Praise God that, being with our Good Shepherd will help us sense life, instead of fearing death.
“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.” Ps 23:4 ESV
I love how I heard a Bible teacher say it, we are only walking through the “shadow of death” here, not the full-on thing! Praise God! When life gets dark, it can be so very terrifying, but even then, God is with us, so it is only a hint of the potential destruction. God allows us to sense this gloom for several reasons. When life gets overwhelming, one of His hopes is that we come running to Him, the Light of the world, and find rest in Him again. He will bring light into the situation, making our path more clear, and dispelling any fear so we can begin to walk through this valley with Him once again. As challenging as life can seem at times, let’s stop and praise God that it is only the shadow of death, because He is still here. (again Heb 13:5)
Another good concept we can learn here is that this is a valley. I know we all love the mountaintops where life seems like it is going our way, but it is here, in the difficulties that we really have the opportunity to grow. After all, how can you know how brave you are unless you encounter situations that cause you to lean on God, and have to be courageous? When we get desperate, we normally DO run to God and He begins to strengthen our strengths and weaken our weaknesses. And it is because God is with us that we do not need to fear, no matter what is going on. He will get us through as we continue to walk with our Good Shepherd.
Join me in memorizing 52 verses this year:
January: 1- Jn 3:16; 2- 2Co 5:17; 3- Jas 2:26; 4- Eph 2:10
February: 5- Jn 10:10; 6- Ro 6:23; 7- Rev 21:4; 8- Php 4:13
March: 9- 1Pe 5:7; 10- Jn 8:32; 11- Dt 30:19; 12- Jn 3:30; 13- 2Chron 20:3
April: 14- 2Chron 20:12; 15- 2Chron 20:15b; 16- 2Chron 20:17
May: 17- Ro 8:28; 18- 1Co 13:13; 19- Php 2:12; 20- Mt 5:4
June: 21- Lk 23:42; 22- Jas 4:7; 23- Pr 22:6; 24- Mt 5:3; 25- Jn 14:6
July: 26- Jas 2:19; 27- Dt 31:8; 28- Jn 14:15; 29- Jn 8:11
August: 30- Ro 8:1; 31- Pr 4:23; 32- Pr 18:21; 33- Ps 118:24; 34- 1Jn 4:4
35- Mt 16:24
36- Isa 53:6
37- Ps 23:1-4
<>< Peace, Diane
