Psalm 23

"You guide me, LORD, on paths of righteousness. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for you are with me."

This is one of the most well known Psalms in the Bible. Many Christians can recite it from memory, and it is often read in funeral and memorial services. The language is poetic and powerful. Death does not cast a shadow over a valley, but we know what the psalmist means. Death is like a dark valley, and we are afraid of walking through that dark valley.

The psalmist was writing for Israelites, not for Christians. But the God that the psalmist says is with us, when we face death, is the same God that Jesus called Father. This is also the God that Christians identify as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God is one, the Holy One, the only God of creation, the God of Israel, and the God of Christian faith.

Six centuries after the birth of the church Muhammad will proclaim there is but one God. He will use the Arabic word "Allah" to name that God, but this is simply Arabic for "one God" or "the one God." It is not a personal name for God, and Muhammad does not believe that Allah is different than the God of Abraham, Moses and Jesus. Muhammad does, however, witness to a revelation that differs from the Jewish and Christian witness to the one God, and so a new religion arises.

Grace and peace...Bob