Day 1 - Week 89 - Psalm 23:4 "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."

Are there any more beautiful words to hear when you are in a place of darkness, a place of dread, a place of despair?

No matter how strong our faith, this life still brings with it places that are literally in the valley of the shadow of death.  And they are scary places.  But it is in these places that God wants us to remember that we do not have to be afraid...even when the place is frightening in and of itself.  When we remember that He is with us, that He has promised to never leave us nor forsake us, then our fears can start to subside, our hearts begin to beat a little slower, and we can begin to breathe normally.  We feel the comfort of His rod and His staff, keeping us on His path of safety.  There is such comfort in knowing that we are being guided along the way, especially when that way is swallowed up in darkness.

Sometimes, I have found, you just have to give up making sense out of the darkness, and just trust Him to walk you through it.  I have tried to worry my way out of it, but that is when I feel it's sense of terror and foreboding, and that is when the darkness starts to feel impenetrable.  But when I call upon the Name of the Lord, He hears me, and He comes to me without fail, to guide me through the darkness into His light that is always ahead. 

I want this to be a note of encouragement, even though it could sound discouraging.  In this life, I believe that we will all travel through our own valley of the shadow of death.  No one looks forward to that journey.  But as dark as it is, there is also a blessing when you travel through it.  The blessing of knowing that there is no where where God is not also there...that He is faithful, that He is always by our side. 

The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.  He maketh me lie down in green pastures, He leadeth me beside the still waters.  He restoreth my soul; He leadeth me along the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Day 3 - Week 88 - Psalm 23:3 "He restoreth my soul; He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake."

Sometimes you read something that is just stated so perfectly, you know you just have to share it...here is such a reading from Charles Spurgeon's,  The Treasury of David.  I hope it speaks to you as well:
(Emphasis added)

He restoreth my soul. When the soul grows sorrowful he revives it; when it is sinful he sanctifies it; when it is weak he strengthens it. "He" does it. His ministers could not do it if he did not. His Word would not avail by itself. "He restoreth my soul." Are any of us low in grace? Do we feel that our spirituality is at its lowest ebb? He who turns the ebb into the flood can soon restore our soul. Pray to him, then, for the blessing -- "Restore thou me, thou Shepherd of my soul!"

He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. The Christian delights to be obedient, but it is the obedience of love, to which he is constrained by the example of his Master. "He leadeth me." The Christian is not obedient to some commandments and neglectful of others; he does not pick and choose, but yields to all. Observe, that the plural is used -- "the paths of righteousness." Whatever God may give us to do we would do it, led by his love. Some Christians overlook the blessing of sanctification, and yet to a thoroughly renewed heart this is one of the sweetest gifts of the covenant. If we could be saved from wrath, and yet remain unregenerate, impenitent sinners, we should not be saved as we desire, for we mainly and chiefly pant to be saved from sin and led in the way of holiness. All this is done out of pure free grace; "for his name's sake." It is to the honour of our great Shepherd that we should be a holy people, walking in the narrow way of righteousness. If we be so led and guided we must not fail to adore our heavenly Shepherd's care.