Honest With God: Finding Healing and Wholeness Through the PsalmsSample

The panic attack hit me like a freight train at 2:30 AM one July morning. One moment I was sleeping peacefully beside my wife; the next I was bolt upright, my heart hammering against my ribs, my lungs desperate for air that seemed impossible to find.

The bedroom walls felt like a prison cell. Sweat poured down my face despite the cool air blowing from our air conditioner. My mind raced with catastrophic thoughts: “Was I having a heart attack? Was I dying? What would happen to my family?”

I stumbled to the bathroom and gripped the countertop, staring at my reflection in the mirror. "What was going on inside of me? Had we made a mistake when our family moved to begin leading this church?!"

For three weeks, this scene had repeated itself nightly. Sleep became elusive. Peace felt like a foreign concept. I was walking through what King David called "the valley of the shadow of death" – not literal death, but that dark valley where your mind convinces you that death is imminent, where fear stalks you like a predator.

It was during one of those sleepless nights that David's words in Psalm 23 became more than familiar verses – they became a lifeline: "Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me." (Psalm 23:4 NIV)

David wasn't writing from a theoretical theological perspective. He was writing from experience - his own experience of literal valleys where enemies lurked, wild animals prowled, and a shepherd boy could easily become prey. David knew what it felt like to have his heart pound with legitimate fear.

But notice David doesn't say, "I will not experience dark valleys." He says, "Even though I walk through them. The valleys are real. The darkness is tangible. The fear is legitimate.

The game-changer isn't the absence of the valley – it's the presence of the Shepherd in the valley. "You are with me." Not "You will be with me when I get out of this mess." Not "You were with me before this started." Present tense. Right now. In the middle of the panic, in the center of the storm, in the depths of the valley – "You are with me."

God doesn't promise to eliminate every dark valley from your path, but He promises never to leave you alone in one. Today, pause and take a moment to thank God for walking with you through this season. Come back tomorrow, when we’ll talk about how to become even more honest with God.