“1 The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not be in want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. 3 He restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. 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.”
When I was little, we had a 1980 Chevrolet Chevette. Consumer Guide described this vehicle as “unimaginative to an extreme.” Consumer’s Guide was right. This was a boring car. It was also very, very small. It must have looked like a clown car with my tall parents getting in and out of it. It was also rusted out. My mom had to pick up her feet whenever we drove over a puddle because water splashed up into the car. I was regularly carsick which meant that I was regularly throwing up in the back seat. Fortunately the interior was already the color of puke.
My sister and I saw that Chevette in our garage every single day when we got home from school. The bus would drop us of at corner of Tyler and Forest View. We would walk the ten minutes home, open the service door, and see the Chevette in the garage. One day, when I was about eight, the Chevette wasn’t in the garage. Now this was strange because my mom was always home when we returned home from school. We walked inside the house and mom was nowhere to be found. We looked around for a note from our mother, but there was none. That might sound insignificant to you, but this situation was quite disconcerting for an eight and five-year-old. Then we heard the washing machine start. We went in the basement and found our mother doing laundry.
She told us that she had been in an accident. There is a rather nasty double curve in the shape of an “S” where expressways meet in Grand Rapids called the “S-curve.” She had knocked around inside that curve like a pinball in a pinball machine. It was amazing that no one hit her. I do remember her saying that the only good part of it was that now we could finally get a different car. Now I had no love for that car, but I was very nervous when I didn’t see it in the garage that afternoon. I was very nervous because that Chevette had become a comforting sight. Seeing that car meant that mom was home.
In a similar way, the rod and the staff are comforting sights to the sheep of Psalm 23. Seeing the car meant that mom was home. Seeing the staff meant that the shepherd was near. The car meant that we were safe because mom was nearby. Seeing the rod meant that the sheep were safe because the shepherd was nearby.
I need such comforting sights because I regularly forget that the shepherd is nearby. I need reminders. I just put up a post-it note on my mirror in the bathroom saying, “He leads me to green pastures on the right paths. Even if there are dark valleys, it is still the right path.” I need reminders that the shepherd is leading me. I don’t wake up remembering that truth. I need to be reminded.
The rod and the staff function in a similar way for the sheep. These tools of the shepherd remind the sheep that they are on the right path because they are with the shepherd. They remind the sheep that the proper response to a new day is to, “fear no evil for You are with me. Your rod and Your staff they comfort me.”
If you are one of the shepherd’s sheep, His rod and this staff are meant to comfort you. We are giving them our full attention this evening so that they might comfort you. Take the rod and the staff as signs that even in the darkest valleys you are safe because Lord is with you. That is the claim of this sermon: even in the darkest valleys, you are safe because the Lord is with you.
We will study this in two points. The power of the rod. Second: the presence of the staff.
First: the power of the rod. The rod and the staff have different functions, but they are both very familiar sights for sheep. Even three thousand years after the writing of this Psalm these are tools of the trade in shepherding.
The rod, or club, is used to attack predators. Today many shepherds carry a rifle as well, but its purpose is the same as that of the rod. It is a weapon of defense. The shepherd knows his weapon well. Shepherd turned pastor Phillip Keller wrote, “Each shepherd boy, from the time he first starts to tend his father’s flock, takes special pride in the selection of a rod and staff exactly suited to his own size and strength… [he] spends hours practicing with this club, learning how to throw it with amazing speed and accuracy. It becomes his main weapon of defense for both himself and his sheep.”
Sheep are defenseless creatures. I’ve been reading through different animal battle books with one of my children. What would win in a fight between a giant squid and a killer whale? What would win in a fight between a T-Rex and a pack of velociraptors? There is no such volume involving sheep. They are defenseless; they have no offensive capacities like sharp teeth or claws. There is a reason that the phrase “like sheep to the slaughter” makes sense.
Sheep are helpless. They require continual protection and the rod is the shepherd’s tool of protection. Phillip Keller writes of a walk he took with a shepherd boy in Africa. They stumbled upon a snake which was coiled to strike them. “In a split second,” Keller writes, “the alert shepherd boy lashed out with his club killing the snake on the spot… in an instant I saw the meaning of the words [thy rod comforts me] in a new light.”
Now, in our culture we have little exposure to such danger. We tend to spiritualize what was very physical to the authors of Scripture. We read David’s words, “I sought the Lord, and He answered me; He delivered me from all my fears,” and we forget that these words were written about David’s narrow escape from death at the hands of people who were more than willing to kill him. Many of us have very little exposure to anything like that.
This means that, in some ways, we don’t appreciate the rod as we ought. The idea of God carrying a rod would have appealed to a man like David like the idea of a police officer carrying a gun would appeal to a man in need of protection. It still appeals to people who find themselves in physical danger.
People who live in relative safety can imagine a god who loves and only loves. In fact, it takes a culture like ours to even dare to imagine a god who loves and only loves. People who live with consistent, physical threats know that they need a God of love and power. They need a God who carries who a rod. “I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
The Scriptures regularly present God as more than willing to fight for His people. “The sheep knows that in its shepherd it has a courageous and tough person who is prepared to take on whatever threatens the flock,” as John Goldingay puts it.
Do you think of God as the toughest around? Jesus did. He said, “do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.”
Scripture regularly presents the Lord as a fighter. ‘“Who is this coming from… with his garments stained crimson?” asked Isaiah. “Who is this, robed in splendor, striding forward in the greatness of his strength?” “It is I,” [said the Lord], “proclaiming victory, mighty to save.” “Why are your garments red?” Isaiah asked. “I trampled [those who threatened my people] in my anger and trod them down in my wrath; their blood spattered my garments, and I stained all my clothing.”
That would appeal to David because his life was regularly and literally threatened. That would appeal to Daniel who was the subject of at least one underhanded assassination plot. That would appeal to Casper TenBoom, the father of Corrie TenBoom. Corrie writes about the day that she and her father were out walking and saw the Nazis rounding up Jews. ‘“Father! Those poor people!” I cried. “Those poor people,” Father echoed. But to my surprise I saw that he was looking at the soldiers now forming into ranks to march away. “I pity the poor Germans, Corrie,” [my father said.] “They have touched the apple of God’s eye.”’
God carries the biggest stick there is. In our culture, we rarely consider the power of God. By and large, we American Christians tend to behave as functional deists. Deists believe that God created the world but has no daily involvement in its operations. He crafted this world like a finely tuned watch but does nothing other than let it run. We rarely think about God the way that Casper TenBoom did or the way that David did. We rarely think of Him like a mother bear with ourselves as His cubs. We rarely think of Him getting involved in day to day affairs. We value His involvement in spiritual matters. We are thankful for His forgiveness, but we don’t tend to think of Him as a defender or an avenger. We don’t tend to think of God that way.
We certainly don’t tend to think of Jesus that way, or at least I don’t. The apostle that Jesus loved did think of him that way. He wrote, “I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns… He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God… Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. He will rule them with a rod.” Your rod and your staff they comfort me. “He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: king of kings and lord of lords.”
That is how the disciple whom Jesus loved saw Jesus. That is what the Holy Spirit inspired John to write about Jesus. That is a picture of Jesus which is loved by Christians who suffer at the hand of the beast.
Those who harm the apple of God’s eye are to be pitied. “’And I saw an angel standing in the sun,” continued John, “who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, “come, gather together for the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and the mighty, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, great and small.’” God’s victory over those who endanger His people is that sure.
Don’t imagine for a second that Satan is the toughest around. Don’t imagine for a second that whatever you fear is more fearsome than God. God is in a class all His own. The Son of God is a warrior. If you are one of His sheep, His rod should comfort you.
If it doesn’t, ask yourself, “why not?” Consider why His rod fails to comfort you. Don’t for a second think that, “well, David was comforted by that rod, but I’m not. I guess there is something wrong with me.” Don’t think, “I guess this rod and staff help some people and not others and I’m just one of the unlucky ones.” Open your Bible. Find any of the Scriptures which I’ve referenced on the fearsome power of God. Read it and pray, “God, I see Your power. I want to be comforted by it. I want to feel safe. I want to know that You will protect me. I know that if You do allow any harm, You have purposes that are even better for me. I know that You will also avenge me. Help me to feel appropriately safe.”
The rod helps you feel safe. Scholars are divided as to whether the instrument of God’s power in the book of Exodus was Moses’ rod or his staff. Either way, it is certainly an instrument of power.
In the beginning, it was simply a tool of Moses’ shepherding trade. He had been a prince. Now he was a shepherd with a rod and a staff. God took one of those two tools and made it a fearsome weapon. It was the instrument by which God sent the plagues. “Moses stretched [it] out toward the sky, the Lord sent thunder and hail, and lightning flashed down to the ground.” “Moses stretched [it] out over Egypt, and the Lord made an east wind blow across the land all that day and all that night. By morning the wind had brought the locusts.”
Now if you were an Israelite, you would have quite comforted to know Moses had that in his hand. That rather lowly shepherd’s tool wielded more power than the geopolitical superpower of that day. That was just Moses’ rod. Consider the Lord’s rod. That should give you comfort as you live in this fallen world. Remember it. The sheep did. “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.”
As we transition to the staff, perhaps these thoughts from the Catechism will help explain the different effects of the rod and staff upon the sheep. This is an oversimplification, but you can think of the rod similar to the way the Heidelberg parses out “God” and the staff similar to how the Catechism parses out “Father.” It speaks of what God will do for His people and then says, “God is able to do this because He is almighty God. He desires to do this because he is a faithful Father.” The title “God” speaks of power. The title Father speaks of tenderness. The rod speaks of power. The staff speaks of nearness. The rod says that the shepherd is mighty to save in the dark valley. The staff says that the shepherd is with you in the dark valley. We see this in our second point: the presence of the staff.
The staff was a reminder to the sheep of the shepherd’s presence. If a sheep in the midst of the flock couldn’t see the shepherd over the other sheep, he could look up and see that staff. It was a familiar sight that indicated presence, just like the Chevette was a familiar sight that indicated the presence of my mother at home.
The staff was a sign that the shepherd was with them for the long-haul. He used his staff for his own support. It was his walking stick. He wouldn’t travel too far without it. It told the sheep that the shepherd was with them and would remain with them and that there was no chance of getting lost.
Imagine that you are going on a ten-day hike in the wilderness. You can be going with your friends or family—whomever you want—it’s your imagination so, of course, you can do whatever you want. You have all your gear and your trail packs. You’ve hired a guide. When you arrive, your guide welcomes you and helps you fill your packs with food and other necessities. Then He tells you it is time to go and takes you to the trail head. Now you find something very troubling about this man. He is not, by any stretch of the imagination, dressed for ten days in the wilderness. He doesn’t have a trail pack on. You are rather nervous about his lack of equipment. You are nervous because he’s not dressed as if he’s going to be with you. He’s not equipped to be with you. The shepherd’s staff functioned like that trail pack would have functioned. It would say, “There is no chance that you are going to get lost. You’re going to be fine. I’m going to be with you.” The shepherd’s staff said, “there is no chance that you are going to get lost. You’re going to be fine. I’m going to be with you.”
Moses’ staff functioned that way. It told the people that God, “You’re going to be fine. I’m going to be with you.” While some scholars think that God worked through Moses’ rod, I think it was more likely his staff. This humble sign that Moses the shepherd was with his sheep became a sign to a frightened, enslaved people that God was with them. Moses would hold it up, God would act, and the people would know that God hadn’t abandoned them. They would know that God was with them. They would know that God was for them. He wasn’t for their oppressors. He was for them.
Even after Israel left Egypt, Moses’ staff continued to function as a symbol of God’s presence. When the Israelites grumbled about the lack of water, God told Moses, ‘Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink. Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the place Massah [which means testing] and Meribah [which means quarrelling] because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, “Is the Lord with us or not?”’ Notice what Israel was asking, “Is the Lord with us or not.” Notice that this shepherd’s staff was part of God’s proof that He was with His people. ‘“Take in your hand the staff. Strike the rock with the staff. Then they will have an answer to their question, “Is the Lord with us or not?”’ The staff was a reminder that the Lord was with them.
Perhaps you need to make your reminders that the Lord is with you. Israel had Moses’ staff. The sheep had the shepherd’s staff. You need reminders of the presence of the Lord. Reading through the New Testament in a year would certainly do that. “The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart,” Psalm 19. Perhaps you need to make it a point to listen to music that reminds you of God. “Speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs of the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything,” Ephesians 5. Perhaps you need to put Scripture verses prominently somewhere in your house for your own sake. “Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates,” Deuteronomy 6. Perhaps you need to spend some regular time with fellow people of the Spirit talking about spiritual matters. “Do not neglect to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encourage one another,” Hebrews 10. Perhaps you don’t have much sense of the presence of the Lord. Choose just one from that list that I just gave and do it; don’t think about doing; do it.
God couldn’t be any clearer that He is with you. Now there will be times when that doesn’t seem to be the case, but remember that this life is, in so many ways, under a curse. We have no idea how far removed this life that we are living is from what Adam and Eve enjoyed as they walked with God in the garden. We have no idea how far our current experience is from what we will enjoy in the new creation when, “God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and He will dwell with us. We will be His people, and God Himself will be with us and be our God. We have no idea how far removed we are from the perfect presence of God when we always know that He is with us.
What we do have is His Son. Jesus is the clearest sign that God is with us in this mess. You can rewrite Psalm 23:4 to say, “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; I know You are with me because You sent Your Son.”
Imagine the disciples sitting around with Jesus and asking him if he really thought that God was with them in their day to day lives. How would Jesus respond? We actually know how Jesus would respond because of how he responded to Philip. He said, ‘Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “show us the Father?”’ ‘How can you say is God really with us? How can you say does God really love us? You know me.’
If you know Jesus, you know that God is with you. You also know, from our study of the rod, that he is more fearsome than whatever you find frightening. You know that God is powerful. You know that God is with you. That’s all you need to know in a dark valley. That’s all you need to know wherever you find yourself tonight. Amen.