Dave's Diary

Daily Readings: Psalm 13 and Psalm 23

Today you’re invited to memorise Psalm 23:4
“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.”

First, commit it to memory … and then meditate on it in the light of Psalm 13:5
“⁵ But I trust in Your unfailing love;
    my heart rejoices in Your salvation.”

Psalm 13, is a Psalm of Lament, it’s a cry of desperation born of the Psalmist’s confusion that God seems to be forgetting him, hiding His face from him, and allowing his enemy to triumph over him. Psalm 13 is written for any of us who are in a protracted season of “walking through the valley of the shadow of death”. It is a Psalm for our moments of despair, hopelessness and heaviness. Then, at its very heart, Psalm 13 turns the corner of determined faith and invites us to trust in God’s unfailing love (v.5). It invites us to trust that even in the deepest, darkest corner of the valley of the shadow of death, God’s unfailing love is with us, and the Good and Loving Shepherd is ever-present to lead us with His staff and to protect us with His rod. His ever-present, unfailing love is our comfort and our strength.

Lord, today I choose to trust in Your unfailing love and to rejoice in Your power to save, because …The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
    for his name’s sake … AND …
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. AMEN