4. This has been sung on many a dying bed, and has helped to make the dark
valley bright times out of mind. Every word in it has a wealth of meaning. Yea,though I walk, as if the believer did not quicken his pace when he came to
die, but still calmly walked with God. To walk indicates the steady
advance of a soul which knows its road, knows its end, resolves to follow the
path, feels quite safe, and is therefore perfectly calm and composed. It is not
walking in the volley but through the valley. We go through the
dark tunnel of death and emerge into the light of immortality. We do not die;
we do but sleep to wake in glory. Death is not the goal but the passage to it.
The storm breaks on the mountain, but the valley is a place of quietude,
and thus often the last days of the Christian are the most peaceful in his
whole career; the mountain is bleak and bare, but the valley is rich with
golden sheaves, and many a saint has reaped more joy and knowledge when he came
to die than he ever knew while he lived. And, then, it is not “the valley of death” but “the valley of the shadow of death,” for death in its substance has been removed, and only the shadow of it
remains. Someone has said that when there is a shadow there must be light
somewhere. Death stands by the side of the highway in which we have to travel,
and the light of heaven shining upon him throws a shadow across our path; let
us then rejoice that there is a light beyond. A shadow cannot stop a man’s
pathway even for a moment. Let us not, therefore, be afraid. I will fear noevil. He does not say there shall not be any evil; he had got beyond even
that high assurance, and knew that Jesus had put all evil away; but his fears,
those shadows of evil, were gone forever. The worst evils of life are those
which do not exist except in our imagination. We feel a thousand deaths in
fearing one, but the psalmist was cured of the disease of fearing. “I will fear no evil, ” not
even the Evil One himself; I will look upon him as a conquered foe, an enemy to
be destroyed, for thou art with me. This is the joy of the Christian!
The little child out at sea in the storm is not frightened like all the other
passengers; it is asleep in its mother’s bosom; it is enough for it that its
mother is with it; and it should be enough for the believer to know that Christ
is with him; thy rod and thy staff, by which thou governest and rulest
thy flock, the ensigns of thy sovereignty and of thy gracious care, theycomfort me.
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