THE CODE 16 april 2025 www.goodnewsfl.org Good News • South Florida Edition "Yea, 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" (Psalm 23:4 NKJV). There are a lot of voices and volumes around today telling us how to live. Self-help books and motivational videos are a dime a dozen in our world. But there is only one book that tells us how to die. And there is no one verse in this Book of all books that is more poignant and pertinent to the subject than the fourth verse of the most famous of all the chapters of the Bible, Psalm 23, the Shepherd’s Psalm. Tradition holds that King David penned these words about “the valley of the shadow” while sitting in the Judean wilderness between Jerusalem and Jericho. This spot is known today as Wadi Qelt. It is a long valley, four and a half miles in length, and its canyons are as much as fifteen hundred feet deep in some spots. As David sat atop this vast expanse, he saw a spectacular site as he took pen in hand and wrote the twenty-third Psalm. To this day you can sit at this spot as the sun casts a shadow over the canyon on the sheep trails winding their way up and down and across the rugged terrain. It was there David wrote, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me.” This one sentence speaks volumes of God’s promise to us of our sure victory in death. Making it personal An amazing thing happens as we journey verse by verse through Psalm 23. The first part of the psalm is packed with third-person pronouns: He makes me to lie down in green pastures. . . . He leads me beside still waters. . . . He restores my soul. . . . He leads me in paths of righteousness. But then something very up close and personal happens when he begins speaking about death. The pronouns in the psalm change to second person, indicating God’s closeness to us in the “valley of the shadow.” David now says, “You are with me. . . . Your rod. . . . Your staff. . . . You prepare a table for me . . . You anoint my head with oil.” As a pastor, I have witnessed this on many occasions at the deathbed of believers. The Lord draws very near to them as they cling to His promise, “You are with me.” Death has its own way of making Christ more personal and near. People deal with their own mortality in many different ways. Some flee it. They go to the extreme of cryonics, freezing their bodies in hopes that future medical breakthroughs can bring them back to life at some later date. Others forget it. They simply reject the idea altogether, assuming it will somehow go away if they simply never think about it. Then there are those who fear it. They live lives paralyzed with no hope or security in Christ. But there are others, like David, who face it. Realizing their days are already numbered in eternity, they have no fear of death because they know the Lord is “with them.” David said, “I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.” He didn’t rush toward it. Nor did he crawl, seeking to postpone it as long as possible. He was not dragged toward it kicking and screaming. He simply walked, comforted by the fact that God was with him, and he was not alone. A temporary passage Death is just a sojourn. David indicated that he walked “through” the valley. Death was not his final destination. It was only a brief sojourn, a temporary passage. He knew this path was not a dead end with no way out. It was not a cul-desac that got him nowhere. The believer does not walk “in” the valley and stay there. We who have placed our trust in Christ walk “through” the valley. It is just a short and temporary passage from this life into eternal life. Through a shadow There is tremendous comfort in this passage knowing that death is simply a shadow. In Proverbs 30:5, David’s son, King Solomon, reminded us that “every word of God is pure.” Note carefully that David said this is the valley of the “shadow” of death. No believer ever walks through the valley of death, simply the “valley of the shadow of death.” The Lord Jesus is the One who walked through the valley of death for us — for three days and three nights. Then He emerged alive again from the empty tomb exclaiming, “Behold... I have the keys of Hades and of Death” (Revelation 1:18). Thus, the believer only walks through the valley of the “shadow” of death. A shadow might frighten you, but it cannot harm you. As you approach the front door of your home at night and are about to place the key in the door, the porch light might cast a shadow that causes you to step back a moment in fear, but nothing about it can harm you. And the only way a shadow can be cast is if there is a great light shining. David said he walked “through” the valley of the shadow. That is just what we do with a shadow — we walk right through it. It is no wonder in the very next verse David said, “I will fear no evil.” He knew death was defeated; it was only a temporary passage “through” a shadow into the light. He could “fear no evil” because of the knowledge that the Lord was with him. Jesus has conquered death, hell and the grave (Revelation 1:18). It is no wonder we, too, fear no evil. We have a precious promise when we arrive at our own appointment with death. We can join David in the confident assurance that “You are with me!” Because Jesus said, “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore” (Revelation 1:18), those of us who are believers need not fear death. We are only headed “through” the valley of the shadow of death, and Jesus is with us every single step of the way. There is victory not just over death but in death as well. A promise and a prayer “For this is God, our God forever and ever, He will be our guide even to death” (Psalm 48:14). Lord, what comfort to know that I do not have to fear death. It has “lost its sting.” And thank You for the promise that when that time comes for me, You will never leave me. In Jesus’ name, amen. Taken from The Promise Code by O.S. Hawkins. Copyright © 2022 by Dr. O.S. Hawkins. Used by permission of Thomas Nelson. O.S. Hawkins is the Legacy Pastor of First Baptist Church of Fort Lauderdale and chancellor of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has served pastorates, including the First Baptist Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and the First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, for more than 25 years. A native of Fort Worth, Texas, he has a BBA from Texas Christian University and his MDiv and Ph.D. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. For almost a quarter of a century, he served as president of GuideStone Financial Resources, with assets under management of $20 billion, serving 250,000 pastors, church staff members, missionaries, doctors, university professors, and other workers in various Christian organizations with their investment, retirement and benefit service needs. He is the author of more than 40 books and regularly speaks to business groups and churches nationwide. All of the author’s royalties and proceeds from the Code series support Mission:Dignity. You can learn more about Mission:Dignity by visiting MissionDignity.org. - Dr. O.S. Hawkins - Chancellor, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary The Promise of Victory in Death A woman sits against the background of Wadi Qelt in Judean desert, Israel
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