The Shepherd

The Shepherd - the Unseen Hand in the Valley of Fear - inspired by New Creation Church, Singapore, Pastor Lawrence Wong's sermon.

When the song was created, the Holy Spirit gave me the images to create the story. A man on death row, in regrets he turned to Jesus. Jesus does not judge him nor condemn him. Jesus finally meets him on the other side and he walks free into eternity with the Loird.

The song is a psalm of modern trust, chronicling a soul's migration from the geography of terror to the sanctuary of intimacy. It begins in the "valley deep," a conscious echo of the shadow-draped path from the twenty-third psalm. Here, the air is sunless, and dread is not an abstract concept but a shadow that presses upon the chest, making "feelings scream." This is the raw, honest acknowledgment of human fear when faced with the looming "shadow of trial." Yet, in that very darkness, a counter-truth emerges—not from changed circumstances, but from revealed presence. The pivotal whisper, "You are with me," becomes the sole reason for the forward motion: "so I will go." The journey is not from fear, but through it, anchored by companionship.

The second verse reveals the destination of that trust: "the secret place" of holy grace. This is the inner citadel found in Christ, a refuge from the valley’s threats. Here, the theology of proximity becomes personal experience. God is no longer perceived as a distant figure, but as one "closer than the breath I breathe." This realization shifts the posture from a trudging pilgrim to a standing child, "face to face," in a moment of stunning intimacy, "reaching out to hold my Father’s hand." The relationship deepens from Sovereign Shepherd to "Abba, Father."

The bridge crystallizes the song’s entire thesis into a manifesto of courageous surrender: "I will do it afraid." It redefines victory not as the eradication of fear, but as the choice to act despite its palpitation in the heart. This is only possible through a drastic re-focusing: "But my eyes on You." The tools for this journey are named—"Your Word is my lamp" for the next step in the dark, and "Your promise my anchor" for stability in the storm. Thus, the song completes its arc: from the scream of fear in the valley, to the silent grasp of a Father’s hand in the secret place, fueled by the declared resolve to walk with lamp and anchor, trusting even when the shadow remains. The victory is in the trusting itself, a quiet echo in the dark: "I am here, and so are You."