When God Makes You Stop | Psalm 23 | Crossroads Daily

Hey, I'm Chuck. I'm Mesh. I'm Danny. I'm Chris. And today we are talking about, man, if there's any part of the Bible, like average Joe on the street probably knows it is at least in the Bible, may even know some of the words to it. It's what we read today. It's Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd. And so I want to start in a unique place. I mean, there's lots of things we can say about Psalm 23, but he talks about the valley, which means that a good shepherd doesn't keep us out of the valley. Sometimes we have to go through the valley. So tell me about a time when you've been in a valley and what kept you moving forward? Yeah. This scripture was, I didn't grow up in the church and I knew the scripture without knowing it was Psalm 23 because of movies and stuff, you know, it's really quotable and easy to put in, you know, great. But for me, it's honestly, it's not like moments of like deep despair. It was moment I looking back my life, it was moments of like stagnation just felt like nothingness. And like, most recently it was, um, when I left, uh, a different job that I like invested a lot, literally money to start at this company, um, time energy, just like myself and identity to join this place that I was at. And I ended up leaving it for other circumstances and it was totally good. And I went to something where like literally it was just for me to recoup, re-energize and just relax for a bit. And in that time when I was at this different job, I just experienced a lot of like nothingness and stagnation and just like this loss of identity. And it felt like I was just going nowhere. And during that time, I felt that valley. I think God sustained me by one, reminding me of that. He's always with me. And two, by pulling me out of the valley eventually. Um, yeah, I got some despair. I can share. I depression has always been thing. My family and that I've wrestled with. And in college, I would say it was at its apex. Like, you know, I'm taking drives just to like, not have to sit at home in my own thoughts sort of thing. And I remember one night I ended up like in a bank parking lot just cause I just wanted to stop driving for a second. And I'm just like, I'm wallowing. I'm thinking about everything. And this cop pulls up beside me and he's like, ask if I'm okay. He's like, do you need to come sit in my car for a second? I'm like, no, I'm good. And then he leaves. And I was like, oh, he was like making sure I was like good. And that was like this wake up call of like, okay, I'm like, I didn't realize like this all felt normal to me to some extent. And I am right. Just for some reason started to bring people into this journey with me and just let them in on what I was feeling. And I feel like that is where I started to find some

healing was just like people being present and like reminding me of truths that like, yeah, I could quote this scripture, but like, I didn't, um, I, it's only an echo chamber in my own head about it, but like having people around me that were reminding me of, of the truth and just bringing that towards the surface and not just being contained, like to know I'm not alone was a big thing for me. Yeah. Yeah. You know, when I think about the Valley, I think about the times in my life where I've been in the Valley and you know, one that, I mean, there's lots, but when it comes to mind is just, you know, same thing you talked about being in an organization, helping to start an organization and really going through a painful, painful time of lots of, um, organizational pain and people leaving. And it was, it was super, super hard. And the thing I constantly go back to is, you know, God allows us to go through the Valley because there are some things we get in the Valley that we don't get on the mountain tops. Right. And he's not as concerned about our comfort as he is about making us complete, you know, making us whole. And you know, there's a level of humility that I now have because I went through something hard and realized I had to do a lot of self-reflection. There's also a level of reassurance that like, oh, I can go through something that feels like it's, you know, existentially the end of the thing. Um, and God can redeem on the other side of that too. Right. I wouldn't, I wouldn't learn that if it was all up and to the right every time. And I need those lessons. If even if I don't need them, I need them. I certainly need them. But, uh, I certainly need to lend them to people in my life when they're going through something difficult too. So I just think about that whole idea that, you know, the good shepherd takes us to the Valley because his goal is not our comfort. It really is making us complete. I think I climbed a mountain before, Danny, I feel like you probably have. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like this is like a per like, honestly, a perfect analogy, right? Which everything in the Bible honestly is, but to like that sentiment, I mean, you could. speak more to it all, probably is my guess of like, you have to walk through a valley to get to even the start of the mountain and then climb the whole mountain, which is a whole nother thing. And you have to come down, like we talked about the mountaintop experience,

but there's a whole lot before we get there. Yeah, I'll never forget, we were at the top of Mount Doom and one of the folks that were on the trip with us, they go, well, it's not over yet, don't celebrate too much, we gotta go back down. I was like, oh my gosh, I thought we were good, but that's right, it's so true. I know who that person was too. That's very much what that person was saying in that moment. I feel like I know who that person is too. I totally know who it is. I wasn't there. You know what's interesting about the Psalm 23 and something that I saw probably on Instagram, who knows, but shepherds with their flock, they lead their flock. So when you're reading Psalm 23, he's leading, the Lord is leading us, the Good Shepherd's leading us. And then when you get to the valley, where the trouble is, it says you're with me, not leading me, you're with me. And what shepherds do when there's trouble is they actually drop back into their flock. In the middle. And get with them. Which I didn't realize that that verse actually was paralleling what a shepherd actually does. And so when you're in that valley or you're experiencing that trouble,

it's important to remember, no, God's with you. He's not in front of you, he's not out front, he's with you in the midst of all that. What a word, oh man. That's such a good word. Thank you, Instagram. I wish it was me. So there's lots of metaphors and lots of images in Psalm 23. There's the green pastures and still water, there's the valley of the shadow of death, there's the preparing the table before me in the presence of enemies, there's the good, I love surely goodness and mercy, following you all the days of your life. So the question is, where do you feel like you are right now in the Psalm 23 story? Are you in the valley? Is God preparing a table for you? Are you in green pastures and still waters and why? I'll say it's preparing the table before me specifically, because I imagined this feast. All those scriptures after, honestly, I imagined a feast because of my cup overflows and stuff like that. But I think the Lord is uniquely preparing me and my family right now to be a host, to host people in our homes and to have feasts. And so that's a big part of it right now. Like we're literally starting to prepare to do that more. But I think the goodness of God in the midst of that

is there's actually been a lot like this past year and a half that the Lord's been preparing our family through hardship, through difficulties, through some financial stuff that I think has clearly led us to this moment where we need to invite more people into our home. I love that, man. It almost feels like some of that is almost training. Like he's serving you to be like, hey, here's how you can serve others at the table. That's super cool, yeah. That's really cool. I feel like I'm in the green pastures and still waters and there's a lot of beauty and fun opportunities ahead of me in life right now. And my tendency is to be like, thank you God for this and I will see you later. Like, let me take care of all the good stuff that you provided. And I don't think I've really noticed that like that scripture says he makes me lie down in green pastures. Like the way at least I interpret it, I'm like, my tendency is to run off and be like, thanks for all the stuff you made God. Like, I don't need you though. And I feel like he's saying like, this is incomplete without my presence with you. And like, you're just not gonna be as fruitful, productive, efficient at all as you think you are without me.

Like I can get some stuff done, but like I'm gonna burn out super quick and then I'm gonna come running back. So he's like, no, I'm gonna, I will make you lie down with me, which I think is really cool. That's really cool. He's like, sit down. Yeah. Thanks for thinking about how you teach a dog to sit. Like you're gonna like, you gotta put your butt down a little bit till they get the feel. Yeah, that's right. That's good. That's good. Hey, I don't know where you are, but here's an exercise. This is harder to do when the scripture we read is super long, but obviously Psalm 23 is not very long. And I wonder if you would go back in, right now, if you have the time, reread Psalm 23, and as you read it, prayerfully ask, God, where am I at? Is this a season of green pastures and still waters? Is this a season where you're making me lie down? Am I in the valley of the shadow of death? Are you preparing a table before me? Ask God where you are and ask him how he wants to meet you specifically in this moment of your life.

And I just wonder if God might speak something unique to your journey in your situation, because he is that kind of shepherd.