Death Valley Days

Westerns on T.V. were all the rage when I was a kid. Bonanza, The Big Valley, Rawhide, The Virginian, and Gunsmoke just to name a few. I ate them all up. I still watch them on MeTV.

Another one that I’ll never forget was Death Valley Days. It went on the air in 1952 (four years before I was born) and ran to 1970. For some reason, what I remember the most is that it was sponsored by 20-Mule Team Borax, a laundry detergent.

Who says advertising doesn’t work?

The half-hour program was based on true stories in the rugged nineteenth-century Southwest, and how people coped through those frontier times. Unlike most television shows it didn’t have main characters that you would see week after week over the years. A number of different hosts introduced the show during its nineteen-year run, including Ronald Reagan. I never dreamed he would someday be the Governor of California, let alone President of our country.

If you think times are hard now, you might want to go on YouTube and watch an episode or two. But the fact is, no matter what times you live or where, we all suffer through adversity.

I think David was experiencing one of those Death Valley Days when he wrote the 23^rd Psalm.

                 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

                                I will fear no evil;

                                For You are with me;

                                Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.[i]

When David used the expression “valley of the shadow of death,” he was borrowing an expression that the Israelites had learned during their 400 years of slavery in Egypt.

According to Egyptian mythology, when a person died they became part of the underworld where they would have to pass through twelve chambers of mazes, swamps, monsters, quicksand, devils and the like. This underworld experience was sometimes referred to as the Valley of the Shadow of Death. Only those who managed to dodge the perils and get through all twelve chambers would have a chance to experience eternal life.

A very slim chance.

David didn’t believe Egyptian mythology, but he used the familiar expression to describe how life feels sometimes. We do everything we can to beat the system, but the deck is stacked against us. Everywhere we turn there’s another obstacle keeping us from getting to where we’re trying to go.

The Egyptians believed that the only people that made it through the twelve chambers of afterlife got assistance from one or more of their gods.

And that’s where David agreed.

Our only chance to get through life in this world unscathed is to depend on the One Who made it. The Good Shepherd guides and defends his sheep with a rod and staff. This brought David comfort.

Come to think of it, we’re quite a bit like the characters on Death Valley Days.

Pioneers.

Nobody’s been this way before. Every day is a struggle. Another encumbrance or obstacle awaits us each day. Whether it be a pandemic, cancer, job loss, divorce, or personal conflicts. The list goes on.

We can’t get through it without help. Nobody’s that strong.

That’s why I’m glad the Good Shepherd is there at all times guiding us through our Death Valley Days.  How about you?                               

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What gets you through your Death Valley Days?

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[i] Psalm 23:4 New King James Version