Walking Through the Valley of the Shadow of Death

No one said life is going to be easy.  We’ve each experienced times of prosperous peace and tranquility as well as upset, darkness and dangerous disorientation.

We look to the words of experience, to history, to mythology, to stories we’ve been told to help us better understand why we feel the way we do, why we must undergo challenges, if we’re the only ones experiencing it and what we can expect and do about it.  During times of fear we often seek solace and guidance in scripture, calling to our mind those words which can give us the solidity of grounding our faith through the Promises we find therein.

The 23^rd Psalm of David is one example that many people throughout time have summoned in their despair and have used for comfort and hope.  

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
4 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.
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

This short song outlines the journey we go through as humanity, mirrored on a more intimate level also in the story of Job.

Throughout the verses of the psalm, there is always reverence for and implicit trust in our Creator.  We are taken to green pastures and still waters, our souls are restored by Him and we walk in righteousness alongside He Who guides and shepherds us.  We live our lives well, contentedly meandering with God through a pastoral existence.  We’re safe, content and taken care of.  Life’s good!

As well it is in the beginning of the story of Job; life was going along swimmingly.  He was blameless and walked with God, a righteous man blessed with an abundance of children, land and livestock.  Life was good for Job.  Until it wasn’t…  Like all of us, Job hit some gruesome hard times.  He not only lost all of his worldly possessions (his animals, his land AND his children), he also came down with some painful and obnoxious physical ailments.  Everything he had was physically taken away from him.  I’ll bet he was in some grave financial trouble, too.

Each of us have found ourselves walking in the Valley of the Shadow of Death.  We start to lose in life- lose our possessions, we stumble and lose our footing and what we thought was secure in our lives is taken away.  We’re snagged by thorns of set-backs, pelted by harsh, cold and worrisome words, we’re spun by emotional eddies until we’re dizzy with confusion, we’re picked up and turned about by the winds of life’s upheavals.  This darkness imposes from all sides around us: mountains of uncertainty, causing us to fear as we traipse through this shadowy valley.   

When Job was going through the maelstrom of his life’s darkest times, his friends came to him, cried with him, they ripped their clothes in anguish with him.  They begged Job to curse God and die.  But Job did not.  He knew God was still with him during the darkest, most challenging times of his life.

Even through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, God promises to stay with us.  We are not left alone, but it’s awfully hard to see that when we’re in the dark.  We cry out and cannot hear.  We try to look with our eyes and cannot see.  This is the shadowy veil that humanity (individually and as a whole) passes through.  It is during this time that our Faith is tested, for remember, God has made two promises in his holy relationship with us: He will not control us; He will not abandon us.

In both the 23^rd Psalm and the story of Job, there is a rainbow at the end of the rainy period.  Not only do we survive this abysmal path of darkness, upheaval and seeming injustice, we are given something even greater than what we experienced before.  Job was given was MORE land and MORE livestock and MORE kids.  David sings to us in his poem that after moving through the Valley of the Shadow of Death we are given all kinds of extra goodies - including goodness and mercy all the rest of the days of our lives and the promise to live in the resplendence of God’s own holy house.

You may wonder then, as many people have and do, what kind of gifts are we talking about here?  What can we hope for after we weather the dark and stormy night?  When do we know that we’ve passed through and made it?  Are we talking banquet tables, more dogs and cats and kids?  Fancy oils?  What do we get from this rite of passage?

It is important to remember that the overflow of God’s abundance will come in the form of spiritual gifts.  (We are talking about God, after all.)  Think now of what might you gain after going through absolute hell in your life and making it through to the promised rainbow of abundance at the other end.

Strength, conviction, confidence, courage, empathy, appreciation, profound wisdom- all of these riches you can rightfully claim after undergoing and surpassing with victory the vast tumbles of life.

Yes, sure, you can use these spiritual gifts to rebuild your physical wealth, but it will also allow you to build SO much more than that.  With your greater understanding, you will create amazing things.  

Your relationships will be built with empathy rather than egoism.  Trust will be restored in self, in others.  You will feel freer to explore and expand, evolve and involve yourself, because you know you can weather whatever comes your way.  You know that even if all of your creature comforts, your physical joys are taken from you, that you can rise up again like a phoenix from the ashes and reclaim yourself, stronger and braver and wiser than before, and even more than this, to now offer your exquisite journey and its beautiful hope to all those who are struggling and are looking for a hand to hold while they are in the dark valleys of life.