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“Even when I walk through the valley of deep darkness,
I will fear no evil…”
Psalm 23:4
Psalm 23 is what biblical scholars
call a song of confidence.
We all need a song of confidence
sometimes. Because we all
encounter trials, we all face fears, and we all find ourselves in places and
moments where deep darkness seems to drown out every ray of hope. Those places where plans and dreams fade
to black, where everything we thought we knew, both present and future, is up
for grabs.
What will you do when your greatest
fear looks you in the eye? When
words you never wanted to hear reach your ears, how will you respond? Will you cope? Or will you crumble? Will you have a faith that stands?
Six weeks ago, a diagnosis
delivered in the tight confines of a doctor’s office gave birth to my greatest
fear. The possibility of losing my
wife looked me in the eye and refused to blink. On March 15, 2012, my wife Heather was diagnosed with a rare
form of cancer in her right eye.
My wife. My best
friend. My partner in family and life
and ministry. Melanoma. Cancer.
For a few lingering, slow-motion
moments, I was ok. I told myself it
would be ok. I gave her a
reassuring look. And then more
words came. Words like “chest
scans” and “liver function.” I
knew what they meant. I’d been
down this road before. My knees
went weak. My head got light. I needed to sit down. This couldn’t be happening. Not her. Not now. Not
like this.
You see, for my family, cancer has
been the bully in the schoolyard for the past 15 years. Occasionally he moves on and picks on
someone else, but not before he has left broken hearts and shattered dreams in
his wake, claiming the lives of people we love. He is heartless and care-less. He doesn’t limit his territory to dark alleys or the wrong
part of town. His patterns are
unpredictable. He doesn’t give a
rip about character or karma. He
finds you in your bed at night, and refuses to relent in spite of the day. As far as I’m concerned, if Jesus is
the image of the invisible God (and He is), then cancer is the image of our
invisible enemy – coming only to steal, kill and destroy.
David and I (and likely you) have
something in common. We both know
a place called the valley of deep darkness.[1] That place where looming darkness
attempts to drown out hope. I
don’t know what David’s valley was.
My guess is that he had many such valleys. Cancer is my valley of deep darkness.
Yet David and I have something else
in common: a tested and proven confidence in God. I love David’s declaration of confidence in Psalm 23 verse
four. “I will fear no evil.” David
would have tweeted it like this:
“I. Will. Fear. No. Evil. #Confidence #Steadfastness.” In the face of darkness - the thickest
darkness.[2] In the face of fear – perhaps his
greatest fear. Confidence in God. Don’t you want that? Who wouldn’t
want that?!?
We would do well to locate the
source of such confidence. David
reveals it in two Hebrew words. We
require three to translate to English, but they are broken up like this:
“You. With me.” The reason for David’s confidence in
the face of evil, in the face of fear and in the midst of darkness: “You. With me.” When
he couldn’t see God. When he
couldn’t feel God. He still knew
that God was “with him.”
David’s statement reveals an important
spiritual truth: Past faithfulness builds future confidence.
A good friend of mine[3]
shared that in a sermon more than five years ago and I remember it to this
day. Not because the words are
profound, but because the truth of it is - as I have witnessed time and time
again.
Past faithfulness
builds future confidence. The
past faithfulness of God builds future confidence in us. By experiencing the loving care of our
Shepherd through daily life as well as times of trial, we know that He will
care for and sustain us whatever may come our way. It is a confidence borne out of experience.
Hebrew scholars tell us that David’s
verse of confidence – “I will fear no evil, for you are with me” – is the apex
or peak of his song of confidence.
That means that everything in the psalm flows up to it or down from
it.
David knew God’s faithfulness – and
he makes this clear in the beginning of the psalm. When he could find no place to rest, God was a pasture of cool
green grass where he could lay down in safety. When the threats of his enemies echoed in his ears, the
reassuring voice of God was as the sounds of soothing waters. And when his soul approached the
breaking point, the Good Shepherd was faithful to bring restoration – in
Hebrew, to “give life back” to his weary soul.
The psalmist’s words in Psalm 71
are so relevant here.
“For you, O Lord, are my hope,
my trust, O Lord, from my youth…
You who have made me see many
troubles
and calamities will revive me again.”
(Psa 71: 5,20)
Past faithfulness built future confidence for David. And God's past faithfulness builds future confidence for us as well.
The confidence you need today is
found in the faithfulness of God in all of your yesterdays.
Author's note: You can find information and updates regarding Heather's condition on her Caring Bridge site... http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/heatherhawks
Author's note: You can find information and updates regarding Heather's condition on her Caring Bridge site... http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/heatherhawks
[1] Many
translations have the phrase “valley of the shadow of death,” however the word
“death” is not there in the original Hebrew text. A more literal translation is “valley of deep darkness” or
“valley of thick darkness.”
Tradition is the primary reason that “valley of the shadow of death”
continues to be a popular reading. The fact that the word for darkness here is
the strongest possible Hebrew word for darkness leads some to conclude that
David must have had death in mind.
[2] The word for
darkness here is the strongest possible Hebrew word for darkness. In Job 28:3 it is used for the darkness
of a mineshaft – the kind of darkness where you can’t see your hand in front of
your face.
[3] Credit for
this memorable phrase goes to my good friend and faithful brother in Christ,
Steven Bronston.
