Valley of the Shadow of Death

THE VALLEY OF THE

SHADOW OF DEATH

Many sermons have been taught on the 23rd Psalm.  Most of these sermons focus on the Lord as our provider, protector, comforter, etc.  The Psalm even mentions being comforted and protected while traversing one of the scariest places we can imagine...the Valley of the Shadow of Death.  Doesn't that sound awful?  The Psalmist rests assured that he (we) are covered by the hand of G-d — bearing rod and staff, of course, even in this awful place.

But where is this terrible valley and why would we ever venture there?

Let's look at the context surrounding the verse.

First of all, we should back up to the previous chapter, Psalm 22.  This chapter is thick with prophetic verses about the Messiah's crucifixion.  To understand just how significant this passage is, understand that King David, author of this Psalm, died just over 900 years before the birth of Jesus.

Verse one begins with the very phrase that Jesus uttered on the cross, "My G-d, my G-d, why have you forsaken me?"  (Matt 27:46, Mark 15:34).  This was Jesus' cry of despair on the cross.  In verse 6, we really begin to hear the despondency in the heart of the writer.  Remembering again why Jesus was on the cross in the first place (to bear the load of our sins… all of our sins), one can imagine that Jesus was feeling an extreme burden of shame and remorse, one that we should have felt for our own depravities.  "I am a worm and no man; a reproach of men, and despised by the people" (verse 6).   Jesus bore this emotional weight for us as well as the physical pain he suffered on our behalf.  He was brought to his lowest point so that there would be no point lower where we would have to go.  He even went so far as to go to the gates of Hades (Matt 12:40).

And he suffered Death.  Death can be defined as a separation, a dividing of things that ought to be united; G d and Man, Body and Soul, etc.  Peter says in Ephesians 2:1 that to be in sin is to be dead. This type of separation is an alienation from life and hope. It is this "death" of the spirit as well as the death of the body that Jesus suffered on the cross.

The next few verses of the Psalm describe the horrors inflicted upon Jesus for our sakes.  He was humiliated, gawked at, and stared at (verse 13), he was punctured and his bodily fluids flowed out like water (verse 14), his bones were disjointed but not broken (verse 15), his hands and feet were pierced (verse 16), his garments were taken from him and the soldiers actually gambled for possession of them (verse 18).

But then, he commends his soul to the Father, and we see a distinct turn in the tone of the Psalm to that of rejoicing for salvation.  After crying out to G-d for deliverance, Jesus dies on the cross and the end of verse 22 says "You have answered me." For mortal men, death would be the end.  Done.  For Jesus, it was also the end.  The deal was done.  Our sins had been paid for by his blood.  BUT, he took it one step further and not only conquered our future sin, but he conquered our death as well.  He defeated Death, the great separator.

And all of this took place on a hill called Golgatha (Calvary), outside the city of Jerusalem.

Now lets move to the other side of Psalm 23 to the 24th Psalm.

Psalm 24 opens right off by establishing the fact that the whole earth and all within it belong to G d by the very fact that He created it.  The passage dares anyone to be bold enough to approach the Creator of the Universe.  The scriptures here indicate; however, that G-d is looking for someone worthy to stand in His Holy Place (Heaven) with Him.

And we know that there was one with “clean hands and a pure heart” (verse 4), who never bowed to idols -- and we all know that means more than just graven statues...idols can be any number of things we allow to come before G-d in our lives.  He has not been one to use foul language or take the Name of G-d in vain.  There is only one who has not succumbed to the natural, sinful proclivities of human nature.  And verse 5 says that this one "shall receive blessing from the Lord".  Now, that's not to say that we can't all receive His blessings (more on that later), but for now, we are looking at the other side of the One who bore more sin upon his soul than any one of us could even begin to commit alone.  He was crucified and died for each of us, bearing the full burden of all of us, and yet he was without sin of his own.

Jesus lived his life as a perfect example such that no man can point to him to justify wrong deeds.  He was above reproach and set for us a very high standard.  It is a standard that we can never reach on our own, but that's okay because G-d built in a little secret we can use to achieve the standard anyway.  We just have to disguise ourselves as the Righteous One.  We do this by believing in the sacrifice that Jesus made for us, accepting the "get out of jail free" card he has given us, and forsaking our sinful nature in an effort to be more like our Lord and Creator. We are then given a Mantel to wear that proclaims us as equal to him Who Knew No Sin, and we too can have the blessings of the Lord!  In theory, it sounds simple.  And it is meant to be.  We're the ones who complicate things.

Merriam-Webster defines a VALLEY as "an area of low land between hills or mountains; a low period, point, or level."

So, following his crucifixion on the hill called Golgatha (Calvary), we now see that Jesus has taken his place on another hill… Mount Zion.  Psalm 9:11 says to "Sing praises to the Lord, who dwells in Zion!".  Zion, also called the City of David, refers to the temple mount in Jerusalem and it is here that the final victory of the Lord will take place when this world is done (Rev 14:1).

Between Psalm 22 (the hill of Golgatha) and Psalm 24 (Mount Zion), we find the infamous Valley of the Shadow of Death.  "Yea though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me" (Psalm 23, verse 4).

At the beginning of our walk as believers in G-d, we metaphorically climbed the hill to Calvary where we laid our weaknesses before the Lord and confessed our sins.  We took His strength upon us and invited Him to dwell within us.  All is now perfect!  Right?  Well, not really.  As we all know, when we first believe, things are bright and uplifting.  Our sins have been forgiven and we have been given a new hope and new purpose!  We can achieve anything.  And then life happens.  We return to our daily living where our old ways tap gently (and sometimes not so gently) on the window of our soul, asking to be let back in. And we often succumb.  We will sin again, it's inevitable.

As we proceed on our journey, we walk with G-d by our side, down the other side of Calvary's hill.  As we walk with our new Shepherd, he leads us through some really wonderful places.  We enjoy walking by His side and we feel loved and protected.  But again, life doesn’t stay like that in the human realm and it is often too easy to get distracted by the demands of our worldly lives.  We tend to amble away from G-d.  We stray off the path that He was guiding us along and, even though we know he never forsakes us, we sometimes find ourselves in places where we are sure he will not abide.  We fail him.  We forsake him.

And we let Satan have a voice.

Satan uses our own conscience, our thoughts, our faulty memories to torture us with our many failings.  He reminds us of our weaknesses and the pitfalls in our lives where we have given up or given in.   He shows us our darkest side.  Imagine that this Valley of the Shadow of Death is a low place, not just physically, but spiritually… a place where we are furthest from G d.  As we walk out of the light and toward darkness,  (which is anywhere aside from the path of light) the voices of sin and despair can become louder than the gentle voice of reason and righteousness.

Death becomes a looming Spector, either to be feared or desired.  The Shadow blocks the Light.  Pain (physical, emotional, or spiritual) is a driving force and sometimes the intensity of our despondency can lead us to a place where we no longer fully comprehend the luring dark nature of death.  That Shadow becomes our companion rather than the Giver of Light.  But even in this valley, where Death is the predominant force, G-d is still watching over us and still willing to protect us and shelter us from the destruction of our souls and our spirit.  He is our Defender in the Valley of the Shadow of death.

And the good news in all of this is that even the Valley of Death is merely a point on the map of our journey through life.  It is not a dwelling place, it is a place of trial.  When we go there, if we go there, we are like “Christian” in Pilgrim's Progress in the Slough of Despond.  We have three choices.  We can go back and forsake our journey, we can drown and die of indecision and despondency in the midst of the Slough, or we can accept the hand of Help (Holy Spirit) and move forward on our journey. Help is always there, waiting to be called up on.

Once we pass through the Valley, we are rewarded.  G d has prepared a feast in our honor.  Those who would do us harm are left to watch us prosper and be filled with joy.  If we run back to the arms of G-d and back to the path he has prepared for us, we will find a place of goodness and mercy where we can dwell with him forever (verse 6).  And where is this place that the Father and Son have prepared for us?

Just up that hill there… Up to Zion.