Having traveled in Israel and extensively in Romania, observing shepherds has always fascinated me. I remember leaving Bucharest early one Sunday morning in Romania to travel about 60 miles to preach at a church. It was a cold morning with frost covering the ground. We passed numerous shepherds and their flocks. They dressed themselves in huge sheep skin coats that covered their entire body down to their feet. I learned that they don’t leave the sheep at night. Rather they squat down, cover their heads with their huge coats, and stay with their sheep. In my younger days, I use to camp and have camped on some cold nights, but in an arctic sleeping bag. I remember thinking that morning; there was no way I would squat in a field on a freezing cold night watching sheep. I guess that’s why I wouldn’t make a good shepherd.
Not long after we committed our lives to Christ and began attending church, our pastor preached 43 consecutive messages from Psalms 23. Our Bibles would automatically fall open to that chapter after a few weeks. This Psalms is probably the most known chapter in the Bible. Since that early foundation from my pastor’s teaching, I’ve continued to discover encouraging and comforting applications from its six short verses. I’ve been studying it for the past few days and one thought that particularly spoke to me was verse 4, even when I go through the darkest valley (HCSB). Some versions translate this through the valley of the shadow of death. The word for valley doesn’t refer to a large open valley. The word means a narrow gorge with towering sides. Direct sunlight would be minimal and such a canyon would be filled with many shadows. I guess if we were to hike through this kind of valley, we would come home and tell others that it was a really creepy place. It certainly would have been an ominous place for a herd of timid sheep. However, going through dark gorges was sometimes necessary for a shepherd to lead his flocks to fresh green pastures.
Psalms 23 is often read at funerals. But realize these valleys of darkness don’t always refer to those facing death at the end of this life. The journey through this life takes us through dark and scary places. David, who wrote this Psalm, had walked through numerous dark valleys—when Saul sought to kill him; when his son Absalom rebelled against him; when he sinned with Bathsheba; when he had Uriah murdered. Yet, God always brought him through these dark times.
What really stood out to me was the word, through. It’s easy to read the Bible and to miss the importance of one small word. In English the word through means ‘in one side and out another side’. If you drive into a tunnel on a mountain road, you expect to drive out the other end—a way in and a way out. Our journey from in to out is called, through. As I wrote a couple of weeks ago there are times in our spiritual journeys that the LORD takes us to new places. These transitions can be filled with ominous shadows of doubt and fears that make us wonder what’s happening. Comfort can be found in this one little word—through. It reassures us there is another side by which we will exit. We will exit into new green pastures and new still waters where He will refresh us.
The key is trust in the Shepherd. In the second stanza of v4 David says, I fear no danger, for You are with me. Knowing and trusting the shepherd brings peace. Those sheep I observed in Romania could lie down and sleep at night because they knew their shepherd and knew he would protect them. If these earthly shepherds have such love for their sheep, how much more does Jesus our heavenly Shepherd love and protect us? Jesus told His disciples, I am the good shepherd. I know My own sheep, and they know Me (John 10:14 HCSB). He can sympathize with our weaknesses, because He has been tested in every way as we are, yet without sin (Heb 4:15). Plus, He has walked through the darkest valley even the valley of the shadow of death. He understands what we are experiencing, and He knows the way through your dark valley, because He’s already been through it.
Sustaining Word for the Week:
If you’re in a deep gorge with frightening shadows and even doubts, draw close the Shepherd. He will take you safely through.