The ancient road from Jerusalem to Jericho is a narrow , treacherous path long a deep gorge in the Judean wilderness. Its name is Wadi Kelt, but it's known as the valley of the shadow, for this is the location that inspired David's 23^rd Psalm. The place itself offers little reason to compose sucha hopeful poem. The landscape is bleak, barren, and perilously steep. It's a good place for thieves, but not for anyone else.

When David wrote, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil", he was in a place where evil was an ever present reality. Yet he refuse t give in to fear. He wasn't expressing hope that God could abolish evil so that he could pass through safely he was saying that the presence of God gave him the confidence to pass through difficult places without fear of being deserted by Him, In another psalm, David sid that the Lordwas his hope,

 

Many claims to have hope, but only those whose hope is Christ can claim it with certainty. Hope comes not from strength, intelligence, orfavorable circumstances, but from the lord. As maker of heaven andearth, He alone has the right to promise hope and the power to keep the promise.