Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.

Psalm 23:4 KJV

After decades of reading and appreciating Psalm 23, a word recently jumped out at me that made me appreciate it even more. That word is the simple preposition “through.” It indicates that we don’t STAY in the valley of the shadow of death, but we pass through it and come out on the other side. And we have God walking through that valley as our guide — the God who became a human, suffered, died, and Himself experienced the valley of the shadow of death. Because we know He didn’t stay in that valley, we know we won’t either!

My paraphrase of this verse is: YAY! Though I walk THROUGH the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil!

Linda Winterhoff
Williamsburg, VA

Guiding Lord, when I become afraid of dying, remind me that there’s nowhere I go that You don’t go with me, and that dying is simply a tunnel with the light of heaven on the other end. Amen.

Reflect: What’s scary about death, and how does that “one little word” help?

Read: John 5:24 and I Corinthians 15:55, 57