Through the Valley of the Shadow

Scripture: Psalm 23 A Lenten Psalm

Sermon: Through the Valley of the Shadow

Topics: death, grief, fear, shadow

Preached: March 6, 2005

Rev. Mike Abma

PSALM 23

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. 

²   He makes me lie down in green pastures;

he leads me beside still waters; 

³   he restores my soul.

He leads me in right paths

   for his name’s sake. 

⁴ Even though I walk through the darkest valley,

   I fear no evil;

for you are with me;

   your rod and your staff—

   they comfort me. 

⁵ You prepare a table before me

   in the presence of my enemies;

you anoint my head with oil;

   my cup overflows. 

⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

   all the days of my life,

and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord

   my whole life long.

This is the Word of the Lord

INTRODUCTION

I know Psalm 23 is one of the most dearly psalms in the whole psalter.

Perhaps it is so loved because of its simple language – it really does sound

like a song a shepherd might sing.

Perhaps it is because of its serene spirit – a deep and refreshing stream of

trust trickles throughout this psalm.

Whatever the exact reason for why it lodges so deeply in our hearts, we know it as a psalm that captures the intimacy of the covenant relationship between God and us.

And it captures it in an image – the image of a shepherd and his sheep.

The irony is that sheep-herding was not a well-liked occupation.

Not now – we have no sheep-herders at Woodlawn that I’m aware of.

But not even back then when the psalm was written.

When the Israelites went to live with the sophisticated Egyptians, the Egyptians held their noses and looked the other way when the family of Jacob passed by. Shepherds were an abomination to Egyptians.

Even a Jewish Rabbi, Bar-Hanina, acknowledged that the most despised occupation in all the world was sheep-herding.

But sheep-herding is the pervading metaphor of this psalm.

From beginning to end, it is written from the perspective of sheep.

From beginning to end, God is portrayed as the Shepherd.

STRUCTURE OF PSALM 23

There are a few other things, structural things, about Psalm 23 that I find fascinating.

It is a very simple psalm, but it is also a very structured psalm.

The first word is Lord (Yahweh)

One of the last words is Lord (Yahweh).

Therefore the beginning and end belong to the Lord – they are like arms that embrace this psalm.

Also, the psalm has about 55 Hebrew words.

There are the first 20 words.

There are the last 20 words.

Then there are the middle 15 words that in a way are the heart of the psalm.

These are the 15 middle words:

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death

I will fear no evil

For you are with me

Your rod and staff they comfort me.

WALKING THROUGH THE VALLEY

I would like to reflect a little on the middle heart of this psalm.

I would like to reflect about walking through the valley of the shadow of death.

This week, I wondered, “When do we start walking through that valley of the shadow of death?”

When did I start walking in that shadow?

I remember when I was 8 or 9 years old.

My brother and I both found about a 3 foot length of pvc pipe – the plastic kind of pipe you might use for plumbing. But for the two of us, these two lengths of pipe made perfect blowguns.

And there were these large shrubs in our yard that produced round, juicy, white berries. There berries seemed to make the perfect projectiles (I tried to figure out what kind of shrubs these must have been. I think they may have been some kind of snowberry).

We would hide on the side of the road and shoot passing cars. The snowberries made a great big splat on the windshield.

When there were no cars, we turned the blowguns on each other – I guess it was a primitive form of paintball.

I remember in the heat of battle, just as I was about to send my snowberry rocketing through the air, something went terribly wrong.

I must have inhaled too quickly because that snowberry ended up going right into my mouth and right down my throat. I ended up swallowing it – it tasted horrible.

I suddenly became rather terrified.

You see, my mother had always warned us kids not to eat those berries.

I assumed they must be poisonous.

So that night, I lay in bed not wanting to fall asleep.

I had it in my head that if I fell asleep, I wouldn’t ever wake up again.

I feared I would die of snowberry poisoning.

Then there was another time, a few years later.

I remember being bitten by a dog – a rather large, angry German Shepherd – all teeth and no personality. I got bit in the back of the leg.

The bite was bad enough to drew some blood.

I had just read a book about Louis Pasteur, the French biologist, and I thought for sure I was going to die of rabies. I spent all day looking in the mirror, checking to see whether I was beginning to foam at the mouth.

Then a few year after that, the girl who sat in front of me at school, suddenly stopped coming. We learned later that she had leukemia. She never made it to high school.

I don’t think I was a morbid kid.

I also do not think that my experiences or fears of death were that unusual.

I think most of you might have similar stories.

So, when does one start walking in the valley of the shadow of death?

I think it is a mistake to assume that it is only adults and older adults who walk in the valley of the shadow of death.

We already become aware of death somewhere between the ages of 3 and 5.

In many ways, we begin our conscious walk in the valley of the shadow of death already at that age.

PSALM 23 THROUGH CHRISTIAN EYES

Psalm 23 is a psalm to read and a song to sing as we walk in that often dark and terrifying valley.

Here is a song about the Lord as our Shepherd.

Here is a song about Jesus as our Shepherd — the Good Shepherd.

We see the Good Shepherd who goes ahead of us into that dark and

terrifying valley.

He goes ahead of us and lays down his life for us his sheep.

That image of Jesus walking ahead of us into the valley is the comforting

image in this psalm.

You see, sheep are different than cows or pigs or many other animals.

To herd cows or pigs, you have to be behind them, pushing and prodding

them every step of the way.

But that is not how a Shepherd leads.

A shepherd, at least a middle eastern shepherd, always walks ahead of their sheep.

The Shepherd leads. The Sheep follow because they trust the shepherd.

So Jesus walks ahead.

And in this Lenten season, we remember what it means that Jesus went

before us into the valley of the shadow of death.

We remember how he entered the turbulent and stormy waters of Jerusalem,

and was swallowed by its anger,

so that we might be led through the quiet waters of baptism,

We remember how he went ahead of us and drank the bitter cup of suffering

so that we might sit at a table prepared for us,

a communion table

where we are given the bread of life and the cup of salvation,

even in the presence of our enemy, death.

Jesus, the Good Shepherd, walks ahead of us through the valley of the

shadow of death, so that we might know there is

nothing we must endure that he has not endured;

nothing that we must face, that he hasn’t already faced.

Jesus is with us.

We will fear no evil

There is nothing, not even death,

that can separate us from his love.

Whatever our age, we travel knowing that our shepherd

will supply our need,

until our traveling days are done

and we arrive at last at home.