walking through, not around

In Psalm 23:4 we read,

Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me

An important "lesson" for me to remember and keep remembering, since I have such an excellent forgetter, is the importance of me maintaining the attitude and posture of faith, as well as the continued walk of faith and way of life, that I will be willing to walk through whatever it is that I'm facing or fear, with the Lord. And not seek a detour or way out from God.

This is not to say that God doesn't deliver us from troubles at times, or that he can't heal, etc. It's only to say that whatever we face, we must be willing to walk through it with the Lord.

Of course Paul wanted God to remove his thorn in the flesh, no less than a messenger of Satan which no less than tormented him. He rightfully pleaded with the Lord three times to remove it, but God wanted Paul to learn to walk through this trial, not around it. And in Paul's case it was to remain a trial, as far as we know, all the rest of his days.

In my life I have been beset with inner "demons" (not to say actual demons weren't involved at times) which have honestly kept me back, often at times, from really venturing forth in God's will. And that's true even if the holding back was with reference to my attitude at the time. Nothing but dread, fear and paralyzed anxiety. But God is reminding me again, through another bout like this yesterday that I must be willing to walk through whatever anxiety I may have, whether we're speaking about what I fear, or the fear actually happening. Only then, when I decided that I must go on (only after many hours in which I operated with relative inward misery) regardless did a sense of the dread lift. And I realized this lesson again, that I must walk through any darkness with the Lord, and not seek to escape from it.

When we look at Scripture, we often see that God's servants had to face trouble in this life, even death, of course the epitome of this found in God's suffering servant, Jesus. This can be a help for people like me, who at times like before I have had to preach have suffered much through one fear or another to the point where I was rendered quite weak in my thought and strength. Of course God can use the weakest things, and does. But we also need to find the glory of walking through our fears and actual troubles with the Lord, instead of living in a pseudo-faith world in which when all is well our faces are radiant, but when not, we are cast down. That is not the walk of faith. I'm learning, I hope.

What might you like to add to this for us?