Psalm 23:4; John 14:15-20
Art Linkletter had a boy on his show one day who remarked: “I’m learning to catch bees. We’ll have all the honey we want for pancakes.” Linkletter replied, “That’s a perfect way to make a hobby pay off. How do you catch bees?” The boy answered, “I wait until they light on a floor, then I run up behind them with a glass jar, and the silly bee thinks the bottom of the jar is the top but it’s really the bottom because it’s upside down and the top is on the bottom, and the bee gets all mixed up”
Linkletter sighed and, no doubt turned to his audience, said, “I know just how the bee feels!”
On any given day, we know just how the trapped bee feels, especially when we find ourselves in the “landscape” of life that Psalm 23:4 calls, “the valley of the shadow of death,” or, as the NRSV says, “the darkest valley.”
Death, sorrow, loss, grief, and pain are these darkest valleys. They can cause us to feel as if we are trapped in some invisible “jar” where the top feels like the bottom, the bottom feels like the top. These dark valleys make us feel as if our world has been turned inside out and upside down, and we feel spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and even physically “all mixed up.”
In our month-long look at the different “landscapes” that people go through in the seasons and times that we spend here on earth, we’ve seen how Christians can face mountains and be victorious when forces push against us and rise up to defeat us. Last Sunday, Pastor Chuck showed you how to face life’s valleys while Ellen and I worshipped in the 250-year-old
Today, we move from the valleys of life to the canyons, for this is landscape that David was really referring to in Psalm 23:4 when he said, “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff – they comfort me.”
The word that David was inspired to write that we translate as “valley” is actually the Hebrew word gay, pronounced gah’ee. It literally means “a gorge” (from its lofty sides; hence narrow.)
Now if we think in terms of pristine, pastoral, alpine valleys that we stroll through when we read Psalm 23:4, we’re really going to be more mixed up than ever because that’s not how the landscape of death, loss, grief, sorrow, and pain feels, does it? It’s not what David even wrote.
For God knows, and David knew, and you know and I know, that death, sorrow, grief, pain, and loss is not pretty, it is not pristine, it is not some lovely alpine valley experience with flower-bathed meadows, babbling brooks, crystal blue sky, and picturesque snow-capped peaks.
No, the “darkest valley,” the “valley of the shadow of death,” is a totally different landscape, and we’ve got to get this straight if we are going to get “through” it. The landscape of death, loss, grief, sorrow, pain, and darkness is a “gorge.” It is a “canyon.” It is “gay”. The lofty sides are sheer and vaulting walls towering above us in the canyon of grief are such that you can’t quickly and easily walk right out of it. You can only walk through it.
At the Last Supper, some 1000 years after David wrote Psalm 23, Jesus knew that His disciples, His worker “bees,” were about to be trapped in a glass jar of their own. They were about to be thrust in the darkest canyon they had ever known. And so in Psalm 23:4 and in John 14:15-20, we find the God-given “map” for navigating through this landscape that is the “darkest canyon,” one that not even Son of God and His disciples could avoid.
Psalm 23:4a; John 14:15-20
One of the most important things for Christians to remember when they find themselves in the canyons that will give them comfort as well as direction and victory, is that God has not left us as orphans. We are not alone.
On our vacation with
Two things spoke to me down under the sea that gave to me a new and fresh perspective to the promise of our Lord in both Psalm 23:4 and in John 14:15-20 that will help me navigate through the darkest canyons in the future.
First, we always had an experienced guide with us on the dives, and on two occasions that experienced guide was my daughter. The guides constantly stayed with us, continually checked to make sure we were alright, and pointed out beautiful fish, coral, sponges, and aquatic life that are found under the sea. I had no fear as long as my guide was with me.
Likewise, when facing the darkest canyons, we need not fear because our God is our Guide who never leaves our side. Jesus does not left you alone, orphaned, without light and direction and help and power. So many people lose their way and even lose their faith in the dark canyons of grief, loss, sorrow, and pain because in the murky waters they somehow have come to believe that the Master has left them. He has not. Just like our scuba guides, Jesus Christ is responsible for your safety and salvation because you put your life into His hands when you were saved, just as I put my life into the master divers who accompanied me on my dives. The Master has not left you in the darkest canyon. He is with you. You are not an orphan, you are His child, you are His responsibility, and you are His greatest treasure. Do not fear and don’t panic.
Just breathe…..
The second revelation from under sea that will help me to better navigate the darkest canyons that await me in my future has to do with my breathing. Under the sea, I had an oxygen tank strapped to me, a regulator in my mouth, and as long as I don’t spit it out, I was fine and could breathe under water…which in reality, was the strangest mental leap I had to make in order to replace fear with faith and panic with peace.
Jesus, in helping to prepare His worker “bees” for the glass jar that was about to be put over them and the darkest canyon they were about to tumble into, reminded them that the Holy Spirit was strapped to their souls like the oxygen tank was to my body. He promised that the Holy Spirit was so close to them that He would “abide” with them and would be in them. Jesus invited them to replace fear with faith and panic with peace because the Holy Spirit, the very breath of the living God, would be strapped to them and would be “in” them, breathing life and strength and power in and out of the spiritual lungs.
So in the darkest canyons of life, in my most profound loss and grief and confusion, I know now that I just need to keep breathing….to keep praying, to keep praising, and to keep filling my spiritual lungs with the things of God, the truth of His word and the promises He has given. In the canyon, don’t panic and spit out the regulator. Just breathe, and you’ll get through it.
You are not alone. Just breathe. Your Guide is with you and His breath is within you.
John 14:19When we hold on to our faith as we travel through the canyons, Jesus promises that He will show Himself to us, reminding us that we are not alone and that He will take care of us.
Remember I told you that our guides, the master divers, would point out things to us under the water that we probably would have missed if their trained eyes had not been there with us?
These master divers carry with them a brass clip that they would use to tap against their oxygen tank in order to get our attention so that they could show us something that we would have missed otherwise. This was important because scuba masks are like Amish horse blinders. They narrow your focus and field of vision so that you can’t see anything peripherally. So you would miss seeing what someone else was seeing because it was just out of your sight.
As a result of their tapping, I saw things that their trained eyes caught that I would have missed otherwise - sea turtles, stingrays, octopi, moray eels, and all kinds of tropical fish.
So it is with the Master when we are swimming through the darkest canyons of life. Jesus promises in John 14:19 that we will see Him even when the world doesn’t it. When you stay in the Lord and with the Master in the darkest canyons, you will see Jesus. He will make Himself visible to you in one way or another. He will give you what I call His “winks,” evidence of His presence with you, tapping on your heart in order to show you sights and revelations that you can only receive when you are in the canyons.
Just as you can’t see stingrays, moray eels, and all these tropical fish unless you’re under the sea, so also are there divine revelations that can only come when you’re in the canyons.
You see, the canyons of grief, loss, and sorrow may be steep, dark, and foreboding, but they are places nonetheless where we are shown more about the person, the character, and the power of Jesus Christ than anywhere else. Canyons are the landscapes where God shows us things, even beautiful things that we don’t see when we’re strolling along and all is well with the world. Beautiful gestures of love and kindness, hugs and handshakes, tears of mutual sorrow, inspiration through cards and tapestry throws, reminders of God’s love through the love of others – these and so many more are ways in which Jesus Christ shows Himself to you and reveals things to you that you can’t find in any other landscape.
When the canyons come, just breathe. When the canyons come, just open the ears of your soul to the “tapping” of the Master. He wants to show Himself to you, to give you a wink, and to point out a blessing that can only be given to you from the bottom of the darkest canyon.
Psalm 23:4bThe rod and the staff of the Lord God will be our spiritual defense and will give us victory over the “shadows” we face when we find ourselves in the canyons.
Every scuba diver that descends into shark-infested waters, like every shepherd looking out for his sheep, comes armed. For the scuba diver, it’s a spear gun and shark repellant. For the shepherd, it’s his rod and his staff.
When we fall into the canyons of darkness, loss, grief, death, and sorrow, the Lord Jesus as our Good Shepherd tells us not to fear because He’s got us “covered,” so to speak, with His shepherd’s rod and staff. He will protect us from the sharks, the wolves, the spiritual predators that lurk in the darkest canyons in the hopes of devouring our faith, our hope, our peace, and our trust in the Lord. Make no mistake, in the canyons you have spiritual enemies that are out to get you and have an easier time getting us because they are of the darkness, they hide more easily in the darkness, and they know we are weaker and more vulnerable in the darkness of loss, grief, pain, sorrow, and death.
But the Shepherd has His spiritual “rod,” which was a club that he would often carry in his waist belt, ready to be pulled out in a moment’s notice to protect the sheep from some predator.
The Good Shepherd also has His spiritual “staff,” with which He rescues us when we wander into life’s thickets or tumble off some sort of cliff…backsliding, we sometimes call it. In other words, with the hooked end of the staff, Jesus reaches into our hearts to pull us back to safety when we’ve wandered into situations that will trap us or hurt us.
The word for “comfort” in Psalm 23:4 is the Hebrew word to “sigh” or “to breathe deeply.” It’s the sigh of peace. It’s the sigh of a relaxed person. It’s the sigh that all is well with my soul. In the canyons of life, when the glass jar’s of life trap us, we need not fear because the Shepherd and Guide who is with us is also armed in the supernatural world to protect us and rescue us with His spiritual rod and staff. So relax and breathe…..
Jesus couldn’t avoid it. David couldn’t avoid it. The disciples couldn’t avoid them. And neither can we avoid the canyons of life. We have faced them, but hopefully now you can face them in the future with greater confidence and comfort, knowing that you will not be left alone, that the Holy Spirit is strapped to your soul and will help you to breathe. Hopefully you will face the canyons less mixed up because you’re seeing things that God wants you to see even as He is protecting you with His rod and His staff.
The rod and the staff of the Lord God will be our spiritual defense and will give us victory over the “shadows” we face when we find ourselves in the canyons.
Every scuba diver that descends into shark-infested waters, like every shepherd looking out for his sheep, comes armed. For the scuba diver, it’s a spear gun and shark repellant. For the shepherd, it’s his rod and his staff.
When we fall into the canyons of darkness, loss, grief, death, and sorrow, the Lord Jesus as our Good Shepherd tells us not to fear because He’s got us “covered,” so to speak, with His shepherd’s rod and staff. He will protect us from the sharks, the wolves, the spiritual predators that lurk in the darkest canyons in the hopes of devouring our faith, our hope, our peace, and our trust in the Lord. Make no mistake, in the canyons you have spiritual enemies that are out to get you and have an easier time getting us because they are of the darkness, they hide more easily in the darkness, and they know we are weaker and more vulnerable in the darkness of loss, grief, pain, sorrow, and death.
But the Shepherd has His spiritual “rod,” which was a club that he would often carry in his waist belt, ready to be pulled out in a moment’s notice to protect the sheep from some predator.
The Good Shepherd also has His spiritual “staff,” with which He rescues us when we wander into life’s thickets or tumble off some sort of cliff…backsliding, we sometimes call it. In other words, with the hooked end of the staff, Jesus reaches into our hearts to pull us back to safety when we’ve wandered into situations that will trap us or hurt us.
The word for “comfort” in Psalm 23:4 is the Hebrew word to “sigh” or “to breathe deeply.” It’s the sigh of peace. It’s the sigh of a relaxed person. It’s the sigh that all is well with my soul. In the canyons of life, when the glass jar’s of life trap us, we need not fear because the Shepherd and Guide who is with us is also armed in the supernatural world to protect us and rescue us with His spiritual rod and staff. So relax and breathe…..
Jesus couldn’t avoid it. David couldn’t avoid it. The disciples couldn’t avoid them. And neither can we avoid the canyons of life. We have faced them, but hopefully now you can face them in the future with greater confidence and comfort, knowing that you will not be left alone, that the Holy Spirit is strapped to your soul and will help you to breathe. Hopefully you will face the canyons less mixed up because you’re seeing things that God wants you to see even as He is protecting you with His rod and His staff.
