Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me. (vs 4)
Remembering conversations with my mother before she died. We would talk on her porch for hours on my weekly visits to her as she was wasting away from the colon cancer that finally took her from us. Knowing her death was imminent, she wanted to talk about her anxiety. Not about "being dead" so much as the process. The "walking through the valley of the shadow of death." The journey to heaven is long for most cancer victims. It is a treacherous and unforgiving disease that eats one up a little at a time. So the "shadow" is cast long before the ailing soul flies free.
"When I get to heaven, I know I will miss you more than you miss me," she often said.
Really? Could she honestly be thinking that she would miss anything when she is in the presence of Christ?
But what she really felt was this. I am going out alone, into the unknown, without benefit of your company.
That was true. I could not go with her or for her, though I think I would have on both counts. Death is a solitary process. Except. We have this promise. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil because You are with me. He holds our hand in life. He holds our life in death. Those of us who know Him leave this realm to be greeted by His glowing brilliance in the next. To be absent in the body is to be present with the Lord.(2 Corinthians 5:8)
The shadows of death could also refer to the dangers present in the wadis in Judah where darkness casts deep shadows across the desert so that it is easy to fear their realities to be bandits or wild cats. I think of some of the shadows we might worry about. Devastating illness can foreshadow death. Bankruptcy, abandonment, divorce or separation throw darkness over our lives and create fear. Is He our shepherd then, too.
The thing is to stick close to Him. In everything. If He is our shepherd, He is aware of all that is happening to us and we should fear no evil. He is establishing the parameters of our joy and our suffering. He is keeping us in and evil out. The dogs that would tear us to pieces have to come through Him first. And at the very last breath we take, He is with us - here and there.
Remembering conversations with my mother before she died. We would talk on her porch for hours on my weekly visits to her as she was wasting away from the colon cancer that finally took her from us. Knowing her death was imminent, she wanted to talk about her anxiety. Not about "being dead" so much as the process. The "walking through the valley of the shadow of death." The journey to heaven is long for most cancer victims. It is a treacherous and unforgiving disease that eats one up a little at a time. So the "shadow" is cast long before the ailing soul flies free.
"When I get to heaven, I know I will miss you more than you miss me," she often said.
Really? Could she honestly be thinking that she would miss anything when she is in the presence of Christ?
But what she really felt was this. I am going out alone, into the unknown, without benefit of your company.
That was true. I could not go with her or for her, though I think I would have on both counts. Death is a solitary process. Except. We have this promise. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil because You are with me. He holds our hand in life. He holds our life in death. Those of us who know Him leave this realm to be greeted by His glowing brilliance in the next. To be absent in the body is to be present with the Lord.(2 Corinthians 5:8)
The shadows of death could also refer to the dangers present in the wadis in Judah where darkness casts deep shadows across the desert so that it is easy to fear their realities to be bandits or wild cats. I think of some of the shadows we might worry about. Devastating illness can foreshadow death. Bankruptcy, abandonment, divorce or separation throw darkness over our lives and create fear. Is He our shepherd then, too.
The thing is to stick close to Him. In everything. If He is our shepherd, He is aware of all that is happening to us and we should fear no evil. He is establishing the parameters of our joy and our suffering. He is keeping us in and evil out. The dogs that would tear us to pieces have to come through Him first. And at the very last breath we take, He is with us - here and there.
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