Life matters: Through the valley

By Vicar Bernard Gabbott, Narrabri Anglican Church

I am sitting in my office. It is a glorious morning.

The air is crisp. The sun is warm.

The colours through my window are vibrant.

The weekend has been full, and fulsome.

And yet, I know that I am ‘in the valley’.

It seems a strange idea that on such a glorious morning, I am in ‘the valley’ – and I suspect many others are, too.

By ‘in the valley’, I am talking about that ‘valley’ described in Psalm 23 – you know the one: ‘The Lord is my shepherd …’

It is poem most of us are familiar with because of funerals.

It was written by a bloke like us – David, a man who grew up in a town the size of Wee Waa, lived and worked in the family sheep business, grew to be a soldier, a poet, and a king – perhaps the greatest king of God’s mob ever.

David had a way with words.

In this poem (I like to think he wrote it towards the end of his life, looking forward and looking back), David poses us some key questions about life and death.

He recognised that we are often ‘in the valley’, and that valley can be dark and grim, even deathly.

He recognised that God never removes us, in this life, from that valley, but he does promise – if we trust him – to walk us ‘through’ that valley.

And so, on a glorious morning, recognising being ‘in the valley’, David asks me – and you – some key questions.

Who do you trust to walk you though the valley? Does who you trust help you in the valley, and in life? Why wouldn’t you trust God to walk you through the valley?

You see, God knows that valley – his very own Son walked through it, for people like us, so that we could have a Shepherd not just in death but in all of life, and through death.

‘In the valley’, there is no-one else who will be steadfast and faithful and constantly with you – if we trust in him, and all that he is and has done.

And that makes this day, in this valley, even more glorious: that a Shepherd like that would walk with a fella like me! And you!