{"id":3033,"date":"2008-02-06T11:57:13","date_gmt":"2008-02-06T16:57:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/james-mcdonald\/your-rod-and-your-staff-comfort-me"},"modified":"2016-11-05T22:00:47","modified_gmt":"2016-11-06T02:00:47","slug":"your-rod-and-your-staff-comfort-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/2008\/02\/06\/your-rod-and-your-staff-comfort-me\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Rod and Your Staff Comfort Me"},"content":{"rendered":"

NR<\/h4>\n

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want . . . 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.<\/em> Psalm 23:1,4<\/p>\n

 <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Hidden in the last phrase of Psalm 23:4 is the assurance that when the Lord is your shepherd, you are safe and secure: \u201cYour rod and your staff, they comfort me.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

A shepherd would be lost without two instruments: the rod, which is a tool of protection, and his staff, a tool of correction.<\/p>\n

The word, rod<\/em> literally can be translated \u201cclub.\u201d A shepherd carries this tool to guard his sheep. The rod was a long piece of wood with a metal tip and sometimes metal studs driven through it. If a dangerous animal got near his flock, the shepherd would wield his rod and drive it away. This is a picture of God\u2019s care and protection as we \u201cwalk through the valley of the shadow of death.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nothing<\/em> is allowed in your life but that Almighty God has permitted it. Nothing you are experiencing is without His permission. God says, \u201cWe will let her go through that. She will draw down upon My strength and experience My love and goodness. Yes, allow that.\u201d He\u2019ll also say, \u201cNo, no. Don\u2019t allow that. That will overwhelm him. He is not ready for that.\u201d That is His protecting rod.<\/p>\n

The shepherd also has another tool, the staff<\/em>. The staff is that crooked, wooden thing you always see in a shepherd\u2019s hands in the Christmas play. A shepherd will use that tool to get his sheep back on the right path. What are you doing over there? Get back over here. Back on the path!<\/em> Has God had to do that to you sometimes? This is His correcting influence.<\/p>\n

Protecting is safety. Correcting is security.<\/p>\n

As hard as it is to have God correcting us, instructing us, and setting us straight, Hebrews 12 says that correction is proof of the Lord\u2019s love (see vv.5-11). If you are without correction, then you don\u2019t even know the Father. You are not one of His children.<\/p>\n

There is something incredibly secure in knowing that the Lord loves you enough to keep at you. I grew up in a home where my dad had some things to say. And he had some ways of following through big-time if I didn\u2019t listen to what he was saying. While that wasn\u2019t always the happiest situation, it was security for me.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour rod and your staff, they comfort me\u201d is a message of safety and security. The Lord\u2019s correction and protection is proof of His love.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a9 2008 Walk in the Word<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NR The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want . . . 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. Psalm 23:1,4   Hidden in the last phrase of Psalm 23:4 is the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"twitterCardType":"","cardImageID":0,"cardImage":"","cardTitle":"","cardDesc":"","cardImageAlt":"","cardPlayer":"","cardPlayerWidth":0,"cardPlayerHeight":0,"cardPlayerStream":"","cardPlayerCodec":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3033\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}