Hard to Pass The Valleys

While I find, there are many blessings associated with being a Pastor there are days in which the role brings about unavoidable challenges. For me, one of those challenges is found in talking about death. This weekend I have the opportunity to speak at not one but two Celebration of Life services for longtime members of our community.  

It is hard to reconcile in our minds and our hearts the idea of celebrating a life that has been lost.  It is in moments like these, I am drawn to the words of King David in the Old Testament, Psalm 23, a Psalm written in a time of great pain and anguish. David wrote these words which you might be familiar with:

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.
For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
My cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil;

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil;

Henry Ward Beecher, a pastor during the Civil War, called the 23^rd Psalm the Nightingale Psalm. He called it by this name because he said “the nightingale sings it’s sweetest when the night is darkest.”

The valley of the shadow of death literally means a “death-like shadow, or a deep shadow.”  It is a reference to all the dark and gloomy experiences of life through which we may have to travel. While this valley David speaks of isn’t limited exclusively to death, it most certainly includes it.

Now these valleys which we journey through are universal, every man, woman, and child who will ever walk this earth must walk these same paths. Just because someone is a Christian doesn’t mean they are exempt from anything this life throws at them.  Christians go bankrupt – Christians get cancer – Christians have accidents – and Christians die, just like everyone else.

Death comes to each of us. Having the Lord as our Shepherd does not grant us immunity from sorrow, it does assure us of his promises. The promise that we will be able to spend eternity with our Lord and Savior one day when he calls us home into his presence. I don’t know about you but that’s one promise I want to hold on to…