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

Only a shepherd carries a staff; it is usually a long, slender stick, often with a crook or hook on one end. It is designed and shaped especially to meet the need of sheep.

The staff has a very important role in the management of sheep. It is used to draw sheep into an intimate relationship. If a newborn lamb becomes separated from its mother, the shepherd will use his staff to gently lift it up and bring it to its mother. He has to do this so that the odor of his hands won’t cause the ewe to reject her offspring. 

The staff is also used for guiding sheep. The shepherd does this with the tip of the staff pressed gently against the animal’s side to keep it in the right path. Sometimes a shepherd has a favorite sheep and he will actually keep his staff against it, and it will seem as though they are walking along "hand in hand." All this is a picture of comfort and contentment (Psa. 37:24).

The staff is a symbol of the Spirit of God. It is He that draws us to Christ, causing us to run after Him (Hos. 11:4, Jn. 12:32). It is He that brings us together as a family of God (Jn. 3:5). It is He that comforts us and guides us gently along our way (Jn. 14:26, 16:13). Even the new difficult and dangerous paths, are all paths of mercy and truth (Psa. 25:10). If we go ahead of our Shepherd, as we sometimes do, thinking that we know a better way, even then we will hear a voice behind us saying, "This is the way, walk in it" (Isa. 30:21). He will never leave us nor forsake us (Heb. 13:5).

Give ear O Shepherd of Israel, You who lead Joseph like a flock; feed us, gather us up with Your staff, and carry us in Your bosom and lead us gently home (Psa. 80:1, Isa. 40:11).

Seek out Your scattered sheep Lord; deliver them from all the places where they have been scattered by their cloudy and dark days. Feed them and make them to lie down in Your green pastures. Bring back those that are broken and sick, and heal them with Your holy oil. Don’t allow us to appear to a lost world as sheep without a shepherd, shaming Your holy name (Num. 27:17). Lead us to Your holy mountains and we will lie down in peace (Ezek. 34:11-16).