Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
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In one of the most famous of the Psalms, King David wrote, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me."
In a Sunday meeting at the old homeplace, Uncle Joe stood up and testified that he had learned what the valley of the shadow of death is. Then, he told us all that the shadow of death is condemnation in the heart. Condemnation is guilt because of sins committed, and sin leads to death (Rom. 6:23), unless the sinner repents. The condemnation that sin brings into the heart foreshadows death. Just as the holy Ghost is a foretaste of eternal life, condemnation is the foretaste of eternal death.
Shakespeare referred to the darkness of night as "the second self of death". That makes for good poetry, but it is not quite true. The real "second self" of death is condemnation in the heart. The gnawing feeling of guilt is death's earthly shadow. When a person sins and feels the condemnation that follows, death is stalking him; it is close, and he is walking in its very shadow. It is a deep valley, from which a sinner must look up if he hopes to ever escape.
When God applies His holy rod to the back of one of His errant children and causes him to repent, that child has been comforted by God's chastening rod. He has been snatched away from death and its shadow and brought up into the light of Christ once more. It is for this reason that David wrote, "Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me."
David knew what it meant to live in the shadow of death. He lived for months in condemnation after he committed adultery with the beautiful young wife of Uriah, one of the noblest men in Israel's army, and then, murdered that righteous soldier in order to cover up his sin. His conscience tormented the king every moment. For more than six long months, he spent every day in the valley of the shadow of death, knowing that he had committed sins that were worthy of death, and sensing the death that was looming over him, daily demanding its right to have his soul.
All the time that David refused to confess his sin to God and seek His mercy, he felt that he was dying inside. He really wanted to be free again, but he couldn't quite bring himself to do the things that he needed to do in order to be free. He wrote, "As long as I kept silent, my bones wasted away. I groaned all the day. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength withered as in dry summer " (Ps. 32:3-4 NAB).
When Nathan, God's faithful servant, came to David and rebuked him openly for his transgression, that chastisement was a relief to David. At last, he could deal with his sin and be helped by God. God's rod of correction shamed him, hurt him, but comforted him because it brought him out from under the shadow of death. Then, after David's sin was "taken away", death had no more claim on him. It no longer loomed over him, demanding his soul because now, his condemnation was gone. He wrote, "Then I declared my sin to you; my guilt I did not hide. I said, 'I confess my faults to the LORD', and you took away the guilt of my sin" (Ps. 32:3-5 NAB).
My dear brother or sister, if you are among those who, as David did, find yourself now walking through the valley of the shadow of death, you need not fear any evil. Death may cast its dreadful shadow over you, but it may not have you, for God is with you. Trust Him, and He will comfort you, as He did David, with His loving rod of correction, and He will take you away again into the sunlight of His favor if, like David, that is what you really want.