Scripture: Psalm 23
Sermon: QUESTion: Who Goes With Us?
Sometimes I can close my eyes and still feel like I’m right there. I can vividly feel the child size, wooden, slat-back chair with a hemp rope bottom that was itchy and picked at my white tights. I can feel the smooth table top, smell the musty basement moisture trapped in the cinderblock walls, and the sweet taste of cherry Kool-Aid and vanilla sandwich cookies still linger on my tongue.
I’m in my childhood Sunday school class in the basement of Longs Chapel Missionary Baptist Church. My grandmother is teaching and she has handed us all a freshly sharpened pencil and I run
my finger over the point and smell the fresh shavings and metallic lead. She reads the 23rd Psalm. She has been helping us to memorize it and I almost have it. She hands us what appears to be a high gloss, smooth, square of paper and invites us to use the side of our pencil lead to begin shading the paper. Slate gray markings start to fill the page until, as if by magic, white lines appear, and a picture begins to emerge. I take my time and savor the moment as first I see his feet...then the hem of his robe...then his arms, one wrapped around that cute little lamb, a shepherd staff in the other...and then his face, peaceful, with a sweet smile.
I don’t know why that one day of Sunday school is burned into my memory except that on that day I was sure, for the first time in my six or seven years of life, that I was that lamb in the arms of Jesus, and I felt comforted and safe and happy.
That picture was one of the things that helped me learn that Psalm. Experience taught me the rest. Those first two verses were easy for me to learn, maybe because I had also spent a great deal of my childhood in green pastures and beside still waters. We were a mountain family with a small farm of livestock, but also a family that loved to hike, camp, fish, and play. So when my grandmother read me those first two verses, I had no trouble imagining the places that this shepherd was going to take me because they were already some of the best places of my life.
The other four verses however, would require some age and life experiences to figure out.
I wouldn’t understand what it meant for the shepherd to restore my soul until I had my soul crushed.
I wouldn’t understand the shepherd leading me on a righteous path until I wandered off the path and gotten myself lost.
I wouldn’t understand the crushing weight and severity of the valley of shadow and darkness for another eight years but then I would watch it devour many people I loved.
Its funny how I once thought our Sunday school teachers wanted us to learn this psalm because it was about cute little lambs and it is only now that I can see they were trying to give us a scripture that would be a comforting guide for every aspect of our life journey.
What I don’t remember being taught in Sunday School was that my blissful six or seven-year old experience would be challenged as life got more complicated. Perhaps my grandmother and the other adults at our church didn’t want to burst our childhood bliss with such truth. So, rather than admit that there will be times when we feel alone and lost, as if no one cares…rather than admit that life was going to be a mix of good and bad, of abundance and denial, of light and darkness…rather than admit that truth, they simply would give a comforting hug and say, “everything will be fine.” And that was enough for us….until everything wasn’t fine.
Maybe they wanted to deny the darkness for as long as possible, not realizing that denial simply gives its reality more power. Perhaps they knew that there was really no way to prepare someone for the darkness that would be part of every journey so they taught us this psalm and hoped that when we hit that valley we would remember it and we would know that we are never alone in the darkness and we would look deeper for the shepherd we know is there.
When I think about this quest we are on, the journey of a life lived for Christ, I can’t help but think of other famous quests from literature. Quests in which we find the hero is never fully alone on the adventure, there is always a sidekick to bring comfort and companionship: Don Quixote had Sancho Panza, Tom Sawyer had Huckleberry Finn, Frodo Baggins had Samwise Gamgee. I guess great authors know what precious grandmothers know – life gets hard and challenges can sometimes seem like windmill giants too large to overcome but we do not have to face them alone.
The Psalmist writes as one who has been there, done that. He writes as one who has known the Lord in times of goodness and plenty but now finds himself in a valley of darkness. One might suspect if a good life has turned to struggle that the natural tendency would be to ask, “Where did God go?” “Why am I suddenly alone and forsaken?”
But notice that the Psalmist has grown to trust in God so much in green pastures and still waters that when he ventures into the dark valley and the shadows close in, he is assured that God will be there also. And not only will the Lord be present, but the Lord will be a comforting presence that will lead him back to the path that will eventually lead him out of that dark valley. You see that right? The Lord leads him “through” the valley….all darkness and suffering and shadow will come to an eventual end when the Lord is leading the way.
I used to be afraid of the dark when I was little. I never wanted to venture into dark places unless someone went with me. Having someone by my side comforted me and helped me stay calm. The truth is, having the Lord by our side does not diminish the darkness, it doesn’t change the darkness at all.
Instead, having the Lord by our side changes us – it gives us comfort and courage – it gives us hope and assurance that this time of shadow will indeed pass from us. It reminds us of the best places in life that came before this valley and calls us to know those best places are also at the other end of this valley and we will get through it.
Having the Lord by our side doesn’t change the darkness, it changes us, how we perceive our surroundings and our time in that space. The darkness will try to overwhelm us and convince us that we are alone and isolated and lost – but we, brothers and sisters, know better. Jesus, our shepherd, walks on every mountain and in every valley, we trail in his footsteps, we serve as his sidekick, on a quest for righteousness and justice, for holiness and life.
The Psalmist is in the darkness and knows the feeling of loneliness and suffering but he is perceptive enough and faithful enough to know he isn’t alone. He knows the Shepherd is there to comfort and lead him safely out of the valley no matter what happens along the way. Even if he gets scared and tries to run off to seek his own protection…look at the final verse..
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me….of course we know goodness and mercy doesn’t always follow times of struggle but the Hebrew word for "follow" has another translation – "pursue."
Even if the valley of darkness and shadow spooks us and we withdraw from or forget the Shepherd's presence God will not let up or let go, no matter the darkness or the valley
...when the world denies, the shepherd provides
...when the world threatens, the shepherd comforts
....when the world casts out, the shepherd gathers
God’s goodness and mercy will pursue us all the days of our lives.
When times are dark, full of shadow and uncertainty, when life seems like a cold, smooth, blank piece of paper….look closer….see the shepherd emerge from the shadows…
You may not see him all at once, but he is there…
Jesus emerges from the darkness, like a shaded drawing, slowly, bit by bit
his feet to guide you
his garment hem to heal you
his arms to hold you
his smile to call you beloved
Surely goodness and mercy are mine already.
