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Welcome to the Daily Blade. The Word of God is described as the Sword of the Spirit, the primary spiritual weapon in the Christian's armor against the forces of evil. Your hosts are Joby Martin and Kyle Thompson, and they stand ready to equip men for the fight. Let's sharpen up.

Dedication And Reading Psalm 23

Recap Of Verses One Through Three

God Does Not Prevent Valleys

Fearless Because God Is Present

Enemies Table And Overflowing Cup

Goodness Mercy And Eternal Home

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Welcome back, happy Tuesday. If you listened yesterday, then you know that I have dedicated this batch of the Daily Blade episodes to the memory of my Uncle Kevin, who just passed away here recently. So just hours before he died, I was at his side and I was able to read the Bible to him. And I chose a couple of psalms and then I shared some personal thoughts and feelings with him. And the first psalm that I read to him was Psalm 23. And to me it just seemed like an appropriate psalm to read to him as he was preparing to enter eternity. So I'll read the entire Psalm again now. Again, Psalm 23, a psalm of David. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though 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. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. So yesterday we talked mainly about verses one through three. We talked about how David acknowledged God or Yahweh as his shepherd. And from that we see that David had put his full faith in God, and he was not just simply relying on himself at that point, and that since David had put his faith in God, that allowed for him to find his ultimate fulfillment in God. And God showed his divine provision by giving David rest, restoration, renewal, and a lot more. And today I want us to key in on verses four through six. But before we get there, I want to address something that I used to be guilty of and that I still see all over the place today. If you don't read Psalm 23 carefully, you might come away with wrong ideas about what God is doing with his sheep. Okay. So what a lot of people think, including myself in the past, is that God delivers us from the valley of the shadow of death. That God prevents us from experiencing the valley. That's what we think it says. And even if we can't elucidate that clearly, that's how we act, though, right? And many of our prayers reflect the expectation that God's provision comes in the form of shielding us from anything bad or dark or difficult. But that's not what Psalm 23 says. Let's go back to verse 4. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. I mean, if if you can just get that one line through your head, I mean, if you don't really understand that one line, you kind of miss the entire point of the Psalm, to be honest. For you are with me. And that's the point. It's when we are in the valley of the shadow of death. God does not just snap his cosmic genie fingers to deliver us from the valley. No. He is there with us. I mean, guys, this is huge. He is there with us. And guys, that's awesome news. Because I just got to tell you, we're either in the valley, about to come out of the valley, or about to go into the valley. There's really not another option this side of glory. And how does that cause us to act? Verse 4, I will fear no evil. Why not? For you are with me, your rod and your staff, they comfort me. And what is God doing while he's there with us? Verse 5, you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies, you anoint my head with oil. And is that enough for David? I mean, his answer is emphatic. It says, My cup overflows. Also, what this means is not only that God will allow you to experience pain and difficulty, but because he is a good shepherd and a good father, he plans to use your experiences of pain and difficulty to bring him ultimate glory and you ultimate fulfillment. That's so big. I mean, and believe me, it doesn't feel like that's possible when you're in the darkest parts of the valley, though, does it? I mean, it's so dark that you can't even fathom how going through what you're going through could possibly lead to God's glory nor your personal fulfillment. But let verse six ring in your brain today. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Now we may not understand why we're in the valley, we may not think that it's fair, we might not get why God seems to save some people's lives while taking others, and we're confused by the timing of everything, but He is with us, and He seeks to give us His goodness and mercy. Amen and amen.

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