02042023 Proof of Leading

Dear Missionary Lady,

Greetings in the name of our great Shepherd who guides us over mountains and through valleys, through both sunshiny and stormy days.

I know I have shared in the past from Psalm 23. It has been a special psalm to me over the past year-and-a-half, and I have not yet plumbed its depths or exhausted its comfort. I’m pretty sure that I have previously shared the idea of the Shepherd’s guiding being constant, but different. He sometimes leads in green pastures and beside still waters, but at other times we find ourselves in the valley of the shadow of death or in the presence of our enemies. How did we get there? The Shepherd guided us there also.

My new thought for today is about how we know that. Are those just nice-sounding words that people say to encourage us? Is it really possible that our Shepherd guided us in such a way that we ended up in these dark and difficult places?

When we ask such questions, they are usually more practical than theological in nature (our current lives vs. our understood truth). The Bible has many verses that talk about the believer’s path purposefully leading into trials. The Bible also recalls many true-life examples of when this actually happened. Today I want to look just at a few thoughts from Psalm 23 itself.

“The valley of the shadow of death.” No matter how you define that phrase, it is not a good place. It is perhaps one of the darkest places possible. Can the Shepherd lead us into such places? The verse states that even in such a place, we need not fear. So I ask. How is it possible to be in the darkest time of life, yet not fear? The verse gives the answer. It is because the Shepherd is with us. The state of peace and the lack of fear would not be possible any other way. When we walked into that valley, our Shepherd walked in with us.

“The presence of mine enemies.” This is another fearful place, threatening and dangerous, removed from help and resources. Did the Shepherd lead us there? Again, I think the evidence is found in how He treats us in that place. The verse states that even in these circumstances, we are provided for. Our Shepherd deliberately meets our needs. In fact, this is not written as if He gives us a pittance of dry hardtack or a paltry snack to nibble on to hold us over. No, He prepares a table. This speaks of abundance, or at least of the same daily provision that we are used to. Is this not an evidence of the Shepherd’s oversight of our path? We are not abandoned and wandering just because our enemies are near. It is just the next day, the next step, in our journey with the Shepherd, and He provides just as faithfully in that setting as He previously did in the bucolic pastures.

Comfort. In between these two settings of the valley of the shadow of death and the presence of the enemies comes another truth. “Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” Does this assurance connect with the valley of the shadow of death, or with the presence of the enemies, or does it stand alone as an independent statement? If I had to take a guess, I think it is connected with the former. Regardless of the connection, it is interesting that this statement falls right in between the two darkest statements of the psalm. And what it tells us is that the Shepherd knows when we need comfort, and the Shepherd responds by giving comfort. The difficult setting may not be specifically identified, but once again, we got there at the Shepherd’s leading. And once again, the Shepherd is displaying His oversight by responding with comfort.

There are indeed dark and difficult days in the Christian journey. But if the Shepherd is with us, if His presence gives us peace, if He comforts us, and if He supplies our needs just as He always has, then I think that we are precisely where He intends us to be. For now.

May you be comforted and rest in peace in the knowledge of His presence.

Love in Christ,

Peggy Holt

member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA