Others go through the dark valley of misunderstanding where everything they say is misconstrued or misrepresented. Afraid of circumstances afraid of people afraid of the future afraid because there are so few people they can trust. How many people are in darkness because of fear. Sometimes the Lord takes us through this dark valley of pain to know the truth of the words of Jesus when He said to His disciples, “Thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter.” Maybe it is the valley of fear. It could be a valley of sorrow, the times when this can be shattering in life and leave us bereft and alone. I am sure everyone of us can look back to such a valley of deep darkness through which God has already brought us. What is this valley in the experience of a child of God? The margin of the RV suggests this: “though I walk through a valley of deep darkness.” You don’t have to wait until you die to do that. But they tell me that sheep go quite calmly into the valley as long as the shepherd is there. Thus it is a fearsome place, one from which the sheep would shrink instinctively because of its dark shadows, its overbearing rocks and trees and foliage. In the daytime it is a place of intense, suffocating heat and he takes them there in the evening when it is cool. A shepherd will only allow the sheep to go there at evening. And so the dark places in life have their purpose and meaning as they get us ready for that which is the ultimate purpose of God.įollow the sheep into this valley and look at the place. God’s overall plan for His people, you see, is to prepare them for service in glory. I believe the valley here refers to every dark experience through which we pass on the journey, as well as death. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to travel to heaven on the cemetery by-pass road!īut if that is not for us, let us look at this word though. If we do go through the valley, then you can be sure that every provision is made for us there by the Shepherd of the sheep. It is thrilling to know that when the Lord will come back there are those who will never pass through the valley. But is not death the most certain thing about life? No necessarily, for in 1 Thessalonians 4 we read of that great moment when our Lord Himself shall come again. It is not when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, rather though. The word though suggests to me that it may not happen. “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”-Psalm 23:4Īs we picture a day in the life of a sheep, we see the sheep entering a time of darkness and shadows.
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