Valleys

Hebrews 7:2 tells us that Melchizedek was king of a city called "Salem," and that "Salem" means "peace."  The Assyrians called this city Urasalimmu, and the Hebrews and Chaldee continued that tradition in their own respective languages, calling the city Yerushalaim or Yerushalem.  It has been transliterated into our language as "Jerusalem," meaning, "foundation, possession or vision of peace."  Therefore, Jerusalem is the "city of peace."

Jerusalem sits atop a mountain, and mountains are inherently surrounded by valleys.  Israel itself is full of valleys that Scripture has spoken about throughout history and each has a name pertaining to an event that happened in that location.  After listening to a recent Mac Brunson sermon, I was able to capture a good list of some of these valleys.  They include the Valley of Trouble or Calamity (Achor) as recorded in Joshua 7:24, the Valley of Lamentation (Hinnom or Gehenna) as described in 2 Chronicles 28:3, the Valley of Giants (Rephaim) in Joshua 15:8, the Valley of Ditches in 2 Kings 3:16, the Valley of Weeping (Beca) from Psalm 84:6, the Valley of Slaughter as seen in Jeremiah 7:32, the Valley of Dead Bodies in Jeremiah 31:40, the Valley of Dry Bones in Ezekiel 39, the Valley of Judgment (Jehoshaphat) in Joel 3:2, the Valley of Decision in Joel 3:14, and of course the Valley of Armageddon (Revelation 16:16).  Many of these valleys directly surrounded the city of peace, and therefore, in order to reach the mountain of peace, you had to walk through some valleys of trouble.

You may be familiar with some, or perhaps all of these valleys in some form or fashion, but no valley in history is as familiar as Psalm 23:4's Valley of the Shadow of Death.  The verse reads,

"Even though I walk through the valley of shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me."

The interesting thing about this valley is that it includes an adjective that none of the other valleys include--"shadow."  The idea is, it is merely a shadow of death, and not death itself, and therefore it cannot overcome you.  Just like a shadow of a dog cannot bite you or a shadow of a truck cannot hit you, a shadow of death cannot overcome you, although, often times the shadows seem to have that supernatural power.

It is important to know that a shadow is cast on the ground by light.  Without light, a shadow cannot exist.  Moreover, if you find yourself staring straight at your shadow, the chances are that you are not looking towards that light because it is behind you. 

Jesus said in John 8:12 that He is "the light of the world."  The point is, if you happen to find yourself facing shadows, the chances are you are not facing Christ.  Shadows are what they are, and David's words still ring true today, "I will fear no evil because You are with me."  The only way to overcome the shadow is to turn around and face the light, which is Jesus Christ.

It really is just as the old hymn sings,

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.