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Afraid of a Shadow

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Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Sep 8, 1909

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 36, No. 35.

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Afraid of a Shadow

The young minister’s text was the twenty-third Psalm, of which he gave a running commentary. When he came to the verse, “Tho I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,” he abruptly paused and said: “I am a Scotchman. Let me tell you a little incident which occurred not long ago in a Scottish parish where I was laboring.” He leaned from the pulpit, and with the sweetest Scottish accent began in a low, tender voice:
“I was sitting in my study one Saturday evening when a message came to me that one of the godliest among the shepherds who attended their flocks upon the slopes of our Highland hills was dying and wanted to see the minister. Without loss of time I crossed the wide heath to his comfortable little home. When I entered the low room, I found the old shepherd propped up with pillows, and breathing with such difficulty that it was apparent that he was near his end. ‘Jean,’ he said, ‘give the minister a stool and leave me a bit; for I wad lie to see the minister alone.’ As soon as the door was closed he turned the most pathetic pair of gray eyes upon me I had ever looked into, and said in a voice shaken with emotion: ‘Minister, I’m dying, and — and I’m afraid.’ I began at once to repeat the strongest promises with which God’s word furnishes us; but in the midst of them he stopped me. ‘I ken them a’, but somehow they dinna gie me comfort.’”},{
“‘Do you believe them?’”},{
“‘Wi’ a’ my heart,’ he replied, earnestly.
“‘Where then is there any room for fear, with such a saving faith?’”},{
“‘For a’ that, minister, I’m afraid, I’m afraid.’”},{
“I took up the well-worn Bible which lay on the bed and turned to the psalm which I have read to-day:
“‘You remember the twenty-third Psalm?’ I began.
“‘Remember it!’ he said vehemently, ‘I kenned it afore ye were born; ye need na’ read it; I’ve conned it a thousand times on the hillside.’”},{
“‘But there is one verse you have not taken in.’ He turned upon me with a half-reproachful and even stern look, ‘Did I not tell ye, afore ye were born?’”},{
“I slowly repeated the verse, ‘“Tho I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me.” You have been a shepherd all your life, and have watched the shadows pass over the hills, hiding for a little while the light of the sun. Did the shadows ever frighten you?’”},{
“‘Frighten me?’ he said quickly. ‘Na! Na! Dave Donaldson has Covenanter’s bluid in his veins; neither shadow nor substance could well frighten him.’”},{
“‘But did these shadows never make you believe you would not see the sun again — that it was gone forever?’”},{
“‘Na! Na! I cudna be sic a simpleton as that.’”},{
“‘Nevertheless, that is just what you are doing now.’”},{
“He looked at me with incredulous eyes. ‘Yes,’ I continued, ‘the shadow of death is over you, and it hides for a little the Sun of Righteousness, who shines all the same behind; but it’s only a shadow that will pass, and when it has passed away, you will see the everlasting hills in their unclouded glory.’”},{
“The old shepherd covered his face with his trembling hands, and for a few moments maintained an unbroken silence; then letting them fall straight before him on the bed, he said, as if musing to himself: ‘Aweel! Aweel! I have conned that verse a thousand times among the heather, and I never understood it so afore — afraid of a shadow! Afraid of a shadow!’”},{
“Then turning to me a face now bright with an almost supernatural brightness, he exclaimed, lifting his eyes reverently to heaven, ‘Aye, aye, I see it a’ noo. Death is only a shadow — a shadow with Christ behind it — a shadow that will pass — na, na, I’m afraid nae mair.’”—Exchange.