"Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me" (Psa. 23:4).

Every shepherd carried a rod and a staff. The rod was made of a young sapling, carved and whittled down, shaped to fit the shepherd’s hand exactly. The rod was used against anything that would harm or attack. Many hours were spent practicing how to throw it so that it would always hit the mark. It was the shepherd’s main weapon of defense for both himself and his sheep.

The rod was in fact an extension of the owner’s own right arm. It stood as a symbol of his strength, power, and authority in any serious situation. It was also used to discipline and correct any wayward sheep. If they were straying from the path, he would throw the rod at them to get their attention.

The rod speaks of God’s word - the scriptures. It is what the Lord threw at Satan when He was in the wilderness to make him run away for awhile (Matt. 4:11).

The rod brings comfort because the Lord uses it in our lives not only to chase away our enemies for a little while, but to actually kill them. Our sins are put to death by the rod and His staff - the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:13).

The shepherd also uses the rod as his sheep enter the narrow gate (Matt. 7:13-14). He uses it to count his sheep to make sure none have strayed away. As they come through the gate he also uses the rod to lift up, and look under, the wool, parting it to see if there is any disease, wounds, or defects. He runs his hands over their bodies then to feel for any sign of trouble. This is a very searching process and a comfort to the sheep as only in this way could the hidden problems be seen and known.

Oh, that we might always see the rod as a comfort to us and not despise our Father, as some children do if they think he is disciplining them too severely (Heb. 12:5-6). It gives assurance to us that we are His well-loved children; He cannot, He will not, let us go to hell (Prov. 23:13-14, Heb. 12:5-11). 

Let us pray as David did. "Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties: And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting" (Psa. 139:23-24). In this way we will be working with our Shepherd to accomplish His good purpose for us (I Cor. 11:31-32, Phil. 2:12-13, II Jn. 8, Jude 20-21). This will bring joy to His heart.