W E’VE ALL EXPERIENCED our own valley of the shadow of death or been in deep, dark valleys.
David, who wrote this psalm, didn’t say that he could avoid the evil but he didn’t have to fear the evil because the Great Shepherd is with him. The Shepherd Lord is with David and the Lord has his rod and his staff with him.
What is a rod? It has nothing to do with fishing. A staff? That’s not the people who work for or with you.
Those are terms foreign to us in the context of shepherds and sheep. How do those shepherding tools bring comfort to sheep? How does the image of the Lord’s tools of rod and staff bring us comfort?
† † †
LET’S LOOK at both briefly.
►The use of a staff in herding sheep:
■ Guide sheep in the right direction.
■ Lift sheep with the hook on the staff and carry them out of dangerous situations. This is God sustaining the fallen, giving strength to the abandoned and hope to the desperate. This is God picking us up and wiping us off when we fall and get dirty.
■ Comfort a nervous sheep. With a staff the shepherd continuously touches the sheep lightly with the staff, reminding it that it is not alone. The same with us. When we are nervous, anxious, concerned, God’s attention is with us gently reminding us of his presence and comfort. Much like a parent holding a child’s hand in uncomfortable situations, thereby bringing comfort. A gentle nudge reminds us of God’s calming presence.
Jesus is called the Great Shepherd. He brings back the wandering or straying sheep with the shepherd’s crook. The staff has a curved end that fits the neck of the sheep perfectly and it is a gradual “U” shape, meaning that it can take hold of little lambs as well as the grown sheep. God’s comfort and rescue comes to us of all ages.
►The use of a rod in herding sheep:
■ A shepherd’s rod is like a club. Or think if it like a baseball bat. They are used by shepherds to defend the flock from wild animals that would harm the sheep.
■ They would throw the rod at a predator to scare it away or to wound or kill them. David was a shepherd as a youth and he described his use of the rod to King Saul:
“When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it.” (1 Samuel 17:34–35)
We pray for the Lord’s protection whenever we pray the Lord’s Prayer — deliver us from evil.
■ Shepherds use rods to discipline the sheep. They throw the rod gently at a sheep to get its attention or warn it not to do something. They do not throw the rod to hit the sheep. Nor do they use the rod to beat a sheep. They do not want to hurt the sheep. Keep that in mind when you quote the “Spare the rod, spoil the child” verse. The rod used on bears and lions is for punishment. The rod used on sheep is a symbol for correction, not condemning. In the covenant that God made with David, the Lord said of Solomon:
“I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will
discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men.” (2 Samuel 7:14)
† † †
WE KNOW THAT GOD does not mean that He will beat Solomon with an actual rod. God is talking about His discipline, his corrective, of Solomon. This is actually a sign of love because love = discipline.
Our Hebrews reading today says “the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”
If a sheep is headed off of a cliff, the shepherd uses the rod to make sure it doesn’t. That’s a good thing, right? When you’re heading off a cliff, God will bring discipline into your life to keep you from falling off that cliff. It’s comforting, because somebody loves you enough to tell you when you’re headed the wrong direction.
That is the kind of God who loves us. That is the kind of God who comforts us. That is the kind of God who gives us hope. The presence of God’s discipline in our lives is actually a reason for comfort.
† † †
GOD LOVES US SO MUCH not to leave us to ourselves. He cares enough to discipline us with his symbolic rod when we need it. If he didn’t love us, he’d let us wander off like sheep.
Jesus is the Great Shepherd. He uses both the rod when we need it and the staff when he needs to. They show the loving care of the Father and the Son of God. God guards and guides, God disciplines and directs.
God’s rod and staff comfort me.
— Keith Cardwell
