Time in Death Valley

Thursday, August 21, 2014 Posted by Debbie Legg

I am SO OVER these last few weeks.

It seems that everywhere I turn there is death. Dear friends had to unexpectedly bury their brother. Robin Williams committed suicide. A classmate of mine lost his wife because of a hornet sting. A friend told me of losing his two week old son – it was decades ago but the pain is always present. This very morning I attended the funeral of a sweet cousin who battled cancer for a long time. I have several more instances but I will spare you.

Modern Bible translations render Psalm 23:4 as, “the darkest valley” or “a valley of deep darkness.” In this case I think the old school King James Version has them beat with “the valley of the shadow of death.”

What could be more awful than that?

I’ll tell you. It would be not seeing past the valleys, the shadows, and the death.

You see, the presence of a valley means there must be a mountain.

The presence of a shadow means there must be light.

The presence of death means there must be life.

You can’t have one without the other.

I think David, who wrote Psalm 23, taught this lesson well to his son, Solomon, who wrote Ecclesiastes 3:

There is a timefor everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:

a time to be born and a time to die…
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance…

The valley of the shadow of death leads to the mountain of light and life.

What could be more wonderful than that?