*Psalm 23 begins with David talking about the Shepherd:
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”
“He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.”
Everything is peaceful. David is speaking about his Shepherd.
But then comes verse 4:
“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me.”
Something changes.
David no longer says “He.”
He says “You.”
The valley brought him closer.
I once heard a beautiful story of a mother and her little son travelling by train from California to Chicago. The boy was full of excitement. He ran around, talked to people, and even spoke to a woman sitting nearby about his mother.
But suddenly, the train entered a long, dark tunnel.
The bright world disappeared. Darkness filled the train.
The little boy immediately ran back to his mother, threw his arms around her legs and said,
“Mommy, Mommy, you are here! I’m not scared now, am I?”
In the sunshine, he could talk about his mother.
But in the darkness, he needed to talk to his mother.
Isn't that sometimes our journey with God?
In the green pastures, we speak about the Shepherd.
Beside the still waters, we tell others how good He is.
But when we enter the valley—when the report comes, when the answer is delayed, when the road becomes dark, —we stop talking merely about Him.
We cry, “Lord, You are here. I am not alone.”
The Shepherd who led us through the green pastures is the same Shepherd who walks with us through the darkest valley.
The valley does not mean the Shepherd has left.
The valley reveals how close the Shepherd really is.
And perhaps today, instead of asking, “Where is my Shepherd?”
we can simply hold on to Him and say,
“Lord Jesus, You are here.
And because You are here, I am not afraid.”
*used writing tool



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