"Thy Rod and Thy Staff"

[00:00:00] Together. The 23rd psalm. [00:00:04] The 23rd psalm this morning, just simply to dwell for a few moments upon a phrase in this psalm in verse four. [00:00:18] Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. [00:00:39] In thinking very much about this little phrase. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. [00:00:52] I wonder whether perhaps our familiarity with the 23rd psalm makes us read it in a superficial way so that we do not really stop to question what really is the meaning of this psalm. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. How, might we ask, can a rod and a staff comfort someone? [00:01:24] You know that this whole psalm is to do with the Lord as our shepherd. It was probably one of the earliest psalms that David ever wrote. Indeed, there are many who believe that this psalm was the earliest of all his psalms and comes from the period when he was still a little shepherd lad. [00:01:45] All that he depicts, all that he illustrates in his psalm, are taken from his own life as the shepherd boy with the sheep, with the flocks of his father. [00:02:01] And you will remember, therefore, that throughout, almost from beginning to end, the figure before us is the Lord as our shepherd, and how he keeps us as his sheep, how he cares for us, how he provides for us, how he leads us, how he protects us, and how finally he will lead us into lasting satisfaction and fulfillment. [00:02:32] But it is the fourth verse that I wanted just to dwell upon for a few moments this morning. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. [00:02:54] David evidently knew something of what it was at times to lead the flock or flocks over which he was, for which he was responsible. He knew what it was to lead them at times through certain valleys in the area around Bethlehem where he lived. He knew what it was to lead them through certain gullies, certain steep valleys where wild creatures lurked, where they had their lirs. [00:03:32] We read in David's history, for instance, that he, at least we know that he met a lion once and we that he met a bear once, and that he met them single handed when they came out against his father's sheep. [00:03:50] We know that he was an expert with the catapult, with the sling, because he had to watch very carefully, not so much the bear or the lion, but the vultures and others that seized the young lambs. They hovered above. And when they thought the shepherd was concerned with something, they swooped in an instant, and away they went. With some of the young lambs in their talons. David had to know what it was to use a sling. When these creatures attacked the flock, even if it didn't kill the birdhouse, it sometimes stunned the creature long enough for it to drop what it had in its talons. It was so also with the lion and the bear. [00:04:42] And he evidently realized that there were times when the sheep had an intuitive sense, as they went through certain gullies and certain valleys, that they were there, lurking behind the rocks. And in certain places, they could not see these creatures that were waiting for the lame or the stragglers or the wayward. [00:05:07] Very rarely was there ever a sheep in the center of the flock that was ravaged. It was nearly always those who were lame or those who were wayward, individualistic, as so often you find amongst sheep, just strayed off on its own little path and were seized upon by the creature. Those creatures, some of you have undoubtedly seen some of Miquella Dennis and Aman Dennis films on this matter. And you will know how creatures of prey always are on the lookout for the very young or for those who are lame for one reason or another, those who are straggling behind because they're tired, or those who are just blatantly wayward. [00:05:54] The black sheep in the always ends has a sticky end, according to the shepherd. [00:06:02] And consequently, these creatures of prey, they know that there is safety in the centre of the flock. They know that it's no good trying to get into the center of the flock or trying to get near to where the shepherd is. They know that the sheep that are closest to the shepherd are the safest. They know the sheep that are in the center of the flock are the safest. They therefore spend all their time and their cunning upon, somehow or other, seizing those that are on the outside. [00:06:35] Now, David had evidently noticed that when he led his flocks into certain gullies and valleys around Bethlehem, there was a sense of fear. You can see it often in creatures. They know in a much more somehow inward, perceptive way, when danger lies around us. And not only danger, but all kinds of things. We used to have a dog, I remember, who was very fond of a certain uncle of ours. And when he used to travel back from Devon, as he had to each week or every now and again. Our dog, we always knew when he was coming. At least an hour beforehand, the dog went outside, shivering with excitement, to wait at the gate. Now, my uncle was in a car and was many, many miles away how that dog sensed that he was coming with. But he was never wrong. [00:07:29] Never wrong. We always knew that we could prepare for his homecoming, because that dog used to go out when he was sometimes 20 miles, still distant, to wait for him and his homecoming. Creatures have an intuitive, understanding, perception of danger and of other things. And I believe that David had noticed that sometimes when he went to lead his flock into one of these valleys, the sheep were frayed. And they probably, there was danger of them bolting, there was danger of them panicking, or for one reason or another, just refusing to go through that. And he noticed again and again that they kept near to him. They learned to keep near to him. And from this he learnt one of his great lessons. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. [00:08:33] I asked at the beginning, when I first began to speak this morning, what exactly, how exactly can a rod and a staff comfort someone? And I would like to mention just one or two things that I think that are contained within this reference of David to the sheep and the shepherd. How exactly does that rod on that staff comfort us? [00:09:00] In our christian life? [00:09:02] Sometimes we tend to get a little bit unbalanced in this. But in our christian life, there will be times when we shall have to go through valleys of the shadow of death. [00:09:13] There will be no other way. There will be absolutely no other way to go on except through that valley. [00:09:21] It will be unpleasant, but we've got to go through it. The Lord Jesus does not say that all our experience will consist of the valley of the shadow of death. He speaks of green pastures, of still waters, of our soul being restored, of being led in the sheep tracks of righteousness. But he also tells us that there are valleys, and those valleys are what he describes as the shadow of death. [00:09:50] They are the places where there are things lurking, dangerous places, places of potential danger, where in many ways, we could come to an end of our spiritual experience. [00:10:04] There we could be torn apart and finished as far as our spiritual life goes. But I want you to note what the old Puritans have often pointed out about this little part of psalm 23, that a shadow is always caused by light. [00:10:26] And therefore we must not think that the valley of the shadow of death is without hope. There is a light that somewhere is casting a shadow over the valley. [00:10:39] And if we will only journey on through, we shall come right out into a glorious sunlight in the end. [00:10:48] In Pilgrim's progress, John Bunyan depicted this most wonderfully. I think I have once before mentioned it to you. But it has always told me how he went down into the valley of the shadow of death in his vision. And as he went through, it got darker and darker and more dank and smelly and evil. And he said there were phantom like things that seemed to be in the atmosphere. And then he began to notice that all over there were bones, bones of pilgrims that had come to an unfortunate end in the valley of the shadow of death. And he became more and more afraid, you remember, as he travelled along that valley until he got to a point where he wondered whether he should not go back. He said, I was afraid to go on any more. For he saw that a little farther on, where there seemed to be even greater dangers. And then he thought of going back. And then, you remember, there was an amazing argument with himself as to whether he should go back or whether he should go on. And in the end, he decided that he was just as likely to get killed on the way back as if he went on. So he came to a place where many of us have got, where we are tempted to go back, where we feel that if we do go back, we should be finished more quickly than if we go on. [00:12:15] And so he decided to go on. And then he heard someone singing a hymn. [00:12:23] He couldn't see them. [00:12:25] He didn't know where they were. But someone ahead of him in the gloom was singing. And he said to himself, there must be another pilgrim just ahead of me. And so he took courage and he went on. You know the story well. Well, in all our experience, there will come a time when at one time or another, we shall be found in the valley of the shadow of death. And at that time we shall discover that we have a tremendous sense of loneliness. We shall find that sometimes in many ways, that on every side, before and behind, there are terrible dangers. What will be our comfort? [00:13:15] The psalmist says, David says, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. [00:13:23] I believe they comfort in one or two ways. The first is a very simple one. The staff was used for counting the sheep. [00:13:36] And I think that that is one of the greatest comforts that any of us can have if we happen to be in the valley of the shadow of death. [00:13:46] What does it mean? It means simply this, that we in the foreknowledge of God have been saved. And not only saved, but we are amongst those that he calls his elect. [00:14:04] What does it mean to be elected? It means we are amongst a number known in the foreign knowledge of God. That's all. [00:14:12] We are numbered, known by name, known as individuals, known in detail, known for ourselves. [00:14:24] It's not that we're just numbered 1234-5678 the shepherd knows each of his sheep to this day. They know the sheep that are irritable, they know the sheep that are temperamental. They know the sheep that are placid. Strangely enough, it's true that sheep are temperamental, irritable and placid. Very much like human beings. Zipper gets to know each one and knows how to handle each one. He gets to know them. And such a relationship develops between the shepherd and the sheep, that he can handle each one, because he's not treating each one as a number, but as an individual. [00:15:06] He knows each one. [00:15:08] I think one of the greatest comforts when we go into the valley of the shadow of death is to fall back upon the sovereignty of God and to be able to say and to know that I have been chosen in him before the foundation of the world, to fall back, not upon some time when I made a decision and I might have been wrong or I might have been right, but to go right back into God himself and to find my salvation sought in him and to be able to lay hold of the fact that we have been numbered by the Lord. Every one of us is known to the Lord. Every one of us is precious to the Lord. Every one of us is understood by the Lord. And every one of us is somehow or other a person to the Lord. Not just one of the innumerable redeemed, not one who perhaps is very difficult. And the Lord tends to keep at a distance, but one, each one of us known intimately and personally by the lord. [00:16:17] Often it's spoken of the sheep going under the rock. What happened was this. When the shepherd went out early in the day, he took his sheep out. He went before them. He went where they were going to find pasture land. And when he came back, he stood in the gate. There's a little, just brick walls, that's all, with one u shaped opening, just enough for a shepherd to sleep in. He was himself. Often the door. He slept there in the actual opening to stop anything getting in or out. He stood there, and as each sheep went by, so the cook came down and went up and came down, so he numbered each one so that he would know that every one of his flock, as they went in, were there. If one happened not to be there, a very wonderful thing happened. The shepherd would lead the sheep in the care of an under shepherd, and he would go out back to the places where he'd been to search and to search and to search. And to search until he'd found the sheep that had gone. [00:17:22] Now, that's the wonder of the sovereignty of God. Even when we stray, the Lord knows about it. And though he will allow us to stray, and though he will allow us often to learn by our own foolishness, yet he will seek us, because we are the elect of God. He will seek us, and he will seek us, and he will seek us. And none of the lords sheep are ever lost. [00:17:47] In the end, every one of them is brought back into the fold. If there are those that go out from us and never come back to the Lord, it's because they were not of us, but those that are of the Lord. They may get themselves into the most terrible situations. They may be ravaged by evil. They may be destroyed almost physically, but the Lord will restore them. In the end, the shepherd will find them. They are numbered. [00:18:19] No wonder David said, thy rod and thy staff, they come for me. Here I am in the valley of the shadow. I know what I am. I know my weakness. I know my waywardness. I know it's a terrible possibility that I'll get away from the flock, that somehow I shall get into the hands of evil. [00:18:36] But even so, says David, even if that terrible. I don't want it to happen. But if it does happen to me, I draw comfort from his rod and his staff. [00:18:46] In the end, the shepherd will find me and will bring me back. [00:18:53] You know, the rod speaks in scripture of authority. [00:18:57] You remember when there was a great rebellion against Aaron and so on? Moses sought the Lord, and the Lord said to him, you tell of Aaron and all the others who have rebelled against him to take. Bring each one of rod, a rod of Ireland, and we will lay them up before the Lord. [00:19:14] And the one that buds will be the one that I have appointed as leader. [00:19:23] You remember the story how all those that rebelled and said they wanted to be leaders as well, they all brought their little rods of almond. They all laid them up before the Lord. And no doubt they all thought each one of theirs was going to bud and blossom. But the next day, when they came back, they found that it was Aaron's that had budded and blossom and born almonds as well. This was the signal mark of the Lord that Aaron was the appointed. It was authority. It spoke of authority. Moses had a rod. When he lifted up his rod over the wind, see it parted. When he lifted it above the rock, waters came out. Always he had to use the rod. It was a sign of authority. This rod by which we are numbered is a sign of authority. [00:20:08] The authority of the Lord. Listen to Paul's words. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? [00:20:15] It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ Jesus that died, yea, rather that is risen again, who is at the right hand of God. [00:20:26] Do you see the authority of the Lord Jesus vested in that rod? For us. Not against us for us. Even when we make mistakes, even when we fall, even when we sin. The authority of the Lord for us. Not against us. For us. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? The Lord might. [00:20:51] The Lord may take up one or two things but let anyone else take up a charge against God's and they find they're up against the Lord. His authority is not against his people. It's for his people. [00:21:03] So the rod comforts. And then another thing, if I may say. So the rod speaks, or the crook the staff speaks of chastening. It speaks of chastening. Oh, yes. There are many wonderful stories. I don't know how much you've read about sheep but there are many wonderful stories about what shepherds do with wayward sheep. [00:21:22] And, you know, the chastening and the correction of sheep is one of the great aspects of the work of a shepherd. [00:21:32] Now, there are some sheep, so I understand, who are permanently stragglers. There are some sheep who are permanently wayward. And the danger of them is they always lead others. [00:21:45] Get one, sheep go right off. Shepherds, if you speak with shepherds, will always tell you, oh, that one. You point the one up there and it'll say to you, though, that one, that one's always a trouble to us, always leading the others. Now, in some cases, shepherds have been known to break the leg of one of those sheep that are permanently leading others astray in order that it may heal. Yes, but that they might learn not to stray. [00:22:17] And, you know, the chastening of the Lord may seem very severe when we're going through it, but it is necessary and it is because he loves us that he does it. [00:22:28] That crook is used for chasing a hefty whack, a hard blow. [00:22:38] It may hurt for the while, but at least it keeps the sheep out of danger. The shepherd's not just beating the sheep because he enjoys beating the sheep. He is actually correcting the sheep in order that they might not go astray. [00:22:54] The crook is used for that very thing. [00:22:57] The crook is in order that it might be used to crook around the neck of the sheep and pull it back into the, the way it is used often for chastening. And I think that we should learn, therefore, that David says a very strange thing about the rod and the staff of the Lord. He says it comforts him. I am sure that ManY of us would not feel that if it speaks of chastening, it would comfort us. But you see, the chastening of the Lord is an evidence that he has not given us up but rather he is wholly with us. When the Lord stops chastening someone, it is because he has given them up. [00:23:41] They are incorrigible. [00:23:43] When the Lord goes on correcting, it is because he is with that one and he is keeping you as part of the flock. [00:23:53] David says that thy rod, his rod and his staff, they were the things that comforted him because they spoke of chasteness when he went astray. He was being chastened by that star. And then again, it speaks not only of chasing, it speaks to leadership. The shepherd's crook speaks of leadership. When he goes ahead of the flock, he takes his crook and the sheep follow. It is the sign of the leadership of the shepherd. This is, of course, why it's a tradition now why bishops carry crooks, because it was a sign of their shepherd hood originally, the sign that they were leading the flock and guiding the flock now, you see? Well, how was that used? It was used in many ways. When a sheep got into a ditch, over came the crook and out the sheep pulled. [00:24:58] When the sheep was turning off one way, then gently he was pulled back by the shepherd, not just chasing, but guidance, leading them. See, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He leadeth me into green pastures. [00:25:19] He leadeth me into green pastures. Sometimes the sheep, they want green pastures but unfortunately, they think they can find them or they think the Lord's too slow about finding them or they can't wait patiently for the Lord to lead them. And so they are trying to get out here or trying to go, they're trying to turn back. And so comes the necessity of not only leading but of chastening. [00:25:41] I rod. Nice now. [00:25:44] And lastly, his rod and his staff, they are a comfort because they speak of protection. [00:25:50] A rod was the thing that the shepherd used whenever he wanted to ward off some creature. It was almost a kind of cudgel, thick, stout stick, often held, bound round his waist, which he would use so often when some creature came. The eastern shepherd has a very good method with any creatures. Certainly they did in old Testament days. They hit them across the snout with a heavy stick and that was enough to stun any creature, however ferocious it was, and often sent them away. [00:26:33] So you see, David speaks so of the Lord's rod as being his comfort. Here comes the enemy. [00:26:41] And it's David who goes out to meet the enemy, not the sheep. How foolish sheep are. When they go out, somehow they try and fight their own battles. Oh, the sheep took refuge in the Lord, in the shepherd. The shepherd was the one who would ward off the creatures. And so he sent them. [00:27:05] He protects them, he guards them, he leads them on in security and help. [00:27:13] Well, there we are. Those are the few thoughts I had over these last hours about thy rod. His rod and his stuff. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Perhaps we think it's a strange thing to derive comfort from that rod and that staff in some of those aspects. But if you go away and think about it and pray about it and reflect upon it, I think you will come with David to see that each of these aspects is a tremendous comfort to the flock of the Lord. [00:28:01] What a wonderful word that was when the Lord Jesus said, fear not, little flock. It is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.