WEBVTT 00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:06.000 So we are contemplating our way through Psalm 23 during this fall. 00:00:06.160 --> 00:00:08.160 And yeah, so welcome, kiddos. 00:00:08.640 --> 00:00:15.839 Maybe you you know you got your whole family ready for church and you get here and you went to check your kid in and your your kids with you still. 00:00:16.399 --> 00:00:20.960 So we do this on some holidays to give our volunteers a break. 00:00:21.120 --> 00:00:22.320 So that's why we do this. 00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:24.160 And kids, we're glad you're in here. 00:00:24.239 --> 00:00:26.399 And if you need to shelf around your seat some, that's fine. 00:00:26.559 --> 00:00:29.760 And parents, if you need to escort your child out at some point, that's fine too. 00:00:29.839 --> 00:00:30.640 You won't disturb me. 00:00:30.719 --> 00:00:33.920 I can promise I will just keep, I just sort of keep preaching no matter what happens. 00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:38.399 And so you won't disturb me if you do need to uh to escape for a moment. 00:00:38.479 --> 00:00:44.159 Uh so Psalm 23, verse 4 is where we're at today as we've been working our way through. 00:00:44.240 --> 00:00:45.759 Let me reread verse 4. 00:00:46.000 --> 00:00:50.320 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. 00:00:50.479 --> 00:00:54.960 For you are with me, your rod, and your staff, they comfort me. 00:00:55.119 --> 00:00:58.159 So my first real experience with this verse was in 1995. 00:00:58.240 --> 00:01:01.280 Is anybody a 1990s rap fan? 00:01:01.840 --> 00:01:03.920 Can you name this rapper? 00:01:05.599 --> 00:01:06.239 Can you? 00:01:07.280 --> 00:01:07.680 Julio. 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:09.519 And can you name the song? 00:01:10.480 --> 00:01:12.319 Gangsta's Paradise. 00:01:12.879 --> 00:01:13.439 Right? 00:01:13.680 --> 00:01:15.680 Remember the line, the opening line? 00:01:15.840 --> 00:01:16.959 I will not wrap it. 00:01:17.280 --> 00:01:19.040 That would be really horrible. 00:01:19.519 --> 00:01:20.640 Maybe I will a little bit. 00:01:20.799 --> 00:01:26.799 As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I take a look at my life and realize there's nothing left. 00:01:27.040 --> 00:01:27.359 Right? 00:01:27.599 --> 00:01:29.359 I can't rap, didn't try. 00:01:29.760 --> 00:01:31.519 But we have all felt like Coolio. 00:01:32.159 --> 00:01:40.640 We have all felt like we've been in a valley of some sort, and we pause and we're like reflect on our life, and just it's like there's nothing left. 00:01:40.799 --> 00:01:47.439 So we have felt like that, and maybe you have felt like that because uh the the boy didn't call back. 00:01:47.599 --> 00:01:50.640 Like you went on the date, and it was fantastic. 00:01:50.799 --> 00:01:52.640 I mean, the conversation at Chili's was great. 00:01:52.719 --> 00:01:57.760 I mean, you had a great time, and you thought it was so good, and he never called. 00:01:57.920 --> 00:01:58.959 He didn't call. 00:01:59.200 --> 00:02:00.879 Or the girl just said no. 00:02:02.159 --> 00:02:05.680 Or the phone did ring and it was the doctor. 00:02:05.920 --> 00:02:10.319 And you know you should never get a phone call from a doctor, like three days after you go see the doctor. 00:02:10.639 --> 00:02:12.639 You didn't want to pick up, you knew you had to. 00:02:13.199 --> 00:02:14.400 And it wasn't good news. 00:02:14.479 --> 00:02:20.400 Maybe it wasn't good news for you, or it wasn't good news for your kids, or for a loved one, or something, or maybe your family's a disaster. 00:02:20.639 --> 00:02:23.039 Maybe your relationships or your career. 00:02:23.520 --> 00:02:26.240 Or maybe just like life or friendships or something like that. 00:02:26.319 --> 00:02:29.360 Just it hasn't ended up being what you thought it would be. 00:02:29.599 --> 00:02:29.919 Right? 00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:35.840 That one area of your life, that one area that you know about, maybe other people don't know, you just can't quite get it all together. 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:37.840 You don't feel all together. 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:45.120 Like life is wonderful, and then all of a sudden, and often life can be brutal. 00:02:45.919 --> 00:02:47.680 So we can feel like cool. 00:02:48.560 --> 00:02:50.879 We can feel like gangsta's paradise. 00:02:51.199 --> 00:02:58.159 But the good news is Psalm 23, 4 does not read like Coolio. 00:02:59.120 --> 00:03:01.120 David finishes the thought different. 00:03:01.280 --> 00:03:02.960 So here's the first part again. 00:03:03.120 --> 00:03:11.199 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, and here's where David is different, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. 00:03:11.759 --> 00:03:12.960 It's quite different. 00:03:13.280 --> 00:03:21.439 Point number one is this because we are never alone, we do not have to fear the valleys, which means there's going to be valleys, but we don't have to fear them. 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:24.960 So throughout this Psalm, God is the shepherd and we are the sheep. 00:03:25.039 --> 00:03:36.560 So we're the ones who are incredibly stubborn, we're the ones that are needy, we need help, but the shepherd is the one who's continuously been loyal and loving, fiercely caring. 00:03:37.919 --> 00:03:52.319 So in the summer months, a thoughtful shepherd would need to take his sheep from the low country, which would get super hot and the food would dry up and the water wouldn't be as abundant, and he would need to take his sheep up to the high country. 00:03:52.639 --> 00:03:54.319 This was a brutal journey. 00:03:54.560 --> 00:03:55.439 David knew this. 00:03:55.599 --> 00:04:02.719 We actually knew David knew this because when Samuel went to anoint David as king, David was not at the home ranch in the low country. 00:04:02.879 --> 00:04:05.360 He was high in the hills with his sheep. 00:04:05.919 --> 00:04:07.680 So David knew about this journey. 00:04:07.759 --> 00:04:10.000 That's what he's thinking about when he's writing this. 00:04:10.240 --> 00:04:17.839 That shepherds, good shepherds, took their sheep to the high country where it was cooler, and there was food and provision for them. 00:04:18.160 --> 00:04:25.199 But to get the sheep to the high country, they had to go through dangerous valleys. 00:04:25.759 --> 00:04:34.800 The Hebrew phrase shadow of death is the word Salmavath, meaning the valley of the deepest darkness. 00:04:35.519 --> 00:04:39.759 So not just like a valley of darkness, like the deepest darkness. 00:04:40.480 --> 00:04:45.199 So it's you in your disappointment, your hurt. 00:04:46.079 --> 00:04:50.480 You can't go lower, and yet God is still there shepherding. 00:04:51.199 --> 00:04:54.000 It's you at your end, at your exhaustion. 00:04:54.639 --> 00:05:02.480 So I learned this week that the deepest, darkest place in the world is the Mariana Trench. 00:05:02.800 --> 00:05:06.399 So this is a trench in the Pacific Ocean near the Philippines. 00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:14.399 It's seven miles deep below the ocean surface, seven miles cut into the core, going down into the earth. 00:05:14.480 --> 00:05:16.800 There's absolutely no light at the bottom of this trench. 00:05:16.959 --> 00:05:17.519 None. 00:05:17.759 --> 00:05:20.560 It's the valley of the deepest darkness. 00:05:20.639 --> 00:05:23.759 Here's actually a picture of the bottom of the trench. 00:05:27.439 --> 00:05:32.480 I just, the dad joke, just every once in a while it comes out, I have to do it. 00:05:32.800 --> 00:05:35.759 Here's actually that picture with some light turned on. 00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:37.279 The bottom of the trench. 00:05:37.439 --> 00:05:40.000 So that's at the seven miles deep. 00:05:40.959 --> 00:05:42.480 Just feels empty. 00:05:43.040 --> 00:05:52.480 Now, what's interesting about this is that scientists thought for sure that there's no way life could exist in that amount of darkness. 00:05:52.720 --> 00:05:53.279 No way. 00:05:53.439 --> 00:05:54.639 Not in the deepest darkness. 00:05:54.800 --> 00:05:56.800 Life can't exist in that sort of darkness. 00:05:56.879 --> 00:05:57.600 No way, no way. 00:05:57.759 --> 00:05:59.199 No living creature could live there. 00:05:59.519 --> 00:06:04.959 But in 1960, Jacques Picard and Don Welsh, these two explorers, they get in a submarine. 00:06:05.120 --> 00:06:06.879 There the guys are on the right, that's their submarine. 00:06:06.959 --> 00:06:09.600 They get in the submarine and they go down seven miles. 00:06:09.839 --> 00:06:11.120 Seven miles they go down. 00:06:11.680 --> 00:06:16.480 And they turn their light on, and sure enough, a little fish swims by. 00:06:17.360 --> 00:06:17.839 Right? 00:06:18.079 --> 00:06:21.120 Life in the deepest darkness. 00:06:22.399 --> 00:06:25.120 There's an interesting thing that happens in this psalm. 00:06:25.279 --> 00:06:27.680 And I didn't even notice it until I was studying it this week. 00:06:27.759 --> 00:06:31.360 I've probably heard the psalm and read it a thousand times in my life. 00:06:31.600 --> 00:06:32.959 Never noticed it. 00:06:33.279 --> 00:06:35.439 A shift happens in verse 4. 00:06:35.759 --> 00:06:38.560 Verses 1 through 3 are all proclamation. 00:06:39.360 --> 00:06:47.680 He's our shepherd, he makes me lie down, green pastures, still waters, he leads me, he guides me. 00:06:48.240 --> 00:06:51.040 And then verse 4, the language changes. 00:06:51.839 --> 00:06:56.800 Even though I walk through the valley, you are with me. 00:06:58.240 --> 00:07:00.000 Switches it to first person. 00:07:00.639 --> 00:07:01.199 Personal. 00:07:01.360 --> 00:07:02.399 It goes personal. 00:07:02.560 --> 00:07:07.600 The language becomes personal because when we're hurting, it all becomes so much more personal. 00:07:09.519 --> 00:07:15.920 All of a sudden the presence of God means everything to you, and sometimes it's the only thing you have. 00:07:18.800 --> 00:07:20.639 Second part of the verse. 00:07:21.040 --> 00:07:22.800 I will fear no evil. 00:07:23.920 --> 00:07:24.560 Why? 00:07:24.800 --> 00:07:28.720 For you are with me, your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 00:07:28.879 --> 00:07:36.480 So point number two is this we are comforted as God draws near our weakness and never stops guiding us. 00:07:36.800 --> 00:07:38.079 That's why we're comforted. 00:07:38.399 --> 00:07:43.199 We're not comforted because we pull up our bootstraps and we're strong enough and we can hold it all together. 00:07:43.279 --> 00:07:47.439 We're comforted because God draws near our weakness, never stops guiding us. 00:07:47.680 --> 00:07:51.920 David says we should be comforted by a rod, which would have been a striking weapon. 00:07:52.079 --> 00:07:54.000 So evil has its limits. 00:07:55.439 --> 00:07:57.279 Even in your deepest darkness. 00:07:57.839 --> 00:08:01.040 That can be suffering, that can be shame, it can be guilt. 00:08:01.199 --> 00:08:10.160 Even in the deepest darkness, you are protected from the devil, from suffering, from your own sin, the world's brokenness, the messiness of our hearts. 00:08:10.319 --> 00:08:12.000 They may affect you. 00:08:12.720 --> 00:08:26.000 But when you are in Christ, they don't destroy you because at the deepest part of yourself, at the core of you, you are always loved, always forgiven, always accepted. 00:08:26.639 --> 00:08:29.279 And that is unbelievably powerful. 00:08:30.079 --> 00:08:34.960 That you can journey through a valley of darkness, and you can know that. 00:08:35.519 --> 00:08:39.679 That in your deepest self, God is always with you. 00:08:40.960 --> 00:08:43.919 Now we're not promised a pain-free life. 00:08:44.240 --> 00:08:45.840 That's frustrating. 00:08:46.240 --> 00:08:46.559 Right? 00:08:46.720 --> 00:08:48.639 We all have our list of questions. 00:08:48.960 --> 00:08:49.919 I'll have mine. 00:08:50.080 --> 00:08:54.080 I'm in you in line to ask those questions, those questions answered. 00:08:55.200 --> 00:08:58.879 But you know, and maybe we would have designed the world differently. 00:08:59.039 --> 00:09:01.039 Maybe you would have designed the world differently. 00:09:01.200 --> 00:09:03.919 But you know, uh nobody asked you, nobody asked me, right? 00:09:04.000 --> 00:09:08.080 Like I would have designed the world probably a little differently, but nobody asked me how it should be designed. 00:09:08.320 --> 00:09:11.519 But what is clear is we were never promised a pain-free life. 00:09:11.759 --> 00:09:17.600 What we were promised is that God moves toward us in our pain, not away from us. 00:09:18.159 --> 00:09:25.039 That he is actually endeared to us in our weakness, which is actually the opposite of what we tend to think. 00:09:25.200 --> 00:09:29.759 We tend to think, well, he could only be endeared to us if we had it together. 00:09:30.320 --> 00:09:36.799 Or I'm in suffering or shame or disappointment, so he must have left me. 00:09:37.039 --> 00:09:38.879 And that's not true either. 00:09:39.279 --> 00:09:42.879 So it's incredibly comforting to know, even in our pain, he's with us. 00:09:43.039 --> 00:09:46.080 That there's a boundness to evil. 00:09:46.799 --> 00:09:50.799 The second image of comfort is the shepherd's staff, which was a walking stick. 00:09:50.879 --> 00:09:53.600 Sometimes I have that hook on top of it. 00:09:54.559 --> 00:09:58.559 And this was an image to guide the sheep. 00:09:59.440 --> 00:10:11.759 So together, David's giving us this powerful gift of comfort with this rod and this staff, that the rod and the staff speak to the guidance we have and the protection we have even in the deepest of darkness. 00:10:12.240 --> 00:10:19.600 We are assured, what we say over and over again in our church, that God is with you and he's for you. 00:10:20.320 --> 00:10:23.279 Listen to John 14, 16 through 18. 00:10:24.399 --> 00:10:25.600 Jesus speaking here. 00:10:25.759 --> 00:10:28.960 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper. 00:10:29.840 --> 00:10:39.200 So he's speaking of the Holy Spirit, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. 00:10:39.519 --> 00:10:42.960 You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. 00:10:43.200 --> 00:10:46.720 I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you. 00:10:46.960 --> 00:10:49.039 Now, that word orphan, that's a strong word. 00:10:49.120 --> 00:10:53.279 And maybe some of us have grew up as orphans without a stable family. 00:10:53.919 --> 00:11:03.440 Now, many of us grew up as functional orphans, where there's some area of our life, our heart, that we were not mothered or we were not fathered. 00:11:03.679 --> 00:11:07.360 And David says, and Jesus says, you're not alone. 00:11:08.639 --> 00:11:11.600 You have a helper, the Holy Spirit, that never leaves you. 00:11:11.679 --> 00:11:12.960 You're not orphaned. 00:11:13.120 --> 00:11:20.000 You're not orphaned in the low country, you're not orphaned in the high country, you're not orphaned in the valley that comes up in life. 00:11:20.240 --> 00:11:28.000 Twenty years ago, I was in seminary at the time, I was working full-time, I was commuting an hour each way. 00:11:28.480 --> 00:11:37.440 I'd gone from the kind of that freedom and joy of college life, you're living with your best friends, and had moved home with my mom, no offense, but it wasn't college life, right? 00:11:37.519 --> 00:11:45.519 I mean, a clear distinction had happened in my life from college life to this season of life of full-time work, full-time seminary, living at home. 00:11:45.679 --> 00:11:50.000 I mean, just all the joy had been sucked out of my life at that period of time. 00:11:50.720 --> 00:11:54.720 And I was driving down Five Forts Drive in Lawrenceville, Georgia. 00:11:54.960 --> 00:11:58.559 I could feel the mini emotional breakdown about to hit. 00:11:58.960 --> 00:12:05.600 I pulled over near the Circle K, same gas station, my friend Kyle and I, we would gas up in high school. 00:12:05.840 --> 00:12:13.519 You take in one dollar bill, you get 74 cents of gas, and you buy a stick of double mint gum for 26 cents over and over again. 00:12:13.600 --> 00:12:15.600 We did this like every three days. 00:12:16.000 --> 00:12:21.200 Pull over there, have my mini emotional early adulthood breakdown, most of us have had at some point. 00:12:22.559 --> 00:12:27.919 And all I needed to do is call somebody who would be compassionate. 00:12:28.240 --> 00:12:30.879 So I called my Sunday school teacher Ronnie. 00:12:31.039 --> 00:12:33.200 I've talked about Ronnie before. 00:12:33.519 --> 00:12:35.279 Ronnie was about 50 years old. 00:12:35.440 --> 00:12:37.600 I thought he was so old. 00:12:38.320 --> 00:12:38.879 I did. 00:12:39.039 --> 00:12:40.159 I was like 22. 00:12:40.320 --> 00:12:42.320 I thought he was so old. 00:12:43.360 --> 00:12:45.279 And Ronnie drove a tractor. 00:12:45.519 --> 00:12:46.879 He was in the grading business. 00:12:47.039 --> 00:12:47.840 He moved dirt. 00:12:47.919 --> 00:12:49.279 That's what he did during the day. 00:12:49.440 --> 00:12:51.679 At night he was in counseling school. 00:12:51.919 --> 00:12:57.440 And so he picked up his brick phone and this brick cell phone I called from, and he picked up his brick cell phone. 00:12:57.840 --> 00:12:59.919 I heard him turn the tractor off. 00:13:00.879 --> 00:13:01.759 He listened to me. 00:13:01.840 --> 00:13:03.679 He heard I was emotional. 00:13:04.639 --> 00:13:07.440 He never, he never told me to stop crying. 00:13:08.960 --> 00:13:10.320 He just listened. 00:13:11.360 --> 00:13:13.200 He never gave me advice. 00:13:16.879 --> 00:13:18.720 He didn't try to answer anything. 00:13:19.919 --> 00:13:21.039 That was a gift. 00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:23.519 He just listened to me. 00:13:24.720 --> 00:13:26.799 So remember it's like 20 years ago. 00:13:27.759 --> 00:13:33.519 He gave me the gift of just being with me in my pain. 00:13:35.679 --> 00:13:37.120 He was priestly. 00:13:38.159 --> 00:13:39.840 That's what priests do. 00:13:41.759 --> 00:13:44.879 Now listen to Hebrews 4, 14 through 16. 00:13:45.120 --> 00:13:55.759 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 00:13:56.320 --> 00:13:57.600 You see how we hold firmly? 00:13:57.919 --> 00:14:00.639 Because Jesus is our priest and priestly to us. 00:14:01.919 --> 00:14:07.120 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses. 00:14:07.440 --> 00:14:11.039 But we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are. 00:14:11.200 --> 00:14:12.559 Yet he did not sin. 00:14:12.799 --> 00:14:21.120 Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. 00:14:21.519 --> 00:14:31.519 Point number three is this Christ took on our valley of sin and suffering as to take us to the high country of redemption and hope. 00:14:32.639 --> 00:14:38.879 So Jesus as our priest means Jesus is with us in the high country, in the low country, and in the valleys. 00:14:39.279 --> 00:14:42.240 That the great shepherd experienced his own pain. 00:14:42.399 --> 00:14:47.200 That's how he has solidarity with us in our weakness, in our disappointment, and our pain. 00:14:54.480 --> 00:14:57.039 He was accused, things he did not do. 00:14:57.279 --> 00:15:00.320 He died a criminal's death on the cross. 00:15:00.559 --> 00:15:00.879 Right? 00:15:01.039 --> 00:15:09.200 And that's why we get this beautiful imputation that we've talked about, that our sin is put upon the cross and his righteousness is given to us. 00:15:09.440 --> 00:15:11.600 So we're forever gods through Christ. 00:15:11.759 --> 00:15:13.120 He is our priest. 00:15:13.840 --> 00:15:17.039 One of the most powerful verses in the Bible is the shortest. 00:15:17.360 --> 00:15:19.120 Kids, you're in here, remember this. 00:15:19.200 --> 00:15:24.799 Because if anybody ever makes you memorize a Bible verse, ever, John 11, 35. 00:15:24.960 --> 00:15:25.759 Jesus wept. 00:15:25.840 --> 00:15:27.120 Alright, you already have it handled. 00:15:27.200 --> 00:15:28.320 You don't have to go study. 00:15:28.480 --> 00:15:29.120 You got it done. 00:15:29.279 --> 00:15:29.840 Check it off. 00:15:29.919 --> 00:15:31.440 Don't let anybody put any more pressure on you. 00:15:31.519 --> 00:15:33.279 Just those two words is all you need. 00:15:33.840 --> 00:15:37.919 It's a strange story because Jesus is friends with these people. 00:15:38.720 --> 00:15:41.360 This guy, Lazarus, he gets sick. 00:15:41.919 --> 00:15:43.759 Jesus hears he's sick. 00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:45.120 He's dying. 00:15:45.360 --> 00:15:46.720 Jesus sort of delays. 00:15:46.879 --> 00:15:48.159 He didn't go to him right away. 00:15:48.240 --> 00:15:49.759 So Lazarus dies. 00:15:50.879 --> 00:15:52.960 The sisters are crushed. 00:15:53.200 --> 00:15:54.720 They're very upset about this. 00:15:54.879 --> 00:15:57.360 Because, I mean, Jesus, why didn't you come? 00:15:57.519 --> 00:16:00.399 Like we sent for you and you didn't show up. 00:16:00.480 --> 00:16:02.240 Why didn't you come earlier? 00:16:02.720 --> 00:16:07.440 And then in the midst of all the questions and the heartbreak, we get that shortest verse. 00:16:08.399 --> 00:16:09.759 Jesus wept. 00:16:11.039 --> 00:16:19.360 So the entire time Jesus knew everything about this entire family, all the events, the loss, the hurt, the amount of sorrow that would create. 00:16:20.080 --> 00:16:22.480 And yes, Jesus is sovereign over it all. 00:16:22.720 --> 00:16:24.480 He knew it, he was in it. 00:16:25.120 --> 00:16:26.879 He eventually does heal Lazarus. 00:16:26.960 --> 00:16:30.399 It's a separate story and separate truths and principles. 00:16:31.039 --> 00:16:36.879 But what's interesting is that his response and his sovereignty is not to over-explain himself. 00:16:38.559 --> 00:16:43.440 He doesn't give a defense of his divine arrangement of events for these people. 00:16:44.720 --> 00:16:49.360 He doesn't explain to them how this is going to play out in the next 20 years for them. 00:16:49.919 --> 00:16:51.600 Not when they're in their sorrow. 00:16:52.399 --> 00:16:54.879 He doesn't give them satisfying answers. 00:16:55.200 --> 00:16:56.240 Isn't that annoying? 00:16:56.320 --> 00:16:58.399 Because isn't that what we want when we're hurting? 00:16:58.720 --> 00:17:00.960 Like, give me a satisfying answer for this. 00:17:01.840 --> 00:17:05.599 What he gives them is his presence and his compassion. 00:17:06.799 --> 00:17:10.319 Because he knows something that is painful to learn for us. 00:17:11.039 --> 00:17:16.559 He knows we will never know enough to be healed. 00:17:17.119 --> 00:17:19.359 We'll never know enough to be healed enough. 00:17:19.920 --> 00:17:27.440 But we can be loved enough to be healed and to move into healing. 00:17:29.519 --> 00:17:31.200 So we wept with her. 00:17:32.400 --> 00:17:38.799 A few years ago, when I asked my mentor Scotty Smith about just all my ongoing disappointments in life, right? 00:17:38.880 --> 00:17:43.119 Just one of those vent sessions you have in life, and just venting the disappointments. 00:17:43.200 --> 00:17:47.839 And just say something, I said something like, you know, then how does God's sovereignty fit into this? 00:17:47.920 --> 00:17:52.559 Because He, you know, God knows this and He's over this and He's in this and He's working through this. 00:17:52.720 --> 00:18:00.160 And that frustrates my brain, you know, like that's frustrating to me because this valley's a doozy, right? 00:18:00.240 --> 00:18:03.839 Like if you're ever in a doozy of a valley, like you'd like to know how it's gonna play out. 00:18:04.079 --> 00:18:08.240 And God's sovereignty when you're in the doozy of the valley, like it can be very frustrating. 00:18:08.799 --> 00:18:10.240 And my mentor just said this. 00:18:10.400 --> 00:18:18.960 He said, sovereignty is comforting, not because it gives me answers, but because it gives me God. 00:18:19.759 --> 00:18:29.119 Now that's a humble shift from wanting and thinking we deserve answers to being willing to say, well, I'm not gonna understand everything. 00:18:29.440 --> 00:18:33.599 And there's no amount of answers that I'm gonna suddenly be healed. 00:18:35.200 --> 00:18:39.200 But having God, the presence of God, changes everything. 00:18:39.440 --> 00:18:40.079 What does this mean? 00:18:40.160 --> 00:18:41.119 Well, point number four. 00:18:41.279 --> 00:18:51.200 With God's loyal presence, we don't have to fear our pain, but can feel it as to begin to heal through it. 00:18:52.480 --> 00:19:01.920 It means that so often that we are afraid of valleys and we're afraid of the pain we feel in the valley because we think we will be destroyed or we won't be able to make it through, and it's not true. 00:19:02.160 --> 00:19:03.279 It's just not true. 00:19:03.680 --> 00:19:10.319 Actually, to feel it with God's compassion and presence is the way to make it through. 00:19:11.599 --> 00:19:16.000 Two thoughts come to mind to close and kind of flesh out point number four. 00:19:16.880 --> 00:19:23.920 Solitude and quiet with the spirit help us feel the valley and know the great shepherd is still with us. 00:19:24.400 --> 00:19:27.839 So if it just if you want something to do, like application. 00:19:28.799 --> 00:19:33.279 When we're hurting, solitude and quiet with the spirit. 00:19:33.839 --> 00:19:40.000 It helps us feel the valley, to feel it, to name it, to say it back to God. 00:19:40.319 --> 00:19:42.640 And know that the great shepherd is still with us. 00:19:42.720 --> 00:19:46.559 I mean, many of us just need to slow down to heal more. 00:19:47.039 --> 00:19:53.920 And this may mean that we take walks or we sit quietly or we pray or meditate or journal or we find a counselor. 00:19:54.079 --> 00:19:56.160 And if you need to find a counselor, we'd love to talk to you. 00:19:56.319 --> 00:19:58.319 The church would love to support you in that. 00:19:59.839 --> 00:20:01.920 Leads me to the second point. 00:20:02.079 --> 00:20:08.480 And this is where the valleys can become missional toward other people, can become compassion. 00:20:08.799 --> 00:20:16.400 Compassion toward others is created as we grow aware of our valleys and God's grace to never leave us. 00:20:17.359 --> 00:20:19.759 That's how compassion is birthed. 00:20:20.480 --> 00:20:26.160 It's not birthed out of you just constantly being successful and everything going great in your life. 00:20:26.319 --> 00:20:29.599 I've never met that dude being a compassionate dude. 00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:31.279 That dude is something else. 00:20:31.359 --> 00:20:34.720 And I can't say it from the pulpit, but you've met that person. 00:20:35.359 --> 00:20:38.319 Compassion is when you feel the valley. 00:20:38.400 --> 00:20:41.920 You're aware of it, and that God's not even leaving you in this. 00:20:42.079 --> 00:20:43.759 And it bursts compassion towards somebody. 00:20:44.000 --> 00:20:49.039 It's difficult to be judgmental towards somebody else when you're aware of your own valleys. 00:20:51.200 --> 00:20:57.920 As you realize God is not judging you, then you can become non-judgmental of yourself. 00:20:58.160 --> 00:21:09.039 And as you're becoming free of that, you can begin to let go of sitting in judgment over other people when they're suffering or they're hurting or they're in pain or they're a mess up. 00:21:11.359 --> 00:21:21.519 Because we know that even in our valleys, God's with us, not because we have it together, but because he has promised it in Christ. 00:21:24.319 --> 00:21:26.240 This is how we grow in grace. 00:21:27.440 --> 00:21:31.839 That we are loved by Christ, not as we should be, but as we are. 00:21:32.240 --> 00:21:33.599 Just as we are. 00:21:34.960 --> 00:21:36.720 As to close, I'd like to pray. 00:21:36.880 --> 00:21:41.279 It's the first prayer in the Puritan prayer book, The Valley of Vision. 00:21:42.160 --> 00:21:44.960 And you're welcome to read along as I pray. 00:21:45.039 --> 00:21:46.640 You can close your eyes to pray. 00:21:46.720 --> 00:21:48.079 You can keep your eyes open to pray. 00:21:48.240 --> 00:21:51.839 Children, you can pray with your eyes open, just so you write that down if you're writing notes. 00:21:52.160 --> 00:21:53.279 You can hold your hands out. 00:21:53.440 --> 00:21:55.519 You're going to receive it as a prayer. 00:21:56.559 --> 00:22:00.000 Well, let's pray this together to close the sermon. 00:22:03.839 --> 00:22:16.960 Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly, thou hast brought me to the valley of vision where I live in the depths, but see thee in the heights, hemmed in by mountains of sin, I behold thy glory. 00:22:17.279 --> 00:22:45.839 Let me learn by paradox that the way down is the way up, that to be low is to be high, that the broken heart is the healed heart, that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit, that the repenting soul is the victorious soul, that to have nothing is to possess all, that to bear the cross is to wear the crown, that to give is to receive, that the valley is the place of vision. 00:22:46.240 --> 00:22:54.240 Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells, and the deeper the wells, the brighter thy stars shine. 00:22:54.559 --> 00:23:08.480 Let me find thy light and my darkness, thy life and my death, thy joy and my sorrow, thy grace and my sin, thy riches and my poverty, thy glory and my valley. 00:23:08.640 --> 00:23:12.720 And all of God's healed and healing children say, Amen.