THE VALLEY OF “DEATH”

There are times in life, where we will pass through toughest, roughest, coldest and darkest times. There would be no help, available for us. Any support or encouragement, would seem to be in the negative. It is as if, the whole world has abandoned us. Such a scenario sounds familiar? Such a scenario is more common, than not.

David, writing Psalm 23, pens these words, which so aptly define and describe, the struggle that we would go through, in our lives.
– “4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” – Psalms 23:4

The words, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…” sounds dark and gloomy. What kind of experience would be qualified as “walk through the valley of the shadow of death?” Let us look at the first four verses of Psalm 137, and see what light it can throw up, to help us understand, what does it mean, to walk in the valley of the shadow of death.
– ​”1 By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down, yea, we wept When we remembered Zion. 2 We hung our harps Upon the willows in the midst of it. 3 For there those who carried us away captive asked of us a song, And those who plundered us requested mirth, Saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” 4 How shall we sing the LORD’s song In a foreign land?” – Psalm 137:1-4
These four verses accurately describe to us, the struggles, the pain, and the agony of the Hebrew children, living in exile, in Babylon. They have seen, the death and the destruction of their loved ones, and of their cities and towns. Not just that; they were taken captive, and were marched to a country, that is not their own. They are now living in a land, that belongs to someone else. They are not the proud and happy citizens, of this new land, but are the captives and slaves, living for someone else, with no hope of any redemption, humanly speaking. Their lives were filled with, tears and trouble. Not “very long ago” they were in Egypt, and the memory of it would be still alive. This is what it is like, “walking through the valley of the shadow of death.” Truly dark and gloomy. It is not a psychological or mental issue; neither is it, some paranoid imaginations of a deranged individual. It is true, it is dark, and it is gloomy.

Now let us go back to David’s Psalm 23, and see, what does David further say, and how does he cope, with such a dark situation. We can note that David doesn’t end the verse on a gloomy note. He goes on to say, “…I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” David is not afraid, because he knows all too well, that his God, the God of all creation, the LORD God Almighty, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God who saved him from the lion and the bear, would never abandon him. HalleluYah!!!

What valley are we going through? What is it, that is, troubling us? What is it, that is causing, pain and agony in our hearts? Let us learn to trust God, as did David and the Hebrew children in exile. Let us take all that is troubling us, to the LORD, in prayer. “In His arms He will take and shield thee…thou will find a solace there! What a friend we have in Jesus!” HalleluYah!!!