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Psalm 23:4 \u201cEven though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As God enabled David to write this verse, it was not out of sitting in an academic circle of other men who were discussing the pros and cons of God\u2019s ability to protect us, or if there were other linguistic and theological motifs that might better explain how we as human beings deal with issues of fear and uncertainty that we encounter, and which at times can even consume our every waking thought. No, this was something that God had made very real<\/em> to David through all of the \u2018real life experiences of near death encounters\u2019 he had confronted throughout his life. There is indeed an area of life that we must all go through in order for God\u2019s Word to become a reality in our lives, versus merely an intellectual assent we make in agreeing with\u00a0doctrinal\u00a0positions of our faith. In other words, the doctrinal expressions of faith must move from a\u00a0mental confession with our brain through our mouth, to that which becomes a foundational aspect of our very soul and the basis and essence of how we live, move, and function in all areas of our lives. This is what occurred with David in order for him, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to pen this incredibly true and absolutely essential statement of living faith for all who come into a saving relationship with the One, True, Living God through Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n First of all, I prefer the translation, \u201cAlso, when I continually walk … \u201d versus, \u201cEven though I walk … \u201d because, from my perspective, I am fully convinced that is what David had lived, and he knew he would continue to live and face throughout the remainder of his life as he walked with God in the path God had called him to. This does not mean, however, that this was a daily occurrence for him, but rather it was a continuous and ongoing encounter of events and experiences wherein, metaphorically, \u201che could not see his hand in front of his face.\u201d The result of these encounters, which were small, as well as large and far reaching, is that fear could consume his thoughts so as to potentially render him in a mental and emotional paralyzed state, which is what can happen to all of us.<\/p>\n At that point, he would be tempted to strike out on his own in order to deliver himself from such perceived danger, versus trusting in God and waiting upon His promised deliverance. The former always<\/em> produces even more fear and anxiety, which can also lead to an all consuming, unabated, emotional grasping for self-deliverance. This in turn can of itself become an emotional addiction that never brings genuine deliverance and peace, but rather a deep enslavement to fear and its control of one\u2019s life. On the other hand, the latter, which is trusting God and waiting upon His promised deliverance, will bring genuine deliverance and peace. However, for that to occur, one MUST first go through \u201cthe valley of the shadow of death,\u201d holding on to God\u2019s promises by faith, committed to the death to not give into fear anymore, but rather to really trust in God and His promised provision, deliverance, etc. \u2013as the old Baptist hymn puts it, \u201cthere is no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.\u201d<\/p>\n Secondly, the phrase, \u201cthe valley of the shadow of death,\u201d may be better translated as, \u201cthe valley of deep, emotional darkness.\u201d The Hebrew word \u05e6\u05b7\u05dc\u05b0\u05de\u05b8\u05d5\u05b6\u05ea<\/span>\u00a0(salmawet) is typically\u00a0translated as \u201cshadow of death,\u201d which is both accurate and good, but the translation that I believe far better presents what David, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, was trying to convey is \u201cdeep, emotional darkness,\u201d which is what the \u201cdeath-shadow\u201d was \u2013that is, a place\u00a0where one had no hope or purpose in living anymore, but only \u201ca deep, emotional darkness\u201d enveloped his or her life. The verb from which this noun comes is \u05b7\u05e6\u05b8\u05dc\u05b7\u05dc<\/span>\u00a0(silal), and it has a dual\u00a0meaning: )1(\u201cto sink down or be submerged\u201d; and )2(\u201cto be or grow dark.\u201d Thus, the \u201cdeath- shadow\u201d is a metaphor for one sinking into a deep, emotional depression, where there is a metaphorical \u201cemotional darkness\u201d that one \u201csinks\u201d into, and in so doing, there can at times appear to be no way to come up out of this submersion. This verb is used in Exodus 15:10of the actual \u201csubmersion\u201d of the Egyptian troops into the Red Sea as they were pursuing the Israelites: \u201cThou didst blow with Thy wind, the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty\u00a0waters\u201d (Exodus .)15:10The phrase, \u201cthey sank,\u201d therefore, is the Hebrew verb \u05b2\u05e6\u05b8\u05bd\u05dc\u05b2\u05dc\u05d5\u05bc<\/span>\u00a0\u05b8(salalu), which obviously comes from \u05e6\u05b8\u05dc\u05b7\u05dc<\/span>\u00a0(silal), with the meaning \u201cto submerge.\u201d Thus, the\u00a0\u201csubmersion into emotional darkness\u201d is a very real experience that we as human beings can frequently encounter, but as believers in Christ, Jesus can and will lift us out of that metaphorical \u201cdeath-shadow\u201d and place us on metaphorical dry, solid ground of spiritual, mental, and emotional health and soundness.<\/p>\n The following statement by David in this verse, however, is the key to the spiritual, mental, and emotional victory we are desiring, and that is, \u201cI fear no evil; for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.\u201d The phrase, \u201cI fear no evil,\u201d is literally, \u201cI will continually not fear evil,\u201d as the verb \u201cI fear\u201d is in the Qal imperfect, implying an ongoing and continuous action. As I already stated above, the most oft repeated command in the Bible is, \u201cdo not fear\u201d and its corollaries (e.g., don\u2019t worry, don\u2019t fret, etc.), and the second most oft repeated command is \u201ctrust in the Lord\u201d \u2013they are the antithesis of each other, with the former bringing enslavement and tyrannical oppression, and the latter bringing freedom, peace, and the discovery of one\u2019s true identity as a child of God!<\/p>\n However, it must be stated that to come to that place of not allowing \u201cfear\u201d to rule and control one\u2019s spiritual, mental, and emotional life, which in turn can also affect one\u2019s physical well being, is not an easy thing to do, but through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, He can do it within us! We read the following in Paul\u2019s epistle to Timothy: \u201cFor God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind\u201d (2Timothy 1:7). Therefore, if \u201cGod has not given us a spirit of fear,\u201d then where does it come from? The answer is that it comes from the enemy of our souls, Satan, \u201ca murderer . . .a\u00a0liar, and the father of lies\u201d (John 8:44). Therefore, learning to distinguish between Satan\u2019s lie and God\u2019s truth can only come about as you abide in God\u2019s Word and prayer, and in so doing, \u201cyou shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free\u201d (John 8:32).<\/p>\n God, therefore, has a metaphorical \u201crod and staff\u201d whereby He \u201ccomforts\u201d and protects us as we daily surrender to Him. I say this because His protection and deliverance for us who are His children is conditioned on our surrender to His Lordship of our lives \u2013 that is, if we surrender, then we will indeed experience His blessing, but if we choose to do things \u201cour way,\u201d versus following and obeying Him in faith, then we will in turn experience the consequences of our disbelief, which is motivated and coerced by the \u201cfear\u201d that Satan spiritually, mentally, and emotionally assaults us with. That fear is constantly saying, \u201cGod cannot help us in this situation,\u201d and, as pointed out above, that is the testing time for us to either believe and trust God to do what He says He will do, or to flail around in fear like a drowning man in the ocean without a life vest.<\/p>\n However, the life vest of God is immediately at hand for us as His children through holding onto the promises of His Word, and we do that by surrendering \u201cdaily\u201d to His Lordship over our lives: \u201cAnd He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. 24 “For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it\u201d (Luke 9:23-24). Therefore, to \u201close our life for Jesus\u2019 sake\u201d is to say, \u201cYes, O Lord, I believe and trust your Word in this situation, and I am going to believe and follow what you say, versus be led by my emotions which are motivated by the fear that You will not keep Your Word, and I in turn need to act independently of You if I am going to survive this situation.\u201d God gives us a choice, and He also enables us to believe and obey Him, but we must make that choice to say, \u201cYes, O Lord, I choose to believe and trust You\u201d: \u201cBut what does it say? \u2018The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart\u2019 — that is, the word of faith which we are preaching\u201d (Romans 10:8).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Psalm 23:4 \u201cEven though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.\u201d\u00a0 As God enabled David to write this verse, it was not out of sitting in an academic circle of other men who were discussing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":3138,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-misc","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.blueletterbible.org\/blb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.blueletterbible.org\/blb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.blueletterbible.org\/blb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.blueletterbible.org\/blb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.blueletterbible.org\/blb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.blueletterbible.org\/blb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.blueletterbible.org\/blb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.blueletterbible.org\/blb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.blueletterbible.org\/blb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.blueletterbible.org\/blb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}“When I continually walk”<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n\n“The valley of deep, emotional darkness”<\/h4>\n
“Fear no evil”<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\nRod and staff of comfort<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n
\n