Psalm 23 - Through the Valley of the Shadow of Death

Tom Shrader examines the pivotal shift in Psalm 23 where David turns from speaking about God to speaking directly to Him in prayer. He explains that the valley of the shadow of death represents life's inevitable hardships and trials, not just physical death. Through personal stories and biblical insight, Shrader demonstrates that while suffering is a given in life, believers can fear no evil because the Good Shepherd is always present with His rod and staff to protect and guide them.

“I used to think that life was mostly green pasture with an occasional dark valley along the way, but I now realize it's the other way around.”

— Tom Shrader

Series: Psalm 23

Recorded: October 29, 2015

Duration: 38 min

Themes: suffering, fear, prayer, protection, guidance, hardship, comfort, trials, facing illness, experiencing loss, going through trials, feeling afraid, needing comfort, struggling believer, pastor, middle aged

Scripture: Psalm 23, 1 Samuel 16:7, Amos 5:8, Job 28:3, Job 10:21, Acts 14, Exodus 33, Genesis 28, Matthew 28, Psalm 142, Psalm 62

Theological Themes: providence, divine protection, psalm, shepherding, pastoral care, biblical prayer, theodicy, suffering

Full Transcript

Open your Bibles or your phone app to Psalm 23 and a pivotal point in the Psalm. I mentioned to you Sandy's teaching a Bible study right now and she's teaching Psalm 23. Last night she was giving me this insight and I was so grateful. She went off and she said I think this is a big deal. Because it resonated with me, if it resonates with her, my hope is it makes a difference for you.

As you look at Psalm 23, verse 1 through 3, David is speaking to us. When he gets to verse 4, there's a shift and David speaks to God. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me." It takes more the tone of a prayer and for the balance of this, David is speaking to God in a prayer form.

We said it's this verse that's probably led over the years to so much confusion, the idea of the valley of the shadow of death. This Psalm is so associated with death and dying when in fact it's exactly the opposite. It is a Psalm that is about living. I think part of what I love so much about the Scripture is it's so realistic.

Understanding Your Audience

I'm teaching four Sundays in a row in four very different environments. I taught last Sunday at our West Mesa congregation, so that's bilingual with an interpreter. This Sunday I'm teaching in Tucson. A week from Sunday, I'm at Gilbert and that's the campus that I know the best, and then on the 15th I'm at New City Church, which is down around McDowell and Central. Four very distinct audiences.

When I help guys or talk to guys or look at myself in the teaching part, it's to understand what it says and get the so what and the now what. But you have to understand who you're speaking to makes a huge difference. Years ago, when I got into studying audiences, I came across a stat that said anytime you speak, you should assume about two-thirds of the people are in a time of hardship or difficulty, maybe extreme.

Got a text last night. I was supposed to meet a guy Saturday in Tucson, he's a triathlete. Just think of me and go the opposite, that's him. We're supposed to have dinner Saturday night, younger guy, I would guess about 45 or 50. I just got a text last night, he just yesterday afternoon had a massive stroke.

Life's Inevitable Hardships

It may be suffering at that level, it may be suffering at some very trivial level, everything in between. For sure, if you're not in that now, at some time you will be. We're coming up on holiday. I just RSVP'd for our staff Christmas party. Holiday is a great time, I mean, I really like it. I have an app, I listen to like a half of a Christmas song almost every day. There's something about Christmas that's kind of goofy.

But holiday has so much to it. One of the things that I've dealt with over the years is holiday has a lot of hurt and pain to it, a lot of people for whom it brings up really difficult memories. A lot of what Sandy might call forced fellowship, where the family's going to get together, and this is going to be different this year. You got nuttiness, and add booze, it's not going to be good. It can be really hard, and part of the key to that is to understand with expectations.

I want you to know that I get this, I get how tough life is. In the midst of that, the answer that I need is in the 23rd Psalm. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. All the things we've looked at: He makes me lie down in green pastures, that's rest. He leads me by still waters, that's refreshment. He restores my soul, He leads me, that gives me guidance. Today, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, that's testing. I'll fear no evil, there's protection there, for thou art with me.

The Shepherd's Journey

In the shepherd's life in Palestine, they would, as much as they could, stay down in the fields, down in the lowlands. But it did not take much, especially in the summer, for the sheep to destroy any sort of grass or grazing opportunity. So they'd go up into the hills, and it was a very dangerous trek. I'm told there were poisonous plants, wild animals, narrow passageways, difficult. They would get up as high as they can, and then the fall, the snows would come first, and it would drive them down into the valley, the valley of the shadow of death. It may be that that's what David had in mind when he wrote this.

The Lord said to Samuel, as he's going to find the king, "Go, and I want you to be different." You've probably said, "I know that's in Scripture, I don't know where." Let me give you where: 1st Samuel 16:7. God says "Don't look at the appearance or at the height of his stature, because I reject him, not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, God looks at the heart." Samuel says to Jesse, "I got all your boys here, king's coming out of here, is that all?" And he said, "No, I've got one, he's the youngest, he's tending to the sheep." So it could be that David's flashing back to these moments as he writes this psalm.

God's Faithful Presence

"I will fear no evil, thou art with me," God's faithfulness. "Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me." Again, for us, not a relevant picture, but becomes relevant when we fill it in. I'm told that each shepherd would try to find a customized rod.

Would take a sapling and they would get one that kind of fit for their stature and their strength. They would take them and work with them, cut them, and polish them. There was even a contest about who could use this in a defensive way to protect the sheep. The sheep at night would pass under the rod and the shepherd would do an intense inspection, going through the wool looking for any sort of animals or birds or whatever there might be.

God and the picture of this rod—we need to fear not because the rod is a picture of God's authority and power and discipline, His defense of us. The rod conveys that concept. The rod is a picture of God's Word. The staff is symbolic of God's Spirit. The staff would have a little crook in the top of it, and the shepherd would use it as a little baby lamb would wander away. He would hook that and gently pull it back to himself or to the mother. It's the picture of God as we wander, gently correcting us, guiding us again and again and again.

The Shepherd Who Knows You Perfectly

I made a list just of the words we've seen—the idea of your sheep. He's the shepherd who knows you perfectly. In my conversation with Sandy, we keep coming back to this every time: the shepherd knows you. He customizes His relationship. It's like you as a parent with your kids. If you're a good mom or good dad, you know when to push, you know when to back off.

It's like a coach. I remember talking about Coach Wooden, and one of the things that Coach Wooden would do is he never treated his players the same. They were 12 different players. He treated them all uniquely. He knew, for example, that he would have to get on Walt Hazard a little. "Golly gee, gosh darn it"—okay, now that's vulgar for Coach Wooden—and he'd have to line up Walt Hazard. But when it came to Gale Goodridge, if he started with that, Gale didn't respond to that.

My daughter Sarah is way different than Haley. When I'm dealing with Sarah, it's pretty straightforward. Not harsh, but it's pretty firm. If I give her that much space, she's going to take it. Where Haley, it's totally different. I never once spanked Haley, and I was a pretty strict parent. I never once spanked her. You didn't need to. She was a kid where you just had to add water, and she'd raise herself. She was more mature when she was eight than I was, and she'd correct me.

Well, here you go. The shepherd knows you individually. The Lord is my shepherd—personal. Knows what I need, leads me, guides me, directs me. He's ever-present. Takes me through the valley of the shadow of death.

The Reality of Darkness and Difficulty

There's a darkness there. Amos 5:8 speaks of the darkness that was present before creation. Job 28:3, the darkness of a mineshaft. Job 10:21, the black hole in the abode of death. The words associated with anxiety, dread, fear.

In Acts 14, Luke tells us that Paul and his guys, after they had preached the gospel to a city, they made many disciples in the city, and they returned to Lystra and Antioch, Iconium. And here's what they did. They strengthened the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, saying, "Through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God."

Here's the thing, and I guess I'm always surprised by it, because I hear about it. I've never taught it, and I've never been in an environment—I'm a product of, hopefully, the Holy Spirit applying His word in my life, but my teachers were Larry Wright, and in those early days, in a broad sense, John MacArthur and Chuck Swindoll and Ray Steadman and Tozer that I'd read, and those guys. I never had anyone even imply to me that things would be easy and smooth. I never had that. I never had somebody that said, "Boy, now you're a Christian, every deal will close. Every marriage will work. Every relationship will be terrific." I never had that.

A Realistic View of Life's Struggles

There was a guy by the name of Dave Roper. He was on staff at Peninsula Bible, which is where Ray Steadman was. So because of me just tracking Steadman's stuff, I came across Roper, and he wrote this. See if this doesn't fit:

"I used to think that life was mostly green pasture with an occasional dark valley along the way, but I now realize it's the other way around. There are days of surprising joy, but much of life is a veil of tears. When people tell me life is hard, I reply, 'Of course it is.' I find that answer more satisfying than anything else I can say. Every year confirms my belief that life is indeed difficult and demanding. Any other view of life is escapist."

The path by which God takes us—so again, kind of a reference to the shepherd and the sheep. The path by which God takes us often seems to lead us away from our good, causing us to believe we've missed a turn or taken a wrong road. That's because most of us have been taught to believe that if we're on the right track, God's goodness will always translate to earthly good. That He'll heal, deliver, exempt us from disease and pain. That we'll have money in the bank, kids who turn out well, nice clothes, comfortable living, leisurely retirement.

In that version of life, everyone turns out to be a winner. Nobody loses a business. No one fails in marriage. No one lives in poverty. But that's not the real one. That fairytale ending never matches up with my personal experience. And I don't think it matches up with what the Scripture teaches.

The Reality of Feeling Alone

Psalm 142, David writes, "No one is concerned for me. I have no refuge. No one cares for my life." Don't you feel like that? Maybe not in here, because you all come in and it's early in the morning still. You still look pretty fresh and the day hasn't fallen apart quite yet. And you kind of have it together. And at this point now, some of you have acquaintances, maybe friends in here. So you're going to put on a good show for them.

But inside, "No one is concerned for me." Do you ever feel like that? Not feeling sorry for yourself. Just an accurate assessment. "No one's concerned for me. I have no refuge. No one cares for my life."

No refuge. Where do I go? No one cares. Well, the psalmist in Psalm 23 says God does.

I taught at least some part of reference to Psalm 23 about ten years ago on a Sunday morning. I got this email from a couple who had a son in a foreign country far away, and it becomes self-explanatory. Let me read it to you.

"I just wanted to thank you for your excellent teaching on the 23rd Psalm. Little did we know when you began the series how much of a comfort it would be to us and how soon we would need it. As you know, we have a son and his family. In the best of times, separation and distance from them is hard, to say the least, and difficult at times. In fact, almost unbearable.

A week ago at three o'clock in the morning, we received a phone call that every parent dreads. Our son had been in a very serious car accident, striking a power pole. He was traveling at over 50 miles an hour. By God's grace, he survived the initial impact. Dazed and confused, he tried to get out of the vehicle, not realizing that four high-tension wires had fallen on his truck. He immediately came in contact with one of them, was electrocuted and thrown about 20 feet, knocking him unconscious.

That night during our prayer time, before going to bed, God placed a real burden on our hearts to pray for His protection. We didn't know why, but now we do. When we received the call, we almost fell apart. In addition to the shock of the phone call, the realization of miles of separation hit us. Then immediately, all of your words from the previous week, the verses from the psalm, came to our mind, and we began not reading, but praying the 23rd Psalm.

Through that long, dark night, He did let us lie down in green pasture. He did lead us to still water. He did restore our soul. I had always thought that that verse, 'yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,' referred to my death. That night, we walked through the valley of the shadow of death with our son, and we knew that God was with us.

God truly performed a miracle. We later learned that when the paramedics arrived at the scene, our son was conscious and walking, still wearing the burned shirt from his contact with the wire. The paramedics told our daughter-in-law that they'd never seen someone receive that type of shock and survive, much less be walking. They told her he was a walking miracle. The verses of the Bible are true, are relevant for our time, and do have an impact on our lives. When David wrote those verses, given to him by God so many years ago, I could not have imagined how comforting they would be to a family in a land so far away at a time so different than his."

The Danger of Happy Endings

Now, there's one thing about that email I don't like. If you've been around, you know what it is. It has a happy ending. The problem with reading that is you now assume every time you get in a car and get electrocuted, you should be okay. That God delivers them from some hardship and somehow He owes you that too.

No, no, no. The point is not the end. The point is the process. In the middle of agonizing circumstances, the Lord is your shepherd. The norm is not a good sweet time.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn writes this: "Suffering ripens our souls." F.B. Meyer said, "If we've been told that we're supposed to be on a bumpy track, then every jolt along the way simply confirms the fact that we're on the right road."

A Different Kind of Christmas Story

I'm teaching at Scottsdale Bible Church December 12th and 13th. Every time J.B. asks me to teach, and I'm probably there three or four times a year, I get all nervous. Because it's not a home game for me. Everybody's got their big old Bibles. They know it better than I do. They're very nice to me and gentle. But I always feel bad for J.B. because he's got an inbox of emails going, "Why do you let him up there? He's wearing tennis shoes. In this whole church, there must be somebody better than you can get up."

So J.B. called in July and said, "Can you teach December 12th and 13th?" I said, "Sure. I've got a great idea for Christmas. I've used it before, but it needs to be honed." He said, "No, I already have an idea." I said, "Well, I have a better one." He said, "No, I have what we're going to do."

He told me what the idea was, and you'll see it on the 12th and 13th. He basically said, "I want to do a biographical sketch of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus." I said, "Okay." He said, "I'm going to do Jesus last, and you can do Mary or Joseph." I said, "Well, I'll take Joseph. Because they're going to expect a lot out of Mary. If I can get anything out of Joseph, they're going to go, 'Oh, he's amazing. I don't know how he draws all that out of there.'"

So I'm reading, and I came across the old "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear," that glorious song of old. I'm on this kick of reading down into the fifth and sixth verses, the stuff we never sing. There's some incredible stuff down there. Well, tucked away in this little Christmas carol are these words: "Yet with the woes of sin and strife, the world has long suffered. Two thousand years of wrong. The love song which they bring. Oh, hush the noise, men of strife, and hear the angels sing."

That first night was not a silent, sweet night. It was an agonizing night. It was the night that the Savior came in, and your shepherd is born. He comes into your life, knowing the hardship and the difficulty.

God's Method of Blessing

I feel like I've said this five billion times. But He comes into that. He doesn't promise to put a bubble over you. A.W. Tozer said, "It's doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly till He's hurt him deeply." Not in some sort of masochistic way. Those trials and difficulties become the aerobics that we're on.

We're really living out the ultimate deferred compensation program. The problem with that is, we start to think only about heaven and miss the benefits along the way. The joy of a marriage that can be more intimate than you ever thought possible. He comes and He brings life in the middle of it. But He brings it through hardship.

I'm obviously a big Iowa football fan and riding high. But a lot of stuff is starting to come out. Last year, Iowa football ended really ugly. I don't know if you remember, but we blew a lead at Nebraska. We had Nebraska buried. Blew a lead. Blew a lead in a game before that. Went to the Tax Slayer Bowl against Tennessee.

I got all my stuff out. Sandy said she'd make game day food. I said I was going to the bathroom. I came back and it was 28 to nothing. It was so bad. Kirk Ferentz - and I'm a Kirk Ferentz fan, I have a man crush on Kirk Ferentz - the interview after the game, he was like, "Well, that's football." Well, that's not how Kirk works.

Learning from Pain

What's come out is that was a tough time. Kirk went back and said, "I watched the film of that post-game interview and I was embarrassed. I watched the way we played." The players said that was embarrassing. They've been pushing and pushing and pushing since January. That plus a nice schedule has made this thing work out to where they're 7-0.

He really did something not many people can do. He learned from really screwing up in a comfortable spot. Pain, when properly handled, can shape a life of greatness. History is replete with stories of those whose struggles and scars formed the foundation of remarkable achievement. In fact, it was because of their hardship that they gained what they needed to achieve greatness.

When I was growing up, there was a phrase we used: "Well, that's life." You know this. You said it yourself and your kids said it. You deal with something and they would immediately say, "That's not fair." But we have a phrase now. Susan hated this phrase. Susan died four years ago tomorrow. It was kind of fresh in there in a way. I still think of it.

"It Is What It Is"

She hated this phrase. When I would say this to her, she hated it. I'd start to catch myself and not say it, but it's kind of the modern version of "that's life" or "it's not fair." It goes like this: "It is what it is." The problem with that, it kind of trivializes the person on the other end.

She was literally laying there dying over a period of months, and I'm saying, "Come on, let's go for a ride." She said, "Tom, I can't get up." "Oh, yeah, you can. I'll help you." I couldn't move her. She'd fall and I couldn't get her up. I'd get her back in bed finally, and we'd do that, and she'd say, "You know, I'm sorry." I'd say, "No, you don't have to be sorry. It is what it is."

She'd be laying there, and I'd say "It is what it is." Never opened her eyes. She goes, "That's not helpful." I'm not saying it's not real. I'm just saying this is the hand I'm dealt. This is who I am. This is all I got. God's saying sometimes that hand is a seven high. That's not a very good hand. In the midst of that, what He's saying is God's going to use that.

Our Response to Suffering

Suffering is a given. How we respond to it is the issue. Suffering's a given. That's coming. Though He leads me through the valley of the shadow of death, David said, "Here's my response. I'll fear no evil." That's my response. Why?

Well, it's a history that God has all through the Scripture. God said to Moses in Exodus 33, "My presence will go with you. I will give you rest." To Jacob in Genesis 28, "I am with you and watch over you wherever you go." To Joshua, "As I was with Moses, so I'll be with you. I'll never leave you." To Israel, "Do not fear. I'm with you. Do not be dismayed." To us, Matthew 28, He says, "Surely I'm with you always."

The Good Shepherd is with you, and because He's with you, you can say like David said, "I'll fear no evil. You're with me."

The Loneliness Epidemic

We have this huge epidemic problem of loneliness. For a long time, it was guys don't know how to have friends. I lived through a billion of those men's retreats. We're going to go out and we're going to be transparent. Well, that isn't going to happen. I'm not going to tell you. Are you nuts? They're not going to do that. I got a couple of guys and I'm not going to tell them everything.

Then all of a sudden, it was now women can't be transparent. They're in the marketplace, same thing as men. We have a transparency problem. We have a loneliness problem. Well, who do I go to and where do I go in the middle of all this? To a bar, to a counselor, to self-help, to the friend next door.

One of the things that's happened, and this sounds like a criticism but it's an observation, is we've substituted small groups for everything in the church. It's the answer to everything: get in a small group. Well, I don't want to sit with five couples I barely know who haven't even read the passage.

We want to welcome Betty and Bob who are here for the first time tonight. "Betty, Bob, thanks. Tom, it's your turn. What's your biggest sin?" "I don't write enough thank you notes." I mean, what am I going to say? Betty, I don't know you, Betty. Betty is getting ready to blog whatever I say. That ain't happening.

Where to Go in Loneliness

Where do you go in that? I used to go to a bar. Everybody knows your name, or self-help, or read a book. I got all that. But ultimately, where I can go is the Shepherd. This loneliness thing is not solved by people. There's seven billion people on this planet, and we're lonelier than we've ever been.

The Real Solution to Loneliness

I can't get away. I remember the first time, I did not want to go on a cruise. And finally, Susan said, we're going. You, and me, and the girls, we're going. And the reason I didn't want to go is I don't want to be on a boat. And everywhere I turn, I got some guy from Bemidji bugging me with some stupid question. I don't want that. I want to get away by myself.

Well, what I found on the boat is I could get away. So think about that. Now you're on a ship with 2,500 people. If people were the solution to your loneliness, you'd just stay on that ship. People aren't the solution. And I need the people. Part of how God, and I want to be clear, part of how God reaches me is through people. But the real issue is, why so downcast, oh, my soul? Put your hope in God.

You weren't made to go it alone, not meaning I need a bunch of people. I do. I got all that. But I need God. I can be sitting, here you go. You got Sun Devil Stadium tonight. So what, do they cut it back to 55,000 seats so they can fill it? So you're going to be sitting there in the midst of 55,000 people, lonely as can be. 55,000 people, you could narrow that down. And you're going to have people that continually disappoint you. Here's why. Not because they're bad, but because you're asking them to do what only God can do.

Asking People to Do What Only God Can Do

That person can't give you love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. You've heard us say it. You'll never know God is all you need until God is all you have. God becomes a reality when He becomes a necessity.

When I got the text about the young man that had the stroke, I first met him up here in a Thursday morning PL. And He and his wife were at the front end of life. And there were career questions and kid questions and all sorts of questions. And like anybody, they want you to fix that. When somebody comes to the church, that's the first question we get. Do you have counseling? Oh, wow. Yeah, we do.

And these guys are doing great. They got in Tucson. They're engaged in the community. They're engaged in the church. You know what turned them around? Their marriage got better. OK, hang on now. Because their relationship with Jesus got better.

The Root Issue Behind Relationship Problems

And I used to do men's conference after men's conference after men's conferences. And I'd do a talk on marriage and a talk on kids and a talk on all that. It's all great. It's really good. But once I started teaching theology, I realized that if I'm having an issue with Sandy, it's because I have an issue with God almost always.

We don't have a lot of issues, which could be a huge issue because now I'm blind to the issues we have. I don't know. But I don't feel like we have a lot of issues. But whenever there's a little bit of something, I'm always going, OK, God, what did I do in this? What's my contribution to this? How do I love her? You loved me. I want to grow close to you.

The intimacy that I need in this life, first and foremost, is not with Sandy or with the church or with my friends, though I value all of those. Intimacy I need most is an intimacy with God. That He's my shepherd. That all of a sudden, He is all I need. And He's all I have.

The True Nature of Loneliness

Back to the loneliness. Here was something I came across. Loneliness is not the absence of faces. It's the absence of intimacy. Loneliness doesn't come from being alone. It comes from feeling alone, feeling as if you are facing death alone.

Last time I was at Chandler Regional Hospital, and I was in there for my chemical stress test. And so I'm moving around pretty good. And they're redoing the hospital. And it's under construction. And as you come in, there's a main entrance. But it's very confusing getting in there.

And the beds are full. Admissions is now down in the old ER. It's under construction. It's not their fault. It's under construction. There's a lady laying on a gurney in the hallway. She looked old. I mean, older than you guys. That's how old she looked, old, 90. And she looked like I imagine a dying person looks, kind of gray, mouth droopy. And I said to Sandy, look at that poor lady. First of all, there's not much dignity laying in a hallway. Not much dignity in the hospital to begin with, really. It's very, you're pretty transparent there. Imagine dying alone.

Never Truly Alone

I told that story yesterday. And a guy came up. He said, I was at a conference in Colorado and got a call. His mother was in a nursing home. They said, your mom's sick. We're not sure. But we just took her to the hospital. By the time he got down, in fact, she had been very sick. And she had died. And He was mad.

And He said to his mom's sister, this is totally wrong. No one should die alone. And his aunt said, this is really good. She didn't die alone. Jesus was with her. See, ultimately, that's where I go. Though He leads me through the valley of the shadow of death.

Psalm 62, my soul finds rest in God alone. Weeping may remain for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning. Perfect love casts out fear. So I've got to get what I know in my head to my heart. We'll pick up right there next week.

Father, thank you for that amazing truth. So practical. We can use that right now. God, thank you for that truth. Drill it deep into our heart. We pray that and ask it. In Jesus' name, amen.