week 4 - Psalm 23:4

4/13/2020

Psalm 23:4
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.

Think back to some of the times when you have faced a “dark night of the soul,” as Matt described.
While suffering is never enjoyable, one of its benefits is that it shows us when we are following false shepherds. Matt specifically mentioned the “shepherds” of health and wealth. When we place our confidence in our bank accounts, what happens when we come up short one month on our mortgage? Or can’t afford groceries? When we place our confidence in our health, what happens when we get sick? Or find ourselves on the other end of a freak car accident? These are false shepherds and cannot provide for us the way Jesus can.
Reflect on the suffering you have faced in the past or may be facing presently.

How has it revealed to you the ways in which you might have followed false shepherds? Where did you place your confidence? In what ways has this lead to fear?

In verse 4, David proclaims that he will “fear no evil” while facing the valley of the shadow of death. The reason he gives for this is because God is with him.

How does God’s presence remove our fear of evil? In what ways would a deeper focus on God’s presence have changed the way you responded to difficulty in the past?

David shows that not only is God with us, but God comforts us in the midst of trials.

Have you experienced this? Why is God truly the only thing that can comfort us no matter what valley we are facing.

How can God comfort our world in the valley we currently are walking through?

9 Comments

James Brown link

4/13/2020 07:36:31 am

Paul wrote of Israel and myself [Ro 15:8] when he penned "For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge." Rom 10:2. When saved thinking what I heard from any who were in the pulpit would give me what I needed. I later learned of "False shepherds" ["For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ" 2 Cor 11:13; continuing through verse 15]. But I had a promise from God that I learned later on in "Let us therefore, as many as be perfect [complete Strong's #5046] be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you." Phil 3:15. Even later then in how to books and commentaries, but again God's promise was revealed. I quit all the other books and decided that all I needed was God's Word [2 Tim 3:15-16. But that it was on me to do what it said the way it said it; [2 Tim 2:14-26]. Removal of fear [2 Tim 1:7] is to understand who one is in Christ and what one has received being in Christ, then to exercise faith in that position of "in whom" [Eph 1:4-14].

The last two questions are answered by: "And he said unto me, "My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness." Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." 2 Cor 12:9

all scripture is selected from the Authorized King James Version.

Jessie Litchfield

4/15/2020 07:30:19 am

How has it revealed to you the ways in which you might have followed false shepherds? Where did you place your confidence? In what ways has this lead to fear?

My false shepherds were revealed to me almost systematically, one by one they were taken away. The big ones were my belief I could order my life in a way so I’d never be hurt again by the death of a loved one, but people kept dying and I couldn’t change that. There was my trust in my family’s religious upbringing, then sin going back generations was revealed and that shepherd fell too. There was the time a fraud check posted to our bank account and left us with a negative balance in the thousands and Charlie was on a river trip and couldn’t be reached, two shepherds (my faith in money and its stability, and in my husband being able to comfort me in any situation) were suddenly gone and that was a big “OK, I give” moment with God. I don’t think “fear” is an accurate word for what I fell in each of those moments, I was surprised I trusted so much in those things, terrified at what could come next, and that I couldn’t trust anyone or anything (which thank God, was true!)

How does God’s presence remove our fear of evil? In what ways would a deeper focus on God’s presence have changed the way you responded to difficulty in the past?

A growing awareness of who God is has changed the way I respond to difficulty and I would mourn for the previous versions of me but I can’t because these experiences were leading me to this shepherd who doesn’t fail, who knows me and my past, and has promised never to leave me.

How can God comfort our world in the valley we currently are walking through?

I think God can comfort our world in practical ways but also by using this lack that so many feel right now, this trust in so many things that are failing or are poised to fail, and leading them to a place where they see his sufficiency. There is great mercy in our suffering because it shows us all the ways our effort will never be enough.

Richard

4/15/2020 09:04:58 pm

There is great wisdom in that last sentence, Jessie. Thank you for the reminder that there is great mercy in our suffering because it can drive us to the only sufficient one!

I am reminded of the story of the lost sheep, and how the shepherd leaves the 99 safe sheep and goes to find the one who wandered off. It is his mercy to let us know our danger, to feel the cold, so to speak, and then to gently come take us home. There is an intensity in our longing for Him in those moments that could never be experienced without the suffering.

Sheri

4/16/2020 01:54:29 pm

I have followed the false shepherd of self. Self reliance is an idol I struggle with and I think it stems from my childhood and having to handle most things alone, a middle child I am. Now, He has brought me to a place where my confidence is in Jesus. I do not always operate out of that truth, but I find myself more than not relying on Him and I am so grateful to Him for that. The biggest fear it had led to was the fear that I don’t matter...to anyone. And that led to fearing God would take away my children because I mattered to them and I knew they do not really belong to me. What a crazy awful way to think. However, in His mercy, He gave me Samuel and his bone condition and the way He has carried me through this and how faithful and merciful He has been, that ridiculous fear has been melted away. Through the suffering of my life, He has brought me to a deeper revelation of Him and His perfect love for me. This has made all the difference. I can truly say though I walk through the valley of death, I will not fear. He has shown me that this verse is true. In answer to the last question, I believe through His Gospel we are comforted, no matter where we walk or what we walk through. Praise be to God our Father and to the Lord Jesus Christ. Xo

Stephanie Bolme

4/17/2020 09:57:10 am

My first marriage was one long valley, but God used it to teach me things I would need in two more recent valleys; valleys that literally were of the shadow of death. When Mark had his heart attack, the Lord repeatedly brought to my mind scriptures I’d learned years earlier as an abused wife. When Mark was diagnosed with cancer, the first day I really felt the weight of it and began struggling under it, the Lord arranged for a song to play on the radio that spoke of what I had been crying out for, His strength in my weakness. Once again, He’d taught me years earlier to cry out to Him in my weakness.

These two valleys were also used by the Lord to remind me to not make Mark a false shepherd. During my first marriage I would escape into an imaginary world where I was married to a man who treated me well. This was my “false shepherd.” If only I could be with a good man, everything would be alright. The Lord taught me that He is the faithful Shepherd, not some imaginary man. Then He gave me Mark, a man who far outshines anything I could imagine. I think by asking me to give Mark over into His hands, not once but twice, the Lord was reminding me to not place my security in my husband.

In this current situation, knowing the Lord as our faithful Shepherd lets us leave everything in His hands. He knows what we are facing, big things and small things. I found it a little funny that I’m not at all afraid of dying, but I had to surrender the loss of my regular routine into His hands. At first, I kind of beat myself up over struggling with something so relatively trivial, but then I remembered that God does indeed care about the little things, not just the big ones

Eric Rossman

4/20/2020 02:51:30 am

Thanks for sharing Stephanie. It is very encouraging to see how past struggles/valleys transform us when we face similar valleys later on. I think this is when we see the goodness of God and how he has been faithful in the past. I recently have had times where I noticed myself respond to valleys with more peace and faith than I would have in the past. I know that it is because of the goodness of God that I have learned to lean on and trust God through other difficulties. It encourages me because when I was going through past difficulties they often seemed pointless, but now I see what they have produced. I love that God's work in our hearts is something we can see and observe. He is a good God.

Toni Muller

4/19/2020 09:50:34 am

When I first read “following false shepherds” I thought “No, I haven’t believed false prophets and unbiblical teachers,“ and by God’s grace that is true. But then I read, “Where do you place your confidence?” and remember Matt’s examples of other compulsions, culture, other people, money, contrlo, health, etc., which give a much broader meaning to the term. For me, food (especially sugary food), my own performance in several areas of life (parenting, work, seeking to being a good friend, service). And while I haven’t followed the health and wealth teachers, nevertheless, I have seen how deeply the idea of blessing for obedience runs in me, even though I know that the perfectly obedient One suffered greatly and that godly brothers and sisters around the world are persecuted because of their faith.

The false shepherd of food leads to the fear of diabetes, heart disease, inflammation, and other illnesses stemming from poor diet and weight gain. While it may give temporary comfort, it ends up in guilt. The false shepherd of performance causes a terrible fear of failure – and failure is inevitable. Self-reliance is a heavy burden to bear, a never-ending list of “must dos.”

God’s presence removes fear because He is the only one who will never fail, who will never leave, who has no negative side-effects. In fact, the side-effects of trustin Him are joy and confidence in Hm. I have definitlely experienced this when I turn from false shepherds and look to Him instead. It is not my natural tendency, though, and I often have to talk myself through the steps when I sense anxiety or fear in my heart. “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” (Psalm 42:5)

COVID-19 is forcing many to examine where they put their trust. This is a great opportunity for the gospel, to point people to the only True Shepherd.

4/19/2020 09:55:46 am

Does anyone recognize where this was filmed? Maybe the Mount St. Helens area? If anyone does, than you, because I really want to go there!

4/19/2020 09:53:06 pm

From Rightnow Media: "This was filmed in Idaho at Sawtooth National Forest and Craters of the Moon National Monument & Preserve!"

week 4 - Psalm 23:4

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