The Great Shepherd Leads Us Through The Valleys

The 23rd Psalm says that "He leads me beside still waters" and "though I walk through the valley (of the shadow of death) . . . I will fear no evil" for "Thou art with Me".

In my current meditations on this Psalm, and being aided by Phillip Keller's A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, I continue to be amazed at the connection between people and sheep. Today I read that when the shepherd takes his flock up to the higher altitudes and up to the mountains (to higher ground), he wisely takes them up through the valleys. It doesn't seem to make sense but the shepherd knows that in the darkest of valleys there flows abundant water through rivers and streams. The sheep can slowly make their way up the mountains via these valleys with their rivers and streams and places of rest. Probably seems like it takes forever. But it is the best path.
Likewise, the Lord is teaching me that these "valleys of life" are truly the source of the best drink for my thirst -- living water. It is in the valleys of life - the valley of the shadow of death where it seems low and dark and painful and scary - that the fountains of water flow most deeply. Water travels downward, doesn't it? So our thirsts will best be satisfied when we can drink of this water and the best sources for water are in the valleys.
This was not something I wanted to read nor learn. I don't WANT to be in a valley. I want to be on top; I want to be on the mountaintop and just bask up there in the sun. But I guess all you can do up there is look down. In the valley I can look up. I can drink living water like the woman at the well. Like the sheep tended by their loving shepherd. He knows the best path for them. It is through the valleys.

Dear Lord, thank you for these powerful images. You know that we can relate to things like hunger and thirst and discomfort and pain and suffering and a desire to be relieved from these. You know that like sheep we need our thirst to be satisfied and that is why the valleys of our lives occur. How little we realize that when we are down there, wow -- the satisfying living water is right there next to us!! You provide lovingly for us. Thank you, Lord. Amen.