Who Will be with You in the Valley of the Shadow of death?

© 2022 by Tom Boynton (editing by Kathy Boynton)

When very young, everyone I knew had lived my entire life.  The first death I remember was in the family living in the apartment above us.  I still remember the mournful wails of anguish coming from that upstairs apartment.  Since then, death has repeatedly presented itself.  On one occasion, I was asked to speak at the graveside of a very young child.  As I write, my wife and I both remember deaths of parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  We also remember the death of our youngest son, and a grandchild.

After creating mankind, God had warned Adam that, if he ate the fruit of a particular tree, he would die.  Eventually, Adam disobeyed God and ate that fruit thereby introducing sin and death into the entire human race.  The other day, my wife and I watched the rerun of a TV episode we’d originally seen as teenagers.  We noticed that all the actors and actresses in that episode have died.  God’s warning to Adam has repeatedly been proven true.

Whenever death strikes, a sense of darkness and fear oppresses the hearts of those affected.  The well known twenty-third psalm, written by the psalmist, David, recognizes that darkness and death are related.  Yet because David was one of God’s chosen, he could say,

“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 23:4)

Scripture describes David as a man after God’s own heart (see Acts 13:22).  God had chosen David to become Israel’s second king, giving him great desire to declare God’s glorious majesty.  Yet, as you and I struggle with sinful flesh, so did David.  On one occasion, he committed grave sins resulting from unlawful lust.  As a result, he became filled with sorrow over the death of his illegitimately begotten son.  More importantly, God’s rebuke had filled David with remorse and repentance for his own sinfulness.

Many of the psalms of David prophesied the advent of God the Son, Jesus, the Messiah.  He would be born of a virgin.  He would be crucified and would rise again the third day, paying the infinite punishment for His people’s sins.  God had given David faith in this coming Messiah.  Because of this, David was free to “fear no evil,” even while walking “through the valley of the shadow of death.”

However, those who don’t love God, nor seek the glory of His presence, cannot be free from this fear.  In fact, they are generally blind to the fact that they are walking in darkness under the shadow of death.

Are you a legitimate, fearless, child of God with repentant, loving faith in Jesus Christ?

 

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