Times of darkness are certainly part of our journey in this life. But thank the Lord,

he never leaves us to face the darkness alone. One of the great blessings of the 23rd Psalm

is the promise of the shepherd's presence. Thou art with me.

Let's join Scott Pauley now as he continues this series, The Shepherd of the Shadows.

There is nothing like living in the presence of God.

Now, he is ever present. He is all present. He is constantly present with his people, but we don't always live that way, do we?

We live so often, just ignorant and willfully ignorant at times of the near presence of God and his sufficiency. But when the Lord begins to reveal himself to us, and we begin to acknowledge who

he is, what power, what joy, what strength we draw from that. I think that's why Psalm 23 is so helpful to all of us at every season and stage and step in life,

because it's bringing us more and more to understand the presence of our God.

Now, we're in the second half of Psalm 23.

We've started with this expression,

yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. And then immediately he begins to describe what the Lord does when he's

with us. He begins to describe all of the implications and applications that grow out of the presence of

God. And here's the first.

At the end of Psalm 23, verse number four, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.

Thy rod and thy staff.

So here's the first great thing we learn about the Lord's presence.

When the Lord is with me, first of all, I have the protector with me.

This expression, by Rod and my staff, is a reminder of the protective work of our God.

You know, this is a dangerous world, and I'm not just talking about physically. I'm talking about

in every way. There's danger for your mind and danger for your family, danger for your soul.

...