Flight Paths

We have two wild turkeys coming to the feeder these days, a brand new development.  We knew they were out there in the woods—you can here the toms gobbling and the hens clucking early in the morning and in the first hours of dusk.  Then last fall we saw four traipsing across our garden in the middle of the day.  A young visitor that day heard Keith and her father talking about “turkey season,” and I heard her whispering, “Run turkeys!  Run!”  And they did.
              Then in the middle of winter one morning I looked out and there stood a turkey hen under the south feeder pecking at the fallen birdseed.  She visited every day for awhile and eventually found her way around the house to the other two feeders.  Gradually she became used to us, and now we can go out on one side of the house without her leaving the opposite side at a “turkey trot.”  She will even let us move by the window inside, where she can see us clearly, without running away.
              Then one afternoon there she was again, only she looked a little different, didn’t she?  Maybe her neck was thicker we said, and then one of us moved in our chairs and she ran down the trellis bed and actually flew over the fence.  Turkeys do not like to fly, so she must have been terrified.  That’s when we put two and two together and realized we now had two turkeys, one with a thinner neck who has learned that we won’t bother her, and one with a thicker neck who still thinks we are some sort of predator out to get her.  Isn’t it odd that it’s the skinnier turkey that is the least frightened?
              That is an apt metaphor for the people of Israel.  They were the country with the skinniest neck, yet throughout their history they routed huge armies or saw them turned back by “circumstances.”  They watched God’s power work when no other country their size, nor even some larger, could withstand the enemy.  But despite that ongoing evidence, only a few learned to depend upon God, only a few saw the chariots of the Lord on the hilltops around them (2 Kings 6:12-18).  Only a few of them had faith and courage like this:
              And Asa cried to the LORD his God, “O LORD, there is none like you to help, between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on you, 2 Chron 14:11.
              Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright, Psa 20:7,8.
              Eventually there weren’t enough faithful to save them from destruction.  Eventually God had to remove the ones He thought had some potential and send the prophets to ready them for a return, but even then only a small remnant came back.  Many of them were still frightened turkeys, and they were well aware of how skinny their necks were.
              Learn the lesson those people didn’t.  God has given you evidence every day of your life that He is with you.  If you think otherwise, you just haven’t noticed.  Trials in your life are not an indication that He is not with you.  Paul told the Romans that “tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, or sword,” none of those could separate us from the love of Christ--not that they would never happen! 
              Be ready to stand against whatever army Satan throws at you, knowing that ​the chariots of God are twice ten thousand, thousands upon thousands; [and] the Lord is among them, Psa 68:17.                                                                                      
Dene Ward

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, (Eph 5:18-19).
              It had to have been a science class somewhere along the way in my education, maybe as early as fourth grade.  The teacher put a glass in front of us and asked us what was in it.
              "Nothing," we replied in unison, at which point she told us we were mistaken—it was full of air.  It took a while for some to catch on.  A glass is never empty, not even half-empty.  It is either full of some liquid or it is full of air or it contains some of both.  That was the beginning of our study of vacuums, leading to the old Bell jar demonstration.
              What is true for a glass, is true for us as well.  "Be filled with the Spirit," our passage above says, and we understand that if we do not fill ourselves with that, something much worse will worm its way inside us because, just as physical nature abhors a vacuum, so does spiritual nature.
              And so we need to know how to fill ourselves with the Spirit and all too often we stop with those two verses.  "By singing!" we exclaim when someone asks how it is done, and then laud our congregation for its Spirit-filled singing, as if that is all there is to it.  We sound great and those harmonies and rhythms stir our souls, making our hearts even beat faster, so that must be how to do it.  Wow!  Look at all the Spirit we have in this one room.
              Yes, that is indeed part of it.  But if we think that a good songfest will take care of the issue, we have shown ourselves to be poor readers of the Word.  That paragraph does not stop with "singing," and neither does that sentence.
              …giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, (Eph 5:20).
              How good am I at giving thanks, especially if I have had a particularly trying week?  How often does my thanks become complaining because my life has not gone the way I expected?  Because Ii got up on the wrong side of the bed?  Because someone cut me off in traffic?  How often do I resort to those words of self-pity, "Why me?"  when suffering comes my way?  Probably more often than I should, but still, being thankful is fairly easy to do when you have been steeped in the plan of God to save us from sin and the sacrifices He made to do it for your entire life.  So how about the final point in that sentence?
              …submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Eph 5:21).
              What?!  Yes, if I am filled with the Spirit, I am submitting to my brothers and sisters.  "Aye, there's the rub," we say along with Hamlet.  We are perfectly happy to sing and even to give thanks, especially when reminded every so often, but submission?  Now that IS a rub—a hindrance or impediment—to allowing the Spirit to fill us.  What exactly is meant by this (grumble, grumble) "submission?"
              Well, it is the same word as the next verse, Wives submit to your own husbands, as unto the Lord.  The answer is right there.  A man should submit to his brothers and sisters exactly as he expects his wife to submit to him, and even the manner is specified:  as unto the Lord.
              Whoa, now! 
              "I have my rights." 
              "I have liberties."
              "I have my opinions."
              "I am just as good as anyone else." 
              "No one can tell me what to do."
I have heard them all, not just once or twice, but too many times to count.  And what does that mean?  It means I have heard a lot of people who are filled with something besides the Spirit, probably themselves, because your heart abhors a vacuum just as much as nature does.
 
And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, [How?]
1.  addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart,
2.  giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
3. submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Eph 5:18-21).
 
Dene Ward

I despise dusting.  I think part of the problem is all the things you must lift and dust individually in order to get the job done.  It takes forever to do it right.  Maybe if all I had to dust were flat surfaces I wouldn't mind so much.  Of course, being allergic to dust mites doesn't help either.  I am usually miserable for the rest of the day, no matter how careful I am.
              So last Saturday I was taking all those knickknacks off the shadow boxes in the bedroom and, to make the job less annoying, thinking about where those various gadgets came from.  Piano students and family members were the biggest culprits—vases of all sizes and materials including one made of olive wood from Bethlehem, cups and saucers with cute pictures and sayings, dinner bells, porcelain figurines, seashells, a few pictures, a whiskey bottle inside of which Keith's uncle had whittled a wooden airplane.  (Yep, after he drank the whiskey.)
              Then I took down the brass candle holder.  It used to have a twin, but it was broken long ago in one of the many moves it has made since I received it over 45 years ago.  It came from my best friend in high school years.  We did not attend the same high school because we lived in Tampa across town from each other.  Even 45 years ago, Tampa was big enough to have several high schools.  But we attended church together and did our best to call one another and spend the night every so often.  Her parents owned some lakefront property and every summer found us out on the raft, a la Huckleberry Finn, talking, laughing, and planning our lives as we soaked up the sun.
              We were different in a lot of ways.  She was a petite blonde with big blue eyes and long hair, interested in becoming a secretary.  I was a not so petite, beady-eyed brunette with long hair, planning to attend college and eventually operate a music studio.  We traded lessons—she teaching me Gregg shorthand, and me teaching her music theory.  I can still do some of that shorthand, but I doubt anyone could read it!
            We were both introverts and loners, both had distinct likes and dislikes especially in clothing styles, which amounted to high neck Victorian collars, billowy sleeves, Bell bottoms, and granny dresses in those days.  We both wrote in our spare time and had things published in the school literary magazine.  We even wrote spiritual poetry together in some of those late overnighters.  We taught the children's Bible classes, brainstorming together about techniques and take-homes since no one had bothered to actually teach us how to do it.  We discussed our favorite hymns and their deeper meanings.  We took sermon notes in shorthand and always sat where we could see the overhead projector, the precursor of power point.
            All of that came flooding back as I picked up that well-patina-ed candle holder.  I have done a little purging lately, not as much as I should, but some.  I don't even use this thing any more, I thought, especially since it lost its mate.  While we lose our power often out here in the country, we have plenty of flashlights and a much more powerful propane camp lantern, not to mention a generator for the long hauls.  I have much prettier candle holders in my china cabinet now for special occasion dinners.  So why not throw it out?
           I suppose part of the problem is that I have completely lost track of this friend now.  She was in my wedding and asked me to be in hers, even though I had moved a thousand miles away, but by the time the wedding came around I would have been 8 months pregnant and that just wasn't going to work. 
          We also married differently.  Her husband was a professional, a PhD in psychology, I think, and a city guy his entire life.  Mine was an Arkansas hillbilly who had been in the Marine Corps, and then became a preacher.  They were as different as night and day, and though she did convert her husband before their marriage, we still had little in common.
           But we kept in contact, visiting one another a few times, back and forth, anxious, at least I was, to keep that old friendship that had meant so much alive.  But then, after about thirty years, it was only a matter of Christmas cards, and now that has gradually come to an end, and I don't even know how that happened.  Right now I cannot find out if she is even still alive, and no one from the congregation we used to be a part of is around who knows where she might be.  When I checked the address on Google, she is no longer listed as a resident there.
          So, what about this candle holder?  Well, I still have it.  It isn't that it would be hard to throw it away.  After all, it isn't even worth much now.  What's hard to throw away is the relationship.  I think God has the same reluctance.  When I look at those churches in Revelation, the symbolic seven (there were many more in the area) have so many problems, you wonder that God had not already angrily destroyed them.  Leaving their first love, sexual immorality, idolatry, lukewarm faith, but still he warns rather than simply throwing out their candlestick—the symbol of their identity as a church of the Lord, giving light to the world.  Even in the Old Testament, he waited for centuries, hoping that his people would turn to Him again.  He was their father, and they his firstborn.  But finally, he did come in destruction, just as he will for us someday if we follow their footsteps instead of our Lord's.
          But maybe, for a little while longer, I will keep dusting that brass candlestick.  Maybe I will someday find my old friend.  I will hold out hope a little longer, and try a little harder to find her before I discard this candle holder.  What we used to have was wonderful enough to be worth it.
              How about your relationship with the Father?  Does He even have a candle holder to remember you by?
 
For thus says the LORD: “Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob, and raise shouts for the chief of the nations; proclaim, give praise, and say, ‘O LORD, save your people, the remnant of Israel.’ Behold, I will bring them from the north country and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, the pregnant woman and she who is in labor, together; a great company, they shall return here. ​With weeping they shall come, and with pleas for mercy I will lead them back, I will make them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble, for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn. (Jer 31:7-9).
 
Dene Ward

You’d think they would learn.  You’d think they would figure this out, especially people who are so smart, with so many letters after their names they could start a new language.  Yet for a long time the existence of the Biblical Ur of the Chaldees, Abraham and Sarah’s hometown, was denied.  Several excavations were begun in the early twentieth century, but Sir Charles Leonard Woolley, a British archaeologist, finally put the question to rest.  From The Bible As History by Werner Keller: “Under the red slopes of Tell al Muqayyar lay a whole city…awakened from its long sleep after many thousand years…Woolley and his companions were beside themselves with joy…for before them lay the Ur of the Chaldees to which the Bible refers.”
            Where today sits a railway station 120 miles north of Basra, Woolley found many closely situated private homes along with their broken pots, cuneiform texts, and even some gold jewelry.  He found silver lyres and other musical instruments and even a royal game board, complete with “men” to travel the wooden board. 
            What he discovered, in essence, was the ancient Sumerian civilization,   He also discovered royal tombs dating from 2700 BC.  It became apparent to these scientists than these tombs also contained the king’s personal retinue, people buried alive in a form of large scale human sacrifice.  Is there any wonder God would have called his righteous servant away from that society?  And Joshua said to all the people, Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, Long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods. Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River and led him through all the land of Canaan, and made his offspring many, Josh 24:2,3.  And so the Bible once again is proven not only accurate, but logical.
            Woolley’s faith may not have been as fundamental as we would like--he discovered evidence of a great flood in the area but you and I would not have agreed with all of his conclusions in that regard.  However, he seemed to work like this:  the Bible says it existed so he went looking for it.  How many others deny the witness of the Scriptures until their noses are rubbed in it?
            Charles Woolley died on this day in 1960.  Perhaps we can use this as a reminder.  More and more the world considers the Bible as anything but the Word of God.  Instead, they say, it is a book of myths and interesting stories.  Jesus was not the Son of God either; he was just a good rabbi.  Maybe it is time we spoke out more.  Are we embarrassed to be seen as ignorant yokels because we believe the scriptures to be the authentic and infallible Word of an Almighty Creator?  Do we water down the truths revealed in it because they are no longer politically correct?  
            It was easy to believe when most of our neighbors did.  It was easy to say, “The Bible says…” when we knew that statement would carry some weight.  Despite the fact that over and over discoveries are made to prove the factual content of the Bible, people still find reason not to accept it.  They always will.  Just read the first few chapters of Exodus.  Just read the gospels.  When people do not want to accept the accountability demanded of us by the Bible, they will reject it.  They will find every excuse in the world to say, “That’s different,” when the only difference is it refers directly to their lifestyles and habits. 
            Say thank you today to Sir Charles Leonard Woolley, but only if you will use his discovery to cement your faith and allow it to change your will.
 
But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD.’ He who will hear, let him hear; and he who will refuse to hear, let him refuse, for they are a rebellious house, Ezek 3:27.
 
Dene Ward
                       

If you have a tendency to skip these, please do not skip this one.  Read it to the end. dw

"We must, moreover, observe that God is our Father “in heaven”…The Jews of Jesus’ day were inclined, on the whole, to conceive of God as so exalted that personal relationships with him could scarcely be imagined. He was so transcendent that the richness of personality was frequently lost to view. By contrast, much modern evangelicalism tends to portray him as exclusively personal and warm. Somehow his sovereignty and exalted transcendence disappear. If you enter certain American churches you will hear the enthusiastic singing of some such ditty (I can scarcely grace it with “chorus) as “He’s a great big wonderful God.” Regrettably, I never fail to think of a great big wonderful teddy bear. Such “choruses” are not quite heretical, not quite blasphemous. I sometimes wish they were, for then they could be readily condemned for specific evil. They are something much worse than isolated blasphemy and heresy. They constitute part of a pattern of irreverence, shallow theology, and experience-dominated religious criteria, which has eviscerated a terribly high proportion of evangelical strength in the Western world.” 

Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount by D.A. Carson, comments on the Lord ’s Prayer.

I know you do it.  Even when you are participating in one of those “read the Bible through in a year” programs you do it.  Who in the world wants to read through So-and-so-jah begat So-and-so-iah verse after verse until you can hardly see straight?  But you need to do it once in a while.  

    That’s how you find out that Samuel was not a hypocrite for condemning Saul’s sacrifice when he made sacrifices several times himself—his father may have been an Ephraimite, but he was a Levite living in Ephraim.

    That’s how you find out that Joab was David’s nephew, the son of his sister Zeruiah, which probably accounts for why he put up with so much from the rascal.

    That’s how you find out that David’s counselor Ahithophel, was Bathsheba’s grandfather, which puts a new spin on that story, and probably explains why that man put his lot in with Absalom when he rebelled.  And all that is just the beginning of the amazing things you can discover when you read genealogies in the Bible.

    We also tend to overlook things like Deborah’s song of praise in Judges 5.  It’s just a poem, right?  We already read the important part in chapter 4.  Read chapter 5 some time.  You will discover exactly how God helped his people overcome Sisera’s army—he sent a storm that bogged down their chariots in the mud.  Foot soldiers do much better than chariots in a storm.  You will discover that the elders of Israel were applauded for a change—they actually did their jobs and did them willingly.  You will find out that several tribes did not help with the fighting and were roundly condemned for it.  You will find God’s opinion of Jael’s actions—no more arguing after He inspires Deborah to say, “Blessed above women shall Jael be.”

    And here’s one I found recently—the conversation and ensuing verses in 2 Samuel 12 after Nathan uttered those scalding words, “Thou art the man,” which is where we usually stop reading.  

    Verse 9--“You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword.”  David may have only ordered Uriah’s death, but God considered it exactly the same as doing the deed itself.  

    Verse 13--“The Lord has put away your sin.  You shall not die.”  Understand this--there was no sacrifice for adultery and murder because the sinners were summarily stoned.  That is what David expected, and the punishment God put aside.  Read Psalm 51 now.  David’s forgiveness happened immediately after his confession and repentance (v 12), but he repeatedly asks for it in the psalm which was written sometime later.  He understood the grace of God like never before.  Now that is godly repentance.

    Verse 15--“And the Lord afflicted the child.”  We keep trying to find ways out of statements like this, but they keep popping up.  Remember this:  God is in control.  He knows what He is doing.  There is a reason this child could not live, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t continue to live.  More on this in a minute.

    Verse 20—After the child died, David “went into the house of the Lord and worshiped.”  Why?  We could come up with a ton of reasons.  Ultimately I think he was showing his acceptance of God’s will, and sincere appreciation for the mercy he knew he did not deserve.  What do you think?  This one can keep a class going for several minutes' worth of discussion, and a whole lot of soul-searching.  Would your first inclination after a tragedy—and punishment--be to worship God?

    Verse 22--“Who knows whether the Lord will be gracious and allow the child to live?”  First, this proves David’s faith in prayer.  He knew it was possible for God to change His mind simply because one of His children asked Him to.  Second, it shows that faith does not mean you know you will get what you prayed for.  Who knows? David asked.  No one does, except God.  Faith knows He is able to grant your petition, not that He will.

    Verse 23--“I will go to him.”  David believed in the innocence of his child.  He did not believe that child was born with Adam’s sin hanging over his head, totally depraved and unable to get out of it without the direct operation of the Holy Spirit or some rite involving water.  His child was clean and innocent and he looked forward to seeing him again because he was also sure of his forgiveness.

    Whoa!  Did you know all that was there?  I didn’t either, and this was at least the tenth time I have studied this story in depth (I thought).   What else are we missing?  

    The next time you do your Bible reading, think about what you are reading, even if it’s just a list of names or a poem or directions for how to build something.  God put what we needed to know in His Word.  Don’t you go deciding that you don’t need to know some of it.

…from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work, 2 Tim 3:15-17 .

Dene Ward

A continuing study of the Proverbs by guest writer Lucas Ward.  This is part 2 of his introductory material.

A few notes about the nature of proverbs before we begin the study.  First, we must understand that proverbs are not always absolute.  By which I mean that these are neither absolute statements of truth, nor are they commands for how we must live our lives in every instance--they are proverbs.  They are general guidelines for how to, in general, lead the most productive lives we can.  They are not true in every instance nor for every individual.  

For example, Prov. 2:11-12 "discretion will watch over you, understanding will guard you, delivering you from the way of evil, from men of perverted speech."  I wonder what Job would have thought of that passage?   He wasn't delivered from evil.  

Or 3:16, which is speaking of wisdom when it says "Long life is in her right hand and in her left are riches and honor."  I wonder what the Apostle James thought of that as he died a young, poor man in the service of God. 

So these aren't absolutely true in every instance, but in general they are true.  Likewise they are not commands.  I think that a lot of times sober, serious Christians make the mistake of reading Proverbs as commands because it is "Bible".  It is the Bible, but it is a collection of Proverbs, some of which are mutually exclusive.  Most famously 26:4-5 the first of which says "Do not answer a fool" and the second of which says, "Answer a fool".  You cannot obey vs. 4 without disobeying vs 5.  And vice-versa.  So these cannot be commands, but rather are general statements of truth.  It takes a bit of wisdom to know when each applies.  Taking some time to muse upon these general statements of how to, in general, have the best life possible will help us in each specific problem we have as we move forward in our lives for God.

As most all of us know, after you get to chapter 10 the book of Proverbs seems to be randomly filled with 1-2 verse long proverbs which don't have anything to do with the verse before it or the one after it.  It is a bunch of random, wise statements.  However, there are several topics which are discussed over and over.  I picked six topics and scanned through Proverbs listing all the verses that dealt with each of those six topics.  So, at that point, I had everything Proverbs taught about each topic.  I was able to preach seven sermons on those six topics.   Those seven sermons will become the next seven posts from me on this blog.

Lucas Ward

Today is a day for lovers, or so the merchandisers of the world say.  Do Keith and I do anything special?  You better believe it.  It’s usually nothing huge—a card, a homemade gift, a bouquet of handpicked wildflowers, a special dessert.  We don’t try to single-handedly support Madison Avenue.  Sometimes Keith simply takes the day off and we spend time together talking—what a novel idea, especially for some married folks!  Not because we celebrate some Catholic “saint” or because we feel pressured by society, but because we take every opportunity to revel in our love.  How do you think we have managed to put up with each other for all these years?
            Romance is not an un-Biblical concept.  While the description of the body in several passages in the Song of Solomon may not appeal to our Western ears, it is still used in the courtship rituals of some Eastern countries today.  The Proverb writer speaks of romance like this: There are three things which are too wonderful for me, yes, four which I do not understand:  the way of an eagle in the air, the way of a serpent upon a rock, the way of a ship in the middle of the sea, and the way of a man with a maid, 30:18-20. 
            The writer of Ecclesiastes tells us to live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your life of vanity, which he has given you under the sun…for that is your portion in life, 9:9.  “Live joyfully” is an injunction; it is not passive.  Do not wait for it; initiate it yourself.  These passages were originally spoken to couples whose marriages were arranged.  Imagine what God expects of those of us who chose our own spouses after “falling in love.” 
            Two or three times a week as I clean out Keith’s lunchbox in the evening, I find red, heart-shaped love notes he has cut out of some office scrap paper and written—I know he has taken time out of a busy day to think of me.  And he usually calls during his lunch hour.
            Eating a nice dinner out is in our budget only a couple of times a year—and that is up from the early days of our marriage--but I can make a four course meal for two for the price of one entrée in an upscale restaurant, and enjoy doing it. Several times a year, we dress up, get out the china, light the candles, and have a meal I have worked on all day.  When the boys were little, I fixed them their own special meal—more along the lines of pizza than boeuf bourguignon--then explained how they could help mommy and daddy have a special time together by going to bed early, and staying there.  Besides the reward of their favorite meal, they could stay up late reading and talking to one another.  We occasionally heard thumps and giggles long after we would have ordinarily put a stop to it, but never once did they not fulfill their part of the bargain by interrupting us because we stressed to them how important their part was and they were thrilled to do it. 
            Marriage is a high maintenance relationship.  If you neglect it, it goes downhill in a hurry.  Do something today, no matter how small it may be—and whether or not the other one reciprocates--to keep that from happening.  Make sure it is something that will mean something to your spouse, not just to you!  Men and women are different that way (as if you hadn’t noticed).  Then choose another time to do it again—not just your anniversary or Valentine’s Day.  Do it sometimes for no good reason at all. Or isn’t keeping your marriage alive reason enough? 
            God expects you to romance one another.
 
Drink waters out of your own cistern, and running waters out of your own well.  Should your springs be dispersed abroad, and streams of water in the streets?  Let them be for yourself alone, and not for strangers with you.  Let your fountain be blessed and rejoice in the wife of your youth.  As a loving hind and a pleasant doe, let her breasts satisfy you at all times, and be ravished always with her love.  Prov 5:15-20   
 
Dene Ward

Yes, there are more obvious things we simply read over in Psalm 23.  (Scroll down for part 1 if you missed it.)
              When do you usually hear a reading of the twenty-third psalm?  Funerals and deathbeds, right?  We have consigned this little gem to those two occasions, probably because of the translation, “the valley of the shadow of death.”  Yet, if we had simply done a little study—very little, in fact—instead of just accepting what we always hear and assuming it the beginning and end of the matter, we would have found many other uses for this psalm.
              “The valley of the shadow of death” is actually one Hebrew word--tsalmaveth—and it can mean “deep darkness.”  It is, in fact, translated that way in the modern versions.  Yes, in Job 38:17 it seems to refer to physical death, but in Jer 2:6 it refers to the wilderness wandering, certainly a dark era for the people of God.  In Jer 13:16 it refers to the coming destruction and captivity, perhaps their darkest period.  In Job 34:22 I am not certain what it refers to, but it certainly isn’t death.  This is important because all of us experience times of deep darkness in our lives.  To know that God is with us during those times too, not just at death, is a comfort beyond any other.
              And do notice this, God is the one leading us to and through this dark place.  In fact, coming immediately after “he leads me in paths of righteousness” (literally, “right paths”), this dark place is the right place for me to be.  It may be a severe trial, but for some reason I need to be there.  It is right for me to be there, and God will lead me “through” it.  He will not put me there and leave me there.  Even something as severe as losing a child, becoming disabled, or becoming terminally ill, is one He has led me to and through, accompanying me all the way. 
              But there may well be other kinds of dark places I must go through, and will realize He has been with me when I get out on the other side.  That is, if I have remained His faithful servant, trusting in His wisdom and care.  As long as He is with me, “I will fear no evil.”  It may be that His presence involves correction or discipline (His “rod and staff”), but I know that He loves me and this is the right place for me to be, and that even in this dark place, “goodness and mercy follows me,” that is, “pursues” me.  His goodness and mercy are on the hunt for me, even in the dark places--especially in the dark places.
              Don’t miss out on the gold in this little treasure chest just because you have heard it all your life.  Use it to help you navigate those dark places, with Him as your guiding star.  Trust Him, as this particular genre of psalms is called, the Psalms of Trust, or Psalms of Confidence--in God. 
              You can make it through the dark to a light beyond, which is also implied, for you can’t have a shadow without a light shining somewhere.
 
The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident. One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple, Psalm 27:1-4.
 
Dene Ward

Back in my younger years I was a jogger.  If you missed the story, slip over to the right sidebar under “categories,” and click on “Country Life.”  Scroll down to “One Fencepost at a Time”—even farther back than “Backwards One Fencepost at a Time”—and you can read about it with its own lesson of encouragement.
            When I finally progressed to jogging on the highway instead of the cow pasture (explained in that previous post), the first time I took nearly twice as long as I should have to jog the same distance.  Ordinarily, jogging on a firm surface is easier because your feet push off and the momentum is with you instead of all sinking down into the dirt, sand, mud, or grass of the softer surfaces.  That was not what slowed me down.  What kept distracting me were the things I had passed every day for three years and never seen before.
            In a car, you usually see the road, the signs, and possible problems—other cars, animals both domesticated and wild, pedestrians, potholes, discarded bottles, trash bags that fell off other vehicles, boards that might have nails in them, pieces of blown tires.  You must look for those things if you want to avoid an accident. 
            But that morning as I jogged slowly by I found out for the first time that a tiny creek ran through a four foot diameter culvert under the road just past the neighbor by the woods.  I discovered a path through those same woods that led to a ramshackle cabin a hundred feet off the road, nearly hidden by the ramrod straight pines.  I discovered that another neighbor had a second driveway, much smaller, that led to a shed behind the house.  Then as I approached the bridge over the New River, I found a path snaking off to its side, probably used by fishermen looking for bait, or kids swimming in the shallows.  All those things had been there the whole time I had, but it was as if I had discovered a brand new place.
            That is exactly how I felt after our ladies’ class studied Psalm 23.  I almost skipped that one—everyone knows it.  We all memorized it as children.  If there is a Bible passage in a movie, it is apt to be that one.  Why should we include that in what I hoped to be a study of brand new material for most of us?  Because it was brand new material, too.  I had gotten out of the speeding vehicle passing through it, and had jogged at a slower pace, seeing the details for the first time.  We are going to talk about what I found this time and next.
            Psalm 23 is classified as a Psalm of Trust.  I doubt that David, Ethan, Asaph, Solomon, Heman, the sons of Korah, Moses, or any other of the writers of the psalms actually made a decision to write a particular type of psalm and then followed some carefully laid out pattern.  No, the elements and patterns have been analyzed by scholars thousands of years removed from them, but it is interesting that they do follow something of a pattern.  For instance, Psalms of Trust (some call them Psalms of Confidence [in God]) tend to view God in metaphorical terms.  He is variously called a shield, a fortress, a rock, a shelter, a master [of slaves], and in this familiar psalm a shepherd.
            But here is the part I always missed—the metaphor in these psalms is apt to change abruptly, as it does here in verse 5.  Suddenly God is depicted as a host.  Some of the older commentators do not want to see this change, but please tell me, when was the last time you saw a sheep eating at a table or drinking out of a cup?  No, the shepherd feeds the sheep in verse 2: he makes me to lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside still waters.  Sheep eat grass and drink water, and the shepherd has fed them exactly what they want and need.  Now it is the host’s turn to feed his friend in a brand new metaphor.
            And notice this, the host in verses 5 and 6 is not just an acquaintance fulfilling the obligations of hospitality in the Eastern tradition.  He is a close friend.  He takes you into his house not just for a meal but to “dwell forever.”  Indeed the Hebrew word for “house” often implies “household.”  That last verse could easily and correctly be translated “and I will remain in the family of the Lord forever.”  We’re not talking about being a pet sheep in the family, but a human member of the family, someone who eats at the table with the rest of the family, the truest sign of acceptance in that culture.
            See what you miss when you just breeze through an old familiar passage without a second thought?  You need to get out of the car and walk through it, paying attention to every detail and thinking about every nuance.  That’s how you learn new things.  And this new thing is nothing compared to the one I will show you tomorrow.
 
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, Eph 2:19.
 
Dene Ward