Psalm 23 is a famous psalm of David's in the 6 verses, he essentially praises God's goodness to him with some of the most famous imagery in the Bible. Because that's what the above it - imagery reflecting God's goodness.
Humans aren't very good at speaking literally. Our language, vocabulary, and idioms all reflect an abstract way of thinking. There is no literal valley of "The Shadow of Death". Death is abstract, it doesn't even have a shadow. Those who interpret the Bible literally can be mislead in that sense - the psalms are poetry, for cryin' out loud, we don't really want to bash babies' heads on rocks!
Thus by the points made in the above tangent, when I say you might be going through a valley of a shadow of death, you know I'm speaking metaphorically. The valley might literally be the streets of your town, or it could just be a certain circumstance that you have to experience multiple times a week. Regardless, like David said, we don't have to fear evil, for God is with us.
And He is with us in that same abstract sense that we're in a valley. He's not physically there, affecting you - yet He is there, all the same. God's rod is an image of a shepherd herding David the sheep. Often times the image of a rod is met with thoughts of beatings etc, but not for the Good Shepherd. God's prodding voice, leading the way, can be a refuge, a comfort, and where better to find His voice than His word?
Therefore the Bible can be sought out for comfort, just as God Himself can be sought for. He loves you. And no matter what He's leading you through, you don't need to be afraid. Have faith, if it helps. Just choose to believe it, act on that belief, and you'll find yourself believing it.
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