11/08/2025
Read today's devotion, The Lord, my security, we have nothing, from "Meditations on Favorite Scriptures," a daily devotional that offers comfort and guidance through God’s Holy Word, centered on the gospel promises of Jesus Christ.
Psalm 23:4—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.
Who has not, at one time or another, been afraid of the dark? Who has not desired to flee from gloomy days of trial and trouble and tribulation? Whose weak flesh has not at times cried out in terror at the thought of the final darkness, which is death?
We all experience days of suffering, days when the going gets rough, days when a blanket of darkness seems to descend upon us. We all undergo periods of trial and temptation. We all live through hours when we are confronted by wickedness and sin. And we all know that the last bitter enemy, the final darkness—death—awaits us. How can we stand up to these dark days of adversity?
The child of the world can only cringe at the assaults of evil. He has no real source of help and comfort, no place of refuge. Even the believer’s weak flesh cries out fearfully in dark days, “Has the Lord forsaken me?” With trembling heart, he wonders whether God really cares for him.
But these moments of doubt and weakness are short-lived for the child of God. Even in the darkest of valleys, a light will shine through. He remembers his Shepherd-Guide and confidently states, “I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” And that isn’t just loud talk to bolster his sagging spirits or to quiet his hands that are trembling or his knees that are shaking.
He wonders how he could have ever thought of being forsaken by the Lord who promised, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine . . . I will be with you” (Isaiah 43:1,2). The believer knows that no security force on earth could offer the protection and safety that God’s security force of one provides daily and hourly.
The child of God takes his Shepherd by the hand and leans on him for comfort and support. Under the Shepherd’s protection, he knows that the worst of troubles that life has to offer cannot really harm him in body or soul. Even death itself no longer creates fear in his heart. He knows that death is just another form of rest and peace that he will experience when the Shepherd returns to gather his sheep into his arms. Then the believer will find eternal rest and security forever.
From Meditations on Favorite Scriptures: Devotions for a Year, Edited by Curtis A. Jahn © 2007 Northwestern Publishing House. All rights reserved.
