When You Walk Through the Valley

March 15, 2023

Psalm 23:1-4 The

Lord is my Shepherd, I have everything I need. He makes me lie down in

green pastures; He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He

leads me in the right paths for his name’s sake. Even when I walk

through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you

are with me! 

God is God, not just of your "mountaintop experiences", he's the God of the valleys too. The lows in life. The dark seasons. 

I don't know what kind of valley you're going through right now.

It may be a financial valley. You're going through a real tough spot.

Maybe you're in a relational valley. Maybe you're going through

a physical illness in a valley of disease or sickness. 

THREE THINGS WE KNOW ABOUT VALLEYS

1. Valleys are a part of LIFE. 

They're a part of life. In other words, they're inevitable. They're

a part of normal life. We can't avoid them. They're going to happen. We

can count on them. We’ve either just come out of a valley or

we're in the middle of one right now or we're headed into another one.

God's plan for our life actually contains both hills and valleys. 

1 Peter 4:12 Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you.

Don't be surprised. They are a part of life. He says

it's going to happen. You have problems in your life, not because you're

a bad human. You have problems in your life because you are a human. 

2. Valleys happen to EVERYBODY. 

Valleys happen to everybody. They're inevitable. But not only are

they inevitable, they're impartial.

Good things happen to bad people and bad things happen

to good people. Valleys are impartial. 

Psalm 34:19 The righteous person faces many troubles, but the Lord comes to the rescue each time.

A lot of people they go, "I got problems in my life,

God's punishing me." No. God's not punishing me,

it's just part of being part of the human race. We're in a world that

is broken and is fallen, so we have problems. Nobody's immune,

nobody's insulated from pain, nobody is isolated from sorrow. We all go

through life with problems. Nobody sails through life problem free. This

is not new news. Bad things do happen in life. Being a Christian, being

a follower of Jesus does not exempt us. Valleys are

a part of life and valleys happen to everyone. In fact, Jesus said in 

Matthew 5:45 God gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.

Everybody goes through the exact same things in life. 

3. Valleys are UNPREDICTABLE. 

That's part of what makes them a problem, is we can't predict them.

We can't plan them.

We can't time them. Problems typically catch us off guard. 

Proverbs 27:1 Don’t brag about tomorrow, since you don’t know what the day will bring.

Okay, problems are inevitable. Valleys are impartial and valleys are unpredictable.

We are going to go through valleys in life. We've been through them in

the past and we're going to go through them again.

So what do we need to remember when we're in one of these valleys,

the valley of failure, the valley of fear, the valley of conflict, the

valley of dryness, the valley of grief, the valley of trouble. What do

we do?

THREE THINGS TO REMEMBER WHEN IN A VALLEY

Regardless of the valleys that I go through, what do I need to remember? “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me.” Three things God wants us to remember in a valley. 

1. Remember I'm not alone. God is WITH ME!

Psalm 23:4. "Even when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me." 

Two keywords, through and you. Through,

the valley is temporary. We don't stay in the valley,

we walk through it. We're not going to live our entire life in

the valley, we're going to walk through it. It's temporary. That's

an important thing. It's temporary.

"You are with me." You're not going to walk through it alone. God is with you in the valley.

Isaiah 43:2 When

you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. When

you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown! When you walk

through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up – the flames

will not consume you! 

I don't know what valley you're going through but the antidote is 

Psalm 73:28 As for me, how good it is to be near God! I have made the Sovereign Lord my shelter.

If God is the Sovereign Lord of your life, he is your shelter. I

don't have anything else; as for me, God's presence is all I

need. Remember, I'm not alone. 

2. Remember that God has a good PURPOSE for my valley! 

God cannot do evil. It's impossible for God to do evil. God

can only do good in our life. God has good plans for our life. So

I remember that even in the problems I'm going through, the valleys I'm

going through, the valley of conflict, or grief, or fear, or failure,

or whatever, God has a good purpose for my valley.

Romans 5:3-5 We

can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know

that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of

character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.

And this hope will not lead to disappointment. *For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.” *

God is building character when you're going through that valley. That character is going to outlast everything else. 

Hosea 2:15 I will transform the Valley of Trouble into a Gateway of Hope!

Some of you need that verse. The valley of trouble actually is

a valley. It's the Valley of Achor. It's mentioned twice, in Joshua and

in Hosea. We're going to go through the Valley of Achor too,

the valley of trouble. God says, “I will transform the Valley of Trouble into a Gateway of Hope!” a doorway to hope. 

Colossians 1:11 We

also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so

you will have all the endurance and patience you need.

He’s not just going to give his presence. He's going to give us

his power. I remember. I remember that I'm not alone and I remember that

God has a purpose, a good purpose for the valley I’m in.

The third thing I remember,

3. Remember that the reward will last forever!

This is not the end of the story friends.

We're going to be rewarded for being faithful to Christ in

the valley of failure, in the valley of fear, in the valley of conflict,

the valley of grief, the valley of brokenness,

the valley of trouble and all the other valleys that are in Scripture.

2 Corinthians 4:17 For

our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they

produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!

Until we get to heaven, we're going to face valleys.

For a Christian, for a follower of Christ,

going through the valleys is different from a non-believer,

not because of the absence of the shadow, but because of the presence of the Shepherd. 

“I will be with you.” The Lord is my shepherd that he gives me

his promise of power and of purpose and protection and peace, and

his presence.