Yea, Though I Walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death…

A selection from Issue 58, (Fifth Month 2020); Link to full issue

Yea, though l walk through the valley of the shadow of death, l will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. [Psalms 23:4 KJV]

Does it ring true for you? As the early Quakers used to say, does it speak to your condition as we walk together through this Valley of the Shadow of Death? It was included in the Book of Psalms to comfort us, and if it doesn’t, then we ought to ask ourselves why not. Perhaps we’ve never really felt that the Lord was our Shepherd, or that His rod and staff were real sources of guidance and comfort. If that’s so, then saying “I will fear no evil” will feel like hypocrisy in our mouth. But let’s look at our fear of evil.

First of all, let’s distinguish between natural fear, the kind of panic anyone would feel if a lion were charging them, and the kind of fear that breeds cowardice, that leads us to do things we’ll forever hate ourselves for. But if we’ve ever said sincerely, to God or Christ, anything like “I want Your will to be done more than I want my own will done, in all cases, and forever,” then we’ve put ourselves out of danger of doing anything, ever again, that we’ll forever hate ourselves for. Because now, if we lack the faith, courage, humility, patience, or any other virtue we need to accomplish something God is going to ask of us, we can trust that God will give us enough of that thing to get our assignment done. And don’t worry, God will build that trust in us. God will see to it that we get experiences to train us to trust God as we never did before. I say this from experience. We’re no longer our own; we are now God’s angels-in-training, washed clean of past sins but also of selfish agendas. A phrase like “Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me” will now remind us of experiences we’ve really had.

This in turn allows us to consider the prospect of pain, sickness, bereavement, or death endurable: never pleasant, but things we can imagine enduring with our Shepherd at our side, whose rod and staff will comfort us even though, like Jesus Himself, we may stumble under the weight of our cross.

This is not to encourage any recklessness in the face of this present pandemic. We each have an abiding duty to be a good citizen: avoid getting the infection, avoid spreading it, and avoid adding to the general stress. If we don’t know quite what to pray for, then let the Holy Spirit pray in us and through us [Romans 8:26]. As the number of cases and the number of deaths rise in our area, fear and anger, perhaps amplified by emotional contagion through the media, may tempt us to think, speak or act irresponsibly. But Paul reminds God’s people that God allows no temptation to trouble us that we lack power to resist [1 Corinthians 10:13], and by resisting the temptations we may provide those around us with a much-needed refuge of peace, acceptance of difficulty, and trust in God who, whatever stresses we must endure while we occupy mortal flesh, will one day wipe all tears from the eyes of us all [Revelation 21:4]. Let it be a continuing source of hope and joy to us, and those around us, that our almighty God is Love Itself [1 John 4:8]. Amen.

John Jeremiah Edminster (Stillwater, OYM)