READ: PSALM 23

Sometimes when I think about death and dying, it scares me. I know this is the case for a lot of people. I also know that, unless Jesus comes back during our lifetimes, we will all experience death one day. But personally, I don’t want to think about it. However, when I was reading Psalm 23 last night, I was struck by the hope it gives us regarding death, dying, and what comes after.

Many people read Psalm 23 when they want to feel God’s presence and be reminded that He is with us in the difficult times. Last night, it really hit me in a new way. Verse 4 tells us that God will be with us when we’re in “the shadow of death,” and verse 6 says we have an eternal home in the house of the Lord.

I don’t have to fear any situation that God has promised to enter with me. If I were to get sick today, and the doctors told me that I had just days to live, I could trust that God would stay beside me and everything would be okay. I don’t have to be concerned about the particulars surrounding my eventual death; God will be with me, comforting me, no matter how things work out.

God will stay beside us even when we’re getting close to death; He’ll be with us to comfort us, and He’ll lead us through that time and into His home. • Emily Acker

• What is the scariest thing about death for you personally?

• As Christians, how could knowing that God is always with us—and always will be with us—affect the way we think about death? (Romans 8:35-39)

• Psalm 23 describes God as a shepherd, and this whole psalm points forward to Jesus—He is the Good Shepherd who “lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). If we know Jesus, we not only have confidence that He will be with us in “the valley of the shadow of death” (Psalm 23:4), but also that He has already gone through this valley before us, on our behalf. He went to the cross to save us, so He knows what it’s like to die. He even experienced the anxiety and anguish of knowing that His death was near (Mark 14:33-34; Luke 22:44). But, glory be to God, He also rose from the grave, and He promises that when He returns, everyone who has put their trust in Him will be raised to live with Him forever on the new heavens and new earth (John 14:1-3; Revelation 21:1-5). As we think about death and dying, how could these truths give us hope?

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies.” John 11:25 (WEB)