Daily Devotion – April 17, 2020 – Elwood Rieke
Psalm 23:4
“You rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
We really felt we had allowed ample time. Admittedly we had taken a secondary highway in order to shorten our journey by 15 miles. We had checked and re-checked our map to make certain we would get to my cousin’s wedding on time. It was a bright, sunny morning when suddenly, coming over a slight rise in the roadway, we were confronted by a “sea” of sheep. There were no other vehicles around. It was one shepherd and several of his dogs to guide those sheep. We pleaded with the shepherd, could he not in some way make a “path” for us. His response: “I need to get my sheep across this road and you simply will have to wait until the entire flock has safe passage.” Talk about feeling powerless. We had made such careful plans and now there would be no hope of reaching the wedding on time.
We build roofs to shield us from the weather. We build walls and fences to protect us from intruders. We dig storm cellars to provide safety from tornadoes. We also save money, invest in insurance, and install alarm systems, all for protection. However, as God’s sheep, we cannot build or erect anything of our own making. We have to rely completely on the Shepherd and on his rod and staff. We have no weapon of our own.
The rod a shepherd carries is really a club, about two or three feet long. This club was what David used to kill a lion and a bear as he protected his flock. The staff a shepherd carries is about eight feet long with a curved crook at the end. It is used to reach sheep who have fallen off a path. The crook reaches around the chest of the sheep and lifts it back to safety. In the same way God wields a heavy club to beat off our foes and he can reach down where we have fallen with his long staff and pull us back onto safe ground.
It is a great comfort to know and believe God is our protector. With all the uncertainties we presently are facing in our world today, as we can feel powerless, help us to know and to believe our Lord is more than sufficient to meet all of our need.
Let us pray:
We praise and give thanks to you, O lord, that you are the source of all that we need. With you as our guard, we are not afraid. Amen.
