The Shepherd in Deep Darkness

If you have your Bible, and I hope you do, turn to Psalm 23 this morning.
It was on Wednesday this week that Harper Moisky and Fletcher Merkel hugged their
mom and dad, said goodbye, and went off to school at Annunciation Catholic School in
Minneapolis, and a few hours later, they were gone. And their parents and their
siblings, and the whole community is stunned and shocked, they have been plunged into
a deep valley where the shadow of death covers over everything that they're
experiencing. They are in darkness and in grief. Harper's parents said our hearts are
broken not only as parents, But also for Harper's sister who adored her big sister
and is grieving an unimaginable loss As a family we are shattered words cannot
capture the depth of our pain Fletcher's dad Fletcher was an eight -year -old boy
said while the hole in our heart and lives will never be filled I hope in time
our family can find healing and I pray the other victims families can find some
semblance of the same
We've spent the last two weeks looking at Psalm 23 and this morning we've come to
the verse in Psalm 23 that is Maybe the best known the most quoted the most
repeated the most comforting verse It's about what we do when we walk through the
valley of the shadow of death It's where the Moyskis and the Mirkals and the
families in Minnesota find themselves this week It's where The Rackley family found
itself months ago. It's where Carolyn Olmsted was this week. It's where the Friesen
family has been for weeks now. It's where all of us will find ourselves at some
point in life. We will go through the valley of the shadow of death. Death comes
for all of us. It comes for those we love. And death, when it comes, it casts a
deep and a dark shadow of grief over our lives. It makes the path ahead for us
cloudy and unclear the loss of someone we love We can't see we can't seem to know
the future. We can't know what the next step ought to be It puts a chill in the
air around us when I was 14 years old. I was in the eighth grade I was in class
at 10 30 in the morning and
Somebody came into our class and gave a note to the teacher and the teacher said,
"Bob, they want you at the principal's office." And I thought, "Oh, I didn't think
what I'd done. I thought, 'What did they found?'" Because I knew there was plenty.
It was just, "What have they found?" I walked down, not knowing what it could be.
I walked into the principal's office, and there was a police officer in the
principal's office.
And that was a little surprising. They asked me to sit down, and that's when they
told me that my sister Kathy, who was nine years older than me, had been in a
fatal car accident. She and her husband had been killed that morning in West
Chicago, Illinois. It was a foggy morning. They lived in a trailer park off of a
two -lane highway and they did not see the stop sign at the end of the the drive
to the trailer park and pulled right out in the front of a 18 -wheeler that
instantly took their lives.
Police officer took me home where My mom was home alone. She had already gotten the
news and she was, of course, weeping and grieving and we hugged and my dad came
home from work. We then went to Columbia, Missouri and got my sister who was in
college at the University of Missouri and then we headed up to West Chicago,
Illinois where we'd never been. My sister had been living there, I don't know, for
a year or so. We'd never been up to visit. We didn't know the area and we arrive
knowing no one in a community where we're there for a funeral.
We have to make funeral arrangements. We have to figure out what are we gonna do
with the remains. We have to plan a service. It was for a 14 -year -old,
I was kind of curious about how all of this worked, but I was also watching as my
mom and my dad were grieving. I remember my mom saying, it should not be that a
parent buries a child. It should always be that children bury their parents, not the
other way around.
And I remember, because this West Chicago, Illinois, at the time, was way out in
the boonies, was an hour west of Chicago. And so this car accident had And the
biggest news in town, in this little town, and that meant that the weekly newspaper
had a full page, front page story about the traffic fatality in their town with all
the details and pictures.
And I remember how angry my dad got as he read that, and he said,
"This is Yellow Journalism, and I'm going to call them," and just the emotion that
was there and this was in late October when this happened and yet I remember the
rest of that fall the rest of the year that the Thanksgiving that came up and then
the Christmas that happened and how the shadow of death continues even after death
has happened.
This morning as we look at this verse in Psalm 23 this one verse. It talks about
the fact that when we are on the path that takes us into the valley of the shadow
of death, it is the shepherd who leads us there. He takes us onto a path that is
a cold and dark path that is fraught with peril and danger.
The shepherd leads you there. Last week when we looked at verses two and three in
Psalm 23, we talked about how the shepherd functions in normal times, when there's
sunlight, when it's a normal day, he takes you to the green pastures, he leads you
beside the still waters, he restores your soul, he takes you on the right paths, he
points you in the right direction. It's the normal activity of the shepherd, it's a
normal time, but there are times when the shepherd says, we've gotta go from here
to and we're going to have to go down a dark path. We're going to have to go
into the valley.
And in verse four we see that this path will sometimes include seasons where we're
walking in darkness. Our soul will be in distress. We become lost and disoriented
and unsure. We are grieving. We are hopeless.
So many of the Psalms describe this kind of a condition. This is not the only
verse in all of the Psalms that talks about being in a dark, shadowy area. In
fact, the estimates are that maybe somewhere between a third to a half of the
Psalms are Psalms of lament, where the psalmist is pouring out his soul over
desperate circumstances. I'm just going to read a few, just so you know that this
is a universal human condition and that the psalmist psalmist recognizes it. Psalm 6,
the psalmist says, "Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing. Heal me,
O Lord, for my bones are troubled. My soul is also greatly troubled.
But you, O Lord, how long?" A few verses later, "I am weary with my moaning.
Every night I flood my bed with tears. I drench my couch with my weeping, my eyes
waste away because of grief. It grows weak because of all my foes. Psalm 13,
how long, oh Lord, will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face
from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all
the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? We could go on and on with
these kinds of Psalms. You're familiar with these. you know this language. It's why
so many of us turn to the Psalms when we find ourselves in distress. When we're in
the valley of the shadow we look for comfort because somebody who understands what
we're going through has been there already and gives us language that we can use.
And going through dark valleys is a reality of life and Psalm 23 speaks to that
reality. What I'm hoping we will see just as we focus on this one verse this
morning is that all we experience in our lives comes to us having been filtered
through the loving hands of a loving God.
Even the valleys, even the dark seasons, God is at work in them and there are
things that will happen in your life spiritually in the There is a fellowship with
God that you will experience in the valley that you cannot replicate elsewhere.
The valley is hard and it's painful, but there is grace there. As we experience God
conforming us to the image of his son through hard times. In the valley,
we step into what the Bible calls the fellowship of his sufferings.
Jesus walked this valley.
He brings us into it because there's goodness there. It's hard,
but it's good and it's right. It doesn't seem like it, but it is.
This psalm teaches us you and trust the Lord in the valley and it will teach you
a faith and a trust that you won't find elsewhere.
We're going to read Psalm 23 aloud again. I'm going to have you stand up like
we've done before. I don't stand up yet, but I've been encouraging you to memorize
this Psalm. I don't know if you've taken me up on that challenge, but you should.
I got a text this week from Brian Yeary who said, "I've taken you up on the
challenge to memorize Psalm 23, he said, "In Hebrew." Okay,
so I said, "Prove it." So, Brian, come up here.
I'm not going to make him do the whole thing, all right? Because you're still
working on it, right? >> I know most of it, but you are my witness. I don't have
it written in Hebrew. >> He does not have Hebrew on his page. All right, so. >>
on 23 in Hebrew, sort of. Is that-- OK, there we go.
[NON -ENGLISH SPEECH]
That's enough. Give him a hand for that, will you?
If Brian can do it in Hebrew, you can do it in English.
Stand up.
Let me pray. Lord, again, we thank you for your word, for the goodness, the
greatness of your word. Speak to us now through your word by your spirit. We ask
it in Jesus' name, amen. This is the word of God for the people of God, Psalm 23
you respond to me 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 own namesake, 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 morning. 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.
Amen. May God bless this reading of his word. You may be seated the grass withers
and the flower fades the word of our God Will last forever So I want to start
this morning by diving right into how God's people in King David's day would have
understood The picture that David was painting for them in Psalm 23 what they would
have been thinking about When they heard David talk about a shepherd taking his
sheep through the valley of the shadow of death. Most tourists who go to Israel sit
on tour buses and go from one location to another. You get off, you tour the site,
you see it, it's amazing, you get back on the bus, you go to the next site.
That's what you do when you take a trip to Israel and you should. I'd commend it
to you. I've been twice. It's amazing. Those of you who have been contested by
that. The more Venturists who go to Israel once they've seen the most common
landmarks might decide to get out and explore the land and maybe Even do some
hiking and one hike that is popular is a 15 -mile hike that takes about five hours
That takes you from east of Jerusalem To Jericho. It's what's called the Wadi Kelt.
Let me show you a picture. This is the Wadi Kelt This is the trailhead that gets
you down into the Wadi kelp. It's in the West Bank It's in the Palestinian area
under control It's another reason why tourists often steer clear of this area and
you can see that the path leads you down into a deep ravine Where a river flows
and there are Brooks and there are waters There's waterfalls throughout the area that
are beautiful There's even a fourth century Greek monastery That has been carved into
the side of the cliff that you can still go in and explore when Jesus tells the
parable of the good Samaritan and he begins the parable by saying a man was going
down from Jerusalem to Jericho, this is how he went on the Wadi Kelt. He would go
down that path and it because it's down in a ravine and Because there's no way
out. That's where the robbers like to go. That's where they like to wait for you
and beat you up. It's where the wild animals would hide in their lair because
you're more, you're you're more defenseless when you're down there. You're less
protected. And this is the kind of a ravine David is picturing when he writes in
verse four about a shepherd taking his sheep into a valley and he calls it the
valley of the shadow of death. For whatever reason a shepherd might need to take
his sheep, his flock, into one of these ravines to get them from one location to
another. This is not a day when it's green pastures and it's still waters. They've
had their feeding, but maybe he needs to take them to market or maybe he needs to
take them somewhere. They've got to go down the ravine. They've got to go into the
valley of the shadow of death. And when you're in the valley, the sunlight comes,
shows up late and goes away early. It's dark down there. It's cold down there.
There are robbers down there in the ravine. There are predatory animals. If a sudden
rainstorm were to come, this area is known for flash flooding. This is where the
waters can rise. And if you get caught unaware, the sheep and the shepherd could be
swept away because there's no high ground down there to get to. This is the mental
picture that would have come to mind when people hear about the Valley of the
shadow of death in verse four. Actually, you may see in your Bible, there's a note
in verse four. So let me pull up, so you see words, that number three right there?
So if I click on that number three, it tells me that this Hebrew word, salmat vet,
is a compound word, sal means valley, ma vet is death, and the phrase tied together
means the idea of death or darkness or shadows. It's the valley of deep darkness or
dark shadows. There are 14 other places in the Old Testament where that Hebrew word
is used and it's translated in the other places deep darkness. Three times it's
translated the land of gloom. One Bible commentator said, "This is the glen of gloom
that he takes you into." But only here in verse 23 is it translated the of the
shadow of death. But the point is that the valley experience in verse four is like
talking about more than just the season of our lives when death is approaching or
death has come. It's talking about times of fear and anxiety and grief and sorrow,
times when our soul is troubled.
It's when we face sadness, when our circumstances overwhelm us, when we're not sure
If we can see the path in front of us clearly and our footing seems unstable, the
Valley of Deep Darkness can refer to several trials in life. Or it can be described
in times when you are under spiritual attack, when you're confused, when you don't
know where to turn, when you feel like you're in darkness, either because you're
depressed or because you don't know where to go. The good shepherd's paths of
righteousness will sometimes include going down into that valley. There are times in
life when the good shepherd in his wisdom and providence will take us into dark
life circumstances that he knows will stir up fear and anxiety and sadness in your
soul.
Why would he do that? David Gibson says it this way. He says the valley of the
shadow of death, the days of deep darkness do not mean that we have left the paths
of righteousness. In fact, they are where the shepherd's paths of righteousness are
sometimes located. This is how he leads. If you're walking through the valley of the
shadow of death, if you're there currently, it's not because Jesus the shepherd took
a wrong turn or got lost.
It's not because he was, "Oh, I hadn't planned on this for today." It's not because
you wandered away. It's the plan of the shepherd to take his sheep through dark and
even dangerous places. So why would anyone sign up to follow a shepherd who is
going to lead you into a dark valley where there might be danger lurking? Well,
it's obvious if you think about a shepherd and his sheep. If you went to the sheep
and said, "Why are you sheep following the shepherd when he's taking you to the
dark valley?" It would be clear to us. The shepherd knows better than the sheep.
I mean the sheep don't know. If you leave them alone they're just gonna wander all
over the place and they'll get lost and in trouble. The shepherd knows for his
purposes the sheep need to go this way.
We can find ourselves in deep darkness and think our shepherd must have made a
mistake or or the shepherd must not care about me. Why would he bring me into deep
darkness. Well here's a third option for you. My shepherd is a good shepherd who
knows what he's doing and knows better than me which way I should go and I need
to trust him.
The Psalm here is here to tell us that in the valley of deep darkness in life we
are not to lose heart. We don't give in, we don't give up, we don't fear. The
shepherd has you here for a purpose. He knows what he's doing and you have to
trust him. You may not like where you are
But he's got you there for a reason.
Are you trusting him now in whatever circumstance some of you are in darkness some
of you are in deep sorrow and
I know it. Yeah, I'm not trying to be simplistic and say we'll switch through just
trust him But that's ultimately where we got to get to.
How can you do that? First question, when you say, "How can I trust this shepherd?"
My first question is, "Do you know the shepherd?" Are you a member of his flock?
Are you under his covenant care? You see, you can't trust who you don't know. So
if you're having trouble trusting the shepherd, you got to pull back and go, "How
well do I know this shepherd?" The more you know him, the more you can trust him.
Here's what Jesus says about his sheep in John 10. This is a question,
are you in his flock or not? Jesus says my sheep in John 10, 27,
my sheep hear my voice, I know them and they follow me. How can you tell if you
are one of Jesus' sheep? Do you know his voice? Does he know you and do you
follow him? Pretty simple. Are you in the lock, how do we know? You hear his
voice, you know his voice, he knows you, you follow him.
And then he says, if that's the case and you are my sheep and you know me, here's
the promise, I get to you eternal life and you will never perish. You're in the
valley, you go this is fearful, he goes you will never perish. No one will snatch
you out of my hand. No robber, no animal is going to snatch you. My father who
has given these sheep to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch
them out of the Father's hand. I am the Father of one.
Yes, the shepherd may lead you into a valley of deep darkness, but he gives you
eternal life. Even if you're in the deep valley, you will not perish.
No one can snatch you from his hand. He is greater than all. So when you find
yourself in the valley of the shadow, here is how you find rest. First of all, you
find peace for your soul, going, do I know the shepherd? And then there are four
words that you say over and over again. You are with me.
You are with me. Four simple words. I'm in the valley. I'm in despair.
You are with-- I know you. You are with me." That's what the psalm says, right? "I
will not fear for you are with me." David Gibson again says it this way.
He says, "It's the beautiful truth that the message of the whole Bible can be
summarized in those four simple words. You are with me." Say that with me.
"You are with me." When a child is afraid of the dark. By the way,
there's a technical term. It's nictophobia. Fear of the dark is nictophobia. Not all
fear of the dark is nictophobia, but nictophobia involves irrational and
disproportionate fear that manifests itself with symptoms like intense panic, fear,
panic, physical reactions, avoidance of dark environments. Thank you,
AI.
And it's not just kids who fear the dark, interestingly, author Stephen King says
he's still afraid of the dark. Edgar Allen Poe had lifelong fear of the dark. Why
do people fear darkness? Why do children fear darkness? Because you can't see what's
there. And when you can't see what's there, your mind says this might be here, that
might be there. Anxiety is produced. You don't feel safe. You can't see to protect
yourself. So back to children. When a child is afraid of the dark. What do you do?
Do you come into the child's room and turn on the light? It's bedtime. It's 11 o
'clock at night and they cry and they go, "Mommy, I'm afraid of the dark. Do you
go turn on the light?" No. You leave the dark and you go sit down next to the
child and you put your hand on their back and you just rub their back and they
shh. Mommy's here. I'm here with you. It's okay. You're okay.
You don't turn on the light. God doesn't always turn on the light in the valley.
He may bring you out of that. He will bring you out of the valley, but in the
valley he comes, he puts his hand on your shoulder. He says, "It's okay. I'm here.
I'm with you."
Psalm 23 tells us it's natural to be in fear when you go into the valley of the
shadow of death. It's natural to fear the dark, but the psalmist says, "I will not
fear." That's what I feel, but I'm not going to do it. He's not saying,
"I won't be fearful." He's saying, "When I am fearful, I will not fear." How do
you choose to not fear when you're feeling fearful? Again,
I don't want to be simplistic about this, because I know some of you fight with
fear and anxiety. It's a real struggle. I appreciated Kendall as you took us through
our prayer of confession this morning. It can go deep in circumstances. It can be a
natural condition for some of us. And I don't want to just suggest, well, if you
memorize these verses, your fear will go away. But I would tell you, go ahead and
memorize some verses. It's a good place to start. Psalm 23 .6,
I will fear no evil because you are with me." The one we're looking at. That's
huge. Just like having a parent rubbing your back in the middle of the darkness. So
there is peace and reassurance that comes when you know your shepherd is with us.
You're not facing it alone. Here's another verse. This is one our kids memorized
when they were afraid of the dark at night, Psalm 56. "When I am afraid, I put my
trust in you. In God whose word I praise, In God I trust I shall not be fearful.
What can flesh do to me? You memorize verses like that and you recall them in the
moments when you're facing fear now again I don't want to be simplistic and say
that will fix everything, but that's the starting point That's the foundation on
which you build this a foundation of truth You may have heard I've heard this for
years that there are 365 fear nots in the Bible. Have you ever heard that there
are 365 Statements where Jesus or God says fear not do not be afraid. Do not fear.
Well, there aren't 365. I checked there are Even if you try to turn some praises
right It's just somebody thought it was a good motivational way of saying you don't
need to fear every day There's a promise of God that you don't have to fear.
That's true But it aren't 365 of them. But hiding God's Word in your heart,
learning how to cast your cares on Him, learning to be anxious for nothing, these
are a good place to start addressing the fear in your heart. That's what the
psalmist is doing here. When he says, "I will not fear," he's telling his soul to
settle down. And sometimes we got to do that, don't we? We got to speak to our
soul and tell our soul to settle down. There's a quote I have shared with you many
times from Martin Lloyd Jones and I will share with you many times again as long
as I'm here. If I had my top 10 list of quotes, this would be in the top five,
okay? This is from his book, Spiritual Depression, Its Causes and Cures and here's
what the good doctor Martin Lloyd Jones says. He says most of your unhappiness in
life is due to the fact that you're listening to yourself instead of talking to
yourself. The main art in the matter of spiritual living is to know how to handle
yourself. You have to take yourself in hand, you have to address yourself, preach to
yourself, question yourself. You must say to your soul, "Why aren't thou cast down?
"What business do you have being disquieted?" He says, "You must turn on yourself,
"upgrade yourself, condemn yourself, "exort yourself and say to yourself, "hope thou
in God instead of muttering "in this depressed, unhappy way." And thus then you must
go on to remind yourself of God, who God is and what God is and what God has
done and what God has pledged himself to do. When I am afraid, I will trust in
you. Lord, I will not fear. I'm afraid I will not fear. I will choose not to
fear. Why am I afraid? I don't need to be afraid. The Lord is with me. You
counsel your own heart and soul and remind yourself of what is true because what's
happening is your experiences and your emotions feel more true to you in that moment
than the word of God. And you have to take the word of God and tell your emotions
and your experiences But they need to conform to God's Word rather than trying to
get God's Word to conform to your emotions and your experiences.
That's what the Psalmist is doing here. I will not fear because you are with me.
You know, you know, don't you, that there is no place you can go where God is not
with you. Right? The Bible tells us that. Jesus said, "I will never leave you or
forsake you." That was his promise. "I am with you always, even to the end of the
age. He will not forsake you. Forsake means to abandon. He won't run away from you.
He won't run out on you. He won't get to a point where he goes, "Okay, you're on
your own here. Sorry, bye." Never a time when Jesus turns away. I am with you
always. Psalm 139 is a familiar song. In fact, turn there. Turn to Psalm 139. Turn
over there with you.
This is such a beautiful Psalm.
And look at verse 7 in Psalm 139.
"Where shall I go from your spirit?" the Psalmist says. "Where shall I flee from
your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in shield,
the abode of the dead, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and
dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me and
your right hand shall hold me." So he's saying, "There's no place on earth, heaven,
earth, below, above. I can't go anywhere where your spirit is not." And then look
at this verse 11. "If I say, 'Surely the darkness shall cover me and the light
about me be as night. In other words, I'm in the valley of the shadow of death.
It doesn't seem like God is here. Even the darkness is not dark to you.
The night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. The point
is, if you're being led into the valley of the shadow of death, into a valley of
deep darkness, the one who is leading you there is the all -powerful, all -loving,
Omniscient omnipresent all seeing God of the universe who has pledged himself to care
for you and who loves you and will get you through it Remember that he's with you.
Tell your soul. You do not need to be afraid You've got the ultimate big brother
walking through the valley with you You also don't need to fear not just because
God is with you, but because he's armed and ready for battle Should it come any
forces that might come against you God is armed and ready That's what the psalmist
is talking about when he says your rod and your staff comfort me the rod and the
staff We tend to think of the staff, you know, we see the shepherd's crook and
it's what he leans on or what's his walking stick Oh, let me make sure you're
thinking properly about the shepherd's job in the first place We think of green
pastures and still waters now the shepherd's job is more vigorous than just let's go
spend the day out in the green pastures with the sheep. You remember King David
when King David came to Saul and said, "I'll go fight that nasty Goliath. I can
take him." And King Saul said, "You're a boy. He's a man of war." And here's what
David said. He said, "Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when
there came a lion or a bear and took the lamb from the flock, I went after him
and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I
caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. Your servant has struck down
both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them
for his defile the armies of the living God." You get the picture of how David
spent his days, Nadak going, "Oh, sheepy, sheepy, sheepy." He was out there with his
rod and his staff, beating off lions and bears, grabbing them by the beard and
clubbing them to keep them away from the sheep.
Every shepherd carried a rod, it's a shebet, the Hebrew word, with a short, heavy
club. Think of it like a billy club, like a police officer used to and and it's
used for protection from predators or thieves as well as for maintaining or guiding
or disciplining the flock. Some of these shebetts would have a mace attached to the
end, an iron ball that he would use to swing against the animals, and the shepherd
would also carry a staff so he'd have his his shebet in his robe and he'd walk
with his staff and this longer, thinner staff with a crook or a hook on the end
was used to support the shepherd during long walks, but also to rescue sheep from
dangerous terrain and put that down in and hook the sheep and pull them back out
of the ditch, aids him in managing the flock. And the psalmist says, when I am in
deep darkness, when I'm afraid, I know I can be at peace, you're with me and
you're armed and ready for battle. You're ready to go, you are actively alert and
you can fight off whatever comes my way. When danger comes you've not only promised
to take care of me but you have everything you need to keep me safe and protected
and that brings me comfort. When God rescued the nation of Israel from Egypt,
brought them through the Red Sea, men brought the Red Sea down on all of Pharaoh's
warriors as the Jews were escaping. In Exodus Chapter 15,
after that happened, they send a hymn of praise to God. And here's what they say.
They say, "The Lord is a man of war. The Lord is his name." And of course,
in our study of the book of Revelation, when we see Jesus coming at the end, he's
coming as a man of war, riding on a white horse, armed for battle. His sword is
coming out of his mouth. God will protect his own. He will take you into paths of
deep darkness. He goes with you, but he will care for you and protect you in the
midst of that.
Notice that the pronoun has shifted in Psalm. We went from him saying the Lord is
my shepherd. He makes me do this. He makes me do that. Now it's when you, when I
go through the valley of the shadow of the darkness or when I go through the
valley of the shadow of death, you are with me. Your rod and staff, It's gone from
what he does to what you do. It's gone from the objective to a subjective. He's
with me.
And of course, all of us are gonna find ourselves, even in the midst of the
valley, asking ourselves the question, why do I have to go through this? This is
hard, this is painful. Why can't, if God really cares for me, if he really loves
me, why can't it all just be green pastures and still waters?
Well, Well, you know the name Elizabeth Elliott? Some of you don't know her name.
Elizabeth Elliott was a young wife and mom. This was her husband Jim Elliott. They
got married in the 50s. They went to Wheaton College together. They decided to
become missionaries and they went to Keto Ecuador and Jim and five of his companions
went to try to reach unreached people groups and In January of 1956,
these five men were martyred for their faith on the banks of the Kudurai River in
Ecuador by those people who they were trying to go and reach.
And Elizabeth was a new mom with a little baby girl, Valerie, and she's 30 years
old and she's in Ecuador and her husband is dead in the jungle.
And she doesn't know what she's going to do. She doesn't know where she's going to
go next. She was in the valley of the shadow and the path ahead for her was
uncertain. The life she had been imagining was not the life she was going to be
living. She didn't know where she was headed and in the valley of the shadow of
death this is a conclusion she came to. God will not protect you from
God will not protect you from anything that will make you more like Jesus and Some
of us go I want to be more like Jesus, but not Not that much more, right? I
don't have to go through that to be like you know God will take you through dark
valleys to make you more like Jesus
I'm gonna close this morning with this one more story from Someone who is a young
boy found himself in the valley of the shadow of death. This is another story I've
shared before because it stuck with me. I heard this 30 years ago I was
interviewing an author a counselor a man named Larry Crabb and He'd written a book
called God of my father and he was talking about his own father's faith and what
he had learned about faith from his father and
His own father when he was a little boy had watched his father, Larry's grandfather,
die. So Larry Crabb is Larry Jr., his father, Lawrence Crabb was his dad,
and then Charlie Crabb was the grandfather. Charlie died in the flu epidemic.
In between 1917 and 1919, there was a terrible flu epidemic that was worldwide.
Estimated that between 30 and 50 million people died during that epidemic back in
the late 1910s, as many as 700 ,000 people died in the United States,
given the population size of the United States at that time, that was massive, and
Charlie Crabb, excuse me, yeah, Charlie Crabb, Larry Jr.'s grandfather died in that
plague. And Larry's dad, Lawrence Sr., was still a little boy when Charlie died.
And later, Lawrence learned from his mother about the day that his dad died.
His mom said this. She said, "I was sitting beside the bed and somehow I knew this
was the end." And this was the first time I cried in front of you. She's telling
Larry, "Lawrence, this." She said, "God was taking my Charlie after giving us so
short a time together. He was leaving me as a widow with four children. What was I
to do? That's the valley of the shadow of death. You're disoriented,
you're grieving. How can this be coming from the hand of a good God?
And Larry's grandmother said this, "Then Papa looked at me." So in the middle of
his fever and he's approaching death, She said, "He looked at me, he recognized me,
and I saw all of the tenderness in his eyes. He sat up, put his arms around me,
and for a moment I thought he was going to get well." Then he said, "Laura, Laura,
don't cry, hush. God is in it." And then he was gone.
That's what we've got to hold on to. That's what we've got to embrace in the
valley. God is in it. He is with me. Some of you are there right now.
Be still. Don't fear.
If you belong to Him, He will bring you safely through to the other side.
If you don't know Him, if He's not your shepherd, If you're not following Him,
you're on your own.
You're choosing your own path, you're going your own way. And there's no rod or
staff to comfort you, there's no divine presence to guide you. You're choosing your
own path and you're in danger, not just on this path, but where it's leading you.
I would implore you here this morning, if you are not following the good shepherd,
get on the path behind Him, surrender your life to Him, say, "I'm turning to follow
you."
Because if you're in the valley of the shadow of death, here's the promise, there's
a day coming when the darkness is gone.
No more darkness, no more night, no more fear, no more pain.
For all who hear the shepherd's voice and follow him you go through the valley on
the other side There is pleasure evermore. There is eternal joy Are you following
that shepherd pray with me
father? We thank you for the great comfort that comes from your word and from these
verses We thank you that the the comfort comes because it points us to you.
Lord, your word comforts us because it reminds us of what's true about you.
Ultimately, you are the one who comforts us. It is your presence. It's your goodness
that keeps us safe. Lord, we cling to that in darkness. And for my brothers and
sisters who are in that valley right now, Lord, I pray that you would be near And
that they would know a supernatural strength and peace that comes that their fears
would be quieted That their anxious hearts would be put to rest
the Lord for all of us whether we are Approaching the valley or in the valley or
have passed through the valley whether it's coming or whether it's in the past We'll
all go through it Lord help us be ready for that day to walk by your side, to
trust in you, not to fear, to quiet our own soul, and to know that you have your
purposes and you are accomplishing those purposes for our good and for your glory.
Finally, Lord, for any who don't know you, for any who are not following you, for
any who have never surrendered to you as the shepherd. Lord, I pray today would be
that day when they would submit their lives to you, submit themselves to you,
trust in you, follow you, obey you. They would recognize that going their own way
is brought with danger and that they need a good shepherd to guide them.
Lord, I pray that they would acknowledge their sin, that they would acknowledge that
your son's death paid the price for their sin and that there is the offer of
eternal life if they will submit themselves to you.
I ask all of this in Jesus' name.