Psalm 23

Problem: loss —> valley

Solution/Truth: God is with you & He will not allow you to enter what He cannot lead you out of.

Intro

Last week a friend (Derek) lost their dad suddenly.

Death is a fearful reality. Many of us fear death itself or we fear the result of death - loss.

If you’ve ever experienced loss; you know that it can be a dark valley to walk and it can seem endless.

But the Christian has reason to rejoice; because the Christian can have confidence they are not alone.

Psalm 23:4 ESV

4 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.

Valley of the shadow of death

Loss leads us to the valley

Me: relationships & Football

Week 1 we talked about

Psalm 23:1 ESV

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

reciprocal relationship

want not only because we lack but sometimes because we lost something.

The valley can be dark

Psalm 44:19 (ESV)

19 yet you have broken us in the place of jackals

and covered us with the shadow of death.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers 1.8: Saint Augustin: Expositions on the Book of Psalms Psalm 44

This Psalm is addressed “to the sons of Korah,” as its title shows. Now Korah is equivalent to the word baldness; and we find in the Gospel that our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified in “the place of a skull.”

Psalm 107:10 ESV

10 Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and in irons,

The psalmist specifies some of the most common calamities of human life, and shows how God succours those that labour under them, in answer to their prayers.

1. Banishment and dispersion (v. 2-9).2. Captivity and imprisonment (v. 10-16).3. Sickness and distemper of body (v. 17-22).4. Danger and distress at sea (v. 23-32). These are put for all similar perils, in which those that cry unto God have ever found him a very present help.

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/mhc/Psa/Psa_107.cfm

Jeremiah 2:6 ESV

6 They did not say, ‘Where is the Lord who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us in the wilderness, in a land of deserts and pits, in a land of drought and deep darkness, in a land that none passes through, where no man dwells?’

Do you turn to the Lord when you’re in the valley?

you are not alone in the valley

“you are with me” - some yall just need to know He’s with you

Psalm 23:4 ESV

4 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.

Reasons to not fear

1. His presence allows us to live with confidence and hope not fear and despair

Joshua 1:9 ESV

9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

2 Cor 1:3 “3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.”

2. God will not leave you in the valley; He will lead you through it.

Jeremiah 2:7 ESV

7 And I brought you into a plentiful land to enjoy its fruits and its good things. But when you came in, you defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination.

Psalm 107:14 ESV

14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and burst their bonds apart.

Psalm 23:4 ESV

4 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.

Revelation 7:17 (ESV)

17 For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,

and he will guide them to springs of living water,

and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”