AP

Psalm 23, Part 2

The definitive children’s book, written by Michael Rosen, “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt” teaches us the same lesson that Psalm 23 has been teaching the people of God for 3000 years – there are many things we face in life where we simply “have to go through it!”

Last time we began to explore how this psalm points us to Jesus’ resurrection, and in so doing, effectively asks us this question: When we have to go through it – whatever “it” is – how should Jesus’ resurrection shape our lives?

We saw how Jesus’ resurrection changes us so that Jesus is all we want. This time we will see how Jesus’ resurrection confront us with the truth, that in the end, Jesus is all we have.

Those well-worn words of v. 4, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me” are well-worn for a reason. This verse confronts us with a truth we all know – that even though the Lord is our shepherd this doesn’t mean that life will be a bed of roses. In fact, our shepherd is the one who leads us through dark valleys.

This is why David, amid his suffocating darkness, even when facing death itself, can say “I will fear no evil” because he knows that Lord is with him. It’s this knowledge that fills David with the courage to face the valley ahead.

How often do we stare into the dark valleys we face in life and pray for God to build a bridge so we don’t have to go through the valley, but over it? 

We’re sick, so we pray for healing. Our marriage is a struggle, so we pray for God to fix it. Work is a grind, so we pray for a more fulfilling job. There is nothing wrong with such prayers, but often God doesn’t build bridges, He leads us through valleys. Why? Because it’s in the valley that we learn to trust him. It’s in the valley that we learn to live by faith.  It’s in the valley that everything in this world we trust in is revealed for it is – just houses made of straw.  It’s in the valley that we are confronted with the truth, that in the end, Jesus is all we have.

It’s the same lesson Israel learnt when God rescued them out of Egypt. There was Israel on the banks of the Red Sea, a body of water in front of them they had no hope of crossing, and the Egyptian army behind them that they had no hope of defeating. And what did God do? He defeated the army and led them through the waters – a valley if you will – while Israel just stood by and watched.

It’s the same lesson Job learnt when God brought him to the end of himself, and after 36 chapters of Job asking, “Why me?” God finally gave him an answer, “Trust me, I’m God.”

It’s the same lesson Paul learnt which he recounts in 2 Corinthians 12. Have you ever noticed that in all of Paul’s prayers he hardly (if ever) prays for a change in his circumstances? He never asks God to build a bridge. Except in one instance where he tells us about a time where he prayed for God to take away what He describes as a “thorn in the flesh”. And how does God answer Paul? Sorry Paul you can’t go over it, you can’t go under it, you have to go through it, so that you learn that “my Grace is sufficient for you.”

The Lord is our shepherd, and as we face the struggles of life, there are many instances where we can’t over it, we can’t go under it, we have to go through it. God never promised us no valleys, but He does promise to lead us through the valley.

All of us have valleys ahead of us, some deeper and darker than others. Some we know are coming, and some we don’t. And here is the comforting truth of the gospel as we face those valleys. We don’t worship an “Ivory Tower” God. We worship the God who came down to earth and became one of the sheep to shepherd us through the darkest of valleys.  In the person of Jesus, the Lord of all creation died and forged a way through death for us to follow.

In a previous life I worked as an outdoor instructor for Anglican Youthworks. Team-building days were spent doing more adventurous things than what we might do with school children. On one such day we went canyoning through a well-known high level canyon in the Blue Mountains – Claustral Canyon.  Once you begin the descent into the canyon there is no going back, the only way out is to keep going forward. Claustral Canyon is incredible and beautiful but it was also cold, often dark, long (it took 12 hours), and dangerous if you don’t know what you are doing.

The only reason I could do that canyon was because someone was leading us that had done it before – someone who knew the turns, the track, the water depths, and the way out. That’s who we have in Jesus.  Jesus has gone through the darkest of valleys – the valley of judgement and death – and come out the other side so that when we face our valleys, we don’t face them alone, we have a Shepherd who knows the way and so we can say with David, “I will fear no evil.”

Jesus’ resurrection confronts us with the truth that in the end He is all we have. He is our only hope in life and death. God may bring us to the end of ourselves, but’s that’s only so that we learn that God never leaves us by ourselves.

When your hope is in the resurrection of Jesus, that hope is secure, it’s kept in heaven for you, it’s at work in you, changing you, comforting you, because you know that in the end Jesus is all you need. We’ll explore that more next time.

– Kristian Hartberg