THROUGH...

(This is an abridged version of the sermon preached at Epworth Chapel, Baltimore on 3/4/12)

"Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me." (Psalm 23:4)


Like many of you, and many Christians around the world, I have found Psalm 23 to be a living Scripture. It is not unusual for Christians to be able to recite this particular text. In many ways, I would suggest that Psalm 23 has become the primary text for many of our lives – the theme song for many of us who live in the Judeo-Christian faith traditions.

David’s words, in many ways have become our words – words that speak to the depth and breadth of the human condition. For those who are lonely, these words serve as a comfort and companion. For the hurting, there’s healing. For those in despair, these are hopeful words.

These are life-giving words. And every time I read the 23rd Psalm or hear these words recited, something different seems to touch me. In reading through the text most recently, that which has come in and taken residence with me was the word “through.”

In the middle of this poetic text – this song of praise that David is singing here - he shares these memorable words:

“Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me."

If you know like I know, many of us have no problem relating to what David is saying here. What David is speaking of when he says, “Yea though I walk through…” is what Princeton philosopher Cornel West speaks of in terms of a certain nihilism that has taken residence in much of our life today. Indeed, as West suggests, a certain nihilism - a lovelessness, meaninglessness, and emptiness - even nothingness - seems to have pervaded our culture and permeated much our reality.

This nihilism is clearly evident in the fact that we have more African-American males in prison than in college today. Black and brown males are imprisoned at over 6times the rate of others in our country. This is what Dr. Michelle Alexander, in her book, calls the “New Jim Crow.”

This nihilism is also seen in the fact that unemployment and underemployment is rampant… it is witnessed in the fact that addiction and death ravages our city streets (in Baltimore there were nearly 200 murders in 2011, and the majority of these were of young African-American men under the age of thirty). The tragedy of this nihilism is that too much of our reality - in too many of our communities - is perpetually mired in depression and in despair.

And here in the 23rd Psalm, this nihilism – the very real ways that we are going through - is what David is trying to help us come to grips with. David described his own going through as a valley experience. In fact it was not just any valley - David called it the "valley of the shadow of death."

Eugene Peters in The Message translation of the text called this valley that David spoke of here as “Death Valley.” It was a valley filled with death and despair - no hope and no joy.

We don’t know exactly what the valley was that David was referring to here, but we do know he was talking about having gone through something:
• Maybe the valley that David is talking about was the attempts that King Saul had made on his David’s life.
• Maybe is it was his adulterous affair with Bathsheba.
• Maybe it was his murder of Bathsheba’s husband Uriah.

We don’t know exactly what it was, but David was talking about having gone through a very real valley experience in his life.

Many of us can relate on a personal level to what David was going through:
• Going through what Job declared as “days filled with trouble.”
• Going through what John of the Cross called "the dark night of the soul.”
• Going through what black sharecropper and political activist Fannie Lou Hamer described as being “sick and tired of being sick and tired.”
• Going through what the singer of the hymn said was “sometimes feeling like a motherless child – a long way from home.”
• Going through sleepless nights and darkened days.

Indeed we can relate to going through. And if you can’t relate, just live a little and you will:
• Sickness in your family
• Death at your doorstep
• Pink slip on your desk
• Can’t make it from paycheck to paycheck (more month than money)
• Marital problems
• Problems with children
• Children and women going through abuse and neglect
• This week, we pray for those going through natural disaster in the Midwest – where tornadoes have wreaked havoc and devastation.

Everybody will go through something at some point. David was talking about the very real predicament of going through. And if you know like I know, when you are going through, it can become easy to feel that you are “too through,” and want to give up and throw in the towel.

But lest we get stuck on David’s predicament of going through, let me remind us that it’s good that David did not stop with the fact that he had gone through or was going through something. In the midst of his going through, he didn’t stop his song there - he kept singing.

“...I will fear no evil. For (Lord) you are with me. Your rod and staff comfort me.”

David kept singing, because he knew that God would not bring him to anything that God would not take him through. This ought to be good news to somebody who has come to a crossroads in your life. If you are a person of faith, you can keep singing because you know that whatever God has brought you to, God will take you through.

And it’s even more good news to know that if you are going through, it means that you are not stuck.

And you can rejoice in knowing that your going through – your test - is really a precursor to your testimony. And that at the end of our coming to the difficult situations of life, and our going through these situations, God is really preparing our lives for a breakthrough.

The Apostle Paul talked about going through in this way in Romans 8 when he declared that “the suffering of this present day is not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us.” (v.18) And later in that chapter, Paul said that “all things work together for the good of those who love the Lord and are called according to his purpose.” (v.28) Paul, like David, wanted to remind us that God wants to get some glory out of our going through.

And finally we see in Psalm 23 that when God brings us through, we ought to keep singing. David continued his song not by talking about going through, but by talking about the presence and provision of the Lord.

He said, “Thou prepareth a table for me in the presence of my enemies. My cup runs over.”

It’s good to know that God will provide all that we need, when we need it. And therefore David could end with a praise offering to God. He ended with a doxology - an act of praise to his God.

“Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

We may be going through, but thank God, we’re not going through alone. We may be going through, but it’s good to know that we have God’s grace and mercy to bring us through. We may be going through, but we know that with God, we’re coming out.