Psalm 23:4 (b): For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
Experiencing Jesus in the Psalms
“Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” A rod was for defense, and a staff was for direction. He gives us gentle reproof and severe rebuke. He has a rod for our defense, but He also has a staff for our direction. He has a staff for the little old sheep that are bound to stray. That comforts me. Now that I am getting to be an old man, I look back on my life and I realize that indeed that rod is a comfort. He used it on me several times, and I thank Him for it because it got me back into the fold. We all need that. 1
Living the Transformed Life
Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. Matthew 28:20
- Thank You for loving me enough to stay with me, even when I failed to stay with You.
- Thank You for loving me enough to apply the painful correction I needed to change my selfish ways and break my prideful attitude. (Read: Hebrews 12:6-16)
- Thank You for loving me enough to defend me from my enemies who I thought were my friends.
If your life is free from godly correction, your life may not be under His Lordship.
Praise and Prayer
Thank You, Father, for all Your correction that encourages me as Your child. Dear Jesus, please teach me to resist prideful thinking, and to embrace grace-filled living.
1. McGee, J. V. (1991). Thru the Bible commentary: Poetry (Psalms 1-41) (electronic ed., Vol. 17, pp. 137–138). Nashville.
