The Valley of Deepest Darkness

I greet all of you, in the name of our Savior, greetings to everyone present here in the house of worship and greetings to those who are part of the service being present remotely. What a joy it is for us to set aside our time on the day of resurrection to worship our God in the power of the Holy Spirit. We thank God for His glorious presence among us, helping us to draw nearer to Him through prayer, singing, meditation of God’s Word and towards the end of the service by participating from the table of the Lord.

I recall some time ago, one of my North American friends, in some informal conversation, mentioning that in their house, his wife was so afraid to go to the basement of the house when there is no light there. She, I know her personally, they live in a city where almost every house has a basement.

We, of course, here in Texas, we don’t build basements and then build houses on top. But Philadelphia, New York, places where we lived, houses had basements, so we know what we’re talking about. So, you go there, it’s underground, that makes more sense. It’s underground, if you don’t turn on the light or if there is no power, it’s so dark.

And here was a lady who was so afraid, in her own house, to go to her own basement because it was so dark. I was reflecting on it, how it was when I was growing up, but I found out that, it doesn’t mean that I’m so courageous or anything, but I found out that I was not so afraid of darkness. Most of us grew up in an area where 12 hours of daytime, 12 hours of nighttime, and in the dark, we walked without slippers or shoes, we walked miles.

How we managed, we did not know. We went for prayer meetings in the night with coconut leaves, made it into a torch, and then in my own house, when I was 22, we had electric power. If you wonder how this guy managed to read or study, I had a kerosene lamp. I used to keep it up, no table, wherever I sat, mostly on my bed, I would keep it. Nine o’clock, the municipal siren would go, and then we would put off the lamp and go to bed. But if we had to get out, it was not pitch darkness, we walked in darkness quite a bit, we lived without electricity.

That fear of normal darkness, I don’t have. But here is a situation in which I was, my wife and children were also present. Years ago, we were driving to Philadelphia from the city of Chattanooga, between Chattanooga and Knoxville, off Interstate 75. There is a natural attraction, wonder, it’s called the Lost Sea. There may be people who visited it. If you have not ever, it’s, you know, after my message, you should make up your mind to go there. Even if you go there, only to visit that place, it is worth it.

It’s a large cave, and as guided tour, the guide at some point said, at a given time, at least 1,000 natives lived inside that, 1,000 is what I remember, if not 5,000. I didn’t want to mention 5,000, although I’m in doubt, but don’t want to exaggerate. But 1,000 people, that’s quite a bit, five times our number here. And then, we, you know, you go down quite a bit, deep down, I don’t remember how many feet below, deep down there is a lake, and that is called the Lost Sea.

At some point, not near the lake, in another location, when we were all in that place, he said, now watch out, I’m going to turn the lights off, and it will be very dark. And he turned the lights off. It was darkness that we could touch, hold, it was dark everywhere. My wife and children were next to me, apparently, I, you know, it was not fearful, because we knew that he would turn the lights back on, and then all that. But if we were lost in that darkness, you wouldn’t be able to move even a few steps without stumbling. You should go there just to experience darkness. And I could imagine the darkness that the Lord brought upon the people of Egypt as he was visiting the Egyptians as a punishment.

Darkness, valley of deepest darkness is the title, and Psalm 23, I thank Marin for reading that psalm at my request, more than reading the psalm, I am so grateful to her for the profound prayer that she offered. Now I was sitting here and wondering, now I had to compete with her prayer, as I preach. So that’s a disclaimer. But I thank God for the move of God’s Spirit in the life of our people, very especially in the life of our young people, for all the talents we have, the way in which they guide us in worshipping the Lord, guide us in praying before the Lord, help us in understanding God’s Word.

Psalm 23 is the psalm, we may wonder, we know all about it, what is new about it? I also wonder, why am I preaching this one? Really. Several months ago, when I wanted to prepare a sermon, to preach, I was preparing a message for the Malayalam, but then as I studied, when I stumbled upon ideas from the psalm, I thought, I should keep it for a time, when finally at some point, Pastor Sunil gives me an opportunity. I mean, today is the day, I mean, it just fell upon me, I was not our original pick, but I gladly grabbed it.

Now, yesterday was a very busy day, and then late night, I realized that I was not ready with my message. So, half an hour I wasted skimming through my old messages, trying to find out what could be an appropriate message I can preach, and then I suddenly remembered, we had already asked Marin to read Psalm 23, I cannot go back now, I have to preach from Psalm 23. I mean, the Lord has a purpose, the Lord has, He wants to speak to us. Then I saw that unfolding, as we sang in Malayalam, as Pastor Benison preached to us from God’s Word, as we sang later, the Lord, I mean, through the prayer of Marin, the Lord has something special to speak to us, I mean, to all of us, as a church, maybe to a few of us very specifically.

Psalm 23, we don’t need to talk so much more about it, I mean, but many of you, the older people, I mean, people in their 30s, I don’t know how long your memories go back, but if you can recall from 2001, 22 years ago, you know, 9-11, when four jumbo jets were hijacked, and then that plane, over Pennsylvania, probably, they meant to crash it over the White House, the other, I mean, two planes, they crashed on the Twin Tower in Manhattan, New York, and the other one was in Washington, in the military place, and then fourth one, in all likelihood, was meant to crash on the White House. But you know, bold, brave men in that plane decided to do their part. They all knew that they would anyway die, but they wanted to save more lives, so they, you know, they decided that they would fight with these terrorists, and we know what happened. But at least one of them, you know, that person, when he made contact with his family, wife or somebody else, he knew he was going down, nobody, you know, remained from that plane. Everybody perished somewhere in Pennsylvania, I mean, and then one of them asked the other person on the other end to read Psalm 23, as he was dying. I mean, you can recall a number of other incidents.

David, of course, is the Psalmist. This is the first verse we teach our children as they grow. My daughter started teaching that to both the children, I believe, but the younger guy played naughty at some time. So he definitely learned the Lord is my shepherd, but at some point, she said, he just kept, he kept saying, Amma is my shepherd. Okay, so, but he, of course, knew the Lord, you know, the Lord is someone beyond the family, Amma and Appa, I mean, but then he connected Amma also with the shepherd and said that some point, Amma is my shepherd. I mean, this is, there is nothing new that we need to bring before our memory.

But you know, it is more than being shepherd, we’ll come to that later. But David, what he says in verse 4, you know, he knew what it was like to be in the dark. That’s the reason he says, even though I walk through the valley of deep darkness, I will fear no evil. That’s not the translation that most of us have in our versions. What most of us have in our versions, in our translations is the next sentence, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Both translations are possible. I think most of our English versions will have a footnote giving the first sentence, the middle sentence, even though I walk through the valley of deep darkness, I will fear no evil. I mean, although the other translation is possible and very possible, but what we need to understand is that David is actually saying more than the morning, valley of morning, valley of the shadow of death.

I mean, apparently, death is the darkest valley of all of us, all of us here. And we experience death. Some deaths are very painful. We have gone through with some very painful death in our history as a church in 2024, you know, very close. We know what it means, the death of our loved ones. It is there. But then we should understand that David’s language is broader in scope. It is broader in scope than saying or meaning only the valley of the shadow of death. I mean, he is actually, I’ll make it more clear as we go further. David thinks of more than the death valley, more than the fear of death. I mean, he is actually, literally, as we understand the psalmist as a whole, he is actually referring to the valley of deep darkness, like the darkness that we experience in the cave in Tennessee. Darkness that came upon the people of Egypt. You know, darkness that would actually, you know, put us in a spot that we cannot move without stumbling. I mean, he is thinking about valley of death, not beyond the valley of death. He is thinking about dark experience of our life. Dark experience of all, I mean, all life experiences. That’s the reason the title, the deepest dark valley.

I mean, generally when we think of the psalm, we have, we know the psalm from memory, most of us. Now it is difficult for me to recite the whole psalm without a mistake. But most of us can recall the psalm that we learned when we were very young. But you know, generally this is the picture that we have about the psalm. I mean, other pictures are there, but this is the picture of a shepherd tending the sheep, you know, leading to the green pasture, taking them to still water. This is the picture.

But the psalm is really more than that. I mean, I’m not preaching heresy. If you go through the psalm in depth, you will understand that it is much more than the picture of a young shepherd like David, tending the sheep in the pasture, still waters. I mean, David is actually thinking about dark valleys, verse four. He has, he is mindful of enemies all around him, presence of enemies. I mean, he has enough words to show that he is not in a safe environment. He is surrounded by enemies. I mean, and when he says, he restores my soul, I mean, he’s alluding that he’s a person in need of God’s restoring, healing work, I mean.

What it means is that this is not merely the psalm of a shepherd boy. That is our general understanding. He was a shepherd boy when Samuel came home with God’s direction to anoint him to be the next king of Israel. That is where he was with the sheep. I mean, and our general thinking is that he probably, out of his experience, he made this very good psalm. It may be more than that, at least, you know, begin to think about it after this message. I mean, the psalmist, more than being a shepherd boy, you know, in the outskirts of Bethlehem, you know, taking care of the sheep of his father. You know, he, as a psalmist here, is a man who has really struggled through many difficulties of his life. Now, he’s actually a spiritually more mature person. I mean, therefore, our thinking that, our assumption that David is using his experience as a shepherd and his knowledge of sheep as a kind of object lesson, of spiritual lesson to all of us, may not be the whole picture. It doesn’t mean that the psalmist is completely devoid of it. It is much more than that. I mean, he’s doing more than that.

I mean, actually, now here is my heretical statement. His starting point is not sheep and shepherding. Not really. I mean, his starting point is God’s word in Scripture. He’s actually applying the Scripture to his life. I should have acknowledged this earlier. You know, at this stage in life, you know, all of us preachers, we make our own messages. You know, we don’t simply go and download a message from somewhere or just take it out of the book. When we were in Bible school in Kerala, Pastor Thomas Abraham knows this, you know, at that level, we were very eager to write down all what we heard from our teachers, so that that is what we would go and preach in our churches, and then, you know, most of the, I mean, in all Bible schools, they taught a tabernacle, so enough messages to survive three years in a church. So, you know, everybody had dots, and then we had class, I mean, we had people in that Bible school. Pastor P.M. Philip is our teacher. He was the most popular. Pastor T.G. Newman was my teacher. Pastor K.M. Joseph, my teacher. Pastor T.P. Smith, my teacher. Pastor K.C. John. You know, all these men of God, great men of God are teachers. Some of them, one of my classmates even wrote, when you come here, you know, make sure you cry, because Appachan cries, that’s the reason, and then at some point he wrote, his notes, you know, were lost. We found it and then made fun of him later. I am not the one who found it. But then Appachan always used a clothing that women put on the shoulder. So this guy wrote, you know, when you come here, take the neriyath and wipe your tears.

So we copied when we were very young. When I was a Bible school teacher in a small Bible school in Mavelikera, one of the guys asked me, he didn’t like my style of teaching. He said, instead of doing what you’re doing, why don’t you, you know, teach us some messages? So I told him, by then I had studied in Bangalore, I had five years of Bible school training. Nobody taught us messages in the class in the Bible school in Bangalore. Then I said, I am trying to help you to develop your own messages. You know, that is the reason I am teaching like this. You develop your own message. I mean, at his level, that is not what he wanted.

And I want to make this confession that, you know, we don’t rely on messages that we heard in classes, but this message that I am preaching to you is almost completely from one of my best teachers at the Ph.D. level, a Scottish man, Dr. Ferguson, from one of his messages. He has a book called Deserted by God, all meditations from selected Psalms. So you know, I want to give credit to him. He was one of my best teachers, like some of us were Pastor Benison’s good teachers.

You know, David is actually relying on God’s Word here, and he is applying God’s Word to his own life when he says, the Lord is my shepherd. Amen. I mean, he’s not otherwise, you know, tending the sheep and then sitting there and watching them graze and then or resting them. He’s telling that he’s not actually telling, and now I am the shepherd of these sheep. The Lord is my shepherd. I mean, it is there. But more than that, he knows his scripture. He’s recalling the scripture. That is not the first one in the scripture who says, the Lord is my shepherd, it is Jacob. Amen. You read in Genesis 48:15-16, as Jacob blesses the sons of Joseph. Joseph and his sons, this is what he says, and Jacob blessed Joseph and said, the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked. The God who has been my shepherd all my life long, all my life long to this day. The angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the boys, and in them, let my name be carried on. In the name of my father, Abraham and Isaac, and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. Amen. The God who has been my shepherd.

That is where David got it from, from the writing of Moses. Amen. Amen. He’s, he knew that the Lord was his shepherd. Jacob, you know, time is all gone. I need to run now. So I won’t dwell on Jacob, but we know the story of Jacob, the struggle with which he grew up, you know, loved, loved more by his mother, less by his father, and then all those experience running for his life, you know, running away from all the wealth he had, you know, then he simply wanted to spare himself, then where he went, you know, cheated by Laban his, who eventually became his father-in-law, I mean, lost his wages for years, and now coming back, he’s not sure. But then when he came to the land, he made the same mistake that his parents made. He loved Joseph more than all the other children, but he lost Joseph. He was, he, he believed he died, and then he was in pain and sorrow. Now he is all, you know, revived, you know, when he know that Joseph is alive, and then he is now, you know, full of joy. He’s about to die, and he’s making this confession, the Lord has been shepherd. That is the end of his life. He looks back and rejoice that the Lord had been his shepherd, and how, and the Lord has pursued him like a lost sheep, and the Lord rescued him wherever he went on his, you know, in his trip to Pater Ara, when he was there, on his way back, when he came back and lived in Palestine, when he eventually made the trip finally to, I mean, Egypt, I mean, the Lord has rescued him, the Lord healed him, the Lord provided for him. Now thinking about Jacob, I mean, David is saying in the psalm, I mean, simply, I too have shared the experience of Jacob. I too have wandered in darkness like Jacob, but what he discovered, I have discovered too. I mean, this is a story. That is a background of the first verse of Psalm 23.

I mean, we are going a step farther. We are in a better position than David and all those men and women who lived before the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ. We know God has shepherd in a greater light, in a deeper way, in the person of Jesus Christ. What he said, he said, I am the good shepherd, I mean, who came, not enough time to read so many of those verses, who came to lay down his life for the sheep. I mean, the other, you don’t have shepherd dying imagery, either in David or in Jacob or in other places where the Lord is, the shepherd language is used so much in the book of Ezekiel and other places, but when you come to the story of Jesus, the shepherd dies for the sheep. Amen. And he died. He died our death. We were supposed to die. We were supposed to be lost. We were supposed to go through agony eternally, but dying for us on the cross, God as our shepherd, Jesus as our shepherd, he died and he removed our fear. He removed the fear of death from us. He removes the fear in the darkest valley of our experiences. That is the depth of Psalm 23, I mean, deepest dark valleys, I mean, deepest dark cave, like the cave in Tennessee, deepest experiences in which you feel only darkness all around. You cannot even make one step further, but there is no fear because we know fear has been defeated. I mean, and then in this deepest dark moment, Jesus is with me. God is with us in the valley of the deepest darkness. Amen.

Having said that, we have a few more things. With that, I will be quick. Amen. Just one affirmation, that in the valley of the deepest darkness, God is with us. Amen. Whatever may be the experience, all of us can testify, I mean, very especially those of us who have been in the midst of death as children, young people, I mean, older ones, spouses, I mean, in those dark valley experience, I mean, in the shadow of death experience, the Lord was always there. We never felt that we were alone. I mean, we also know that Jesus took care of, I mean, our death on the cross of Calvary. Death is not the end. We’ll come to that later.

So together with this affirmation, the Psalm has four different affirmations, and I want you to, you know, put that in your heart, provision, restoration, protection, and presence. I repeat, provision, restoration, protection, and presence. You know, very quickly, more time for provision, because the Psalm says, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. I mean, I shall not be in want. I mean, the point is, if the Lord is my shepherd, he will supply all my needs. We don’t need to explain that further. I mean, how can we be so sure? There are times we are shaken. I mean, I think I have shared this with you. I have shared it in many places. I mean, I know if it is repetition, forgive me, I’ll be quick with it. I mean, all the way in which we came out of our homes, young boys, after 10th class, you know, leaving, we didn’t have much comfort to leave. We simply had to obey the call of God. I mean, but with very little in our hands, we went to the Bible school. Oftentimes, without a change of clothes. I went to Bible school without a Bible. I generally had a New Testament. My first Bible was bought by Pastor Casey Thomas and my classmates, after having taken a collection. I mean, then, you know, all those stories, I mean, but the Lord has been so good to me. I mean, I don’t need to explain all that.

But a few years ago, I was under this great fear. I am growing old, all in the sense, not to the extent that, you know, tomorrow I’m waiting for dying. That’s not the point. But uncertainty of old age, what would happen? You know, how would I take care of myself, things like that. I mean, it was a very tough moment. But the Lord came to me and His voice, when the Lord’s voice, you know, sounds in your heart, you know where it is from. The Lord asked me this one question, I mean, almost audibly, I am not claiming it was audible, like you speak to me, but very similar to that, one question, how did you come thus far? That’s all. That’s all. You know, my burden was lifted away. That pain, you know, I am careful with my plans for my future, to some extent, but, you know, even if they don’t go right, I don’t have a problem. Because how far have you, how did you come thus far? I mean, I know, if I came this far, you know, much better than I thought I would do, I am in the hands of my God, I mean, I mean, I am so sure, I mean, not, I have the promises of my God.

I mean, here again, David is actually recalling scripture. Remember, the scripture that we carry, I mean, electronic, print, whatever it is, you know, even if you read the Bible on a scroll, it doesn’t matter. But the scripture, the word of the Lord, I mean, we, that is, let it be continually inscribed in our hearts. He is calling, I mean, he is recalling God’s word here again, when he says, I shall not be in one. Deuteronomy 2:7, Moses is talking to the people of Israel, for the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He knows you’re going through this great wilderness. I mean, these 40 years, the Lord your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing, I mean, you have lacked nothing. That’s our testimony. That’s my testimony. There are many unanswered prayers, I mean, not in my life much, because I don’t ask for much, but there may be, but, you know, I’ll come to that point soon, but you know, together we say, we lack nothing. I mean, always opening the storehouses of heaven, supply all that we need. You know, I, I, I mean, I, you probably, you get bored with my use of that term. I mean, I use it so much, open the storehouses of heaven and supply all our needs. That’s a statement of faith because you are our God who lacks nothing in heaven. You have a storehouse in the heavenly places. When you open it for us, we will have our supply and we will lack nothing. Hallelujah. 2 million people, 20 lakh men, women, and children, I mean, I don’t know how their animals were fed. Apparently, I mean, there was a way. Here is one man, David, I mean, here is one man, PV Thomas, here is one family, I mean, 2 million. The Lord fed them, I mean, the Lord’s promise to us is that I will meet all, all what you need in your life. Hallelujah.

David’s confidence in the Lord stems also from his knowledge of the character of God as the shepherd. I mean, the promises are there. Yes, we know it. And he also knows the character of God. We have the words of Jesus here. We’ll call Jesus as we go further. Jesus says, one, that he cares for his flock. Number two, he knows his sheep. Keep those two words, knowing and caring. They go together. That’s important because of the time limit.

How do we know that he cares for us? Here is the one, if the Lord has gone to such lengths to deliver me from death, I mean, death on the cross, gave himself up. Father God looked the other way. He did not honor his son as he cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? I mean, if that happened on the cross of Calvary, hallelujah, I know that he cares for me. I mean, I know all of us, I believe, I am very particularly, you know, in my moment of worship, it is a cross that I reflect on. I mean, in my moment of sorrow, it is a cross that I meditate on. In my prayer, as I pray for you, it is a cross to which I put my gaze, amen. It is a cross of Jesus because it is a cross that made everything possible for me. If the Lord gave himself for us, if the father gave up his son on the cross, how could I think and be worried, thinking that, you know, the Lord doesn’t care, I mean, his wounds in his hands, wounds on his side are sufficient evidence. Galatians chapter 2, the son of God loved me and gave himself for me. I mean, there are moments, the disciples, when they were in the boat in the Sea of Galilee, I mean, they cried out when the storms were against them, when the waves were rising against them. I mean, they cried out and asked the Lord, do you not care if we perish? That happens in life. It happens with all of us, even with all my, you know, boasting, it happens with me too. But you cannot fix your eyes on the cross without knowing that he cares for you beyond words. Mark that sentence. You cannot fix your gaze on the cross without knowing that he cares for you beyond words. Amen. Thank God for the opportunity of celebrating the table of the Lord week after week. I mean, what a great experience. The cross is the ultimate proof that he cares for you.

Knowledge goes along with that, you know, they go hand in hand, coupled together. God knows us too. Indeed, the Lord knows us better than we know ourselves. The Lord knows our past, our present, our future. You know, there are many people who would tell us so many mysteries, but they only know the past. They may know our present, but the Lord knows our future too. And the Lord knows us in depth, our secrets, our ambitions, our fears, better than we know ourselves. Now, these two go together. Knowledge and care go together. I mean, therefore, my prophesies words, whatever he sends me will bring me what I need. Watch that sentence. Whatever he sends me will bring me what I need. Whatever I need, he will provide. Repeat, whatever I need, he will provide. Whatever he provides comes marked with the approval of the nail pierced hands, I can trust him. Amen. His caring, his knowledge of me and my need.

Quickly now, in a few minutes, restoration is the second one. If the Lord is my shepherd, he will restore me when I fall. Amen. David’s sins must have already happened. It must have become a popular knowledge now. That’s the reason, one reason we say that it is not a psalm that came out of the time when he was a shepherd boy. Maybe the Psalm 23 came out after all that he went through, all those bad things he committed. I mean, people already knew about it probably. So that may be the reason he says he restores my soul. Repeat that together with Psalm 51, Psalm 32, and Psalm 38. Amen.

The shepherd here in the psalm is someone who takes the sheep to quiet pastures, still waters. Why? That is where the sheep is refreshed and that is where they are restored. Amen. It is in this sentence, he restores me. It is much more than God forgives me language. It is going beyond forgiveness. It is going beyond one word, forgiveness. It is actually a sustained and prolonged treatment of grace of God working in my life so that I am completely restored in the presence of God. Amen. David knew he needed it and we know this afternoon that we need the restoration in our life. Amen.

In another place, in another psalm, Psalm 25, we find David crying out, remember your mercy O Lord and your steadfast love for they have been from a fall. Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions according to your steadfast love. Remember me for the sake of your goodness O Lord. It is a continuous work of God restoring us, reshaping us. Amen. You know, I had a very brief period of time when my life was almost completely lost. Bad friendship, bad things in life. You know, memories of that brief period of life, a few months only, still haunt me. I don’t like to remember them. The words I spoke, the friendships that I had, the things I wanted to do, I attempted to do. They are torturing memories of past sins and failures, whether, I mean, that happened, you know, if we sin, after being born again, they also become torturing memories. You know, it could be flaming arrows, Paul uses that language in Ephesians, flaming arrows. But then David took the shield of faith and he is able to say, you know, the Lord restores my soul, meaning the Lord bathes me in forgiveness. He refreshes me with the assurance of his grace. I mean, see the heart of Jesus. Luke 15, you know, where Jesus says, what a man of you having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the one that is lost until he finds it, and when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulder, that great picture, we would never ever forget, rejoicing. I mean, he is not doing it grudgingly, when he restores you, when he holds you, it is not just a word of forgiveness, he embraces you, he will carry you on his shoulder, I mean, he will rejoice over us, and he will tell others, rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost, that is the heart of Jesus.

Lift up your heart, draw near to him, we have the promise of his protection, affirmation of his protection. Amen. Time is gone long ago. Amen, the Lord as a shepherd will surprise us in his grace. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Amen, just only recall that, whatever trials the Lord brings us into, he means to show us one thing, his presence with us, and his glory, in a way we could not otherwise learn, last night’s message, I’m in Malayalam, what a touching night it was, Luke 5:1-11, I’m in Peter and Jesus, I’m in the trial, every trial time is a moment of opportunity, he wants to teach us a lot, he wants to reveal his glory to us. I mean, the Lord knows always he can help us, he is with us, but he wants us to know that fact that the Lord will help me, it is only by sending us through trials that will happen.

And finally, the presence of Jesus with us, we talked enough about it, I mean, the Lord is with us, in the darkest valley, the Lord is my shepherd, he will be with me now and forever, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, I mean, this afternoon, despite all our tears, agony, pain, sorrow, dealing with uncertainties of tomorrow, we have one certainty, that the Lord Jesus is with us, finally, the first physician to die of the AIDS virus in the United Kingdom was a young Christian, he had contracted it while doing medical research in the country of Zimbabwe, the last days of his life, his powers of communication failed, he couldn’t talk, he struggled with increasing difficulty to express his thoughts even to his wife, on one occasion, she simply could not understand his message anymore, so he wrote on a notepad, the letter, J, she ran through her mental dictionary, saying various words, beginning with J, none of them were right, then finally, she said or asked, Jesus, he said, that’s it, finally, even when he could not communicate, he knew deep down, that Jesus was with him, with his wife, with his family, that was all either of them needed, that is always enough for all of us.

Let’s close our eyes and pray, Father we thank you, shepherd of our life, we thank you for Jesus, who became our shepherd, who remains the chief shepherd of the people of God, we thank you because you did not honor your son on the cross, Jesus cared for us enough so that he died for us, we thank you, for in the darkest moment of our life, you will be with us, thank you for your provisions, thank you for restoring us, thank you because you would continue to protect us, thank you for your presence, in Jesus name, hear our prayer.https://youtu.be/XABfTThLjkU