Whatever the valley of the shadow of death may stand for in our Christian experience, there is no doubt that the
lonely spirit, in its passage through it, stands in urgent need of comfort. From the beginning to the end of Scripture
there is no refrain more frequent or more consolatory than the thought embodied in the words, "Comfort ye,
comfort ye, my people, saith your God." Indeed, it would almost appear as if the eternal God had set to Himself
the task of comforting His people as a mother comforteth her first-born.
All true comfort emanates from God, through the work of the Holy Spirit. whose comfort is especially mentioned
in Act 9:31; and any who would experience God's comfort in all its tender helpfulness, let them read perpetually
in the Word of God, that through patience and comfort of the Scriptures they may have hope (Rom 15:4).
It would sometimes appear, indeed, that God puts us into special circumstances of difficulty and trial, in order
that He may make manifest to us the infinite resources of His consolation; just as we need to go out into the dark
night in order to behold the stars. But the great point brought out in these words is that the Almighty God, our
Shepherd, comforts us by His rod and His staff. How is it that these two badges of the Shepherd's office, which
seem rather to speak of discipline, can possibly bring comfort to tried believers? It is this point which we desire
for a moment to elucidate; and may we not hope that the God of all comfort will reveal to us fresh sources of comfort,
that we may be able to comfort others with the comfort wherewith we ourselves have been comforted of God?
What is the Shepherd's rod? It is surely the symbol of His defending power. It is the sceptre which He carries
as the supreme Shepherd-King. It is the weapon by which He strikes down our adversaries, even though it be heavy
with chastisement for ourselves. In passing through some rocky fastness or shadowed valley where wild beasts have
their lair, and hill-robbers hide in many a darkened cave, a shepherd needs to be well armed with heavy club or
ponderous rod, that he may deal death-giving blows to lion, or bear, or stealthy thief imperilling the safety of
one of his charge. And does not this suggest the protecting grace of Christ our Lord, who is ever on the alert
to ward off from us threatening ills, whether they emanate from the prince of the power of the air, or from those
malicious human foes to whose presence in this life our psalmist so often alludes, and who have their counterpart
more or less in the lives of us all?
Many who may read these words spend all their lives under the shadow of a great fear. They dread the outset of
temptation, before which they feel themselves as impotent as the withered leaves of autumn before the gusty gale;
they fear that one day they will become the prey of the lion, or fall into the hands of a Saul. Would that they
might transfer the responsibility of keeping their souls into the hands of their faithful Redeemer, confident that
He will be about their path, and their lying down, so that they may "dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep
in the woods." The Breaker goes before the flock, smiting down all opposition with irresistible might; and
God Himself is at the rearward of the flock, defending it from all attack from behind.
O timid hearts, dreading every spiritual and temporal evil, like children going down a dark lane, in dread lest
at every turn they should meet some terrible ogre or object of dread; startled by the sigh of every breeze, and
by the whitened bole of every hollow tree, would that you could realise how absolutely Christ assumes the care
of all who trust Him! The one question is whether you have so completely handed over the responsibility of your
lives to Him as to make Him the sole custodian and safeguard of your being, both for this world and the next. From
the defending rod or club of the Great Shepherd we may derive abundant comfort; because it is written, "My
sheep shall never perish, neither shall any [man or devil] pluck them out of my hand."
What is the staff? We would rather call it the shepherd's crook, which is often bent or hooked at one end. It is
associated as inseparably with the shepherd as the goad is with the ploughman. Beneath it the sheep pass one by
one to be numbered or told. By it the shepherd restrains them from wandering, or hooks them out of holes into which
they may fall; by it, also, he corrects them when they are disobedient. In each of these thoughts there is comfort
for the tried children of God.
We are numbered among God's sheep as we pass one by one beneath the touch of the Shepherd's crook. Our names may
be unknown among the great and learned, but they are written in heaven. Our dwelling-places may be lowly and ungarnished
among the mansions and palaces of the rich, but we have "houses not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."
Our sphere of ministry may be limited, and our work in the trenches, preparing for the foundations, far away from
the shoutings with which the top stone is placed upon a finished pile in the sunny air; but we shine as stars of
the first magnitude in the sight of God. We are accounted as the small dust in the balance, as smoking flax or
bruised reeds; but in the eye of our Heavenly Father we are prized as very precious jewels, entered in His inventory,
and destined to shine in the regalia of His Son before the gaze of all worlds.
Words were spoken once among the exiles in Babylon which we may fitly apply to ourselves in this connection. Gathering
at night by the waters of Babylon, they hanged their harps upon the pliant branches of the willows; as they swept
in the current of the stream beneath, and they wept as they remembered the ruins of their beloved Jerusalem. Then
in their midst the prophet voice was heard bidding them lift up their eyes on high, and behold the starry hosts;
also they were reminded that God called all these by names by the greatness of His might; and then followed the
magnificent apostrophe: "Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, my way is hid from the Lord, and
my judgment is passed over from my God?" And to each weary heart treading the dark valley of sorrow I would
speak comfort in the selfsame words.
The myriad stars of heaven seem to make up one huge flock. Their Shepherd is God, who is driving them through space;
or who watches them, as it were, resting on the heavenly slopes as a flock of sheep on the downs at night. And
He has a name for each of them. Is it therefore to be supposed that He will not be as minute in His care of each
one of us? Will He not have a name for each of us? Will He not number us when he tells the tale of His sheep, even
as He numbers the hairs of our heads? This very morn He touched you with His staff and counted you. You are the
destined object of His care. Is it likely, then, that He will suffer you to perish, or want any good thing?
By the Shepherd's staff we are also extricated from circumstances of peril and disaster into which we may have
fallen through our own folly and sin. When Peter through his unbelief began to sink in the waves, the Saviour caught
him and supported him, so that they walked together to the boat. And this is only a sample case of our Shepherd's
tender care; for very often sin not only grieves Him, but it plunges us into circumstances of misery and trouble
which threaten to overwhelm us.
At such times He is not unmindful of His own; and though we may seem to have forfeited all claim to His care, yet
He is "a very present help in time of trouble;" He does not permit us to reap as we have sown. He averts
the full penalty of our own mistakes and misdeeds. He comes after us in the wilderness, not staying His foot until
He has discovered the pit into which we have fallen, from which He does not fail to drag us forth; placing us on
His shoulders if we are too weak to walk, and bringing us back; satisfied with no other recompense than that we
are safe. "Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. As a
shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my
sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day."
Oh, the long-suffering patience of Christ, who will not permit us to be overwhelmed by the sorrows and penalties
which we may have incurred, but will reach out His crook to drag us back from the death that we had courted!
By the staff the shepherd also corrects His sheep. At first there seems but little comfort here. It is not pleasant
to any one of us to be corrected. The smart stroke of the staff is painful. Yet there is consolation in the reflection
that God must care for us, or He would not think it worth His while to expend time and thought upon our chastisement.
Who troubles to take to the lapidary's wheel common flints and stones of the beach? The stone that is deeply cut,
the diamond which is carefully polished, the metal which is plied with intense heat for weeks and even months,
must have proved themselves to be of excellent worth. What gardener would spend time and pains over a tree which,
after repeated trial, had refused to bear fruit? Is it not the bough which has already borne luxuriant clusters
that receives the incessant attention of the husbandman? "Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth
every son whom He receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons." Welcome, then, O
children of God, each stroke of the Shepherd's staff! Get comfort out of every smart by the thought: "My Shepherd
must love me tenderly, or He would never treat me thus; and then turn the heart towards Him in eager desire to
know the lesson He would teach, and to miss nothing of the benefits which He intends.
So we journey slowly through the valley, learning many a lesson of comfort which we hide in our hearts. We are
almost content to suffer because of the rich revenue of blessing which accrues. With us, as with the oyster, every
wound becomes the origin of a pearl. And there is this also: that our own experiences make us very tender towards
the failures and sorrows of others, and we are able to join in the glad outburst of the apostle who said, "Blessed
be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; who comforteth
us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith
we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth
by Christ."