Three buddies die in a car and go to heaven for an orientation. They are all asked, "When you are in your casket and friends and family are mourning over you, what would you like to hear them say about you?"
The first guy says, "I would like to hear them say that I was a great doctor of my time, and a great family man."
The second guy says, "I would like to hear that I was a wonderful husband and school teacher which made a huge difference in our children of tomorrow."
The last guy replies, "I would like to hear them say, ‘LOOK, HE'S MOVING!!!!!'"
Death is such a hard subject to deal with sometimes, but it is one that we all know that we can’t avoid. As a result often times we joke about it, to relieve the stress. Consider if you will the case if a tombstone in England, Remember man, as you walk by, As you are now, so once was I. As I am now, so shall you be. Remember this and follow me. To which someone replied by writing on the tombstone: To follow you I'll not consent, Until I know which way you went.
As followers of Christ, it’s good to know where He went and that He said we could go there with Him. It’s natural for sheep to follow the shepherd and that’s who we are and that’s who He is. We’re the sheep and He is our Shepherd, because of this we have the assurance that we can follow him. We’re going to spend today looking at the passage, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” Let’s start today by reading through the entire 23rd Psalm together, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
We’re continuing our walk through the 23rd Psalm but today’s passage marks a change in the attitude to of the sheep. The first three verses are the sheep, specifically David, discussing what the shepherd does for him. All of these things could have been done by one sheep talking to another sheep over the fence between their pastures. Can you picture it? Two sheep from different flocks are talking, “Who’s your shepherd?” “The Lord is my shepherd.” I mean there’s no topping that, there’s simply nothing better, and no where up to go from there.
The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want, because He provides for me and because He teaches me to be content. He makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me beside still waters, which is often a lot of work for Him too. But I can relax because I can trust the shepherd. Those times that I become downcast, He comes and restores me, and although it’s uncomfortable, He leads me in paths of righteousness to help me never be downcast again.” These are things that one sheep might say to another over the fence. But then change will come for the sheep. The sheep can not always stay in the safety of one ranch, they must move to and from the mountains. See the shepherd would have two different ranches for the sheep, one is the summer pasture and one is the winter pasture. The locations will be many miles apart, one will be in the low lands and one will be up in the mountains.
The journey both ways will be difficult, but it is necessary for the sheep to thrive. Despite their wool they are very thin skinned which means that they are susceptible to the cold of winter and the heat of summer. The best path to get to and from the mountains is through the valleys that occur between them. While this makes sense and may seem comforting to those of us who live in a valley, these valleys are narrow and deep, the shepherds will have moved their flocks through them for generations meaning that the predators know this is where the sheep will be too. The result is that the valley is a dark and dangerous place.
The obvious question to our minds, and perhaps that of the sheep is that if the valley is dark and dangerous, and the shepherd knows this then why would he take us through the valley in the first place. Think about what the term “valley” represents in Biblical imagery and in our lives. To us the highlands mean the times of refreshing and the valleys mean the times of difficulties. Those times when it seems like nothing is going our way, and it feels like nothing may ever go our way again.
It may be our financial situation, I would say job situation, but too many people I know have been too long between jobs right now to say that. It may be issues that we’re having with health or with family and other relationships. We’re talking about those times in life where the darkness is so deep that it seems like we will never see the light again. David as a shepherd would know all about that kind of darkness. You see in mountain paths the valleys are formed not just by general mountains but sometimes by sheer cliffs that rise up on either side. In some valleys the walls are so steep that the sunlight never touches the ground.
David the former shepherd who became king knew all about those valleys. Remember that when Samuel came to anoint the next king of Israel that David was the son who was away tending the sheep. By the time that he wrote the 23rd Psalm David would have walked many times through those valleys. Both as a shepherd walking his sheep through valleys, and as a child of God being walked through the valleys of being and enemy of Saul, being hunted by the army that he used to be a part of, wondering when it would end and hoping for God’s deliverance David knew about walking through those valleys. Even the darkest, I think that we can all agree that the ultimate valley is the “shadow of death.”
It’s the valley that we all know waits for us one day, and let’s face it always too soon. It is a valley that most of us have walked through with a loved one too many times before. The darkness of that valley is real and deep. The darkness is only in part lifted by the presence of our shepherd because we know that although the separation is only temporary, it is also too real.
But there is one other truth that is good to know about those literal and figurative valleys, the darkness is also part illusion. When it comes it whispers that it is the light will never come again, that it has overcome the light and it is all that’s left. But in those days of darkness, in those times when we never think that we will see the end of grief or sorrow we can take comfort in knowing that the darkness is only and illusion, that the instant that light is introduced to the darkness that the darkness disappears. That one day when we are with Jesus we will never know darkness again. That feeling that the darkness is all there is and all there ever will be is just an illusion, a lie. When that darkness threatens to overwhelm you, remember the promise of John 1:5, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
Satan took his best shot 2000 years ago and it didn’t work then, he’s been trying his best since before the beginning of time, he’ll be trying until the end of time, but it won’t matter because no matter how hard he tries the darkness can not overcome the light. No matter what it is that oppresses or depresses you, no matter what it is that runs through your mind the times that you want to turn your mind off but you can’t, dark defeating thought run through you mind non-stop and deprive you of rest and hope, you stop and remember this, that the verse says, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.” God can and will lead us through any valley. When my grandmother died too many years ago, she was at peace when she saw it coming. She said goodbye to all of us who went to see her in the hospital, she was able to do that because she knew that her shepherd was coming, and He was going to see her through the Valley and safely into His home, and the place that He had prepared for her. Isn’t it good to know that everyone who accepts Jesus as their savior and Lord has that same promise?
We wish that we could avoid the valleys, but there are some things that we can only appreciate and know on the other side of the valley. The first is that the valley may be the only place that the sheep can survive. Sheep can’t stay on the mountain top too long they’ll get frozen and die. We can’t stay in the low lands too long or the heat will come and cook us and we’ll die. We also have move so that our bodies will stay fit, we have to move to become lean and strong.
Same thing with us, stay on the mountain too long, only thinking and being about religious things and thinking about the next life and we become no good in this life. Stay in the lowlands too long and we forget to think about the next life and do good in this life. We have to be on the move. No Christian is called to only sit on a pew on Sunday morning, I’m glad you’re here this is part of it but not all of it. That’s why we have our vision statement because we are supposed to know God, grow in Him, and go serve Him. So we have to move and that means through the valleys.
There’s something else to note about survival in the valleys. As dark as they may be they are safer then the cliffs and mountain sides. Those are the places there the predators hide, waiting to pick off a wayward sheep. Those are the places where the terrain is too steep and we may fall to our deaths or to injury. As bad as the valley may seem do we appreciate that the alternative to the valley is often someplace even more dangerous?
Another thing about the valleys that we may not appreciate is that they are the places where water flows. We know about this in our heads, that water flows down hill, but do we think about it in our hearts? When sheep are coming down from the mountains, when the climb is hot and their throats are parched, when they are longing for a drink, the most likely place to find it is in the valleys, the run off of the water from the mountains. Whether the sheep are thinking about this or not the shepherd is. The places and journeys where we can best find what we need to survive this life are often in the valleys. Our shepherd knows the way and leads us through the paths that are best for us.
We learn this through experience and so do sheep. Another lesson from the other side of the valley for us is that sheep that have passed through the valley can help other sheep with their journey. I don’t have to preach too much on this point because too many of you are living it. Many of you have chosen or are choosing to use the tragedies or mistakes in your past to now turn around and help others to come through the same valleys today. There may be no greater blessing that one person can give to another then to help them through a similar valley. Isn’t it good that our shepherd knows this and uses us to bless others and thus give greater purpose and meaning to our sorrow.
One final fact about the valley is that it is often the place where the grazing is the best. Think about it all that water flows down into the valleys. The mountain sides and the cliffs they get their portion of the water that runs down, but the valleys get the run of from many mountain sides so the grass and plants there grow lush and green. As the sheep pass through the valley they have all that they need. Although the valley may be a dark and dangerous place when the sheep pass through they have been strengthened by the experience.
As sheep of the good shepherd David tells us that we will pass through the valley of the shadow death. But then he tells us why, the rest of the verse, “I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” Let’s talk about the rod and the staff of the shepherd because these are useful tools. Due to the distance that a shepherd may travel and the difficult nature of the work they were often the only tools that the shepherd carried. They were too pieces of wood but they were far from simple. A shepherd would spend years forming them and shaping them to get them just right for him.
Let’s talk about the rod first. As a shepherd boy grew he would often go through a series of rods because they were made for his hand and arm. The rod of a shepherd is used for protection from predators. When the shepherd must fight this can be used either as a club or thrown, whistling through the air with great precision to strike its target. The shepherd will use the rod for whatever is necessary at the time, in both cases it has become and extension of the arm of the shepherd. From the time the first are taken into the field by their fathers, shepherd boys are taught to never put down their club because it is a part of them.
Philip Keller tells the story of driving sheep through Kenya with some of the local shepherds, their flocks taking the journey together. They came to a valley that was full of elephants, he and one of the shepherd boys decided to dislodge a large bolder and roll it down the mountain side to scare the elephants into moving. Problem was that when the bolder moved it revealed a cobra coiled and ready to strike. In a split second the shepherd boy lashed out with his rod and killed the snake. You see the whole time they were struggling with the rock the rod was in his hand. The shepherd always has the rod it is a part of him. How comforting is it to know that when our enemy wants to strike that our shepherd is always prepared and ready to kill the snake. When the enemy comes you wait for the whistle of the rod moving through the air, it is the sound of salvation coming.
But we need to realize that the rod is also used to keep the sheep in line. We talked about it a few weeks ago even sheep which seem so mild have a pecking order within the flock. The shepherd will have sheep in the flock that he uses for certain things, his favorites, we’ll talk about them in a moment. But when a sheep gets out of place or when it wants to go it’s own way the shepherd will also use the rod to bring them back into line. The sheep that wants to go off on a path of it’s own may hear that same whistling through the air, not to harm the sheep but to get it back on the path. We need to remember that God has an order here on earth. He is the head of the church and if we forget that we may here an unwelcome whistling through the air. It is not meant to harm us but it is meant to keep us on the right path.
A shepherd will also use the rod as a tool to help inspect the sheep. When a shepherd counts his sheep he will use his rod to separate them the counted on one side, the counted on the other. As they pass under his rod he will use it to separate their wool, to dig down and reveal any parasites that may be on them, and rashes or other signs of hidden illness or disease, so that he knows their true condition and can care for them accordingly. Have you ever heard of pulling the wool over someone’s eyes? It comes from shepherds, a bad shepherd can shear and maintain an unhealthy sheep’s wool to conceal what is wrong with it. But a good shepherd uses the rod to see what is wrong so that illness can be treated and the sheep can truly be healthy. The same is true of our God, He know the true condition of our hearts, there is no fooling Him. He can treat us for what is wrong and make it right. The rod protects us, it keeps us on the right path and it inspects us for illness that we may not even know about.
But what about the staff? The staff brings the sheep together. A shepherd leads the sheep with this staff. They look for it and follow it. But there’s something else in this regard that he does that I never knew. As he walks he will often lean the staff on a favored lamb this creates a connection between them. The sheep doesn’t think of carrying the staff as a burden but as a caress as he and the shepherd walk along together. As Christians may be never take for granted the connection we have with our shepherd or consider time spent with Him to be a burden.
The staff also helps with new born lambs. Lambs tend to mate and deliver at relatively the same times. Because of this in a large herd it is not uncommon for there to many lambs. These lambs will often wander away from or become separated from their mothers. If the shepherd simply picks them up and give them back to mom, she may reject them because the smell of the shepherd is different from the smell of a lamb. So the shepherd will used their staff to gently nudge the lambs back to their moms, in some cases they will even use the curved part to gently life a lamb and carry it to it mother. Sheep are never too young to get off the right path, and the shepherd will gently restore them.
In the same manner the shepherd will heard the sheep back on to the path with the staff. See when a sheep goes off the path and the shepherd is close rather then throw his rod, he’ll just reach out with his rod, hook it around the neck and pull it back onto the path, I’m sure there is a direct relation between the force of that pull and the frustration of the shepherd. He will do the same think with a sheep that falls into the water. In this case though the force used may be related to the danger that the sheep is in. Here is the main point we’re never to grown in Christ that we can’t get off the path, the more we’ve walked with Him and the more me should know better the hard the tug may be to get our feet back on the path.
Finally the shepherd rests on the staff. Rest sounds good, picture a shepherd up on a ridge as the sun goes down. He is looking down on his sheep as the stop to rest for the night, and as he looks down on them, with the days journey done, he rests on the staff. Rest sounds good doesn’t it? Think about what our equal of the rod and staff of God is. They are the tools of the shepherd that guide us in our path and discipline us when we are wrong. For us this is the word of God. Hebrews 4:12 tells us that, “The word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light for my path.” Do you see it? The Bible is our protection, it disciplines us, and it gives us guidance. But we can only use it and rest in it if two things are true. We must accept the Lord as the leader of our lives, and two we must know what His word says. If you’ve never asked Him to be a part of your life, to forgive you and lead you will you do that today? If you’ve neglected the study of His word will you start it today? What decision do you need to make for follow Him as your shepherd?
