shepherd musings part 1: the rod

I was browsing thru my Bible when I chanced upon Psalm 23, a Psalm we all know and love. (If you don’t, it starts off with “The Lord is my shepherd.” Now you know.) Incidentally, it was discussed at church a few weeks ago. You can get podcasts for this, too, from here or from here.

I read the Psalm and what struck me was this verse:

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and staff, they comfort me.

(Now if you grew up in the nineties, you would find that the first line of the verse is strikingly similar to Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise.” Oops, this is where Coolio got it from, sorry. But I digress.)

The first thought that popped in my head was, Huh?!? How can the rod comfort me?? I know parents use the rod to discipline their kids when they get out of hand. And me, being the kid that I was, tried to figure out how it was possible. Being whacked at the bottom does not give me comfort.

Then again, if you really think about it…discipline really does give you comfort. Think about it. If your mom grounded you from your Saturday late-night gimiks (whether now or not too long ago ), it just means that she’s more concerned about you pulling your grades up in Chemistry. Or perhaps she doesn’t want you hanging out with friends who ingest certain beverages and burned materials.

In the same way, God disciplines us for our own good. The author of Hebrews writes, “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” Last I checked in the dictionary, a “harvest” wasn’t measly, minute, miniscule—it meant a lot. A life filled to the overflowing with righteousness meant a life with integrity, honesty, someone grab the thesaurus from me. A life of peace, that’s really nice, besides it already speaks for itself. Boundaries ensure us a delightful inheritance, another Psalm says. I don’t know about you, but I like the sound of that.

All these add up, and you get the sum of—ehem—comfort. 

Yes, we all want these things. It’s the “later on” part that kinda gets to you, huh? I am 101% sure, though, that in due time the patience and persistence to endure the discipline will pay off.

Discipline may suck big time in the here and the now. We may sulk, whine, and complain for missing out on all the “fun.” But it gives us a LOT to be thankful for in the end.