Victory in Times of Crisis
Psalm 23:4-6
Have you ever felt afraid? So afraid you feared for your life?
On several occasions I have felt intense fear. Once when I was a young teen and a tornado was headed toward the farm house we were staying in for a summer.
On another occasion I was involved in a car accident when I was in High School. I was riding with a friend on the passenger side and we were broadsided by another car. It hit the front of the passenger side and spun us around. I was knocked out and thrown into a ditch at the side of the road. When I regained consciousness I heard the sound of a siren of the ambulance coming. My instant prayer was, “Jesus help me!”
This past week I was reading in “God’s Word for You Today” devotional about Randy Reid, a thirty-four-old construction worker, who was welding on top of a nearly completed water tower outside Chicago. According to writer Melissa Ramsdell, Reid unhooked his safety gear to reach for some pipes when a metal cage slipped and bumped the scaffolding on which he stood. It tipped, and Reid lost his balance. He fell 110 feet landing face down on a pile of dirt, just missing rocks and construction debris. A fellow worker called 911. When paramedics arrived they found Reid conscious, moving, and complaining of a sore back. Apparently the fall didn’t cost Reid his sense of humor. As paramedics carried him on a backboard to the ambulance, Reid had one request: “Don’t drop me.” (Doctors later said Reid came away form the accident with just a bruised leg.)
Sometimes we resemble Randy Reid. God projects us from harm in a 110-foot fall, yet we are not willing to trust Him to get us over the next two-foot hurdle. Being sinful, we fall. Being prone to sickness, we hurt. Being mortal, we die. Pressure wears on us. Anxiety gives us ulcers. People intimidate us. Criticism offends us. Disease scares us. Death haunts us.
As Christ followers he have this assurance- in every crisis, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” When our vision is blurry, our thinking foggy, and we have trouble looking up and seeing Him clearly, He is very present.
Psalm 23:4-6 gives the promise that Jesus; the Good Shepherd provides protection for His Flock. Jesus is our Good shepherd and we are the sheep of his pasture.
I. Jesus Our Good Shepherd Takes Away Fear
Verse 4 – “Even when I walk through the dark valley of Death I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.” (NLT)
“Even through I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me.” (NIV)
Times of death has always been a spiritual wake up call for me. At both my mother and father’s death God spoke to my heart and I made new commitments to honor and serve the Lord.
1. Many people fear death because they have no hope of life after death. Rock Star Sting faced the reality of death when said: “Without wishing to seem morbid, I’m trying to work out how to die well. I’m halfway through my life. Death’s a taboo in our society; but let’s think about it and work out a strategy. It’s the most important thing we all face and it’s kind of unavoidable. If you want to live well you must surely want to die well.”
Many people in America have a vague and fuzzy hope in some kind of life after death. Many see life as meaningless like the Greek Philosopher, Socrates. He drank poison hemlock and lay down to die. His friends asked him, “Shall we live again?” The dying philosopher could only reply, “I hope so, but no man can know.”
Most people would agree with comedian Woody Allen, who said, “I’m not afraid to die. I just don’t want to be there when it happens.”
A zealous man telephoned Woodrow Wilson in the wee hours of the morning when Wilson was the governor of New Jersey, rousing him from sleep. “Governor Wilson,” the man announced, “your commissioner of highways just died, and I would like to take his place.”
“If it’s all right with the undertaker, it’s all right with me,” Wilson replied.
I’m sure that’s not what the man had in mind. That’s a replacement none of us is anxious to make.
Jesus promised that even during the time of death he is with us. We can know beyond any shadow of doubt that those who put their faith in Jesus Christ go immediately after death into the presence of Jesus. There are no stopovers; it’s a direct flight. Just as Jesus said to the repentant thief on the cross: “Today you will be with Me in Paradise,” so he promises to all who live and follow Him. (Luke 23:43)
When a person lives in fear of death without hope death is a tragedy. Voltaire was an aggressive atheist. In speaking of Christ he once said, “Curse the wretch?” In twenty years, Christianity will be no more. My single hand will destroy the religion it took twelve apostles to lead.”
On his deathbed, a nurse who attended Voltaire was reported to have said, “For all the wealth in Europe, I would not see another atheist die.” On his deathbed he cried out, “I am abandoned by God and man. I will give you half of what I am worth if you give me six months of life. Then I shall go to hell and you will go with me. O Christ? O Jesus Christ.”
God so created humankind to have a longing in their heart for life after death. Jesus said in John 14:3 “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.”
God has placed a homing instinct in every human heart. Salmon have a homing instinct to return every year to spawn in the rivers of their birth. Swallows return to the mission at San Juan Capistrano every year.
As Christians we have a homing instinct. We have eternity in our hearts. “He has also set eternity in the hearts of men.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11)
“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” Ps. 23:4 I remember my mother as she lay on her death bed. She was looking beyond this present world. Her last words to me were, “Raymond to say goodbye down here is to say hello up there.”
To face the reality of death is to begin to enjoy life. Sometime take some time to write your funeral eulogy and epitaph. What would you want your epitaph to read?
• She loved God and loved people
• He consistently shot par
• He loved the Church
• She had a PhD
• He drove a BMW
• She represented Jesus in India
• He was an encourager
• He stood tall for Jesus
For what it’s worth here is the epitaph I would like to be remembered by: “Ray had a passion to carry on the work Jesus started.”
Jesus promises to deliver us from the fears of life.
Jesus tells us how to face the fears we face in life. John 10:27 “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me.”
It is reported that Ann Landers, she got about 10,000 letters a month about people’s problems. She was asked, what is the number one problem that people have? It all boils down to anxiety. She said people are afraid of losing their health. People are afraid of losing their wealth. People are afraid of losing their loved ones. She said people are afraid of life itself. This could be described as anxiety of the heart. That is what we find to be the number one problem today, anxiety of the heart.
Whatever fears you face you have the promise that Jesus is with you and will not allow you to suffer beyond what you can bear.
As you face a new day you can sing: “If Jesus goes with me I’ll go anywhere. It is heaven to me, Wherever I may be, If He is there? I count it a privilege here His cross to bear; If Jesus goes with me I’ll go anywhere.”
A 1st grader stood in front of his classroom to make a speech about “What I want to be when I grow up.” He said, “I’m going to be a lion tamer and have lots of fierce lions. I’ll walk into the cage and they will roar. He paused for a moment, thinking through what he had just said and then added, “But of course, I’ll have my mommy with me.”
Jesus has promised to never leave you or forsake you. The Apostle Paul gives this reassuring word in Romans 8:38-39, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Jesus promises to Provide Protection and Comfort
Psalm 23:4b “Your rod and staff they comfort me.”
The Shepherd’s Staff served as both a rod and staff. The staff was used as a club to beat off animals and guide the sheep to safety. The Staff also had a crook at one end to reach down in a gully and grab hold of a sheep and pull the sheep to safety.
The rod is like God’s Word. The prophet Jeremiah said God’s Word was like a “hammer.” Jeremiah 23:29, “Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?” The Hebrew writer referred to God’s Word as a “doubled edged sword.” “For the word of God is living and active. Shaper than any doubled-edged sword, it penetrates even to diving soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”
The Crook of the staff represents the comfort the Holy Spirit gives. The Holy Spirit is called the “Comforter.” Jesus said in John 14:16-17, “I will ask the Father and he will give you another Counselor/Comforter to be with you forever – The Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.”
In times of fear you have no where to turn; you turn to the Lord Jesus. He is there and you have the Holy Spirit comforting you and in spite of danger you have an inner peace, “All is well with your soul.”
II. Jesus is for you in every crisis of life.
Psalm 23:5 “You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup over flows.” (NIV)
“You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You welcome me as a guest, anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings.” (NLT)
The Shepherd leads his sheep to a “table” a high plateau, flat area like a Mesa, a feast of green grass for sheep.
Even when surrounded by enemies Jesus is present and gives us protection. Jesus has defeated our enemy number one, Satan. Satan may temp us but he has no longer a hold on us. In Jesus we are over comers.
When adversity hits you the Lord gives His help and blessing and reassurance that He is still with you. He will never leave you or forsake you. Out of adversity and crisis your life overflows with God’s love. As you keep your eyes on Jesus the enemies that surround you grow strangely dim and weak.
Paul told the Christians in Philippi to rejoice. Remember that Paul wrote this letter from prison on death row. Here was Paul waiting to find out if he will be sentenced to death or if he would be let go. He had all this to deal with but he told the believers to rejoice, have joy in your life. How could there be joy in this kind of situation? Because true joy in Christ is not connected to circumstances. To have joy it does not matter if you are going through difficult times. We can still experience true joy in Jesus Christ even in the midst of very difficult and trying times. Paul calls the church of the first century, who faced all kinds of difficulties, to joy.
The anointing with oil is symbolic of the Lord’s healing in our life. When the anointing oil of the Lord is applied proud and arrogant hearts become humble and broken.
Phillip Keller describes why the Shepherd anoints the head of sheep. During summer months insects and parasites buzz around the sheep’s head, attempting to deposit their eggs on the damp, mucous membranes of the sheep’s nose. When they are successful the eggs hatch and small worm-like larvae work their way up the sheep’s nose and into the sheep’s head causing intense irritation and severe inflammation.
At the first time of fly season the Shepherd will apply a compound of linseed oil, sulfur and tar to the Sheep’s head and nose as a protection against the flies. When the oil takes effect the sheep quiet down and are no longer bothered by the flies.
The little flies and insects represent the many ways little things in your life build up until they becoming overwhelming. The little agitations bug you and keep you from a good night of rest is like an abscessed tooth, it is so painful that you can’t wait to get a root canal to take care of the pain.
Only when you face the tormenting bugs head on and name them one by one and take them to Jesus for his healing oil do you overflow with the joy of the Lord and the blessings of God. God wants us to apply His Word to our life and take action. He wants us to be doers of the Word and not just hearers.
The Apostle Paul faced all kinds of hardships in his short life:
• In prison many times,
• Beaten severely with ships and rods,
• Exposed to death time and time again,
• Stoned with rocks,
• Shipwrecked and spend day and night on a ship out of control,
• In danger from both Jew and Gentile,
• Often went without sleep, food and water,
• Everyday Paul lived with his life in danger.
Yet with all his hardships the theme of Paul’s writing was “Joy.” Philippians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I say it again, Rejoice.”
A modern translation of Psalm 23 might go something like this:
The Lord is my real boss, and I shall not want.
He gives me peace, when chaos is all around me. He gently reminds me to pray and do all things without murmuring and complaining. He reminds me that HE, not my job, is my source. He restores my sanity everyday and guides my decisions that I might honor Him in all that I do.
Even though I face an absurd amount of e-mails, system crashes, unrealistic deadlines, budget cutbacks, gossiping co-workers, discriminating supervisors and an aging body that doesn't cooperate every morning, I still will not stop - for He is with me! His presence, His peace, and His power will see me through.
He raises me up, even when they fail to promote me. He claims me as His own, even when the company threatens to let me go.
His faithfulness and love are better than any bonus check.
His retirement plan beats every 401k there is! When it's all said and done, I'll be working for Him a whole lot longer and for that, I bless His name!
III. Jesus promises both abundant and eternal life.
Psalm 23:6 “Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life; and I will live in the house of the Lord forever.” (NLT)
“Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” (NIV)
Jesus said He came to give us abundant life here and now and not later. In John 10 Jesus said “I am the good shepherd.” “I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly” (John 10:10 KJV)
We live life to the fullest when we have the assurance of eternal life and hope of heaven. In the Old Testament Job suffered much unjust pain and emotional suffering. Yet in Job 19:25-27 he says: “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes – I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me?”
When you are prepared to die only then are you prepared to live a life to the full.
#Alfred Nobel’s brother died in Sweden many years ago. When Alfred read the newspaper he discovered that his own obituary had been printed instead of his brother’s. He was greatly shocked. Imagine reading your own obituary in the newspaper one day. I’m sure you’d be glad you were reading it rather than the other option.
Much of the obituary had to do with his work with dynamite for which the Nobels had received fame and fortune. Alfred realized that his life had been dedicated to something, which destroys. He determined from that point on to live the rest of his life contributing to peace. You have heard of the Nobel Peace Prize. It started with the printing of a wrong obituary in the paper.
The Gospel of John 14:1-3 gives this reassuring word: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”
The Good Shepherd has promised to guide you through this life and give you a new body at death that will be changed in an instant you are given immortality.
This morning do you know the Shepherd? Do you believe He will give you victory in every crisis of life?
