Thorns as well as roses | 8

‘Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death . . .’ Psalm 23.4

If only it were true that as soon as we set our hearts to follow God, life would turn out to be a perpetual bed of roses. Sadly we know that this is not true. Many times in our Christian lives we walk along paths that we feel we should be protected from, paths that frankly confuse us. What can really hurt even more is when people assume that because we are going through hard times we must have done something wrong, and their suggestion is that what we really need to do is to confess something that they are pretty certain is lurking there somewhere!

If you feel that this describes you, let this verse bring you comfort. Even the sheep being guided by the shepherd, who knew where the pastures and still waters were, at times also had to walk through very dark valleys.

This was certainly true of Jesus, who was tempted, misunderstood, falsely accused and surrounded by friends who didn’t understand – and that is before we take the cross into consideration. In his times of fellowship with his Father, and as he rested with his friends, he understood the pastures; at other times the valleys probably seemed very deep. We, like him, are not immune from the valleys, but we are still OK, still loved by God and he still takes pleasure in us.

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