Through the Dark Valleys

This is the message given at the Oahe Manor Communion service in Gettysburg on April 18, 2013.  The Bible verses are Psalm 23.


The twenty-third psalm is one that almost everybody loves. In fact, I'd guess some of you know it from memory. I thought it might be a good idea to take a look at it and think about why we love it so much. I think when we do, we find out that there's more to this psalm than we may have realized at first.

I think part of why we love this psalm so much is that some of the images it uses are ones that we can really get hold of. We live in an agricultural area. A lot of have lived on farms, and even those who haven't have some knowledge of farming. We've seen those green pastures. We've been beside quiet waters. We know how peaceful that is. We know what a wonderful feeling it is to see a green pasture, with maybe a herd of cattle or sheep or something grazing on it. A lot of us have been on the quiet water, fishing or boating or just enjoying the sunshine. It's a wonderful image, and it's one that we can understand a lot better than someone who lives in a city.

Then, too, it talks about God guiding us along right paths. That's another beautiful image. We're walking along, and God is showing us where to go, making sure we take the right path, making sure we'll be safe and that nothing bad will happen.

Except that's not what the psalm says. Yes, it says God will guide us along the right path, but it does not say that right path will necessarily be a safe path. In fact, it pretty much promises that it won't be. The next words are “even though I walk through the darkest valley”. The path God guides on is not necessarily a bright, cheery path. Sometimes, God guides us to go down into the dark valleys.

I suspect most of us have been in the dark valleys at various times in our lives. Some of us may be there now. We wonder how in the world we got there. We wonder why God would lead us into such a dark valley. We wonder, when we find ourselves, in a dark valley, if we'll ever get out again. We even wonder if God has abandoned us and let us stumble around in that dark valley on our own.

The thing is, God does not promise to keep us out of the dark valleys. The psalm does not say that. What it does say is that even when we're in the darkest valley, we don't need to be afraid. God is still with us.

God does not abandon us when we go into the dark valleys. God's still there. It can be hard to realize that. It can be hard to see God through all that darkness. It can be hard to feel God's presence. But God's still there. Because God's still there, we have nothing to fear. God does not leave us alone in the dark valleys. God stays with us.

The rod and the staff, as many of you know, were things shepherds used to keep the sheep on the right path. Sometimes the sheep did not want to go the way they were supposed to go. They wanted to go off somewhere else. They wanted to try something else. Sometimes, the shepherd had to lead the sheep into a dark valley to get to the green pastures, and the sheep did not want to go there. The shepherd had to physically keep them on that right path. The shepherd knew, even if the sheep did not, that they'd get through that dark valley and get to a better place.

That's why, if we trust God, God's rod and God's staff comfort us. They let us know that God's still there, and that God's still guiding us. God is guiding us through that dark valley and into the light. If we really trust God, then we, just like those sheep, will get through that dark valley and get to a better place.

God does not promise that we won't have enemies, either. What God does, again, is stay with us. God lets us know we still have nothing to fear, not even from our enemies. Even if we're surrounded by them, God will take care of us. God will take care of our physical needs and our spiritual needs. If we truly trust God, we'll still feel the joy that comes from being with God, even when we're surrounded by our enemies. And we'll feel God's goodness, and God's mercy, and God's love, all our lives.

And, of course, the good news does not end there. When our lives are over, we go to be with God. We will dwell in the house of the Lord, forever.

But notice how we get there. We get there only by trusting God. We get there only by letting God lead us to those wonderful, peaceful places. We get there only by letting God guide us along the right paths, even when those paths go into dark places. We get there only by trusting God enough that we keep going, even when we cannot see the way. We get there by trusting that God will take care of us and will never leave us.

Psalm 23 is a wonderful psalm. But it's not just this quiet, peaceful psalm. It's a psalm that challenges us. It challenges us to trust God, no matter what our situation is. It challenges us to trust God, no matter how many enemies we have or how prominent they may be. It challenges us to trust God at all times and in all places, no matter what. It's only by trusting God that we can get to the place where we feel our final, eternal peace, when we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.