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.
Psalm 23:4, ESV
"God is testing us, to see whether we can trust Him in the dark as well as in the light; and whether we can be as true to Him when all pleasurable emotions have faded off our hearts, as when we walked with Him in the light.
"Blessed are those that do not see, but who yet believe; and who are content to be stripped of all joy and comfort and ecstasy, if it be the Shepherd’s will, so long as there is left to them the sound of His voice, and the knowledge that He is near.
"...the most timid spirit, which is conscious of the presence of the Good Shepherd, can sing as it passes onward through the gloom, and its notes vibrate with the buoyancy of a courage which cannot flinch or falter.
"The darkness is sometimes too dense for us to be able to see Christ. But faith can always be sure that He is there; not because of the evidence of sense or feeling, but because He has said, 'I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee' (Hebrews 13:5). He cannot break His word. He has not left us alone. He is looking down on us with unabated tenderness. The depths may sever Him from the apprehension of our love; but neither death nor life, nor height nor depth, can separate us from the strong grasp of His faithful and unchanging affection.
"O Christ, who did tread the dense darkness of Gethsemane and Calvary—alone, desolate, and forsaken of Your Father. But You know the way, since You have trodden it. You are as near to us as when we can see and feel You near. And You were lonely that we might never be lonely; You were forsaken that we might never be forsaken; You did tread the winepress alone, that each poor timid child of Yours in all future ages might be able to sing the words of undying comfort, 'I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me.'
"It would sometimes appear, indeed, that God puts us into special circumstances of difficulty and trial in order that He may make manifest to us the infinite resources of His consolation; just as we need to go out into the dark night in order to behold the stars."
(F. B.. Meyer, The Shepherd Psalm, Kindle locations 523, 527, 534, 546, 551, 567)
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It's moving week for Amore, Ebony, and me. We worked all of last week and through the weekend, with help from kind friends and family, but today and tomorrow are crunch time. We welcome your prayers and pray you also receive the Lord's "daily bread" for your needs at the time you read this.
