{"id":812,"date":"2019-06-16T11:26:58","date_gmt":"2019-06-16T15:26:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newhopeforlife.org\/?p=812"},"modified":"2019-06-23T11:05:45","modified_gmt":"2019-06-23T15:05:45","slug":"walking-through-the-valley-of-the-shadow-of-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.newhopeforlife.org\/2019\/06\/16\/walking-through-the-valley-of-the-shadow-of-death\/","title":{"rendered":"Walking through the Valley of the Shadow of Death"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"http:\/\/www.newhopeforlife.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/6-9-19.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Psalm 23\n<ul><li>Recap from last week:\n<ul><li>The Lord is our Shepherd.\n<\/li><li>He leads and guides us into the abundant life\n<\/li><li>We need to choose to submit to Him and be good sheep\n<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>If we follow the Lord as a good shepherd, He leads us along the paths of righteousness.\n<ul><li>These are paths of justice and prosperity\n<\/li><li>The path from Egypt to the promised land was a path of righteousness.\n<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>The paths of righteousness sometimes go through dark valleys\n<ul><li>The reference in the psalm is not one of wandering off in sin.\n<ul><li>The shepherd would not be leading and guiding if that were the case.\n<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>Israel experienced dark valleys on their trip out of Egypt\n<ul><li>Dry places\n<\/li><li>No food source\n<\/li><li>Enemy nations blocking their path\n<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>Sometimes the Shepherd knowingly brings the sheep through these dark and scary places.\n<ul><li>He knows at times these valleys are the best way to get the sheep to the higher ground &#8211; the place with the peace and the blessings.\n<\/li><li>These dark valleys are the situations and circumstances that cause us to grow.\n<ul><li>The valleys provide a lot of cover for predators &#8211; especially wolves.\n<\/li><li>The sheep in this situation have no choice but to trust the Shepherd for guidance and protection.\n<\/li><li>God knows that humans will only grow and developed when pushed.\n<\/li><li>He brings us through these dark valleys in order to teach us to depend more on Him.\n<\/li><li>These are also tests for our faith. When our faith is tested patience is further developed in our lives.\n<ul><li>James 1:2-3 tells us that we will be perfect and complete, lacking nothing\n<\/li><li>Romans 5:3-4 tells us that the patience causes us to develop character, which in turn develops hope.\n<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>Sometimes its necessary to take us out of a green pasture for a bit\n<ul><li>David after being in his green pasture for some time started to get a little bit complacent and allowed sin in.\n<ul><li>Bathsheba\n<\/li><li>Absalom and Amnon\n<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>Contrast this to points in his life where David was being led through dark valleys\n<ul><li>Generally this took the form of opposition\n<ul><li>Goliath\n<\/li><li>Saul\n<\/li><li>Exile from the palace\n<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>The fullness of God\u2019s character in David was on display during these times.\n<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>The Lord always has another green pasture at the other end of the valley for us. We just need to follow His lead\n<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>Romans 8:28 &#8211; God is working all things out for our good\n<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>The good shepherd doesn\u2019t desert us\n<ul><li>John 10:11-14\n<\/li><li>Hebrews 13:5-6\n<\/li><li>Story about Author Kenneth Wilson\n<ul><li>Choice about having the light on but not his dad\u2019s presence or his dad sitting with him in the dark.\n<\/li><li>He chose the presence in the darkness\n<\/li><li>We\u2019re better off having God\u2019s presence with us while going through a dark place than to be in the light by ourselves\n<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>The shepherd\u2019s tools\n<ul><li>The shepherd\u2019s rod\n<ul><li>Described as a 2 foot long club\n<\/li><li>Used to protect sheep from predators\n<\/li><li>The Lord offers us His protection in these dark valleys &#8211; if we stay in his presence the enemy won\u2019t harm us\n<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>The shepherd\u2019s staff\n<ul><li>A long walking stick with a crook at the top\n<\/li><li>A gentle tap can be sufficient to guide a straying sheep back the way they are supposed to go.\n<\/li><li>The crook can be used to grab hold of and pick up a sheep that has stumbled and fallen.\n<\/li><\/ul><\/li><li>David saw these as comfort\n<ul><li>Knowing God will protect you\n<\/li><li>Knowing God will lead you in the right direction to get through the valley.\n<\/li><li>Knowing God will pick you up if you stumble\n<\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Psalm 23 Recap from last week: The Lord is our Shepherd. He leads and guides us into the abundant life We need to choose to submit to Him and be good sheep If we follow the Lord as a good&#8230;<br \/><a class=\"read-more-button\" href=\"http:\/\/www.newhopeforlife.org\/2019\/06\/16\/walking-through-the-valley-of-the-shadow-of-death\/\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newhopeforlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newhopeforlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newhopeforlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newhopeforlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newhopeforlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=812"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.newhopeforlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":818,"href":"http:\/\/www.newhopeforlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812\/revisions\/818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.newhopeforlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newhopeforlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.newhopeforlife.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}