God Who Takes Care of Us
(Ps 23:4)

David is one of the greatest and honored kings in the history of Israel. However, he had the time of valley of death. We also have those times of hardships. Even though we are Christians, unexpected hardships come to our lives and make us feel painful.

1. The valley of the shadow of death that we meet
There are steep valleys in the area of Palestine. Once a sheep sprains its feet, it slides down and is hurt a lot. Our life faces this kind of valleys of death. In the time like this, people are suffering from the pains. (Ps. 22:1-2) However, we should not give up. Just as the darkest hour is just before the dawn, if we pass through the valley of pain, the bright future will come to us soon. After the troubling times, we will be trained and refined to become powerful Christians. Fixing our eyes onto Jesus, let us look forward to enjoying hope and blessing of God.

2. Faith that repels fear and accompanies the Lord
When we pass through the valley of death, the most dreadful enemies are fear hidden inside our hearts. Once fears attack us, the things we depend on are totally collapsed and we feel dismayed and frustrated. Even in the moment when we cannot pray at all, we should not forget that God is with us. The only way for us to overcome and defeat the fear is we should be accompanied with Jesus. Take over all our fears and hold the hands of Jesus Christ. Jesus becomes our shelter and fortress. (Ps. 91:2) Once we come before Jesus, there will be miracles. Our sadness turns into blessings; problems into answers; complaint into gratitude.

3. Faith that relies on the Lord alone
The shepherds of Israel carry a rod and staff. A rod is for guiding sheep and a staff is used to drive away preys who threaten the sheep. Even we feel as if everything would be blocked, we should cry out before God for help. God will listen to us and shine the light for us so that we can be saved by His power of salvation. (Ps. 27:1) We should be guided by the rod of God, which means the Word of God and should be protected by the staff of the Holy Spirit so that we can be led to the green pasture of blessing. By putting trust into God, who is good, we should gain victory every day.