"The Lord is my Shepherd,
I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul,
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For his name's sake.
Even though I walk through the valley
Of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil for you are with me.
Your Rod and Your Staff, they comfort me
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life and I shall dwell
In the house of the Lord Forever.
Psalm 23
The first half of this well known psalm describes how God the Father is our Good Shepherd and Guide. The second half, verses 4-6, show God as our Protector and Guard.
"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me."- vs 4
Before we saved and brought into the Kingdom of God, we are lead by our emotions and our flesh, and unfortunately for us, we are all on our own. We go where we want and do what we want with no regard for our own lives in terms of where we will spend eternity. This is fine, until we lead ourselves into areas that are harmful and full of sinful pleasures. Which, also unfortunately without the guiding of the Holy Spirit, happens far to easily and we find ourselves stuck in our own messes. But thanks be to God who not only rescues us from the dark valleys we have fallen into, he leads us through them by his guiding light and his rod and his staff. As sheep in God's flock, we come to recognize 2 very important tools in God's hands, the rod and the staff. As we are guiding out of dark places and into the light, God uses these tools to protect and defend us from the evil around us.
With the Rod, he wards off the attacks coming from the enemy, both physical and spiritual. With the Staff, he uses the hook on its end to steer us away from the places or things that are not good for us. A sheep does not fear these tools of the Shepherd because they know that they are used to protect them, not to bring harm to them. Before we become fully mature in our faith and in our daily walk with Christ, these tools could incite fear where faith should be. At first, we don't always see what the Lord is protecting us from. When the Rod is lifted, we can sometimes feel like God doesn't want us to have fun or to do fun things. not realizing that the thing we think we want will be harmful to us down the road. There may be moments when it feels like we became Christians and are now not allowed to do anything as we used to. But God, the creator of the world designed us to have Joy and to walk on this earth accordingly. Though our eyes see him taking things away or steering us away from them, we don't yet see that where he is guiding us instead has joy and life, and life more abundantly than anything we could ever hope or imagine. The staff could also feel like an attack when we are still new to the flock. When we go through life always afraid of God raining down judgement on us and our actions, the staff seems to always be raised to beat us down and show us we are not pleasing God. Yet we don't realize the amount of love God has for us, even before we choose him as Lord. The Rod and the Staff are used to guide and to guard our hearts into the Love that God wants to show us.
As you go through this day and every day after, remember these truths. God loves you so much, he sent his son to die for us. He sees the plans and attacks of the enemy that we usually are blind to, and he alone has the tools and the means to guard us from the things that will hurt us while at the same time guide us to the green pastures and the peaceful streams. Our life will never be free of conflict until we join our brothers and sisters in Heaven with the Father. But one thing is for certain, His rod and His staff will always be there to protect us along the journey.
Adam Semple- A Young Sheep in the protecting hands of the Shepherd; A Young Man on a Journey through the Psalms.
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