Do you know that God is right beside you TODAY?

Not the fact that you feel God is with you, not the fact that you think God is with you, not the fact that you can sense His presence but the fact that He is there. That’s the cure. That’s the solution. That’s the antidote to all fear.

As you walk through that valley, He walks with you as a companion to share the experience with you.

If you get on the Internet and go to phobialist.com, you’ll find a collection of more than 500 fears and phobias compiled by a man named Fredd Culbertson. I’m not sure why he made this a hobby.

Among the fears he lists just some that start with the letter “A.” There’s a whole long alphabetical list there. Let’s see if you have any of these fears.

• Achluophobia- the fear of darkness 
• Acrophobia- the fear of heights
• Agateophobia- the fear of insanity
• Agliophobia- the fear of pain
• Aichmophobia- the fear of needles or pointed objects
• Anuptaphobia- the fear of staying single
• Apiphobia- the fear of bees
• Arachibutyrophobia- Of course you know that that is the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth.
• Atomosophobia- fear of atomic explosions
• Atychiphobia- fear of failure

And here’s one from the “P” section:

• Pentheraphobia - Of course you know that is fear of mother-in-law.

Well, in Psalm chapter 23 the subject of fear is introduced. We have a good shepherd, one who loves us, one who provides for us, one who ministers to our needs, but we come sometimes to fearful circumstances, fearful places.

The psalmist says in verse 4, “Even though I walk through the valley of deep darkness,” or “the valley of the shadow of death” as many of your translations say, “I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” I will fear no evil.

The psalmist acknowledges here that there is evil. It doesn’t mean you will face no evil. It doesn’t mean God will put you in this little Christian cocoon and you’ll never experience hurt or problems. You will go through this valley.

Remember we said the shepherd is leading his sheep from the lowlands up to the higher places, but they have to go through these deep, dark ravines that are dangerous. God is taking us to higher ground. He’s taking us to Christ-likeness. He is sanctifying us so that one day we can be glorified. We can be like His Son Jesus.

But in the process we will have to face evil even as Jesus did here on this earth. He was tempted by the evil one. He was tested. He was tried. There is a cross in our gospel. In fact, we have no gospel if we have no cross. There’s no salvation apart from Jesus having walked through the valley of deep darkness.

So as we follow in His steps, God leads us to take up our cross and follow Him. In this world there is darkness. There is death. There is evil. But the key here is that we don’t have to fear it because the One who is righteousness, the One who is light, the One who is life, is with us. “I will fear no evil for you are with me.”

you can read the full message at "ReviveOurHearts.com"