Thursday, March 19, 2020
The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need. He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name. Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me. You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You honor me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings. Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever. Psalm 23:1-6
There are so many dangers associated with tending a flock of sheep. Ancient shepherds lived with the sheep to
keep watch, because predators were everywhere.
The shepherd’s tools are well known, rod and staff. The staff was a guide to help move the sheep
along to the next place where there would be water and grazing. Sheep tend to wander, so even the staff was a
means of protection against just stumbling along, and perhaps winding up in a
place that’s barren and unsustainable.
I was watching a TV drama where one of the main characters was
talking to a co-worker. She asked her
friend, have you ever felt like things happening to you were all connected;
like you were being driven to something? Had I been in on that conversation I would’ve
jumped in and screamed, YES, YES…are you not listening? Of course you’re being moved along, you
senseless, non-attention-paying sheep!
That’s the Great Shepherd guiding your steps.
So, if the staff is for guiding, where does the rod come in? That may be the most important tool in the
shepherd’s hands. The rod was for
protection and discipline. There are enemies
of sheep that are too formidable for any sheep.
A rod was about the length of a man’s forearm, fortified with pieces of
metal or rock strapped to the end. It
became a club in the hands of a skilled shepherd to drive off wolves and other
predators.
But it also became a different kind of protective tool each
night. As the sheep gathered close to
the shepherd, he would use his rod like a diagnostic tool, pulling back the thick
wool covering each sheep. This was to
allow the shepherd to see if there were any wounds that needed tending. This was the comfort
part of rod and staff of which David wrote.
David was a good and faithful shepherd tending the family’s flocks. When he penned Psalm 23 it was with fond
memories of simple, but profound experiences keeping watch.
And this is the task our Heavenly Father gave to The Good
Shepherd, God’s son, Jesus. We
human beings are like a flock of wandering sheep who have a peculiar habit of
wandering away from the Shepherd, as Isaiah said:
All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all. Isaiah 53:6
What Isaiah
said about God laying the sins of us all on the Christ of the
cross, is God’s rod combing over our sheepish, wooly backs, revealing the sins
of our foolishness and pride. His
omniscient eyes don’t miss a one…no matter how big or small. And the Good Shepherd removes our sins and
heals our wounds.
You chew on
that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!
