Every Sunday morning since I’ve been in this study of Psalm 23, I’ve asked Shawna to put the main scripture of the day up on the screen there. What happens then?

Most of you read it as soon as I stand up, but then after it’s been there a while you stop reading it. That’s just human nature. It’s why they change billboards occasionally. Or why several of our local hotels have recently changed their signs. People get used to things and stop noticing them.
And sometimes—maybe most of the time—when we see something written out like this our minds are drawn to one particular part of the idea. Remember the slogan, “Coke adds life”? Three words. Which word did the advertisers want us to take with us? Coke. The whole point of the slogan was to sell us Coke.

Now, look at the portion of the verse up there now:

Psalm 23:4d
“Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

My mind goes immediately to the word “comfort”. That’s what I want. When I watch TV, I want the most comfortable spot on the couch. Here in church, several decades ago people started putting padding on the pews. There are whole staffs of engineers whose whole job description is to find ways to make our couches, our cars and even our toilet seats more comfortable.

Now, knowing that this is in the Bible and has a spiritual sense, when we read this verse, most of us probably aren’t really thinking of physical comfort. The context leads us to think of spiritual comfort.

I want you to notice something, though: “comfort” comes at the end of the sentence. Before we get to comfort, we’re told about a rod and staff.
What are a rod and staff for? In the literal sense, the shepherd used his rod and staff for things like defense, for guiding the sheep, for staying charge. You’ve seen a shepherd’s staff (crook) in pictures (maybe you’ve even used one before—please tell me why if you have) and maybe you’ve seen how it’s used. A long pole with a hook on the end (like a candy cane), the crook allows the shepherd to grab a sheep around the neck. This might be because the sheep his wandering off, or maybe the sheep has fallen and the shepherd uses the staff to grab the sheep around the neck and pull him up. Sounds painful, I know, but it beats death.

What about the rod. The rod was a shorter, stouter piece of wood the shepherd carried, almost like a longer version of a policeman’s billy club. The shepherd might use it to fight off predators, or knock a hole through ice so the sheep could drink.

Just as “comfort” has a spiritual meaning, so does “rod and staff”.

Hebrews 12:6
The Lord corrects the people he loves and disciplines those he calls his own. (CEV)

I don’t know anyone who likes discipline while it’s going on. But most of us, if we have an ounce of maturity, can appreciate it after the fact. I remember one time when I was mowing the yard and I mowed over the top of the sewer clean-out. My father wasn’t too happy and told me to pay attention. I tried to say I was paying attention.

But he was right. Obviously, if I had been paying attention I wouldn’t have run over the clean-out cover. Still, while my discipline in that case was a raised voice, I didn’t like it. It was only later that I would admit to myself that he had been right.

Sometimes—often times—I think we live in a world that doesn’t want discipline. Especially from God. We want him to just bless us in anything we do. No matter how we do it, or even who we do it to. And then, when things go wrong, we lament (a la’ Homer Simpson), “Why am I always paying for my mistakes.”

I came to understand this concept better as I became a parent. I would rather never have to get onto my boys. I have to, though, from time to time. Sometimes it’s just a word, but sometimes it’s what you’d call “full-fledged discipline”.

Why?

Because I love them. I want them to be able to not just function in society, but excel. I want them to be God’s reps wherever they go.

And I’m just a lowly, fallible human. God, our perfect, sinless, God—who is love itself—why should we be surprised if he, too, shows his love through discipline?

He always has.

Deuteronomy 8:5
Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the LORD your God disciplines you. (ESV)

I know this. My head gets this. Still, when it comes to discipline, I usually don’t like it. My head knows God needs to do this, but on the other hand I tell myself I’d just as soon he didn’t. “Can’t we let it go this time, God?”

The reality is that he really has “let it go”.

Have you ever meted out discipline to your child, only to have them scream back, “That’s not fair!” And maybe you tried to explain to them why the punishment you gave them seemed unfair compared to what their brother or sister got. And it made perfect sense to you but you were never able to convince the kid of that?

Have you ever said, or maybe just thought, in relation to something God did, “That’s not fair!”

What if I said, “You’re right. God isn’t fair, and praise God he’s not.”

2 Corinthians 5:21
Christ was without sin, but for our sake God made him share our sin in order that in union with him we might share the righteousness of God. (GNB)

If God were “fair” then that would mean he gave us each what we deserved, right? We are all sinners, and what we deserve is wrath. Thank God he’s not fair!

God loves us. Therefore, he uses both the rod and the staff. He protects us and he disciplines us. He chastises us sometimes and pulls us back from the brink of destruction.

David could have said, “Your staff, it comforts me.” Or, maybe, he could have said, “Your rod, it scares me while your staff comforts me.”
David, however, has been a shepherd. He’s also been a sheep. And he knows that both the rod and the staff are necessary, so he finds comfort in a Shepherd who loves him enough to use both!

What do I DO with this?

Is there anything God is disciplining you for? Are you accepting his discipline or fighting against it?

Let go and grab on.

Comments? Email me at martha917@yahoo.com