Psalm 23:4
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil;
For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
What is the darkest and most trying hour that you have ever gone through in your life? Think about this, you lived through it to tell the story right? As a believer, you and I will go through some dark and sometimes scary seasons, what could be termed as the valley of the shadow of death. Sometimes when that happens, we interpret that as God having forsaken us and we are all alone.
David understood that even when he was going though those seasons, he was not alone. He knew that God was with him no matter how dark the valley looked like.
I am reminded of the three Hebrew boys as they were thrown into the fiery furnace and immediately a fourth man appeared and was with them in the fire. The fire was not quenched it was still as hot as ever but the fourth man joined them in there and no harm got to them. The only thing that was consumed by the fire was the ropes that were used to bind them before they were thrown in there. They did not even small of smoke, the Lord was there to protect them!
Jesus promised us that we would never be alone;
John 14:16-17 NKJV
16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another [e]Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
That is the reassurance that we have, we are never alone. God is always with us and he watches over us to protect us. Sometimes he will allow some things to happen to us just like with Job and with Joseph but that does not mean that he has forsaken us and he is not happy with us. He is there and all those things will work out for our good, we only need to hang in there and keep trusting!
Reflections
What is the darkest and most trying hour that you have ever gone through in your life? What happened?
Did you feel like God protected you or abandoned you in that situation?
“If God be for us, who can be against us?” What does this verse mean to you?
