Verse: Psalm 23:4a
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me
Devotional Thoughts:
This verse doesn’t make any sense. A valley? Shadow of death? And this is something that the Lord, the Shepherd, is leading him through? This doesn’t seem to make any sense.
At least it doesn’t seem to in the common understanding of God.
In ancient times, a common belief was that there were many “gods.” There was a god of the sea, a god of the sun, and so on. And in difficult times – say there was a drought and the crops wouldn’t grow – they would assume they had made that particular god angry and they needed to figure out how to make him happy again so that the crops would grow.
You see, they weren’t looking for a God they could honor, worship, praise, love, and know. They were looking for a God they could control.
Many times our tendency is to do the same thing. Our mindset tends to go, “If I go to church, follow the Ten Commandments, pay my tithes, read the Bible, and pray occasionally, then God will look out for me.”
This mindset leads to one, or even all, of three things. When the “valley of the shadow of death” comes, it:
- Makes us upset with God because He hasn’t kept up His end of the “deal.”
- Makes us wonder what we did to bring this upon ourselves.
- Makes us question our faith in God entirely.
The problem with this type of mindset is not that our opinion of God is too big, but that our opinion of God is too small. Because we don’t serve a God that is under our control.
And if we serve a God who is bigger, better, and greater than we could ever have imagined, then we can understand that He would have ways higher than our ways and thoughts higher than our thoughts. We can understand that, though He works in our best interest, His best interest for us will not always be what we consider our best interest for ourselves.
Points to Ponder:
David says that he won’t fear, for the Lord is with him. But God isn’t just with him (or us) in a far off, remote, long-distance prayer communication kind of way. No, we serve a God that draws near.
Jesus – God himself – stepped off the throne of heaven and onto the streets of Nazareth. He walked where the people walked. He ate where the people ate. He experienced the ups and downs of life. He experienced the pain and difficulties life sometimes brings. So God doesn’t just give us advice from afar concerning the “valley of the shadow of death;” rather, He joined us in it. He joined us, when He was truly the only one in all of history that didn’t have to.
Friend, Christ cares for you. The Apostle Paul says that “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” He defeated death itself because He cares for you.
So know this: While we may walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we don’t walk alone.
Ask God to be with you today. Ask him to draw near, and He will.
The LORD is near to all who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.
– Psalm 145:18
Blessings,
Zac
