“Yea, 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.”
(Psalm 23:4)
I’m not sure how long
It is going to take
To cover this verse…
That is how I feel…
And what I think…
On reading this verse
Right now…
I probably won’t write too much
And will more than likely
Finish in this single Devotional
But those were my first thoughts
As I copied and pasted
Psalm 23 verse 4…
How often do we “FEEL”
Like we are walking THROUGH…
“The valley of the shadow
Of DEATH”…?
NOT literal death…
But scary, imposing, unsettling
Places or situations that may
Actually make us “FEEL” like
We WANT to die…
King David was more than likely
Talking about a literal place
In Psalm 121 he said:
“I will lift up my eyes to the hills—
From whence comes my help?”
(Psalm 121:1)
He was in a valley…
His enemies all around him
Wanting and wishing him dead…
TRULY he was walking:
“through the valley
of the shadow of death”
(Psalm 23:4)
And yet he says:
“I will fear no evil”
(Psalm 23:4)
In the midst of his situation
Right in the middle of
Everything that was coming
Against him…
“He feared NO evil”
When we choose to meditate
On this Psalm…
On Psalm 23…
Hopefully we will come
To the same or similar place
That King David was able to find
A place, a sense of NO evil
Even with ALL that may be
Coming against us…
Real or imagined…
Like David, when he was
A shepherd boy…
Facing Goliath…
He knew that God was with Him
And as his name suggests
He knew that he was “beloved”
Just as we are IN Christ…
So those “real” or “imagined”
Enemies of ours…
Are no match to the God
That we trust in and believe in
For He has promised to NEVER
Leave us nor FORSAKE us…
(Hebrews 13:5)
“For You are with me”
(Psalm 23:4)
King David knew it…
So can we…
Our God is faithful…
The verse ends with these words:
“Your rod and Your staff,
they comfort me.”
(Psalm 23:4)
The Shepherd has a STAFF
Which He uses to guide the sheep
And herd the sheep…
And lead the sheep…
Into green pastures…
And beside the still waters…
The ROD, is not as some may think:
“A rod of correction”
But rather is something
The Shepherd uses to count
The sheep…
As they are herded into
The sheep-pen…
The Shepherd counts them
One-by-one…
To ensure they are ALL
Present and correct…
This “counting” in and of itself
Is a measure of comfort
As each of the sheep
And indeed ALL of the sheep
Are important to the Shepherd
So we have NOTHING to fear
For our God is with us…