Thou Art With Me: Why You Never Walk Alone (Even in the Valley)

Have you ever felt like you’re walking the "Boulevard of Broken Dreams," entirely on your own?

In this session, Austin Gardner dives deep into one of the most beautiful truths in Scripture: Psalm 23:4—"Thou art with me."

Drawing from over 50 years of ministry, missionary work in Peru, and his personal battles with Stage 4 cancer and COVID, Austin explains why our relationship with God isn't a performance-based contract, but a blood-bought covenant.

What you’ll learn in this message:

• The Shepherd’s Perspective: Why being a "sheep" means you don't have to be smart or strong—you just have to belong.
• Covenant vs. Contract: Why God doesn't "walk off" when you mess up (and why David could trust God even when his life was a mess).
• The Rod and the Staff: Discover why these aren't tools for punishment, but for your protection and comfort in the dark.
• The "Together" Reality: Why you never have to ask God to "come be with you" ever again.

Stop striving to reach a God who is already holding you. Whether you’re in a season of joy or the valley of the shadow of death, the reality remains: Thou art with me.

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Transcript

Thou Art With Me

Austin Gardner 0:26

One of the most powerful, beautiful truths I could ever share with you. Psalm chapter 23 and verse 4. And this is what I want you to go with. Thou art with me. Thou art with me.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

Uh I've done all I know to do.

Shepherd And Sheep Perspective

Austin Gardner 0:50

So yeah, when you get a wife, you get a boss. Say amen. The second Holy Spirit. Anyway. Psalm chapter 23 and verse 4, thou art with me. I just want you to under, I want to just want you to get some things. The Lord is my shepherd. Now, uh, you know, we kind of get that backwards. That's like he belongs to me. But when you realize it was a sheep doing the talking, it's kind of backwards. Can I get an amen? Uh the Lord's mine. Yes, he is, but really I'm the Lord's. And and the whole Psalm 23 and our lives are built on this. He is the shepherd. And he meets our needs. Now we went over this, and and I I know you've heard this, but it doesn't hurt us to hear it again. It doesn't matter where you've been or what you've done. If you're a believer, he's the shepherd. And you're the sheep. David is in major trouble right here. David is, if you think about it, he has not been a good dad. We've gone over that. He hasn't been a good dad. He hasn't been a good husband. He hasn't been a good king. To be blunt honest, about the only thing he's got going for him is he really loves God.

unknown 2:14

Amen.

David’s Darkest Valley

A Personal God Who Moved In

Austin Gardner 2:16

I mean, he messes up all the time. I mean, he I mean, he's a good representative of us. Can I get an amen right there? Because, you know, I'm just like a walking mess. Amen. You know, we mess up. Boy, you lose your temper, you say something you shouldn't have said, you feel something you shouldn't have said, you're mad at somebody. You know, it goes on in us all the time. And what and it kind of makes us feel like we're separated from the Lord. But that's the story here. David goes into the story all messed up, but when David gets ready to meditate, he says, No, no, no. I don't start saying I'm sorry. I don't start groveling. I don't start begging. I don't have to. I don't have to ask him to come be with me. He is my shepherd. Somehow we get the idea that we run from the Lord. But you know, as a believer, you can't run from the Lord. Because if you do, he just runs with you. He's always with you. He'll never leave you nor forsake you. So if you run to the far country, he'll just go with you. Now, he won't like it there, and he may whisper that to you, but he's there with you. Can I get an amen? The Lord is my shepherd. Now, in the story, David knows his son is about to kill him. Absalom has come with the army, and Absalom is going to kill him if it's at all possible. Absalom has already publicly humiliated his dad. He has taken ten of his wives up on the rooftop of the palace, and he's had his way with them in public view. I mean, you want to talk about a despicable human. Absalom is pretty much a messed up guy. He has humiliated his dad. He's had his dad run for his life. His dad's best friend, the only friend he ever really mentions, has turned on him and sided with Absalom. He is in trouble. They're outside the perimeter of his camp, getting ready to pounce on him and kill him. And he knows that he is in the valley of the shadow of death. He knows that he could die at any moment. And then he says, I don't will not be afraid. I will not be afraid. Because you're with me. It doesn't matter where I am, doesn't matter how much I messed up, you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. It's an intimate presence, an unbreakable union, an intimacy with God like no other. The Lord is my shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. I am Yahweh, Jehovah is my shepherd. He is my shepherd. Not will be, not maybe, not I hope so. Not after I repent, not after I say I'm sorry, not after I come back down to the church altar, not after I meet some conditions. No, the Lord is my shepherd. That's what the Bible says. The Lord is my shepherd. And he is my shepherd. So I am claiming him. But when I get this straight in my head, it's his presence in my life that makes all the difference. It's his operating in my life that makes all the difference. A song says, I walk a lonely road, the only one I've ever known. Don't know where it goes, but it's home to me, and I walk alone. I walk this empty street on the boulevard of broken dreams where the city sleeps, and I'm the only one and I walk alone. My shadow's the only one that walks beside me. My shallow heart's the only thing that's beating. Sometimes I wish someone out there would find me. But we don't have that problem. Can I get an amen? Now I've personally been dealing with maybe Betty's the one that's going to be there and need to hear a message. And then, you know, then all of a sudden it seems like I don't know what the word's doing because I ain't near as sick as I was supposed to be. That's really a weird feeling. Amen. You wake up one day, like it's time, it's over, I'm dying. Then you wake up a few days later and say, well, maybe I ain't. I don't know what's going on here. But I want you to understand the word thou here, the word you. Thou art with me. You, a personal intimate, face-to-face intimacy. This isn't religious talk. This isn't Bible talk. He knows me, and I know him. You are with me, not maybe, but for sure, not in the future, not in the past, but he's with me right now in the middle of it all. Can I just real quickly say, you are with me, thou art with me. He's not asking him to be with him. It's a declarative statement. I spent a lot of time in my life as a as a young man. I spent an awful lot of time asking God to come be with me. Like, God, please be with me. Come be with me. And uh I was thinking I was pretty well taught to pray like that. I mean, it was kind of like that's what you pray at church, but literally it's kind of like this. It's like me looking at y'all right now and saying, Y'all sit down. Y'all all be like, we are? And so you're the one that's wrong here, because we're already seated. Amen. And when you say, God, come be with me, he's like, I moved in a long time ago. Amen. Thou art with me. We're not asking for him to come back. We're not saying that he hopefully he will come. We're not saying sorry, please come. Thou art, you are always present. He is my shepherd. He is committed to me. Thou art, he is committed. I want you to just think a minute about that. Shepherds are very committed to their sheep. My brother retired, and he's got a little money, so he's bought him a farm, and he's got him some cows now and a bull. And they all got names. And he's got this bull that weighs nearly 2,000 pounds. Massive. He tells me, he said, he's a pet. And he said, he he walks in the at the he walks in and he rubs his head. He said, but you gotta be real careful with him because when he loves you, he wants to push against you. And he said, You can't handle 2,000 pounds pushing against you. He said, So be real careful. In other words, he is so proud of his guy. When I go, we have to go look at him. We just have to drive out there and look at him. And then he has to tell him, look at him. He's a big pet. Then he has to go get him some feed and give him some sweet feed. And it's just like it's a he thinks it's a dog. Can I get an amen? He thinks it's a dog. Well, you know, when I look at that, I just think about this. Thou art with me. The Lord is my shepherd. He shares the journey, whether it's good or bad. He experiences my joys and my sorrows and the dangers. We are together. You say, I don't know if I believe that. Galatians 2.20, I have crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yep, not I. But Christ lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God. So did you know that God, Jesus, is in you? The Holy Spirit is in you. Thou art with me is a reality all the time. All the time. And by the way, he is actively protecting you. Thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Now I was kind of brought up in church. My daddy liked the rod. Y'all know about the rod. All the time. And so I kind of read that verse like he's my shepherd, but he's gonna whoop my rear. If that's what my daddy does, can I get an amen? But that's really not what's going on here. It's really, it's really David says, I'm in the valley of the shadow of death. At any moment, my enemies are gonna come kill me, but I'm all right. I will not be afraid because he is with me and he's got two sticks. Bring it on. He's got two sticks, bring it on, bring it on. He's got a rod, he's got a staff. And yes, he uses him in taking care of me, and yes, he uses him to guide me. But you know what, the sticks hurt to beat me and hurt me, he's my shepherd. I'll give you a hint. Go hurt one of my brother's cows. He got real mad. Like you and your dog. You ever think about that? I could just about whoop your kid quicker than I can whip your dog. Anyway, it ought not to be that way, but I think sometimes it is. But you know what? He's my shepherd. He's my shepherd. He's never watching. He's participating. He's not watching you, he's participating. He lives in you. There's no mention of sin or failure. There isn't like you can sin so much that he quits being your shepherd. You can't sin so much that he will leave. He has never left you. We are one together in union. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. It's an unbreakable presence. It's a deep personal relationship. You matter to him. I think one of the this has changed my life. I've told you all that before, but you know, he he can be touched with the feelings of our infirmities. Did you know when you're alone at night and you're scared and you're crying or you're whining? He ain't upset. He's like, I feel your pain. I never meant for this to be the way the world worked. I had you in a garden. Y'all wanted out. I didn't want you out. I'm gonna put it all back together again before the story's over. Time y'all get through the Bible, I'm gonna rebuild that whole place and we're gonna do it even better when you did the first time around. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 12:43

Amen.

Rod And Staff Mean Protection

Covenant Loyalty Not A Contract

The Good Shepherd Never Runs

Austin Gardner 12:44

And so I just want you to know, I just want you to know that it's a deeply personal relationship. You matter to him. It's his covenant loyalty. In the Bible, the Lord is my shepherd. You gotta understand, we don't think like the Hebrews thought. But the Hebrews knew covenant. We don't know covenant. We know contract. And contract is based on I don't trust you. I know you're a thief and a liar. So put it on paper where I can take you to court, put you in jail if I have to. But the Bible talks about covenant, and covenant was based on trust and faith. The closest thing we have to it is a marriage. I mean, because Betty married me 52 years ago when she was a young girl, didn't know no better. And she said in sickness and in health, and she's counting pills every day of her life now. Amen. She puts together over a hundred pills, and she we won't even talk about all the stuff she does. And shot, she gives me shots every week. She does, you know, she count on that, but she made a covenant. She said, I love you when it's good and I love you when it's bad. But in the Bible, and by the way, in a human covenant, it's like this. I make a promise, and she makes a promise. In Bible days, a covenant meant cutting with blood. It was kind of like what they do on the TV shows of the Indians, you know, cut each other's hand and stick them together. They you cut and draw blood, and then you mix the blood and you become the brothers. You've seen it on the TV show. Have you seen it? Amen. Well, in the Bible, see, when they made a covenant between two people, David and Jonathan had covenants. If you go read the Bible, they they made a covenant, they gave gifts to each other, they ate together. Well, in the Bible, God makes covenants with the people. He tells Abraham, He said, I'm making covenant with you. And he cuts some animals, he sheds some blood, and he puts half the body on one side, half the body on the other side. There's a bunch of smoke. I always read that. I said, I like all the time and all for years, 50 plus 60 years, I've read that, like, what in the world is that doing in the Bible? But you know what it really amounted to? It was a Hebrew way of making a covenant. It was that culture's way of making a covenant. But God said to Abraham, you just go over and go to sleep. Because when I make a promise, you don't have to promise. I keep my word, whether you do or not. And then he walked down through the middle of the cut pieces. And the purpose of the cut and the purpose of the blood was to say, if I don't keep my word, cut me and kill me and destroy me. But I keep my word. Because our God keeps his word. He made a covenant with you. He made a covenant with you. By the way, every time we take the Lord's Supper, I don't know if you ever thought about it, but there's a symbol of the cutting. We we drink some juice to remind us of the blood. And there's some broken bodies, the broken body of Christ, to remind us of the death of Christ. Because the covenant's based on his sacrifice, not ours. Amen. He said, I said, the Lord is my shepherd. He is with you. Deeply, individually, he is with you. And that promises his faithfulness and his covenant. So you and I are never, ever alone. We are never ever alone. He is my shepherd who is with me. The Bible says in Psalm 23:1, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. You realize that he's not a shepherd without sheep. He's not a shepherd without sheep, and sheep can't live without the shepherd. I don't mean to hurt your feelings, but he picked like the dumbest animal to call us that. He didn't pick a dog that got good sense. He didn't pick a horse or even an elephant. He picked a sheep. Sheep are known for being dumb. But listen to this. They understood this metaphor, this picture, this drawing of what's going on. The shepherd lived with the sheep. The shepherd lived with the sheep. It was a shared life. He slept with them. He knew them intimately. He knew their name. They knew his voice. It's the shepherd. By the way, you know that shepherds are made fun of because they smell like sheep. And the Lord is my shepherd. He's bound to the sheep. They share the same fate. The shepherd is committed to the sheep. He be bound to them in a covenant, in a promise. Listen to what Jesus said. I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep and I am known of mine. The good shepherd will not abandon his sheep. He made a promise and he keeps it. He made a covenant and he keeps it. So he gives us security. There is security in the Lord is my shepherd. There is security in you are with me. Thou art with me. Being with me means we will share the same fate. The shepherd is actively protecting me. He is my unconditional, unfailing command. 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. He's with us on every dark path. We are never alone. We are never abandoned. Fact is Jesus spoke pretty bad about hirelings. He said in John chapter 10 and verse 12, He that's a hireling and not the shepherd, whose own sheep are not, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees. And the wolf catches them and scatters the sheep. The hireling flees because he's a hireling. And he cares not for the sheep. But Jesus said, But I'm the good shepherd. Nobody's paying me to do this. I'm not hired by the clock. I'm not looking at the clock, saying, I start at nine and get off at five. I am the shepherd. These are my sheep. I love my sheep. And when I see the wolf coming, I got a rod and a staff. I'm here to protect my sheep. Psalm 130. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? Whither shall I flee from thy presence? If if I ascend up into heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost part of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. He is with us. Can I get an amen? See, that's a comfort. That's a comfort when you're laying in the bed and knows you've got cancer and you're worried about things. That's a comfort when your spouse dies. That's a comfort when you just go to work tomorrow. The Lord is our shepherd. You realize sheep have no sense of the future. No sheep saying, we better run the market and get enough food to last through the week. No sheep thinks like that. They're not worried. They don't even know when they're in danger unless it just gets real loud in their face. They simply look at the shepherd and trust his promise. If you go to mess with them, they just look up at it like, hey, hey, hey, you're the shepherd. We're the sheep. You're supposed to be taking care of us. Do your thing. And that's what Jesus, that's what David said in the Psalm, yea, though I walk to 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. We have security. We have security. Our shepherd won't quit on us. Our shepherd won't leave us. To be honest with you, today the person who most needs any words of comfort will be Hayward. Because Hayward's wife's like, I'm here. I made it home and they don't live as good. Fact is, Hayward, you did a lousy job teaching about it because you didn't even get close. Amen. I think every preacher we get to him, we're gonna be like, well, we missed it, didn't we? We got about that much of it, and there's about that much of it. Come on, can I get an Amen? I truly believe that. If you don't believe it, then that's on you. But he is our security, he's also our strength. He's also our strength. He's with me. Thou art with me. Never alone. Together. Now, before I read you some Bible verses, I don't know if you ever deal with this. I think some people just go with them personalities that they don't really need anybody to be with them. I think sometimes Chris and Andre can be like that. You know, I think Chris can just walk in the room with the richest people in the world and just, woo, I'm here. And everything's fine. But me, I'm like scared. To be honest with you, I ain't even scared they're gonna do nothing to me. I just feel out of place. But if I got somebody with me, I feel a lot better. Can I get an amen? I like the plus one. Just come on, Betty. That way they beat me up, at least you're here. Can I get an Amen? And if I'm gonna go somewhere, I don't like to be alone. I don't like to walk into the room by myself.

SPEAKER_00 22:05

And he said, Thou art with me.

Strength In Weakness And Comfort

Nothing Separates Us From Love

Austin Gardner 22:09

You're not going anywhere by yourself. The Bible says in Isaiah chapter 43 and verse 2, When thou passest through the water, I will be there. And through the rivers they shall the and though the rivers they shall overflow thee, when thou walkest through the fire, you will not be. Burned, neither shall the fire flame kindle upon you. He is not watching over you. I need you to hear that. He is not watching over you, he's with you. He's not looking from a distance, hey, I see you. Go ahead. I'll be I'm cheering for you. No, that's not what he's doing. He said, I'm with you. You ain't going nowhere and I don't go with you. Thou art with me. He's united. Our struggles are his struggles, because he feels every pain. In 2 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 9, the Bible says, And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient, for thou art. My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, and that the power of Christ may rest upon me. It wasn't the sheep's strength. It wasn't the sheep's smarts. It's the shepherd of thou art with me. Galatians 2.20 is like a verse that I literally think about it every day. I think I am crucified with Christ. You know, I died with Christ. I was buried with Christ, and I rose with Christ, and I ascended into heaven. Right now, you and I with Christ are already seated in the heavenlies. You just don't know it, maybe. That's what the Bible says, though. But I love this. Christ lives in me. I figured something out. He just likes to hear us talk. Because he already knows what you're going to say before you ever think of saying it. But in the Bible, he says, y'all just go ahead and talk. I like to hear you talk. You know, old daddy back there is holding that baby up, kissing that baby, and just so happy to have that baby. And the truth is that baby won't be able to say anything he don't already know. But he loves hearing. And our father wants to hear you. He is with you. He lives in you. He is not in me. He is in me, not just with me. He is also my shelter. He's also my shelter. He is my support. He is my intimate direction and guidance. He is my comfort. Thou art with me. In John 14, 16 through 18, he said, I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter. Jesus is getting ready to leave, and the boys have learned it ain't good when Jesus ain't with us. We like Jesus being with us. They learned that. And then he teaches one of the most wonderful deep truths you can imagine. He says, I will give you another comforter. And that he that Greek word behind another means a one just like me. Another one just like me. After all, it is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Amen. All three are one and separate at the same time. He said, and he will abide with you forever. You don't ever go anywhere, he doesn't go. In fact, this in verse 17 it says, He dwells with you, and he shall be in you. In verse 16, verse 18, Jesus said, I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you. I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you. In Hebrews 13, 5, he said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Ever. I don't know how I ever came up with it. I know it really wasn't the intention of those country preachers to teach me this. But somehow I got the feeling that whatever I did wrong, he just walked off and left me. I really did. I was like, yeah, he's watching you and he's going to get you. He is watching you and he is going to get you. But I kind of felt like he was just kind of coming and going whenever he wanted to. I did, I did, I did, I really did. In fact, as I used to get ready to preach, I said, God, come be with me. Now come be with me. And honestly, he's looking at you going, I'm with you, buddy. I said, I wasn't never leaving, I was never forsaking you. And you may not feel his presence. You may not, uh, you may not see what he's doing, but he's there. He will not leave you. We have peace because of his presence. We have peace because of his presence. His companionship, we never face anything alone. We never face anything alone. Do you know the shepherd never leaves sheep to wander alone? And his companionship means you never face a moment by yourself. I love this passage right here. Isaiah chapter 40 and verse 11 says, He shall feed his flock like a shepherd. And then he kind of describes what it means. Listen, he shall gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom. He gathers the lambs and carries them in his bosom. He shall gently lead those that are with young. We're comforted because the shepherd is here. I may be walking through the valley of the shadow of death. This may be the scariest time that's ever happened in my life. I may be dealing with the hardest thing I've ever dealt with, but I am not alone. He is sufficient. He is all I need. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. There is no sense of lack. We're not worried about the future. Our needs are met. And listen to this. Nothing can separate you from the love of God. Romans chapter 8 and verse 39, the Bible says, For it nor height nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. There is never a lack of love. I think I know what you might be thinking, except when you don't confess your sins. No, he doesn't quit loving you. Except when you don't mess up. No, he doesn't quit loving you. And he doesn't leave you. He said, There ain't nothing above the earth, in the earth, or below the earth that can separate my love from you. You're united forever and inseparable. We are joined unto the Lord as one spirit. We are joined to the you say, where is that in the Bible? 1 Corinthians 6, 17, but he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit. We are one. Our stories and our lives are woven together. I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live yet not I. It's Christ living in me. It's Christ living in me. So I just would think about this. Our shepherd has brought us all the way through to here. And we know him. We know what he's done. And there are times when we're worried and are scared and are afraid. There are times when we feel alone and nobody's with us. There are times when the load gets heavy and we can hardly carry it.

SPEAKER_00 29:21

But I will fear no evil. For you're with me. You are with me.

Austin Gardner 29:33

How much do you have to be afraid to walk into anywhere when Jesus is with you? I mean, you have to be afraid to walk into heaven with Jesus with you. Amen. You have to be afraid to walk into anywhere when Jesus is with you, and this is what David knew. I may not have been everything I ought to have been. Might have failed some along the way. Might have been a mess. But the Lord's my shepherd.

SPEAKER_00 29:59

The Lord's my shepherd. I belong to him. I'm not taking care of him.

Austin Gardner 30:05

He's taking care of me. The Lord is my shepherd. I may be walking to the valley of the shadow of death, but I will not be afraid, for he's with me. And his rod and his staff do comfort me. Father in heaven, I pray you would bless your people. I pray that your name would be glorified.