Psalm 23:4 is a verse known by almost every Chrisitan. It beautifully says, in the King James Version of Scripture … “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”

I was almost asleep. (I’m writing at 1:33 in the morning, an hour past midnight.) Yet somehow the Holy Spirit had my mind trained or focused on this short Passage.

Here’s when the following thought seized my heart …

It does not say “IF I walk thought the valley …!

It does not even say “PERHAPS” I’ll walk through the valley …!

It certainly does not say anything about “AVOIDING” the valleys of life as well! (As the Prosperity Gospel advocates would tell us.)

No, no, no!

It says “THOUGH” I walk through eh valley …!

The word is a conjunction! (Hence the Lesson’s Title!)

“THOUGH,” spelled “KIY” (pronounced “KEE” in English) does not carry the idea of conditionality!

My point … it’s not “IF” I go through those valleys … it is “THOUGH” (as “WHEN”) I go through the valley!

Yes, the valley is coming!

In each of our lives!

So … one point of this great verse is that though the valley is unavoidable … I WILL NOT ENTER IT ALONE! Back to our Text … “FOR THOU (MY SHEPHERD) ART WITH ME!”

He, my dear Saviour, is (a new term for me anyway) a Valley Walker!

A “FEAR” Remover! (“I WILL FEAR NO EVIL.”)

He is also a “COMFORTER” in those dark (“SHADOWY”) days! With His “Rod” and “Staff!”

Wow!

I guess we need some valleys … in order to experience His Guiding Presence!

And if so … Jesus (in His Greatest Valley) taught us how to pray … “FATHER, THY WILL BE DONE!” Matthew 26:42.

Yes, spiritual boot camp!

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”

Think about it a while.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Oh, the nuggets of Truth in Psalm 23!

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Yes that “string” of three little words is found twice in the Bible, “heaven of heavens.”

Once in the context of Psalm 68. Here’s a bit of it … “Sing unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth; O sing praises unto the Lord; Selah: to him that rideth upon the HEAVEN OF HEAVENS, which were of old; lo, he doth send out his voice, and that a mighty voice. Ascribe ye strength unto God: his excellency is over Israel, and his strength is in the clouds.” Verses 32-34 of that Psalm.

God “rides” there! God “speaks” there! With a mighty Voice, in fact.

In Hebrew, I am told, any term that doubles itself (Lord of Lords, Holy of Holies, etc.) is a Semitic was of expressing a “superlative!” (There’s no King like our King, the Lord Jesus Christ! He excels them all!)

Thus, of all the “heavens” (there are at least three, Paul says in 2 Corinthians 2:12) God is at home in the “greatest, highest, oldest” of them!

Wow!

Our “string” occurs again (for the second and last time in the Scripture) in Psalm 148. Which begins … “Praise ye the LORD. Praise ye the LORD from the heavens: praise him in the heights. Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts. Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light. Praise him, ye HEAVENS OF HEAVENS, and ye waters that be above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the LORD: for he commanded, and they were created.” Verses 1-5 of the Book of Psalm’s antepenultimate Poem.

Here all who inhabit (presumably saints and angels) the “heaven of heavens” (a created place) are exhorted (actually commanded) to “praise the LORD!”

As are the sun, moon, stars of light, etc.

Notice that in the Psalm’s first Lines the “heavens” and the “heights” are already under a mandate to praise Him! Now this spirit of worship, spirit of adoration, has reached the apex of creation! The very “heaven of heavens!”

Makes me wonder if He is not also in some way being praised in the abyss (translated “bottomless pit” in the King James Bible) … the lowest place in His Creation! Notice how I said it, “makes me wonder.”

After all, Psalm 1389:8 thunders, at least proving God’s Omnipresence … “If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in HELL, behold, thou art there.” Pretty low!

Have I said anything meaningful this morning?

If so, surely this. If God is in control way up there (heaven of heavens) and in every place else … if God is being praised way up there (heaven of heavens) and elsewhere … SHOULD HE NOT BE RIDING HIS GLORIOUS CHARIOT IN MY LITTLE HEART? SHOULD HE NOT BE THE OBJECT OF VOCAL PRAISE IN MY LITTLE LIFE?

Surely, that is the case!

In fact, the Book of Psalms concludes with that sentiment … “Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD.”

Amen!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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Psalm 147, magnifying our great God, says of Him … “He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.”

The verb “healeth” (in Hebrew “rapha”) incorporates one of God’s great Compound Names! It is used in Exodus 15:26 … “I (the Lord) will put none of these diseases upon thee (Israel), which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD (Jehovah) that healeth (rapha) thee.” He is here called Jehovah-Rapha!

Truly He is the “Divine Physician!”

The word “broken” in heart literally means “crushed, shattered!” Someone reading here today fits this very category, I am almost sure.

Jesus cares!

“To bind” up caries the idea of “wrapping up, or bandaging” a wound. Here likely it’s an emotional wound! In fact, the noun is translated “sorrow” four times in the Old Testament.

Is anyone today hurting that badly?

Mangled, belittled, scorned, again crushed?

Do not feel, please, like David did in Psalm 142:4 … “Refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul.”

Rather, trust the words of our Text … “God healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.”

Lean on Him right now.

Feel His Comfort!

His Care!

Bask in the sunlight of His Love today!

He sure will not kick you while you’re down!

Talk to Him now!

He can help. He can heal!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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Did you ever read a Passage of Scripture (maybe for the 10th time) and suddenly see something “new, fresh, previously unnoticed?”

That just happened to me!

Nestled in the midst of beautiful Psalm 146, nonetheless! After a Litany (List) of great things our God does … the writer adds: “But the way of the wicked He turneth upside down.”

Wow!

This ungodly world has certainly turned the ways of God upside down! They’re now calling wrong things (in God’s Eyes) to be right things (in man’s eyes)!

Read Isaiah 5:20 now … “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” Yes, upside down!

In addition, our Christian witness nowadays seems to be less effective, if it even exists at all in parts of the nation. Whereas once the Church powerfully and positively impacted the world for Christ. The unbelieving Thessalonians in back Paul’s day lamented … “These that HAVE TURNED THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN are come hither also.” Acts 17:6, way to go, Paul and company!

But praise be to God, the moral chaos of the 21st century will not last forever! Let’s go back to Psalm 146:9 … “The LORD preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and widow: BUT THE WAY OF THE WICKED HE TURNETH UPSIDE DOWN.”

Sounds like, Biblically speaking, this old world is facing some real tribulation in her future! Real turmoil! Real inversion! A real Sifting! When God in judgment gets a hold of it!

I am so glad I’m saved! Aren’t you? Hebrews 12:27 boldly says there are some things which “cannot be shaken!”

Cannot be turned upside down!

Hallelujah!

I am anchored to a solid Rock, our Lord Jesus Christ, Who will never be “turned upside down!”

“He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, AND SET MY FEET UPON A ROCK, and established my goings.” Psalm 40:2, what a testimony in an unstable world!

Dr. Mike Bagwell

Where do you stand today?

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