Psalm 23:4b
In Israel there is an actual valley called the
shadow of death. Pastor Adrian Rogers description continues, "Even
in high noon, it’s always full of shadows.
And there are caves there, and shadowy places there. And in Bible times
there were bears there, and hyenas there, and leopards there, and there were
robbers, and there were steep places where sheep might fall and it was a
frightening place with grotesque shadows on the canyon walls. And the shepherds had named it the valley of
the shadow of death."
Death. There is a singular word for
what we use four words to say “the shadow of death.” It is used elsewhere than
besides the 23rd Psalm (Job 24:17; Ps. 44:19,
107:10, 14; Jer. 2:6, and a dozen other places) and we all must go through the
“death-Shadow.” Ever since the fall in the garden of Eden, humanity has had a
rendezvous with death.
Something about death seems unnatural. We grieve at
death and avoid thinking of death, even though 100 percent of all people will
die. Adam was told that he would die on the day that he ate the forbidden
fruit, and in a spiritual sense we all were born spiritually dead. One reason
death is so hard to accept may be because we are made in the image of the
immortal God and even the Bible says that God placed eternity on our hearts
(Ecclesiastes 3:11).
Missionary and Writer of the late 20th Century Elisabeth Elliot went through the deaths of two husbands. Also she experienced the sudden deaths of dear friends when her first husband was
martyred in Ecuador. Her first husband's death was sudden,
unexpected and caused by men. The second husband’s death was slow, anticipated
and caused by cancer. Yet both were almost unbearable. She spoke how Psalm 23
comforted her and asked if we all must go through this dark valley, would you
rather go through it alone, or with a shepherd who knows every nook and cranny
of the shadow of death? She chose to walk through it with the Shepherd.
Shadow.
Shadows require light. Jesus is the light of the world and while one day
He will dispel the shadow completely in eternity, until then we can live in the
comfort that the shadow of death implies that His light is simply obscured and
not obliterated.
Shadows have no substance. Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse
said that after his wife died, he was looking for words to comfort his four children
on the way home from the funeral. Suddenly a truck passed by and they were
covered by the shadow of the truck. “Children, would you rather be run over by
a truck or by its shadow?” They replied the shadow, of course. He explained
that 2,000 years ago, the truck of death ran over the Lord Jesus in order that
only its shadow might run over us.
The Good Shepherd has delivered us from death. John
10:11 says, “I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd gives His life for the
sheep.”
For believers, death is actually a release from
sin’s curse. While we may pass in and out of the shadow of death in this life,
one day, we will eventually face our own death. Hebrews 9:27 says “And as it is appointed to all humanity once
to die, and after this comes the judgment.” The inevitability of our
physical death and the following judgment should lead us to make plans for our
spiritual life.
Jesus defined eternal life as knowing Him and His
heavenly Father (John 17:3). Simply put, “No Jesus, no life. Know Jesus, know
life.”
“Thank you Lord for giving your
life for me so that I could experience eternal life. I know I can go through
Death’s Shadow, because I know You. Thank you for being with me. Amen.
