Psalm 23:4 Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for you are with me… I. THE PASS AND ITS TERRORS. "The valley of the shadow of death." Get the idea of a narrow ravine, something like the Gorge of Gondo or some other stern pass upon the higher Alps, where the rocks seem piled to heaven, and the sunlight is seen above as through a narrow rift. And so troubles are sometimes heaped one upon another, pile on pile, and the road is a dreary defile. It is exceedingly gloomy. Some of you don't know such troubles. Do not seek to know. Keep bright while you can. Sing while you may. Be larks and mount aloft and sing as you mount. But some of God's people are not much in the lark line; they are a great deal more like owls. But desponding people, if to be blamed, are yet much more to be pitied. Still, the covenant is never known to Abraham so well as when a horror of great darkness comes over him, and then he sees the shining lamp moving between the pieces of the sacrifice. And there are parts of our life which are dangerous as well as gloomy. The Khyber Pass is still terrible in men's memories, and there are Khybers in most men's lives. No doubt the Lord's ways are ways of pleasantness, but for all that there are enemies on the road to heaven. And then its solitude. This is a great trial to some spirits, and mingling in crowds is no relief, for there is no solitude of the spirit so intense as that which is often felt in crowds. Still, this valley is often traversed. Many more go by this road than most people dream. But it is not an unhallowed pathway, for our Lord Jesus Christ has gone along it. II. THE PILGRIM AND HIS PROGRESS. 1. He is calm in the prospect of his dreary passage. 2. And is steady in his progress. He walks through, does not run in haste. 3. And he is secure in his expectancy. There is a bright side to that word "through." He expects to come out into a brighter country. 4. And he is free from fear. I have read of a little lad on board a vessel in great peril. Everybody was alarmed. But he kept playing about, amused rather at the tossing of the ship. When asked what made him so fearless he replied, "My father is the captain. He knows how to manage." Let us so believe in God. Yet — 5. He is not at all fanatical. He gives a good reason for his fearlessness. "Thou art with me!" III. THE SOUL AND ITS SHEPHERD. "Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me." The rod and the staff, the tokens of shepherdry, are the comforts of the saints. 1. The rod is for the numbering of the sheep. 2. For rule. 3. Guidance. 4. Urging onward. I have had to lay on the rod at times on certain fat sheep not so nimble as they ought to be. But their wool is so thick that I can scarcely make them feel. But the Great Shepherd can, and will. 5. For chastisement. 6. For protection. How David defended his sheep. May God give us all the faith expressed in our text. ( C. H. Spurgeon.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
    |