September 3, 2006
Psalm 23:1-6
In the Valley
A couple of years ago, a church in Seattle, Washington was having a big kick-off Sunday. It was the weekend after Labor Day and they wanted to do something for their children’s programs. So they brought in Barney the Dinosaur. They learned, Kids like Barney when he’s on TV or in a stuffed animal. But when you bring in a six-foot tall life size Barney, he becomes a little intimidating to little kids. One kid absolutely flipped out. I mean he went bonkers. His mom was helping teach a class, so she couldn’t take him. So his dad took him. His dad finally got him calm. But this kid had absolutely no desire to be around that Barney. Barney did not go over very well.
In fact, the church had Barney scheduled for two weeks, they ditched him after the first week. But there he was. During the worship, the dad was supposed to help serve communion and take the offering. This church meets in a large warehouse and they had partitioned off several areas for their auditorium.
They have some dressing rooms and preparation rooms off to the side, just on the other side of a thin wall. So the dad said to his son, "You stay here in this little room. I am going to go help. I’ll be right back and you’ll be ok." But the dad didn’t know, that was also Barney’s dressing room.
Right in the middle of communion, Barney opens the door. This kid is trapped. He just goes wild. He’s screaming and everyone in hears him. Barney doesn’t know what to do, so he tries to help out by taking his head off.
The kid then starts screaming, "He’s eaten someone. He’s eaten someone!"
If we were to be really honest, we could make a huge list of things we are afraid of, including Barney. There are lots of things out there to be afraid of, isn’t there?
David picks out the thing we are afraid of the most. The valley of the shadow of death. Death is that last great enemy, isn’t it? Most people today are afraid of death. It used to be that we never talked about it. Now we talk about it all the time. But it is still a result of that same fear of facing our own mortality. That’s life’s last great enemy.
Death is Satan’s last weapon. David could face life, knowing death was always around him, because he knew the Shepherd. David could live life, even through death, because the good shepherd promises that when the moment in life comes for us to die, he will be with us in that dark valley. Jesus said, "I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am, there you might be also."
We can struggle with other enemies like pain, suffering, ridicule, disease, and injury. But strength and courage cannot overcome death. It has the final word. Only one person can walk with us through death’s dark valley and bring us safely to the other side and that is our shepherd, Jesus, who has experienced death and conquered the grave. He’s been there.
The phrase, "The valley of the shadow of death" may even be an actual location.
There was an article in Readers Digest which describes an actual Valley of the Shadow of Death in Palestine, and every shepherd from the region knows of it.
It is south of the Jericho Road, leading from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea, and is a narrow pass through a mountain range. Grazing conditions make it necessary for sheep to be moved through this valley for seasonal feeding each year.
The valley is four-and-a-half miles long. Its sidewalls are over one thousand feet high in places, and it’s only ten or twelve feet wide at the bottom. Travel through the valley is dangerous." (Fernando D’Alfonso is revered as a person who is a patriarch of the guild of shepherding.)
When you hear that, you can understand why David describes from a sheep’s perspective the valley of the shadow of death.
But David knew all of that. Paul acknowledged the fear of death by making sure that we understood death was conquered by and through the love of Jesus Christ.
That’s why in Romans 8:38-39 Paul writes, "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
If you’re a Christian, when it comes time for you to die you have nothing to fear, for there is one who will protect you, walk beside you through that experience.
God’s path will have detours and broken roads, green pastures and quiet waters; barren land and raging rapids. It will all be there. And we have to make that decision about which road we will travel. Sometimes God’s road will lead to the beautiful land that feels like those mountain top experiences, and at other times ~
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me.
Your road and your staff, they comfort me.
Three years ago, in the summer of 2003, I was taking a doctoral class in Chicago. While I was there, I met with my sisters, Susie and Janet. It’s amazing to think that it’s been just over one year since Susie died. In 2003 she was suffering from previous back surgeries, a mastectomy, lupus, fibromyalgia, numerous medications and their impacts, physical, emotional, spiritual and financial. Susie was also Jewish. Janet has been a Christian for almost 30 years.
Susie asked a spiritual question about our mom and her faith, my mom died in 1990. This question led to a 2 ½ hour conversation about God and who Jesus is. During our conversation, Susie said she was very angry at God. As our discussion continued, Janet began to recite Psalm 23, when she got to verse 4, she said ~
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
Then Susie jumped in and stopped Janet and said, “See this is a bunch of baloney, look at what God does to us.”
Our conversation got deeper at that point. Janet and I asked Susie if she knew what the next part of the Psalm was . . . she didn’t know what came next. And for many of us, that is where we run into the same feelings Susie had.
This is how I explained the rest of the Psalm to Susie ~~
– God is our leader, if we allow Him, He will lead us to the right places, even those places we don’t like.
– Sometimes we have valleys, nobody is immune,
but notice it is not the valley of death, but it is the valley of the SHADOW of death.
It means we are living in the shadow of death, we are in dark, troubling and tough times. It may mean a friend, a child, a spouse or parent is sick; maybe even dying. It may even mean that we are the one who is sick and dying.
It is obviously not a mountain top experience, we’re in the valley . . . We can see the mountains all around us and we desire to get up there, and try as we might, on our own we cannot get there.
But when we have fully trusted in God to be our Shepherd . . . and this is the caveat . . . everything . . . and I mean . . . everything rests on this thought . . .
we must trust that Jesus is our Shepherd, nobody else and nothing else will do . . . When Jesus is the One who leads us, remember from verse 1, all of our wants are met. We will be able to say, “The Lord is my Shepherd, that is all I want.”
When we trust in Jesus, and place Him and believe He is our leader . . . we will see something amazing has happened. Remember, the Shepherd is always the leader. He is leading His sheep, us, to the proper destination. He knows the way and we don’t. If He knows the way and we believe He knows the way, we should trust Him. Right? But, are we trusting Him? Or do we take matters into our own hands?
If Jesus is truly our leader, then we have nothing to fear. Death no longer scares us, we don’t want to die, we don’t want to lose our loved ones, but the fear is gone and confidence is there.
No evil can touch us, we are being protected by the Lord. Remember He has that rod and staff. What we also must understand is that He knows where we are going. This is familiar path, not unfamiliar. So, the Shepherd is standing beside us. We read, “FOR YOU ARE WITH ME.”
What a great statement from David. We realize God is now walking or even crawling beside us, staying with us, just as a parent stays with their sick child, we find comfort.
You see, God is with us in a stronger way when we are in trouble. This can give us a sense of being invulnerable, in a time when we are most vulnerable. During our valley times we are vulnerable, but when we are vulnerable to God, we become invulnerable because the only one we are listening to is God.
When we trust God we know that all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose.
I was reminded of the reason we named Joshua, Joshua - - I’ve said it before, but let me remind you of Joshua 1:9,
Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you may go.
Isn’t that a beautiful statement of confidence from God. Moses had died and Joshua was about to lead a very rebellious people into the promised land. He was now their leader, and I can imagine he was a little anxious, and God spoke these words to Joshua before the crossed the Jordan River.
The point God was making is that we should be strong and filled with courage; we don’t need to be needlessly afraid nor discouraged and disheartened . . . all for the same reason, the Lord our God will be with us. He promises to be with us, it’s a promise we can always count on.
Because of all these promises we find that God prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemies. We may be persecuted, maybe by friends, maybe by enemies. And in spite of being pushed and pulled by our enemies, we come to see that God is with us and has even prepared a table filled with the choicest foods and drinks. It’s as if we are able to look out of a plexiglass window, see our enemies, and know they cannot touch us, because God is protecting us, and we can eat and be nourished in peace, knowing God is with us.
You remain confident and secure even in the midst of your enemies. It may be that sales have dropped, earnings have decreased, budgets have increased, clients have dwindled, grades have gone down, disease has invaded your body, weight has been put on, yet you can stand with confidence, you still feel God’s anointing that somehow this will work out, you feel blessed by God and you can even exclaim that your cup, your good fortune, overflows.
You feel so blessed, there is joy, mercy, gladness and it will follow you all the days of your life. You are so confident in the promises of your Savior, that you can rest in His arms of love and grace.
And so we come to the end of our time looking at Psalm 23, which concludes with the great reminder and promise that we will dwell in the house of the Lord, forever.
I told Susie, if I were to leave tonight and never make it home, if my car crashed or something tragic happened, I have confidence God would be with me in those final moments, just as He is with me in these moments. And I would dwell in the house of the Lord, forever. Jesus told the disciples He was going to prepare a place for each of us, it would be a mansion with many rooms, and there would be a place that is registered with my name on it. And I would dwell in the house of the Lord, forever and ever, all because I followed the Shepherd.
That is how Susie, Janet and I left it. Susie and I had one other long conversation about life and spirituality. I’m not sure if Susie ever followed the Shepherd. I’ll find that out someday.
My hope for each of us, is we will follow the Shepherd, and learn from Psalm 23, how God loves us, comforts us and empowers us. But . . . the requirement, the conditions must be that we allow God to be our leader, and follow Him.
Let us pray.
