View source for Confidence in the Great Shepherd

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.<p> Psalm 23:4<br><br>
    The Lord Jesus leads his flock from <em>nature </em>to <em>grace</em> — and from grace to <em>glory</em>. He goes before them every step of their journey, to give them confidence, and ensure their safety. They follow him, and at length enter with him into their Father's kingdom.<br><br>
    But the <em>way </em>in which the Shepherd leads them, is often very rough, and sometimes dark and dreary. David refers to this, when he speaks of, <p>the valley of the shadow of death.<p> Let us consider his words a little. <p>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.<p> Here is,<br><br>
    <strong></strong>
    <strong>A Trial Anticipated</strong>. It may refer to something before death, for death sometimes throws its <em>shadow </em>a long way before it. Therefore we read of some, who through the fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage. And the Psalmist says, <p>The <em>sorrows of death </em>compassed me about.<p> And again, <p>The <em>snares of death </em>confronted me.<p> The nervous system becomes disordered, the evidences of a saving interest in Christ becomes beclouded, alarming circumstances in the world or the family occur — and we are dejected and brought low. It is as if death threw its shadow over everything. Nothing is bright, clear, or beautiful; we weary of life, we long for Heaven — and yet fear to die. Here is the <em>shadow of death</em>, and the <em>substance </em>is not far off.<br><br>
    Or the reference may be to <em>death itself</em>, which as far as it refers to the believer in Jesus, is but the <em>shadow </em>of itself. But it is a gloomy depressing shadow.<br><br>
    Death obscures the sun — and the earth loses all its charms;<br><br>
    it chills the atmosphere — and life is stripped of all its comforts;<br><br>
    it conceals exhilarating objects — and we dwell upon the dismal and dreary;<br><br>
    it produces gloom — and often awakens fear.<br><br>
    But as the <em>shadow </em>in nature, though it may <em>alarm</em>, death cannot <em>injure </em>us — just so the <em>shadow of death </em>cannot injure the Christian. If death is a <em>serpent</em> — it has lost its sting, it has no power to harm us. If death is a <em>tyrant</em> — it is stripped of its authority, and we may smile at its impotence. Jesus, for us, has <p>abolished death<p> — only the shadow remains. He has destroyed, or rendered feeble and ineffectual — him that had the power of death, that is the devil. Therefore he said, <p>He who believes on me shall <em>never die</em>.<p> <p>He who keeps my sayings, shall never taste of death.<p> Which leads us to look at the language of David again, and to notice<br><br>
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