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.

One of the dangers of our consumer culture is that we can become very self-centered even about spiritual things.

We get this narcissistic mindset that it all revolves around us.

People think about a church selfishly.

What can I get out of this?

What can this church do for me,

do for my family? When in reality, we ought to be thinking of ourselves as members of the body,

what can we contribute? How can we help to build up the whole? What can the Lord use us to do? We think

of worship in terms of how it makes us feel, when instead we should be thinking not about what we can get, but about what we're to give.

All glory to God, all praise to the Lord.

That same principle applies to our study of the Word of God.

When you open the scriptures, do not first come saying, Lord, I really need something.

Now, we all feel that way, don't we?

And we do need something.

We need our souls fed.

We need reproved and corrected and instructed and comforted.

And the list goes on and on and on.

But first, remember, the Bible is God's revelation of himself.

And if we come to the word of God with

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