Rod and Staff: Part Two

“Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.” Psalm 23:4b

We have looked at our Shepherd’s rod, a symbol of authority used to protect and to chasten, but what about His staff?

The shepherd’s staff is perhaps the most widely recognized symbol for shepherds. We are used to seeing the long staff with its hook-like top in pictures, nativity displays, and Christmas pageants because it instantly conveys the idea of a shepherd.  

Shepherds use their staves to direct, catch, and even rescue their sheep. But the Hebrew word translated staff has a wider meaning than just a piece of wood in the hand of a shepherd. The word means support or sustenance. It could be used of a walking stick or staff, such as shepherds commonly carried, but it essentially could refer to support of any kind. Most of the appearances of this word in the Old Testament, however do deal with a literal staff.

So, what does our Shepherd’s staff mean to us? As with any simple tool, it has many uses, but there are several which stood out to me in the context of the Lord our Shepherd:

Guidance

The crook in the shepherd’s staff is used to gently, but firmly pull sheep from harm or bring them back into the flock when they begin to wander off. In the same way, our Shepherd sometimes has to give us a firm tug to get us back on the paths of righteousness. He keeps us moving in the right direction and pulls us out of danger.

In Isaiah 40:11 we see an additional guiding aspect of our Shepherd’s staff:

“He shall feed His flock like a shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.”

Shepherds often use their staves to gently lead their flocks. By laying the staff along a sheep’s side, the shepherd not only gives his sheep direction, but a sense of security as well. The sheep knows which way the shepherd wants it to go, and also associates the staff with the comfort of the shepherd’s presence.

You and I also are given both direction and a sense of security when our Shepherd gently leads us. Perhaps it is a prompting of the Holy Spirit, or a verse quickened to our hearts, or a simple answer to prayer or a little blessing we weren’t looking for.

However God does it, these little nudges of direction, these gentle reminders of His presence show us that God is not only present, but lovingly involved in our lives. He cares what we do—so much that He is willing to guide us Himself!

But sheep can be stubborn, as you and I can be. So what do we do in order to make sure that we both recognize and heed the gentle pressure of our Shepherd’s staff? Psalm 25:9-10 tells us,

“The meek will He guide in judgment: and the meek will He teach His way. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep His covenant and His testimonies.”

After a plea for God’s forgiveness of his sins, the psalmist continues:

“What man is he that feareth the Lord? Him shall He teach in the way that He shall choose. His soul shall dwell at ease; and his seed shall inherit the earth. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him; and He will shew them His covenant.” (vv.12-14)

In order to be sensitive to our Shepherd’s leading, we must be teachable, meek and keep a proper focus on the God we serve, acknowledging His greatness and holiness in reverent fear and awe. It is so easy in the day-to-day busyness of life to lose sight of just how magnificent our God is, and to let the cares of this life distract us from the quiet, gentle pressure of the Holy Spirit’s promptings.

Gathering

The crook on the shepherd’s staff is useful for snagging a sheep, snatching it from danger, but it has another use. During lambing season, shepherds use their staves to gently lift the newborn lambs toward their mothers, so that each mother sheep will bond and take care of her lamb. The lambs tend to all be born around the same time, making lambing season one of the busiest for shepherds.

Unlike what you might see in movies or television, shepherds with more than just a few sheep rarely have time to sit and watch each lamb’s birth, then linger to admire its first wobbly steps. A shepherd of a large flock might spend lambing season walking up and down between his laboring ewes, watching for the right moment, deftly moving a lamb near its mother’s head, then quickly moving on to the next one.

This makes me think of the way our Shepherd puts us newborn “sheep” in the fold of the family of God, placing us exactly where we need to be in order to bond with and be nurtured by spiritual “mothers,” Christians who are mature in their faith and able to help us grow.

The Holy Spirit is active in this also. I have often noticed how the Holy Spirit will put a sudden and sometimes inexplicable love in my heart for a particular student in my class, or a younger believer in my church. It is like the Shepherd’s staff, plunking that person down in front of me, urging me to reach out and be a blessing.

Other times, God plunks me down in front of another believer, and urges them to reach out and be a blessing and help to me. That, in part, is how the church is intended to work for every believer, but notice the instructions given specifically to women:

“The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. “ Titus 2:3-5

If you are a woman who has walked with God for years, this is your call to reach out, to take notice of the young women (or perhaps just young in the faith) whom your Shepherd has put before you to nurture with His love from the truths He has already taught you, and those He is teaching you now.

For any reading this who still feel like baby lambs in the Shepherd’s fold, be alert, be open, and be teachable as you watch for God to bring a more mature Christian alongside to help and nurture you in the faith.

One thing about walking with our Shepherd that never ceases to amaze me is that He knows each of His sheep so well, so intimately, that not one of us grows in exactly the same way as anyone else. The Christian life is not a set of steps carved into the mountainside: first you join the church, then you tithe, then you tackle gossip, then envy, then… you get the picture.

No, we are told,

“But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.” (2 Peter 3:18)

We are to grow in grace and in knowledge. We see the individuality of the Shepherd’s sheep highlighted in Romans 12:

“For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.” (vv.3-6)

The drawing together of believers for edification is often a simultaneous process. We learn from others as they learn from us.

But remember, the first thing God worked on your heart about when you first began to grow in the Lord may not be the first thing He convicts your Christian brother or sister’s heart with. That is why it is so important to be in tune with the Holy Spirit and following His leading. –We need to pay attention to the guiding pressure of our Shepherd’s staff.

Now, how about you, dear Reader?

Has our Shepherd given you a nudge with the “staff” of His Spirit as you read this post? Heed His guidance, and take comfort in His presence.

“Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go.” 

Isaiah 48:17