Sermon
Finding God In The Valleys Of Life
September 29, 2002
Pastor Donald Sheley

We have come to an interesting place in the Psalms. Our phrase today is Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. It's that part of the Psalm that is so very tender and so very personal.

At the 7:00 morning service I have, every Sunday morning, an 84-year-old mother who comes. She always comes early because she picks up the notes and she reads my sermon before the service begins. She arrives quite early and drives in from the South Peninsula area. She said to me before the service, Pastor, I've been enjoying the Psalm. When my husband was dying a few years ago I sat by his bedside and I kept repeating the 23rd Psalm. The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want, and every time you talk about that it reminds me of those moments holding my husband's hand as he slipped from this life into the presence of God. It's a Psalm that really rings so personal with so many of us.

But I noted here that thus far in our Psalm, David has been using the third person singular to describe the journey -- He leadeth...He makes me lie down...He restoreth my soul...He leadeth in the paths of righteousness. But suddenly, the valley of darkness looms on the horizon and instantly David drops the third person for second person singular and now he addresses the Shepherd as Thou. He is no longer talking about the Shepherd. He is now talking to the Shepherd!

And it's that change that makes this passage so intimate: Yea, though I walk through the valley, Thou will be with me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies. It becomes very personal. Now the reason for that is this -- this marks a new dimension in the Psalm, for what we have now is that the shepherd is preparing to take his flocks; summer vegetation and foliage is all gone and it's drying now, and as a shepherd he realizes that if his sheep are going to be well fed he's got to take them up on to the plateau, which was called in those areas the tablelands or the alplands.

What would happen is in order to get up to these high plateaus you had to go through these gulches and ravines up through the side of the mountain. Now if you visited Palestine and you leave Jerusalem and you go down to Jericho, which is about 30 miles, you're going to lose about 2 to 3000 feet and elevation because the Dead Sea is so far below the sea level. And so because of that tremendous precipitous, the plateaus have these deep gorges all the way around it, and for the shepherd to get to the tablelands for pasturing so his sheep can be well fed, he's got to travel through these ravines, and some of them are very, very narrow and very, very deep; so deep that the sun doesn't even shine there. They're dark and they're gloomy and very, very dangerous. And over the years the shepherds have cut away and made steps to go up these ravines. It's a very slow passage.

And when David writes, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, what he's thinking of is that dangerous trip of taking his flock from the meadowlands up through those gulches and ravines up to the tableland, because it was a dangerous journey.

Now I'm on page 2 in your notes, down about 10 lines. I noted here that the words of the text do not necessarily refer to death. Even though this is a Psalm that is used so frequently at memorial services and it's so beautiful and it's so apt. But notice, the expression rendered in our text 'shadow of death' by the Septuagint; and that's one of the ancient texts of Scripture. It's so intended to be read by the scholars in the Hebrew text. It's really a single word having no connection with death.

If we were reading it from the Septuagint, or from the original Hebrew, it would mean when I walk through the valley of dense darkness. Because as I pointed out many of those ravines were so deep the sun never shown, and it was a dangerous, dangerous trip to make with your little flock of sheep. And thus, if we read it then with that idea we could read it almost like this: "God will lead and guide me in the paths of righteousness, even though that path lies through the darkest and most gloomy vale-through deep and dismal shades-in regions where there is no light, as if death had cast his dark and baleful shadow there.

It is still a right path; it is a path of safety; and it will conduct me to bright regions beyond. In that dark and gloomy valley, though I could not guide myself, I will not be alarmed; I will not be afraid of wandering or of being lost; I will not fear any enemy there for my Shepherd is there to guide me. And thus, the valley of dense darkness is applicable to any path of gloom and sadness; any scene of trouble or sorrow; any dark or dangerous way. Thus understood, it is applicable not merely to death itself-though it embraces that-but to any or all the dark, the dangerous, and the gloomy paths which we tread in life; to ways of sadness, solitude and sorrow. All along those paths God will be a safe and certain guide.

Now as your shepherd I have the responsibility as well as the ministry of helping people through those dark, dense valleys of gloom. My week started by meeting with a couple who are walking through the valley of sorrow. They've lost someone very, very near to them. It's a time when it almost seems that everything has lost its meaning, and it's a deep valley for them. There are others that I have talked with this week who are walking through the dark, dense valley of unemployment. And that's hard. If you're the man of the house and you lose your resources, and your job, and your ability to provide there's a tremendous fear. You almost become fear struck.

And some of these that I have talked with this week to them it's a dark valley because they passed out their resumes, and yet the market is so limited and they're going through a dark valley. I talked with one this week who suffers from tremendous loneliness. Everyone else in the family is gone and they're alone. And that can be a dark valley -- the valley of loneliness. And some of you are walking through, as Leighton and Jenny, that valley of sickness.

David is saying, I believe to the Christian, he said, the flock need never fear even though the path is dangerous. It's the right path because it's the only way you can get to the tablelands. You can't get there any other way. And I noted in our notes down at the bottom of page 2 that life was never intended to be all light, lands of perpetual sunshine or lands of stagnation. The journey's end is never reached without some traveling in the darkness. Into each life some rain must fall, some days must be dark and dreary, writes the poet. And all of us in our journey will say, Pastor, it's true, we do have our experiences where the valley really is deep.

I'm at the top of page 3. Dr. Boice was a wonderful Pastor. He Pastor 10th Avenue Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia for nearly 40 years and he had written many, many wonderful books. And this is what the old Pastor said -- he died last year after many years of ministry -- he writes, "It is important to note that "the valley of the shadow of death" is as much God's right path for us as the "green pastures" which lie beside "quiet waters:." That is, the Christian life is not always tranquil nor, as we say, a mountain-top experience. God gives us valleys also. It is in the valleys with their trials and dangers that we develop character."

And as I'm sure you can look back on life, it was during those dark days when life was really pressuring you where God did something very beautiful to give you a new dimension of godly character.

Now what does God's Word tell us about these valleys? Isaiah writes: "When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.

What is he saying? When you pass through the wilderness, I'll be there. I'll provide whatever needs to be provided. Look at the next one: "But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, 0 Jacob, and He that formed thee, 0 Israel, Fear not, for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overthrow thee; when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord they God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour."

What a promise. That's why David could write: Yea, though I walk through the deepest valley of gloom and darkness, I need not fear. You're going to be there.

Many years ago I heard an old preacher preach from a Psalm that I think is beautiful. Would you take your Bible and go with me to beautiful Psalm, Psalm 84. And he entitled his sermon, the valley of weeping. Now let me read it and see if you can pick that up.
How lovely is Your tabernacle, O Lord of hosts!
My soul longs, yes, even faints for the courts of the Lord;
My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young -- Even Your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God.
Blessed are those who dwell in Your house; they will still be praising You.
Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, whose heart is set on pilgrimage.
It's the story of a man whose heart is set on the pilgrimage making his way on a pilgrimage, and what's he going to do?
He says, as they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a spring. Now if we were reading the Hebrew Baca is weeping, and so we read it this way: Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, whose heart is set on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baca, the valley of weeping, they make it a spring; the rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion.

Back to our notes at the bottom of page 3. The valley of tears is a desert place. If we were in Palestine and we lived at a distance, to get to Jerusalem which was high, there was what was called the valley of weeping. And it was a deserted place. There was no water there, but in order to get to the house of worship I had to go through the valley of weeping. And so what does the Psalmist say? As I'm making my way towards God, I have to pass through, in my journey, the valley of weeping, and as I pass through the valley of weeping I turn it into a fountain.

The Psalm paints a picture of the traveler making his way up to Jerusalem to worship. He passes through the valley of tears, he turns the experience into a time of joy and gladness; he makes a world of tears a world of comfort; he changes a gloomy path into one of pleasantness and beauty.

Think of that. When you think through the men of the Scriptures, think of Joseph; Joseph has tried to be honest, but he is sold. He's down in the land of slavery. He's trying to do his best in the house of Potiphar. He's falsely accused and ends up in prison for 14 years. And in that deep, dark valley of life he turns it into a fountain. He begins to serve the fellow prisoners. Soon he's head of the prison, and finally, he's head of the country. But he turned his valley experience into a fountain that blessed others.

Now think of David. David wrote this. Think of his valley of tears. He had a good life for the first 50 years then he messed up. And now the tears begin to flow the first baby from Bathsheba dies. He's got to attend a funeral. A few years later he has one son kill another son out on the field out of anger. Just before that he has one son who rapes his own daughter in his house.

And then he's got a son by the name of Absalom, I mean by this time the tears are flowing. He's got a son that decides he's going to take his dad's thrown and kick him off the throne and kill him. David runs for his life. The result of that battle -- his son is killed, and the picture you see is David sitting there cry and saying, Absalom, Absalom my son would to God I could have died for you.

The last 20 years of David's life was a valley of tears, but ladies and gentlemen, look at what fountain he has created; he left his life story for us to learn from and we have the Psalms. And almost every time we're going through a journey we go to those Psalms because he turned a valley of tears into a fountain of blessing.

I think of Joni, the little girl who dove in the pool and as a result she ended up a paraplegia. You've seen her story. She's laying there on the bed stretched out in therapy asking God to let her die. But she takes her valley of tears and turns it into a fountain of blessing, and look at the millions that are blessed by Joni Tada today.

So we do pass through the valley; He's there. The psalmist says turn your valley of tears into a time of joy.

Down at the bottom of page 4 I make the observation, it's not only in the valley of life, but in the fiery furnaces of our faith the good Shepherd is there. Remember in the book of Daniel, we are told the story of the three Hebrews, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men refused to bow down before the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. The punishment, of course, to be thrown into the fiery furnace. When the king looked into fiery furnace, "Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, and rose in haste, and spake, and said unto his counselors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, 0 king.

He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God, come out of there (that's my translation).

Then Shadrach , Meshach, and Abednego, came forth of the midst of the fire. And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king's counselors, being gathered together saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them."

I have a CD that somebody gave to me. It's a southern quartet, and one of the songs tells the story of a little mother having her boy on her knee and she's telling this little boy about Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego. And that little boy's eyes are wide-open and he's listening as mama says they threw those three men into the furnace. And when the king came by to see how things were happening he saw four instead of three. And the king said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego come out of there!

And the little boy's listening as mother's telling the story and finally the little guy pipes up and says, if three came out what happened to the fourth man? The song says that mother started dancing around the kitchen table and she said, he is still in the fire. Do you get it? When we're going through the fiery furnaces we don't have to wait till He arrives, He's already there. He's already there!

That's when Isaiah said when I walk through the fire it'll not hurt me. Why? Because the fourth man is there; and He's there when we walk through our furnaces. And David says when we walk through our valleys of gloom you need not fear, He's there.

As a little boy we used to sing a song, I've never forgotten it, standing somewhere in the shadows you'll find Jesus. He's the one who always cares and understands. Standing somewhere in the shadows you will find Him, and you'll know Him by the nail prints in His hands. He's in the shadows.

One pastor wrote of a parishioner who was going through a dark valley: Divine truth never changes even though our circumstances do. Divine realities never change, and if you're here today, and I'm sure there are many, whatever your valley is, God's word does not lie. He's there in the valley with you. You may not see Him. You may not momentarily feel that He's there, but He's there; and if you're going through the furnace, He's already got there before you. And what I like about this phrase, it doesn't say I went into the valley, it says I walked through it.

I saw a family sitting over here in one of the services, and I saw the joy there. Because I remember that family walking through a deep, dark valley about eight months ago. They're through it now. They walked through it. They didn't get caught in the valley. And today's they're rejoicing knowing the Shepherd was with them all the way through. It's true folks. You look back in a few months, a few days, and you'll see He was there.

When I was little boy my mother quilted. She'd lay one by fours on four chairs, spread some cloth, put some cotton on, and then she would quilt the quilt. I was too small so I always sat underneath on the floor, and I watched that needle come through. All I saw was needles, but when mother finished the quilt she stood me up on the chair, and then I saw the beauty of the finished product. A lot of times we get caught under the quilt just watching the needles come through and feeling the needles, but when He's finished -- it's a beautiful product. Amen.

Father, we love You -- and to know You're there. We can walk out of this sanctuary with that truth; in the valley You're there, in the furnace You're there and we need not fear. Hallelujah. Amen.