Your Rod and Staff Comfort Me

What do you call a person from Austria who takes care of sheep for a living?German Shepherd What did the math book say to its therapist? Ive got a lot of problems.

Have you ever heard of the Jefferson Bible? Thomas Jefferson is famous for removing parts of the Bible that showed supernatural events or miracles. He took a razor and glue and would cut parts out and glue them back together with those sections of scripture missing. In his mind all of those parts of the Bible were corrupted, you know, because he was so smart and he couldn’t explain those things with ordinary terms so he didn’t want them in there. His whole idea behind the process was to keep the moral teachings of Jesus in tact but not allow anything divine to happen. So he removed the story of the angels appearing to the shepherds, he deleted anything about a virgin birth, no walking on water, no healings, just Jesus moral teachings and ethics remained, he thought that was good enough way to live and nothing else was needed. He called what he put together The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth.

While you and I don’t take a razor and glue to our Bibles there are definitely times we do this when it comes to scripture. Have you ever said, “Jesus will understand..” and just fill in the blank with whatever it is. We do this when we know what we are thinking and wanting to do isn’t in line with what God would want us to do, but we want to do it anyway. And I am sure there are parts of the Bible you have read that you don’t like, maybe you read “Don’t let the sun go down on your anger,” and that makes you so angry and you’re like come on God, just let me sleep on it and it’ll all go away and I won’t have to deal with it.

Or

And hear me out, if someone strikes one cheek, offer him the other also. Come on Jesus, my momma told me we don’t start no fights but sure are going to finish them. And as if that isn’t quite bad enough, Jesus says we are to love our enemies? You have got to be kidding me, right? Love my enemies? I sure will love them, right into oblivion. It just doesn’t work that way. I don’t like it, but we can’t take the Thomas Jefferson approach, we just have to deal with it and come to understand his way is better than our way.

Today, we are going to see a piece of scripture that is absolutely hard to stomach, it makes no sense, I can guarantee you won’t like it, but its there and its something we have to deal with and really get to understand.

Much like Thomas Jefferson, what we are reading today we may want to remove, because David assures us we WILL have to walk through dark valleys in our lives and many of us, if we would, would delete this from the Bible.

Psalm 23:4 NASB95

4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

Here is what is crazy, in the middle of the dark we start to hear, see, and think things. We just had a conversation a few weeks ago about how coming into the sanctuary alone and doing work back in the cube when its dark and no one else is around can be intimidating, everything is popping and making sounds in here. However, its not just the literal dark that can take us out and make us see and think things its when we get into those dark times in our lives we can have some real issues; we do our best to keep ourselves out of those places, but sometimes life just makes us go there. I think if I were to ask you guys one on one without a room full of people there would be some of you who would admit that is exactly where you are right now. You are in a deep dark place and you are looking for a way out and I pray over the last few weeks you have realized the place where you need to turn is back to Jesus and allow him to shepherd you to the place you need to be.

Did you know in Israel there is an actually Valley of the Shadow of Death? Its locally known as the Wadi Qelt valley, and is a narrow canyon that is very deep and steep and the sun only gets to the floor of the canyon at noon. The rest of the entire day the valley is dark and there is a real possibility that David had led his sheep through this canyon as a young shepherd.

Just think about it when you see this picture, I bet there was a lot of thought about not having to go through this valley; maybe I can go some other way, maybe I can wait until noon so it won’t be as dark. I’m sure David was much like us, we wish we didn’t have to walk through those dark valleys in our lives, but according to this, David didn’t say he would walk around it. Instead, he said EVEN THOUGH I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

He knew it was coming, he knew he had to do it, and he knew God was still good and with him. Truth is, in your life those even-though times are going to come; even though I lost someone I loved dearly; even though I lost my job; even though I am battling depression; even though I walk through the darkest valley I will fear no evil.

I want to give you this morning a few facts about the dark valleys in our lives.

1. The Dark Valleys are unavoidable.

I heard a pastor say once and it is absolutely true, you are either in the middle of a dark valley, coming out of a dark valley, or headed directly for one. There is absolutely nothing we can do about those things in our lives, they will always be there.

Look, at what Job 5:7

Job 5:7 NASB95

7 For man is born for trouble, As sparks fly upward.

There is nothing we can do about it, if you are in this room this morning, or if you are watching at home sometime later, if you are human person living in this fallen world, there will be dark valleys. So Dark Valleys are unavoidable and secondly.

2. Dark Valleys are unpredictable.

When it comes to the dark valleys in your life, you can’t plan them. If you could plan them, there never would be dark valleys. Let me ask you a question this morning, when you look back on those darkest valleys in your life, in the seasons where you weren’t sure how you were going to make it through, when you were sure the bottom had completely fallen out and there was no hope, those awful moments. If you knew those things, times, were coming would you allow it to happen? Now I am sure there are some of you who look back and think, of course I learned so much in those times, God taught me so much about myself and His mercy. But if we are being honest and we took those life lessons out of the equation, most of us left up to our own choice wouldn’t choose to walk through those dark seasons.

Normally the dark valleys come at the worst time possible; when you least expect them; when you are the most unprepared. Have you ever had a flat tire when you were really prepared for it?

When we had the opportunity to move to be youth pastors with the man I would call my mentor, we went and lined everything up for us to have a full time job outside the church and got everything into place, and he sent his 19 year old son with us to help us move. We are traveling north on I75 through Atlanta, and all of a sudden my car feels weird, we just start kind of bouncing. So I took the first exit and pull into a Kmart parking lot and there are police everywhere outside the building at this intersection. We soon find out the car sitting there someone had just done a drive by on and they are investigating it, and I am now realizing we are not in the best part of town, but guess what, no tire iron in my car. So we had to buy one, and its 8 o clock at night on a Sunday which means no tire store was open. So I get the donut on and it says you can only drive 50 miles no faster than 55 miles an hour. All I knew is we had to get out of the area we were in, so I said, here’s what we are going to do, we are going to drive 50 miles north to a place with a walmart and sleep for the night so we can get this thing fixed in the morning. If you have ever driven on I75 in Atlanta, you know, 55 MPH is a death wish, so I did the natural thing and turned my blinkers on for the whole trip. But this is normally when things like this happen, when you are not ready for it.

Look at Jeremiah 4:20

Jeremiah 4:20 NASB95

20 Disaster on disaster is proclaimed, For the whole land is devastated; Suddenly my tents are devastated, My curtains in an instant.

And in a moment, dark valleys will show up in our lives.

3. Dark Valleys are impartial.

“Why me?” “Why God, why me, what did I do to deserve this?” No one is immune from problems, there is no escaping problems arising in our lives; everyone has problems. Problems don’t care what you’ve done in this life, they don’t care how good or bad you think you are. But why ask, “why me?” The real question that we should be asking is “why NOT me?” Do you think you should be exempt from problems? Problems happen to everyone - including you.

Matthew 5:45 NASB95

45 … for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

Why do we think we should be exempt from problems? Here is the good news number 4

4. Dark valleys are Temporary

They have an end; they don’t last forever. They are not our permanent residence. When you’re in a dark valley sometimes we think we are in a cave that has no way out. You’re not - dark valleys are like a tunnel - there is a light at the other end. Troubles in your life don’t come to stay - they come to pass.

1 Peter 5:10 NASB95

10 After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you.

This may not make you feel better in the moment, but even if you live for 80 or 90 years and have problems all your life - that is so insignificant to the eternity that you will have in heaven problem free.

Problems are temporary - Heaven is eternal.

Lastly,

5. Dark Valleys have a purpose.

God has a reason for taking us through dark valleys. Whether you have a valley full of doubt, despair, discouragement, or defeat, God has a reason for it. For some reason we seem to think that valleys are unnatural - they are not - they are part of the natural landscape of life. No matter whether it is a financial, emotional, relational valley, we will get through them in time.

Look at what

1 Peter 1:6–7 NASB95

6 In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, 7 so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

The verse tells me two things, A. Every problem has a purpose. No matter whether it is large or small, they have a purpose; they come to help shape us. As metal is put into fire to make it more pliable so are the problems we go through in life. The fire heats the metal to make it where it can be shaped into something useful.

B. Faith is built in the valleys.

How do you know if you will be faithful unless you are faced with unfaithfulness? How do you know how much endurance you have unless you have to face tough times? How do you know if you can trust God in difficult times - unless you go through tough times? God’s goal in life is not to make you comfortable. His goal is to build your character. He is preparing you for eternity.

So the question becomes what do you do when you go through Dark Valleys? 1. Refuse to be discouraged

Psalm 23:4 ESV

4 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.

It tells us he is with us, and what typically happens is we tend to fear our circumstances more than we fear God. The thing we can learn from this verse is God doesn’t panic in the middle of the dark valleys. David tells he is with us and that is a comfort to us.

You want to know something about sheep? Sheep don’t make the best of guardians, that’s why you will never see a guard sheep out in the world, because they get freaked out really easily, so they have to depend on the protection of the shepherd. And what we have to realize is if Jesus is the good shepherd he is protecting us in the valley in ways we don’t even know about.

The thing about this verse we should learn is God’s sheep don’t freak out either. David didn’t say even though I walk through the darkest valley I will look over my shoulder and see what is coming behind me. No, he says I will fear nothing because I know you are with me. Did you catch that? David says I WILL its a choice, he is refusing to allow it to make him fear, why, because he knows God is with him. We have to do the same thing, we have to refuse to fear or be discouraged because we know the shepherd is with us.

So what do we do when we are walking through dark valleys, we refuse to be discouraged, and then we

2. Rely on God’s presence God doesn’t leave you alone. What I want you to notice is up until verse 4 every other verse in this psalm David was speaking of the shepherd in third person. He said, “He leads; he guides; he restores,” and all of a sudden in this verse it changes to second person and David says “You are with me YOUR rod and YOUR staff comfort me.” Its amazing, in the course of this psalm all of a sudden this ultimate being becomes intimate. When you are going through the rough valleys there is no need to talk about God anymore; you need to talk directly to him. When we get in a time of trouble we don’t start talking about the things that God COULD do for us, but we talk to God about what we need him to do for us.

It is during this time that God says He is with us, he will lead us, because during these valleys is when we most need to know that God is there when our faith is being tested the most.

So we must rely on his presence, we have to remember where we are and who we are with, look at the promise of Matthew 28:20

Matthew 28:20 NASB95

20… I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

So in the dark valleys we refuse to be discouraged, we rely on god’s presence, and

3. Rely on God’s protection You know what comforted David, the good shepherd has a rod and a staff for protection. Both of these things would be basic tools for the shepherd, the staff is basically just this long stick with a hook at the end, and the shepherd would use it to pull the sheep out of a ditch, or to draw them closer to their side. The rod was basically two feet long with a knot at one end. They would use it like a missed to protect their flock. However, and this is the part of this verse that I said I don’t like and if I am thinking correctly will be the part of this verse that you don’t like and it makes you look at it and go, “for real David?” Do you know what the shepherd had to do sometimes to protect a sheep of his flock with the rod? If the sheep would run off repeatedly and keep straying away from where the shepherd was leading and not follow his voice the shepherd had no choice but to use the rod to break the leg of the sheep. Awful right? But what the shepherd would do was break the leg so the sheep couldn’t stay away, and then he would set the leg and pick the sheep up around his neck and carry it everywhere they went. When the sheep needed fed the shepherd would hand feed it, when it needed water he would hold it as it drank, and the sheep would learn that all of its needs were coming from the shepherd. When the leg was healed it would never stay again, and even with all of this in light David says your rod and staff comfort me. And I don’t know about you, but the thought of the great shepherd having to break my leg to keep me from straying sounds terrifying, but the other piece is he picks me up afterwords, but some of us really need it, because we have been wandering from the shepherd way too far, and we are going to get ourselves into a place of danger. David tells us this rod will break us, but its comforting because he will get us right back where we need to be.

Worship Team

Let me close with three thoughts about shadows.

A. Shadows are always bigger than your reality.

Fear is always greater than the problems you face.

B. Shadows cannot hurt you. Have you ever been run over by a shadow? Of course not, because you’re not Peter Pan.

C. Shadows only appear when there is a Light Source. You may be in a dark valley right now - but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. The Bile says that God is light and in him there is no darkness and we should believe in him because:

Psalms 23:1-4 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. (‭Psalm‬ ‭23‬:‭1-4‬ NIV) If we look to the shepherd we can realize we don’t NEEED to delete these words from the Bible, because we have the shepherd with us, guiding us, and showing us the way through.”

Let’s pray.