We're going to continue this morning in our study and meditation of Psalm 23. So if you have your Bibles, please turn to Psalm 23 with me. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul. He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. And even 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. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You have anointed my head with oil. My cup overflows. Surely, goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Father, thank you for your grace and your goodness. Thank you for your words of comfort and encouragement and strength that we get from your word. And especially as we've been looking at this psalm. Lord, I pray that you will move in our hearts and minds this morning and that you will do your good work. We pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen. Last week, we started in verse four. We looked at the fact that there's a bit of a transition that goes on in verse four in that whereas the sheep is personified in this psalm and it is the sheep who is kind of bragging about the shepherd. He begins to, in the psalm, out of telling us all of the great things that the shepherd does for him. But when we come to verse four, he moves it more instead of just telling us what the shepherd does or who the shepherd is and all of the benefits that he derives from that, that he now shifts it and saying instead of he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake, and then he describes As he walks in the valley of the shadow of death, he says, I will fear no evil for you are with me. And so he makes this transition where no longer is the sheep talking to us, but he's talking to the shepherd. And as David sees this, no longer is he telling possibly the congregation or the assembly who is there, no longer is he talking to us directly to us, but now he focuses his attention upon Yahweh himself and says, I will fear no evil because you are with me. And we looked at this last week, is that just a number of things that kind of catch us up is That is, he talks here about the valley of the shadow of death or the dark valleys that the shepherd leads the sheep through and that is necessary for the sheep to go to oftentimes to get to the lush green pastures and the quiet waters and all of the things that we normally would look to and say, those are the things that I want. Oftentimes the path that leads to those are through the dark valleys. through the valley of the shadow of death. And we noticed, we brought out last week, that oftentimes, as the shepherd would lead through the dark valleys and through the shadows that would be created through the ravines and the mountains or wherever they might be passing through, that there would be opportunity for predators to come and to attack the sheep, to surprise the shepherd and to scatter the herd. And yet for this sheep, as he realizes the goodness of his shepherd, that even though they're walking through these dark valleys in the dark ravines, you have you can confidently say that even though that might be the reality of my experience, I can I will fear no evil because the reason is, is because the shepherd is with him. And we looked at this a little bit last week, too, is the fact that the thing that really has stuck out to me here is that, you know, again, my the typical way that I think is that we live each day, yes, in the awareness and the presence of God, that that God knows everything about us. He sees our lives, our lives are laid open before him and he sees every detail of our life. He sees the deepest depths of our heart and our own souls. And yet, as we we look at this, there is a sense in which there is a comfort in that, that God sees us because he accepts us. And I've said this before that I think it was J.I. Packer who said, there is nothing about us, nothing in our closet, so to speak, that can disillusion God as to who we are, because he already knows what's in our closet. He already knows the deepest resources of our life. He knows what we're like. And he's accepted us in his son, if we trusted in Christ as our Savior, he's accepted us in his son. And so there's a sense in which we can say, I don't have to put on a front before God. I don't have to pretend in the presence of God that I'm somebody that I'm not. He knows who I am. And he's accepted me in his son. There's also a sense of accountability, though, that as we live our lives and I mean, there's a sense in that that God sees everything that I'm doing. He knows what what I'm thinking. He knows all of those things, both good and bad. And there's a sense of accountability before that, because even even when nobody else is around, God is. And he knows what we're doing. He knows what we're thinking. He knows all of those things. And so there's a sense in which the psalmist says, where can I go from your spirit? And the ultimate answer is that there's nowhere we can go from God's presence. He knows where we're at. He knows what we're doing. He knows who we are. And so there's a sense of of fear and reverence in that thought. An incentive for holiness. But the thing that strikes me here is that, again, the fact that the psalmist says that that it's as he goes through the dark valleys, as he goes to the valley of the shadow of death, the fact that he will fear no evil is is because not only because the shepherd knows the circumstance. But because the shepherds with him is the presence of the shepherd. That causes the sheep to pass through and say, I don't have any reason to fear because the shepherd is with me. And so we looked at that last week, and I'm going to do this sometime is go through all of the commissions that we see in in the Old Testament, especially we see some in the New Testament, but whenever God commissions one of his servants to do something, there are many times. And I'm not sure that it's every time. Where? The incentive for them to obey and to not fear is God telling them, saying, I will be with you. We see that with with Isaac and Jacob and and Moses and Joshua. We see that in the New Testament, in the Great Commission that we receive all authority in heaven and earth is given unto me. It starts and it ends and, lo, I am with you always, even until the end of the age. And so we sense that God's presence is with us and it gives us the courage. It gives us the confidence that we can do the things that God has called us to do, that we can walk through the dark valleys that God has called us to go through. And we know that like last week, we saw as we looked at this first part of this verse is that the valleys of the shadow of death. The ultimate experience for us is the kind of the unknown, the mystery, which which we really don't know what to experience or what what to expect, per se, is is when death is at our door. But again, the confidence that we can have is that that the shepherd in this particular place, the Lord Jesus Christ, for those who have trusted him, he goes with us. And the confidence that we we have in that that he is with us is is that he knows the way. Because he himself has gone before us. He's traveled that way before. He's been victorious over the grave. He's been victorious over death. And therefore, we can have confidence that not only is he with us, but that in being with us, he knows the way and he will see us through. It's interesting here, as I was thinking about this verses, is that it doesn't necessarily have to even relate to our own lives. When it comes to death. When it comes to the dark ravines, when it comes to the dark experiences, it can be really a number of experiences that that we have in our in our daily life and our experiences that can be included in this dark ravine. That a lot of the mystics, as they wrote about the dark night of the soul, the experiences of going through these dark times. Is that God is with us and God will be with us. But even this morning, as we think of Scott's family and others who right now are experiencing the valley of the shadow of death. And, you know. We experience this not only when we ourselves go there, but when our loved ones go. And the confidence that we can have is that somehow trusting in the shepherd, that even in the midst of that, and maybe that's even harder to go through is when somebody else is going through it and you no longer have control over it. I mean, I think of that, if I were to lose a loved one, there's somehow now they are, not that they were ever totally in my control or care, but, you know, that's the ultimate giving over to trusting in the shepherd's care. And David saying, I will fear no evil because you are with me. And then we see this phrase, your rod and your staff, they comfort me, which in some ways I can see what David's saying here. But in other ways, it's hard for me to completely understand what David is referring to here. The rod was something that the shepherd would have as a part of a weapon and It would be more like a club that he would maybe carry in his belt and according to. I forget the guy's name that wrote the shepherd looks at Psalm 23. His name slips me right now but he says that oftentimes the shepherds will use this not only to beat off the. predators that might come, but he was very skilled with it and could throw it, like one would maybe throw an ax or something like that at something and was very accurate and could really do some harm as he throws this as a weapon to save one of his sheep. And so we see that it was a rod, it was a weapon, it was a form of defense by which he would keep the predators away from his sheep. We see that also He uses the staff, and he says the rod and the staff. And the staff would be that which the shepherd would use to help him as he walks along. It would help him to steady as he climbs. It would also be a tool that would be used to gather in a wandering sheep. It would be a tool, if it had a shepherd's crook to it, that he could reach down in places he normally wouldn't be able to reach. If a sheep or a lamb had fallen, he would be able to lift the sheep to safety. And we see that in these two instruments really has a picture of both of God's protection, but also of God's discipline that he has in the life of a believer. And for the shepherd or before the sheep, for David, as he communicates this is that there is a sense in which God's protection and his discipline are a sense of comfort to him. And yet, as I look at this, I think, Well, God's protection does not mean that we never experience bad things in our life. I mean, you think of it in the shepherding aspect of it, it's it's protecting the sheep, it's it's being able to defend against the wolves and and the thieves and the predators that would come to to harm the sheep. But in our own lives, we experience bad things. I mean, as we look at it humanly. Look at the Christians around the world who are being persecuted for their faith as they would come to the psalm. I'm wondering how would they understand this psalm and saying, you are rod and your staff, they comfort me. How would that ultimately offer someone who is being persecuted for their faith, being tortured for their faith? How would that how would they understand this psalm? And yet, ultimately, it is referenced not to merely the physical aspect of life that we look to in the comfort and the encouragement that we receive from from this song. But the context is in the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil as through the valley of the shadow of death, especially the dark ravines, that is especially true where the shepherd or the sheep experience the comfort that comes from the rod and the staff. both in protecting against predators and thieves and in making sure that the sheep doesn't wander off. And as I think about that, the predators, as they come and the rob that would be used against the predators, I think of that verse in John chapter 10, where Jesus says that the thief comes only to steal, to kill and destroy. But I've come that you might have life and you might have it abundantly. And that's what we experience, the spiritual aspect of death, of trials, of those experiences that we go through. And ultimately, I guess, as we look at death itself, it is where the rod and the staff will bring us comfort. And that ultimately the verses that we looked at earlier as we looked at the first part of the psalmist as the Good Shepherd, Jesus being the Good Shepherd, and the verses that we see according to that is as relates to comfort and encouragement and the confidence that we can gain from those tools that David describes here in the life of the shepherd and the sheep and the shepherd taking care of the sheep. We see in John, chapter 10, in verses 27 and 28 where Jesus says, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. I give eternal life to them and they will never perish. And no one will snatch them out of my hand. Now for me as I look at that and I think of ultimately, the ultimate experience As we pass through life, as we pass through this life and what is in store in the future and the eternal aspect of it, it is in this sense, then the rod and the staff, the tools and what they represent, the authority even that is represented through the shepherd's staff and rod. Bring comfort and encouragement and reassurance in the presence. Of the shepherd is that word that says, I give eternal life to them and they will never perish. And no one will snatch them out of my hand. See, that's the confidence that we can have that when we trust in Christ as our Savior, when we recognize that that we're sinners. And there's nothing that we can do in and of ourselves for the forgiveness of our sins or to to be acceptable before God, and we throw ourselves in complete abandon, realizing that that I can't do it. It's impossible for me to do it. But when I throw myself on abandon at the Lord Jesus Christ and recognize that he has made the way that he has completed the way through his life, death and resurrection, that that his work is finished. And when we trust in his finished work, then we receive the forgiveness of our sins and have the hope and the assurance of eternal life. There is confidence. There is assurance in that as we pass through this life, knowing that that our lives could end at any moment. And yet in that we realize that that There is no need to fear. Because our Lord will not lose any of them, no one can ever snatch us out of his hand. Another passage of scripture that deals with this, that brings us comfort in the idea of his protection over our lives and ultimately bringing us to the destination that he has for us in his presence. We find in verse 31 of Romans, chapter eight, he says, what shall we say then to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? That is an unbelievable question that we need to ponder. If God is for us. Who is against us? And we might be able to come up with all kinds of names and who is against us, but the point of this question is who is against us in comparison to God? If it is God who is for us, it really doesn't matter who is against us. In some senses, I mean, as we look at the ultimate. For he says he who did not spare his own son, but delivered him over for us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies who is the one who condemns Jesus Christ. Is he who died? Yes. Rather, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us? Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, for your sake we are being put to death all day long. We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered. But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And that, in the sense of our walking through the dark valleys, our walking through the valley of the shadow of death, is what gives us hope. It is what gives us comfort. It is what gives us assurance that God is with us, that we cannot lose. There's also a sense in which the staff represents His discipline. And oftentimes, as we think about discipline, and especially as we're growing up as kids, we don't appreciate discipline. We don't appreciate being spanked as children. I remember the line that I always got as a kid. I always tried to use the excuse of, I forgot. And of course, you know what the follow-up line is that, let me help you remember. And so we would proceed to, get a remembering lesson. But there was much more to it than that. And as adults, hopefully we can look back and say, you know what? I realized that as unpleasant as it was when I went through it, I really see that the discipline that my father gave me, sometimes maybe fairly, sometimes unfairly, was really an act of mercy. that God demonstrated in my life to keep me from going down paths that I should that I that I'm glad that I didn't go and that I knew that I shouldn't go because I knew that if I did, there were consequences. And so there is there is a reason for discipline. In our lives, there is a reason for us, that's why the writer Proverbs says that our own children, as we get adults, we realize there is a need for discipline, there is a need to give them that kind of love. But we see this all especially brought out in Hebrews, chapter twelve and verses four through eleven, where the writer Peter says, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin. And have you and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, my son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by him for those whom the Lord loves. He disciplines. I think that is something that we need to memorize. For those whom the Lord loves, he disciplines and he scourges every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as with sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them. Shall we not much rather be subject to the Father's spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them. But He, God, disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful. Yet to those who have been trained by it, Afterwards, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble and make straight paths for your feet so that the limb, which is lame, may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. And so the writer of Hebrews is writing in the context of which people are being persecuted for their faith. He writes this to them, a sense of discipline. To view the hardships of their life, to view the things that are happening in their life as the discipline of the Lord and His producing in them holiness and righteousness. And just like we said, when you're getting a spanking, it doesn't seem very pleasant at the time. That's an understatement, but now I can see the positive effects, the fruit of righteousness that that produced in my life. And so also with the discipline of the Lord, the Lord disciplines those he loves. As I think about this and this whole thing, it used to be, I think, a little bit more common to talk about the rod. of the Lord and it relates to the experiences of life and how the Puritans especially viewed God's discipline and the hardships in their life as God's rod, not in a negative sense of God's waiting with a rod to come down and just waiting for one of his kids and, you know, kind of daring them to step out of line so he can whack them with the rod. I think sometimes we can have that view of God. He's just waiting. He's just waiting for me to mess up so he can nail me. And, you know, I think that says more for our misconception of who God is than it does about anything else. But maybe that's all that, you know, is your experience. But it is understanding that when God disciplines us, it is because of his love. But one particular story is, for me, has had, I guess, a sense of awe, a sense of comfort is the experience of Sarah Edwards. Mary, too, the great Jonathan Edwards. Jonathan Edwards, towards the end of his life, he had a shot or a vaccination, and I forget exactly what the vaccination was for, if it was smallpox or something like that that he got the shot for to protect him, but he had an adverse reaction to it, and it ended up taking his life. They were separated, and they had to send someone to tell Sarah that her husband had died. Initially, one of their children was with Jonathan Edwards, and she decides to write her daughter this letter. My very dear child, what shall I say? A holy and good God has covered us with a dark cloud. Oh, that we may kiss the rod and lay our hands on our mouths. The Lord has done it. He has made me adore his goodness that we had him so long. But my God lives and he has my heart. Oh, what a legacy my husband and your father has left us. We are all given to God. And there I am and love to be your affectionate mother, Sarah Edwards. But as she sent this letter to her daughter, her daughter died before she received this letter. And so, again, we see what Sarah would experience as she saw it as a rod, not in a negative sense, but in a sense of which ultimately I think we must all come. This is we must be convinced that through the scriptures that God is good, that he does not make any mistakes, that he is righteous and all that he does. And that's really what Abraham was was interceding for when he came to when the men came, they were going to go down and destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. And he said, will not the judge of all the earth do right if there's what about if they're righteous people in the cities? And so. God said, if there are righteous people in the city, then we'll spare it. And, you know, we ended up that that lot in his family were were allowed to leave or were actually driven from there and the cities were destroyed. But really, I think that that has to be the conviction that and and it's a conviction that we need to come through as we look at the scriptures and say, you know, is God good? Can I trust him? Can I really trust him? Through all the experiences of life and and we see testimony after testimony from the writers of Scripture, from from even people throughout history as they go through these experiences that that are beyond what we can probably even imagine as they give testimony and saying God is good, even in the midst of their trials, even in the midst of losing loved ones and losing all that they have, their their conviction was God is good. It doesn't mean that there wasn't any pain. It doesn't mean that there wasn't any sorrow, suffering. They had come to the resolve that God is good. He doesn't make any mistakes. And even though I don't understand the experiences of my life at this particular time, yet I can resolve to say, God, I don't understand. I'm hurting. I'm confused, maybe. And yet the one thing that I'm not confused of is that you are good. And you don't make any mistakes. And because that when I experienced the discipline, the rod of your discipline, I can say, You're good. You're good. And I can see the benefits of that. And we can look at passages and say, God causes all things to work to good for those who love God are called according to his purpose. But, you know, sometimes when the rubber meets the road, we're confronted with that, aren't we? Sometimes it's easy just to say it, to quote it, to read it and be encouraged by it. But when we're going through it, that's when we really need the presence of the Lord. To know, That yes, Lord, I don't understand, but you're good. In the midst of all this, like Sarah's testimony, I can kiss your rod and knowing that you're good, that you're holy and that you're loving and that you'll bring me through it. And I think ultimately, as we look at that, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil because you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Yes, I might experience persecution. I might experience the bad things of life. But in the midst of it, I know that there is nothing that's going to come into my life that is not somehow by your permission, by your design to bring in my life something good and holy and righteous. And so therefore, I can say I will fear no evil. for you're with me, and take great comfort and reassurance and even courage from the fact that the Lord bears the rod and the staff for a purpose. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your grace and your goodness. And Lord, I do pray especially this morning for the Nagley family as they go through the loss of a loved one. Lord, as they go through the valley of the shadow of death, You make them ever aware of an overwhelming sense of your presence. And may they know an overwhelming sense of comfort. Be with them, minister to them, help them. And Lord, for all of us as we go through those times, The trials and suffering there might be others here that I don't even know about what the experiences of their life are that the dark valleys that they're experiencing at this time in their life. Lord may you help them to come to the place where they resolve to know that no matter what their circumstances is that you are good. and that you do good, and that you don't make any mistakes. And Lord, may you cause them to come and to throw themselves at your feet and to kiss the rod and to know that you have good for them. And Lord, may they be comforted and encouraged and reassured because of your rod and staff. In Jesus' name, Amen.