Comfort from Psalm 23
By Ryan Teramoto
In Psalm 23:4, the Psalmist says, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” Basically, it is saying: even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me.
God is there with you, close beside you. Just take a moment and let that sink in: our darkest valley. I’m sure there are many of us who feel like we’re walking in some dark valleys these days. Many of us are feeling stuck and are wanting to be out of this valley.
In this Psalm, God isn't saying that we're going to have sunshine and butterflies every day - even in Orange County, unfortunately. But he is saying that he will walk with us, no matter what's happening around us.
God, the one who created you, the one who knows you and loves you - He is there with you.
In Hebrews chapter 13, God says, “never will I leave you, never will I forsake you” (verse 5). So we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid.”
In our bodies, when we have fear, that fear response activates something in us and our hearts race. Our breathing gets faster, our muscles tense up, the blood begins to leave our brain and rushes to our heart. We all know that feeling.
But when we're with someone that we feel safe with, our heart rate slows down, our muscles relax, our breathing deepens, the blood flows back to our brain. God's love is like that. God's presence in our lives is like that.
The Bible talks about the effect of God's love for us on our fear: “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.” (1 John 4:18). We can feel a literal difference in our bodies.
The invitation from God is to come to him and allow his perfect love to cast out fear, because only God can love us perfectly. When you run to God, it doesn't necessarily make the world or the thing that we're anxious about, or the perceived dangers go away. But it reconnects you with that safe base so that you can keep moving ahead.
When we are anxious, and we aren't in control of things, we can choose to let that anxiety put us into a spin, or we can choose to let it lead us towards God, to be loved by him. When a thought comes in, when something goes wrong, when you're anxious… turn to God.
Psalm 23 reminds us that he is right beside us, in those moments. Pray through Psalm 23. Memorize Psalm 23, and say it out loud when you begin to feel that stress.
The best thing is spending daily time with God. I know your life routines are topsy turvy, so put this on the list first. Thank him, worship him for who he is. Maybe a little less Facebook and a little more of His Book.
You are not alone. If you know Jesus, you're never without God's love and help.
This devotional was given in its original form for the April 9th Thursday Devotional time on YouTube. To watch this video and the other Thursday devotional videos, click here.