Psalm 23

Last night we had family devotions before bed, and being that it was March 23, we began by reading Psalm 23. Usually this psalm would be so familiar to me, but I asked God to speak to me in a new way, and He did.

As Dad read aloud verse 4, the words of the last part seemed to stick out to me and I began to mentally calculate this new meaning. "I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me." "Your rod and your staff, they comfort me", the words rang in my ears... This psalm is about the LORD being our shepherd, and a shepherd uses his staff for guidance and his rod for discipline.

Hmm.... I definitely knew that God was calling me to restore my vision of Him as my Shepherd. He is there to guide me and discipline me, but the verse doesn't end there, it says that these things are a comfort! I not only needed to see God as my shepherd, but needed to rest in comfort of his guidance and discipline. Sheep tend to be dumb animals, and they NEED a shepherd's direction because the shepherd sees the bigger picture, He sees the cliff at the edge of our "grazing spot". He knows the temptations of "better grass" and warmer winds, and wants to gently, lovingly bring us back under His protection through "the staff and the rod".

-Lindsey <><