through

“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?” (Ps. 23:4) As much as we all would like to go around the valley of the shadow of death, that is not usually God’s way.  We must go through it, at least at some point in our lives.  Probably repeatedly.  That is because going through the valley of the shadow produces things in us that going around it simply cannot.

We might think that the point of life is success and ease and comfort, and our strategy may be to avoid as much pain and discomfort as we possibly can.  But ease and comfort provide little food in the journey of sanctification—of us becoming all God intended us to be.  In fact, they actually work against growth and formation.  God grows and forms us by allowing us the gift of going through the valley of the shadow of death.  It is death that produces new life.  It is in that valley where we learn dependence, reliance, obedience, humility, perseverance, and surrender.

So next time you find yourself in the valley of the shadow of death, do not fear.  Do not think that God has abandoned you.  Do not try to immediately get out of it.  Instead, embrace it.  There is much to learn there.  For a wise and wonderful saint once said: “There’s no way out, only through.”