The Valley of Shadow: Where God Leads Us Into Conscious Faith

David, the royal poet and shepherd, transforms his earthly experience into spiritual truth: "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death" (Psalm 23:4). He ascribes his peaceful happiness not to his own skill, but to Adonai's kindly guidance—the same God who once led his flocks to green pastures.

Exell teaches that no person comprehends life's true meaning until consciously passing through the valley of shadow. A child lives happily without contemplating existence's boundaries. One might imagine such unconsciousness extended through manhood and age, yet something less than human would remain in that ignorance.

Two types of unconsciousness plague us: innocent unawareness and sinful indifference—those who "eat and drink, and tomorrow die," never recognizing anything beyond material existence. Both require awakening. Sorrow alone reveals life's depth and compass; the consciousness of sin exposes duty's infiniteness.

Yet we do not enter the valley willingly. We prefer skimming lightly over life's surface, knowing depths exist below. But Adonai comes with His Fatherly hand and leads us into gloom, leaving us there awhile alone. Though none would choose bitter bereavement, God's visitation this way proves far better than exemption. If the soul possesses capacity for education into Elohim's likeness, acquiring strength and sweetness unknown at first, then these blows of fate become stages of discipline, not mere subtractions from happiness.