God Is Good Ain't He, My Friends?

Psalm 23:3-4

He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Here we see the rod and the staff told of at the hands of a loving God. For those that know him he is very loving indeed and pitiful indeed towards his people. As in Psalm 18:25-27 his promises stand firm and sure, being even that of his character. See it is not in God's nature to do any different. He is the good, good Father not the author of our own misfortune my friends. As he speaks later in Hebrews 12:2, is he not the author and the finisher of our faith. As such he is almost guaranteed to come to our rescue. Oh, how we need his grace and his guidance today my friends. More than that, some provisions are needed. For the sheep of his pasture need his care being almost completely dependent on the One that is greater than themselves just as David found so long before in the rock that was higher than I.

So too does the good Shepherd care for his sheep, leading them by the still waters and green pastures as seen in the text. For a sheep, that would be food indeed, fit for a feast. You might as well have thrown down the tablecloth and called for dinner right then and there for what all a sheep knows. Some of us though, have suffered imperfect parents and not so good shepherds, so when the rod and the staff are said we recoil as though offered a snake fresh from Moses' coat so long ago. Perhaps some of you might remember when God turned his rod into a snake before Pharoah. The problem today is most of us are still treating the rod and staff of the Lord as though it were something waiting to bite us. See the staff shown in both leading and providing. Yet here is something wrong.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

David himself walks all the way from the paths of righteousness to the valley of the shadow of death and out again on the other side looking very much as one who had been chased with a snake. Perhaps should the Lord's provision and guidance look evil to you he breaks it though not always for long. So too does he remove or break all others that come up against him or all in his name. See, you cannot claim to love God and mislead his people. Nor can you love him and give care as seen in the text in place of the good Shepherd without first meeting these there.

It seems the rod and the staff are meant for good and not evil. But some have meant it as such. He is not only leading, ruling, and reigning but he is also bringing some people out. Could it be you have suffered long for his name. Perhaps even now you feel the shadow of that certain cold valley. Perhaps you have wandered far from his name or even a path that looks something like the way you should go and now feel the certain cool air of the shadow. Yet when you know the Lord, you will find he takes his rod and staff to even that too. Perhaps you have come by it quite by accident upon the leading of God.

Come on now, God will not suffer his righteous forsaken never at all. God does not let his people go wanting and missing long from his house. Nor will he keep them in want and alone. Such is not in his nature, my friends. Even there is he with you and of a certainty will he bring you back out. The rod and the staff have been there all along just as his mercy and goodness trail not far behind. They resemble two sheepdogs do they not, following after all the way to glory. Perhaps those are his rod and his staff only in slightly different forms. Could it be that the God who has called us is the same one that has led us, guided, and even provided it all. Come on now, let's rejoin the goodness of God back in his house.