Psalm 23 week 7

Your Rod and Your Staff they comfort me.

Before we dive in to today I want to ask a quick question.

This is our 7th week talking about Psalm 23 together.

I don’t know if you’ve enjoyed this.

I don’t know if you are bored and ready for it to be over.

BUT I do think and hope that you’ve learned something at least from this.

SO, What is one thing you’ve learned through this Psalm 23 study?

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Psalm 23:4 “I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

Before last week, I mentioned that everything leading up to verse 4 seems to be very focused on the attentiveness of the Shepherd.

It’s also like the Sheep are boasting to the sheep who live next door.

The sheep of the Good Shepherd are telling their neighbor sheep, “Hey man.. look how good we have it over here!”

My Shepherd, He provides for me, saves me, restores me, leads me… He rocks.

Then in verse 4, the tone seems to be more personal.

Rather than bragging outwardly, the sheep seem to be speaking more personally.

It’s almost now an inward conversation.

We can see inside the mind of the sheep and know what they are thinking.

The sheep remember how scary the valley is, and so they recall that the Good Shepherd doesn’t set up camp in the valley.

What does the Good Shepherd do for us in the valley? - Does he make us stay the night? Does he tell us to live there for a while?

No… He leads us through the valley.

We don’t run in panic, we don’t fear.

We walk confidently in the care of the one whose been there before.

And so that was the point last week that the Good Shepherd will never take you somewhere He hasn’t been before.

He scouts ahead.

He’s experienced the paths that He leads us down.

For us then, It’s not just that we know how good our Shepherd is, but we experience His goodness.

We’ve been places that instill fear in most people, but for us, we’ve been able to feel peace because we are with the Good Shepherd.

Before we even go on today, Do you know that personally?

It’s one thing to know and hear that from the Bible...

But on a personal level, is that you?

Do you know that peace that comes from the good Shepherd?

Tonight I want us to look at the rest of verse 4 which says, “you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

Comfort is something we’ve discussed several times during this study and I want to ask you again tonight,

What provides you with peace and comfort in your life?

You know something that gives me comfort… Light…

There’s nothing like having a good light in your hand or on your head to give you comfort.

A short story you’ve all heard from me before is that one time I was under my house working on some plumbing with my father in law.

Well, during that time we both ended up feeling a snake crawling under us.

The snake ended up popping up between my father-in-law’s legs.

I carefully crawled out from under the house and got an axe and a garden hoe to try to kill the snake.

I eventually got him, but let me tell you, not having good light and trying to find a black snake in the shadows under your house would make a good horror movie.

You know what would have made that entire endeavor much less scary…

MORE LIGHT!

This is why the number one tool I own now is a good head lamp.

Give me all the lumens, all the brightness, all the light to cut out all darkness.

If I’m going under my house, I want to see…

The light will remove the darkness and eliminate uncertainty.

Uncertainty is a prerequisite for fear.

In school, before you can take Algebra 2, you’ve got to take Algebra 1 right…

Algebra 1 is a prerequisite… it comes first.

Before we have fear, we have uncertainty… It’s the first step to fear.

There are so many moments in life, that we fear, because we just don’t know.

If you feel alone in life.

maybe you think you’re the only one experiencing a problem.

Maybe you think you’re the only one thinking this way.

Don’t forget the good Shepherd.

Be certain of Him.

He will drive out that fear.

He will give you comfort.

Jesus provides comfort by removing uncertainty and fear.

How does He do that?

Look at what the Good Shepherd wields.

Rod

There is comfort in the Rod.

A weapon

Typically a Shepherd would carve a Rod to have a knob at the top.

It would be shorter, something a Shepherd could throw with accuracy.

- The rod is the owner’s weapon of power, authority, and defense which brings comfort to the owner.

represents scripture, strength, power, it clarifies when we are wrong, and it examines and heals.

- Note Psalm 139:23-24 here, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

- The Good Shepherd will examine his sheep as they go through the gate.

- He will use his rod to push back the wool and use his hands over the skin of the sheep to feel for disease and ailments

- Some problems can be hidden by wool which is where we get the phrase “Pull wool over your eyes.”

-An older phrase...can be used to describe a time you are being deceived because someone has “pulled the wool over your eyes.”

- They made you believe everything was ok, but really under the wool, there is problems.

In Scripture, Wool also seems to represent our self.

-self-life, self-will, self-pride, self-assertion.

We have problems that only the Good Shepherd can expose.

Keller tells the story of one time he was out with another Shepherd.

They needed to move a boulder that was on a hill and so they pushed it so it would roll down the hill.

However, as soon as they did, a Cobra snake was underneath.

As soon as Keller saw it, his Shepherd friend immediately struck the Cobra dead with his rod.

Keller notes that even while pushing the rock, the rod never left the Shepherd’s hands.

The Shepherd didn’t know he would need the Rod in that moment, but quickly and swiftly, he used it as soon as it was needed.

Scripture can be this way and is a good reason to associate Scripture with the Rod.

Matthew 4:4 “4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’””

There will never be a time in your life that you think…

“Man… I’m so sorry that I know a verse for this moment.”

Wow, I just really regret knowing that Bible verse right now. I wish I had forgotten that verse for this moment.

The opposite is true actually.

There will be many moments that we feel afraid.

We will search the Scriptures looking for peace and comfort.

It is in these moments we desire the Rod of God’s Word to comfort us.

This should show us that we need His word.

We need the comfort it Brings.

Today, 50 years from now and 50 generations from now, There is no substitute for God’s Word.

The time you spend in God’s Word not only comforts you, but might just comfort the generation that comes after you.

The generation you pour into.

“In every situation and under every circumstance there is comfort in the knowledge that God’s Word can meet and master the difficulty if we will rely on it.”

pg. 86

Again, there will never be a time where we regret knowing God’s Word.

There will be MANY times we wish we knew it better than we did.

In both instances, there is comfort in the Rod of Scripture.

2. Staff

While the Rod is a weapon, the Staff is not.

- A symbol for the concern and compassion that the shepherd has for his sheep.

- This is purely for the comfort of the sheep.

- The Rod represents power, authority, discipline… the staff speaks to kindness, gentleness, and comfort.

- Staff is long, slender, with a hook on the end.

- While the Rod is emblematic of the Word of God, the Staff seems to represent the Spirit of God.

- 3 Significant aspects to the Staff.

1. Drawing the Sheep together in intimate relationship.

a. Lifting a newborn lamb to its mother.

b. He does not want the mother to reject the lamb because it has the odor of his hands.

c. Staff is used to catch and draw sheep – old and young – in for examination.

d. In Scripture we read about the Holy Spirit as “The Comforter”

i. He draws us close.

ii. 2 Corinthians 1:3–4 “3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”

2. Guiding Sheep

a. Some Shepherds have sheep who want to wander.

- the Shepherd will gently place his staff on their side, pull them close, and let them know they belong.

b. John 16:13 states, The Spirit is sent to guide us and lead us into truth.”

-Through the Spirit, we are in touch with Christ.

-I am His and He is mine.

- The Spirit makes us consciously aware that we are God’s child and He is our Father.

- This life is not just about knowing facts about God.

-It’s about knowing GOD!

I can find comfort by his side.

3. He makes Jesus real and personal to us.

a. When we end up in a mess, It is God who draws us out.

b. Just like a sheep who has gotten stuck reaching its neck through the fence for one more blade of grass or the sheep who has become stuck in a rose bush because the wool sticks to the thorns, The Shepherd gently, patiently, lifts us out.

c. What patience God has with us. What longsuffering and compassion.

Longsuffering is an older term that means this:

Patiently puts up with a lot of trouble caused by someone else.

Isn’t that Jesus…

Can you imagine all that he has to put up with from all of us Humans combined?

Yet he is forgiving.

He is the comforter.

He is the one who wields both the Rod and the Staff and in both cases, they are a comfort to the Sheep.

Tonight remember this though:

These things are a comfort because of who has them.

The Rod and the Staff are worthless by themselves.

But in the hands of the Good Shepherd, what comfort it brings.

Let me ask you again tonight.

Do you know that personally?

It’s one thing to hear about how comforting God is in general.

But do you yourself know the comfort of the good Shepherd?

I hope you do, let’s pray.