I was listening to a Francis Chan message the other day. He was talking about really studying the 23rd Psalm for the first time. Something really struck me when he was talking about the phrase from verse 4, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me;”. He talked about the fact that it says here even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Not “if”, but “when”. So often we do our best to avoid The Valley. We feel like God should protect us from The Valley. That’s not what it says here. It says when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
Think back to when you were a kid. Remember those bullies that always tormented you. Didn’t you ever wish for a superhero to be at your side? If Superman had suddenly shown up, wouldn’t your reaction then be different than it is today? Today, so many of us would expect Superman to prevent anything bad from happening to us. He’d be out there keeping the bad guys from ever getting close to us.
I don’t know about you, but when I was a kid, I would have reacted totally different. If I had Superman next to me, I’d be looking for a fight! I would have walked down every hallway that bullies hung out at. I would have purposely sat down at that table during lunch. I would have looked for every chance possible to let everyone know I had Superman covering my back.
Isn’t that what we should be doing now? We have the Supreme Superhero of the Universe guarding our back. Why is it we seek to avoid The Valley now instead of seeking it out? Remember, Jesus said in Romans 18:3 “…unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
We should be seeking out The Valley. We have Jesus Christ at our side. Head out to THAT part of town and preach the gospel. Head out to THAT part of the world and preach the gospel. Stop being afraid. He didn’t say He would protect you from The Valley, He said He would protect you when you are in The Valley. So come on Satan… “Bring It!”