Sheep in the Shadows

I’ve recently been reading through a children’s Bible at night with my boys. Admittedly, it is not the most solid of children’s Bibles, but the chapters are a good length for my three-year-old. While children’s Bibles vary quite a bit on what they include and how portray some of the tougher biblical events, some stories always make the cut – David and Goliath, Noah’s ark, Jonah and the whale, the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus, etc..

But one common story that may surprise you is the Psalms. Sometime after the story of David and Goliath, the Bathsheba incident gets skipped, and the editor will include a section about David’s songs to God. This is appropriate, seeing as there are 150 Psalms. And without fail, Psalm 23 always makes the cut.

Psalm 23 might be the most famous of the psalms. Many people can recite it and it evokes visions of shepherds and peaceful meadows and streams. It’s the kind of psalm your grandma might have cross-stitched and framed in her house. And a quick reading of the psalm reveals why it is so popular. Phrases like “he makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul” sound nice in the midst of our frantic world. And this is what the kids Bible depicts – a shepherd calmly sitting by a brook as the sheep gentle graze. What a life.

But as I was reading a paraphrase of this Psalm to my kids, I couldn’t help but think that this kids Bible and our popular understanding of Psalm 23 may have missed the point. Read it again, paying special attention to the section’s I’ve underlined:

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2     He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
3     He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
    for his name's sake.

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.

5 You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
    forever.

Yes, the pastures and babbling brooks are in there. But so too is the valley of the shadow of death...doesn’t sound like a great vacation spot. And in verse 5, David is at a table in the presence of his enemies. Sounds stressful.

What is happening to our precious, peaceful psalm? I think what we need to recognize is that God never promises us a life of comfort. Jesus doesn’t promise you good grades. He doesn’t promise you a husband or wife. He doesn’t promise you financial stability or even good health. Look at Job, who had everything taken away. Look at Paul, who is writing letters from prison. Look at John, who wrote Revelation from exile on Patmos. Most of all, look at Christ, who came to suffer and die. And he told us himself that if the world hated him, it would hate us also (John 15:18-25). As he prepares the disciples for his departure, he bluntly tells them: “In this world you will have trouble.” (John 16:33a)

It’s possible that you have no concept of this hardship. But I would be surprised if that’s the case. You don’t have to look far for trouble. Whether it’s the culture wars, Covid, or whatever personal struggle you face, hardship seems to be an unwelcome companion.

The question is, why should we have faith in God in the midst of such trouble? Old Testament hero Gideon gives voice to the cry of our hearts: “If the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us?” It’s a fair question. And the answer comes in the second half of John16:33 – ““In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Jesus didn’t just come to die on the cross. He didn’t just come to be some heroic figure who humbly dies. No – that’s half the story. He came not only to die, but to raise again. He came to take your sin upon him and not just take it down to the grave, but to overcome it. Jesus is the one who makes life out of death. He makes joy out of mourning. He takes our wickedness and makes us beautiful. And if he has risen from the dead and overcome these things, so can you.

We know that in rising from the dead, Jesus has shown us that by faith in him, we too can rise from the dead. If death cannot overcome, what can? You might not see the victory of Jesus manifested in your life now. But the resurrection shows us that when the day is done, the victory will be his. If you are in him, and are a co-heir of Christ, the victory will be yours also. Death will be defeated and all will be right.

So, as you come to campus for the 2021-22 school year, it’s impossible to know what kind of year you will have. Maybe you will have a great year full of success and fulfilled hopes. Or maybe you will face hardship that you couldn’t imagine. In it all, be encouraged by those who have gone before us:

“There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.

39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.” (Hebrews 11:35b-40)