die and leave these bodies, we will have a home in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands.” I want us to think about our circumstances in our daily lives. We all come across things in our life we look at them in two ways. Without faith we will see these circumstances and fail to see Christ as the One who can help us in circumstances. I have talked with people this week who have no answers for what they face because they have hope only in this world. They can only see with their eyes on things in this world and therefore only talk of doom and gloom. One lady was blind and said she wished she could die. One lady talked about how she got so drunk she did not even remember all the things she had done. Those who have faith put Christ in between their lives and the circumstances. Elisha was once surrounded by an army that would destroy him. His servant cried out because all he could see was the army. Elisha prayed for God to open his eyes to see there were more with them that are with the enemy. He saw a bigger army coming down from heaven.
2. It could be a Valley of Temptation. We read at the start of Jesus’ ministry He was tempted by the devil himself. 1 Cor. 10:13 “But remember that the temptations that come into your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can’t stand up against it. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you will not give in to it.” Temptation in itself is not sin. Yielding to the temptation is sin. We have a made to order way of escape. There is song in which there are the words, “Standing somewhere in the shadows you will find Jesus.”
3. It could be the valley of trials. There is no one that is exempt from trials in this life. A man was watching some sheep when a snow storm came in that they left the hollows and under the trees to stand on the bare hills to face the storm. He remarked to the shepherd that sheep were stupid in that instead of remaining in the shelter they stood up facing the force of the storm. The shepherd said that the sheep knew that if they stayed down in the sheltered areas the drifts would come and that would mean death and that their safest place was to stand and face the storm. I know of people today and this might be speaking to you who want everything to be safe and so they stay in the shelter and do not realize that their lives are in jeopardy because they do not want to face reality. Mortenson wrote, “I needed the quiet, so he drew me aside, into the shadow where we could confide. Away from the bustle where all the day long I hurried and worried when active and strong. I needed the quiet, tho at first I rebelled but gently, so gently, my cross he upheld and whispered so sweetly of spiritual things tho weakened in body, my spirit took wings to the heights never dreamed of when active and gay. He loved me so greatly so he drew me aside. I needed the quiet. No prison my bed, but the beautiful valley of blessings instead, a place to grow richer, in Jesus to hide, I needed the quiet so he drew me aside.” We can be sure that trials and problems will come. We need to take time with Jesus but then go out in His power. Jesus will be there as our Shepherd.
BREAKING THE CYCLE: Ollie was surprised to find his dad destroying an old bicycle that had hung for years in the back of the garage. Piece by piece, he was disassembling and burying it in a three-foot hole. "What’s going on, Dad?" asked the boy. Sitting on the edge of the patio, the man said, "Son, my granddaddy had a terrible temper and he cussed all his life. My daddy had a temper and did the same. I have a terrible temper and I’ve cussed all my life. Yesterday I saw how you lost your temper and said those words. I made up my mind I’d break the cycle, and I’ve asked God to make me a new man for your sake. I decided to do something to help me remember how important this is. So I’m literally breaking this bicycle and burying it." Ollie didn’t really understand his father’s words that day, but in coming days he saw the difference, and in coming years he understood. Christ can help you break and bury cycles of dysfunction, addiction, anger, and sin in your life. You have to make up your mind to do it, then trust His all-sufficient grace. You may not destroy a bike, but find a meaningful way to memorialize the end of a long line of sin. David Jeremiah
4. It could be the valley of disappointment. I like to do things with words and so I challenge you to take the word DisappointmenT and take away the letter “D” which can refer to word such as Dark, Despair, Destruction, Demons, Death and Doom and replace it with an “H” which could stand for Hope, Happiness, Holy, Home and Heaven and we have words “His appointments.” One letter can make a big difference in letting God into our life.
5. It could be the valley of fruitfulness. We find that fruit grows better in the valley than on the mountain top. More people turn to God during the days of adversary than in times of material comfort. We know that we need blue skies and warm sunshine but we also need clouds and showers to have an abundant harvest.
We also go through the valley of the shadow of death. Death seems to be a terrible word. We know that when we are born we start to die. Most would like to get rid of that word and get rid of that experience. Death is the result and penalty of sin. Death is a child of sin and therefore a grandchild of the devil. Death is not to be feared by the Christian for it is the passage way to eternal life. Remember this just a shadow. A shadow implies light. There cannot be a shadow with out light. There is light in the valley. When we face the light the shadows fall behind us. Jesus is the LIGHT OF the World and as we face Him all the shadows fall behind us. It is a shadow and can affect us.
A Shadow may frighten us. It cannot hurt us. The shadows of a dog, snake, criminal, and murderer can be real but a shadow cannot harm us. Lyte wrote, “I fear no foe, with thee at hand to bless; Ills have not weight and tears no bitterness. Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory? I triumph still, it thou abide with me.” 1 TM: 10 “but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has abolished death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” The word abolished comes from a Greek word with three root letters a, r and g. It makes this word come across as double negative. So we have here is that Christ when He came into the world and died on the cross, did some thing with death. He double-twisted it, emptied it, made it defeated, cause it to be powerless and so ever afterward it would be unable to hurt the children of God.
A SHADOW IS ONLY TEMPORARY BUT THE LIGHT IS ETERNAL. Death lasts only a moment but life after death is forever. The valley of death is short when placed in front of the fields of eternal paradise. The valley is only short tunnel and a short cut to the land of Light.
“I will not fear for You are with me, Your rod and staff comforts me.
The person without Christ must go through into the valley alone and not passage way out. The one who is in Christ only passes through and the Shepherd is there with him all the time and brings him out the other side.
