Psalm 23 Part 6
— God is our Discipler/Comforter, “His rod and staff comfort me..”
I shall not lack encouragement and comfort. A shepherd of his sheep uses his staff to help the sheep when they have been lead astray or if they have wandered from the path. A shepherd will even use the rod to hit the sheep if they don’t want to listen or follow the shepherd’s leading. And so the heavenly Shepherd, the Good Shepherd uses His rod to discipline His sheep when they have gone astray. When God’s children don’t want to listen, God has to use different means to discipline His children. Hebrews 12 goes so far as to say that if we are without correction and discipline, then we are illegitimate children and not really God’s children. So to be disciplined by God is a good thing! All God’s children are disciplined because none of us are perfect. This text says “His rod comforts me.” Discipline from God doesn’t seem to be a thing to be enjoyed at the moment it is given, but God says that discipline produces holiness and the fruit of righteousness (Hebrews 12:4-10). God’s rod, therefore, makes us more like the heavenly Shepherd and that is a comforting thing. We are God’s children so that we may bear the likeness of Jesus Christ. We are in this world to become more and more like Jesus and to become mature in faith, to the measure of the fullness of the stature of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 4:11-13). Thanks be to God for His rod that corrects us and helps us when we have gone astray and when we are disobedient. I shall therefore not lack the comfort of God because it is not only God’s rod that corrects us, but that comforts us as well, and God does that through His presence!
INTERETHNICMISSIONS 