Telling Secrets

Then he told them many things in parables…  …Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”

He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. This is why I speak to them in parables:

“Though seeing, they do not see;
    though hearing, they do not hear or understand.”

Matthew 13:3, 9-13

In front of a gathering of people, Jesus tells the Parable of the Sower. A farmer scattered seed and it fell in four different places. The seed on the hardened path was eaten by birds. The seed on the rocky soil sprung up quickly yet died for lack of soil. The seed among the thorns grew but was eventually choked out. Finally, the seed that fell on the good soil produced a harvest. Jesus concluded this parable by saying, “Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

The disciples wanted to know what we want to know. Why was Jesus speaking in parables? So Jesus explains why He does this.

Jesus’s teachings contain the secrets of the Kingdom of God. But Jesus has to be careful who obtains these secrets. He’s looking for the seed of the Kingdom to fall into good soil. So, the principle Jesus is applying is the same one we see in the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30). In the Parable of the Talents, those who were faithful with little were given more. The one who was not faithful with little, even what little he had was given to someone who would be faithful with it. Jesus is looking for good stewards, those who will be faithful with what they’ve been given. Those who will believe the word and apply it. Those who will cultivate the seed in good soil.

Jesus states the principle plainly, “Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance.” Whoever has what? Good question. Jesus already told us. Whoever has “ears to hear.” They will be given more.

Then Jesus follows with, “Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.” Whoever does not have what? Good question. Whoever does not have “ears to hear.” They will not be trusted with more, and what they did have will be taken from them. He’s not talking finances here. He’s talking about revelation, truth, secrets of the Kingdom of God.

Jesus then describes people who don’t have ears to hear the secrets of the Kingdom. He says that they can see with their eyes, but are blind to truth. He says that they can hear with their ears, but their hearts are deaf to the what God is revealing.

Jesus wanted to reveal the secrets of the Kingdom, but He wanted to do it for people who would be faithful with it. He wanted the secrets of the Kingdom to be revealed to people whose hearts were like good soil, soft hearts, surrendered hearts. He wanted secrets of the Kingdom to be concealed to those who weren’t ready for them, so He spoke in parables. Like Jesus said in Matthew 7:6, “Do not throw pearls to pigs” or they will not only trample them but turn and tear you to pieces.

And this reveals two secrets about hearing God. When we talk about hearing God more clearly, we aren’t talking about literal volume. Imagine a radio tuning in to a radio signal. There is the tune knob and the volume knob. The tune knob in the Kingdom is surrender. The volume knob in the Kingdom is believing God. The more we surrender and obey, believing what God has already said, the more we continue to hear from God. The more our heart is soften to the Lord, the more His parables–the words He speaks directly to our hearts–make sense.

God didn’t want the secrets of His Kingdom in the hands of people who were hard-hearted and didn’t believe. He didn’t want His secrets in the hands of the arrogant and prideful. So Jesus spoke in parables. Jesus hid the secrets of the Kingdom for us, not from us. Those who are willing to go low, willing to surrender, willing to believe with soften hearts, they will be given a truckload of truth, a reservoir of revelation. Those who live in skepticism and unbelief will not.

If you are wanting to hear more from God, if you want Him to reveal things to you, if you want Him to unveil secrets of the Kingdom to you, the first step is repenting of an unbelieving heart. Ask God to forgive you for your unbelief, cynicism, skepticism and doubt. Ask Him to soften your heart. Then ask the Holy Spirit to speak clearly to you and set aside daily time to listen. Listen for pictures and words that the Lord brings to your mind. And whatever He shows you, be a good steward of it. Be obedient. Stewarding what He’s already said is key in receiving more.

Uneven

Search me, God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting.

Psalm 139:23-24

Spring has sprung. Flowers are blooming and trees are budding. The dead of winter is giving way to the new green life of spring. One thing that is true of plants that is also true of our life with Christ is that growth is progressive but uneven.

Sometimes we expect that if a person is mature in one area of life, they are mature in all areas of life, but this just isn’t how maturity works. As we grow in Christ, we tend to grow in fits and starts. We grow in pockets. One pocket of our life in Jesus can be really well developed while other pockets are left under-developed. Growth is uneven.

In Matthew 12:44, Jesus describes our inner life like a house. Just like an actual house, there can be some rooms that are clean and in order and other rooms that are moldy and messy, full of asbestos dust and toxins.

We see this all the time at our church as we pray for people. People with certain parts of their life fully surrendered to the Lord also have parts of their life that are still in bondage to the enemy. Though the house belongs to the Holy Spirit (He has the title and deed – 1 Cor. 6:19-20) and many rooms are clean, we’ll still hit pockets of strongholds that need cleaning and deliverance.

Too often the church has bought into the modern worldview comparing humans to machines. But according to the Bible, we are less like machines and more like plants. We need cultivated. And as we grow, we grow unevenly. This is why hunger for the Lord is so important. Hungering for more of God in our lives keeps us praying the prayer of Psalm 139:23-24. It invites us to ask the Lord to expose the dark rooms of our lives to the blinding white light of Christ. Plants need light.

Jesus said it this way:

This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

John 3:19-21

Is it time for some spring cleaning in your life? Ask the Lord if there are any unsurrendered pockets of your life with Christ. Ask Him to search you and reveal any inner rooms that are dark and moldy. Ask Christ to bring His blinding white light to expose any offensive way in you and to lead you in the way everlasting.

Cursing Words

All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

James 3:7-12

Words are powerful and words can do damage. More than that, a harsh word can turn into a curse over a person’s life. They can become like a deadly poison. This is especially true if the harsh word comes from an authority figure in the person’s life (parent, teacher, coach, pastor, etc).

This is how it often happens. A harsh word is spoken. The person receives the word and either actively or subconsciously agrees with it. Then this word is used by the enemy to enforce that word over the person’s life. For example, a dad says to his son in anger, “You’re such a screw up!” The son wants to reject this word but can’t. The son lets this word sink in. His heart agrees with it. The enemy uses this to cause issues in the son’s life from this point on, from failing grades to getting fired from jobs. Over time, the enemy tries to re-enforce this word with as much evidence as possible. It becomes a “curse of words.”

But it doesn’t just happen between parents and children. It can happen between friends. It can happen at work. It can happen anytime a person speaks a word against you that isn’t in line with what God says about you. Curses come like an email with a virus attached to it. If you delete the email, no harm is done. However, if you open the attachment, the virus infiltrates your computer. If we reject the harsh word spoken against us, it falls to the ground powerless in our lives. But if we agree with it, it can be used by the enemy against us. This can even happen to words we speak over ourselves.

So what do we do?

Jesus’s death and resurrection has made us new creations. He has authority over everything and He has delegated His authority to us. So, in Christ, we have the authority to break these curses that have been spoken over us. The first thing we have to do is break any curses that have already been spoken. Here is a sample prayer for this. Pray this prayer out loud:

In the name of Jesus, I break every curse of words against me. I take every word captive that I spoke over myself. I break the power of those curses. I cancel every assignment of darkness and remove every right of the demonic to afflict me because of those curses. I cast every word of cursing to the ground to be without effect. And I call blessing to fall on me in its place. I take back every curse I have spoken against another. I cast those words down to the ground to be without effect. I return a blessing on those whom I have cursed. Jesus took my curse so I can live in blessing. 

The second thing we need to do is protect ourselves from any future word that comes at us. If someone speaks a harsh word against your identity (could be from your family, your workplace, or friend) don’t let it sink in. Have you ever had a comment from someone just kind of hang on you? It circles around in your mind over and over again? That’s because its trying to land. Don’t let it. Here are some steps to work through:

  1. Reject the word out loud. Pray, “In Jesus’s name, I reject the word that I am _______________ that was spoken by ____________. I do not agree with it. More importantly, God, I know that you don’t agree with it.”
  2. Proclaim what God says about you out loud. Pray something like, “God, you say that I am a new creation in Christ. You say that I am a beloved child of God. I am robed in righteousness. I am forgiven and washed clean.” List your real identity, who you really are, in Christ.
  3. Ask God to reveal areas you need to work on. Pray something like, “Holy Spirit, would you form in me the character of Christ. Make me more like Jesus. Show me an area where I need to step into my real identity in Christ. Show me where I am falling short. Show me any lies I am believing. Show me who I need to forgive and who I need to ask forgiveness from.”

Rather than trust someone who spoke a harsh word to you in anger and rather than believe an off-handed comment of sarcasm or ridicule, we need to trust the Holy Spirit to reveal areas that we need to surrender. Whenever the Holy Spirit reveals an area of sin or spiritual immaturity in our lives, He does so wrapped in grace and compassion. The Lord’s words of correction bring conviction but never shame and guilt. The challenge comes with encouragement and a reminder of who we really are in Christ.

So, are there words hanging over you right now? What words do you need freedom from? Ask God to reveal them. Jesus came to set you free and to see you live in freedom.

Responsibility and Authority

Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.

These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.

Matthew 10:1, 5-9

When Jesus sent out His disciples to do the kind of ministry He had been doing, He first gave them His delegated authority. Once they had authority, He gave them the responsibility to “freely give” what they themselves had received. Jesus practices a leadership strategy here that is vitally important: Those who have taken the responsibility for something must be given the authority to accomplish their mission.

For a healthy leadership environment to exist, one’s authority must be proportional to one’s responsibility. Too often in our culture we are surrounded by Monday morning quarterbacking. Social media has given people the false notion that their opinion should count as much as everyone else’s and that they should have input on everything. The problem is that this leads to too many cooks in the kitchen. People who have sacrificed nothing, who have taken no responsibility, think their voice should be heard as much as the person who has carried the heavy weight of responsibility. In the words, they want authority without responsibility.

I see this happen in churches all the time. My friend was the pastor of a conservative church where his leadership team gave him all the responsibility but none of the authority. They wanted to reserve the right to pick apart his vision, ideas, and new projects, but they didn’t want to lift a hand to help him execute them.

They wanted him to come up with the plan and do all the work to execute the plan, but they wanted to reserve the right to sit on the sidelines and critique it all. They wanted the decision-making authority without taking any responsibility. If you want to lose your pastor, this is one of the quickest routes you can take. And they did. He has moved on.

The principle is this: authority must match responsibility. If someone has taken responsibility for coming up with the idea, putting a plan in place, and executing that plan, then they should have the authority to make decisions for that project. One’s opinion is only as weighty as the responsibility one is willing to assume. Your authority should never outweigh your responsibility.

We as a culture have to stop believing that our opinion should matter just as much as everyone else’s. It doesn’t. Social media is lying to us about this. My medical opinion should not and does not matter as much as a trained doctor. I can spout off about all kinds of medical things but that doesn’t mean my opinion should carry any weight.

The same is true if we haven’t taken any responsibility for executing a project or plan. If we haven’t lifted a finger to make it happen, our opinion should matter very little. We should not be given authority to make decisions. But, if we are willing to sacrificially take responsibility for something, then our voice should have weight. We should be given authority to make decisions for that thing. Authority should match responsibility. When one is greater than the other, an imbalance is formed that creates a toxic leadership environment.

How about you? Do you find yourself wanting to add your two cents, critiquing, and wanting a voice in things you’ve taken no responsibility for? Or, when you give someone a responsibility, do you also give them decision-making authority to match it?

Stimulus

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. 

Acts 2:42-44

Everyone knows that the economic stimulus package that is being sent out to people, while temporarily helpful, is just a band-aid. Strangely enough, stimulus checks like this are most helpful in stimulating the economy when they are given to people who aren’t struggling financially. Only those who have an economic engine–like a good job or investment strategy–and are responsible with their money can take that check and pour it back into the economy. Those really struggling need it just to survive and pay debts. The check stops with them.

This same principle applies to our life with God. Moments where we might have a spiritual encounter, like at a retreat or conference, are helpful but can’t be expected to sustain a person. Strangely enough, these moments are most helpful to the Kingdom when they impact those with a spiritual engine already established in their life. For those really struggling, the moment often stops with them. But for those with an established spiritual engine, the moment turns the person into a conduit of the Spirit, impacting all the people around them.

A spiritual engine is a pattern of spiritual disciplines that daily connect a person to the Lord. This is what truly sustains growth in the Christian life.

For the early church, they had this kind of spiritual engine. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching. For us this would be regular time in God’s word, studying and meditating on scripture. The early church devoted themselves to fellowship and the breaking of bread. For us this would be regular times of gathering with other believers to be encouraged and challenged in our walk with the Lord. And the early church devoted themselves to prayer. For us this would be daily time talking to Jesus, laying out our requests, and listening to the Spirit for comfort, guidance, and direction.

When we have these disciplines in our life, they become a spiritual engine that helps to keep us on fire for the Lord. And the fruit from this kind of intimacy with the Lord is undeniable. For the early church, the apostles regularly engaged in signs and wonders, miracles, healings, and deliverances, etc. The miracles were signs pointing people to the reality of the in-breaking of the Kingdom of God among them. And all the believers shared their possessions with each other. They took care of each other and the outsider. They were a close-knit community.

When moments of spiritual encounter come, they fuel the fire of those who are already operating with a spiritual engine in their life. Without this, these incredible moments become a flash in the pan. Too many followers of Jesus think that spending one-on-one time with the Lord is optional. It’s not. Daily time in the word, in prayer, and regular time connecting to other believers is essential for growth.

If One Part Suffers

But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

1 Corinthians 12:24-27

One of the interesting things about being a pastor of a church is that even when things are going great in your own life, you know at least a dozen situations in other people’s lives that are going horribly. Even when your marriage is in a great place, you know a number of marriages that are falling apart. When your family is doing well, you know many that aren’t. Even when you have one of those days that are full of life, joy, and purpose, in the back of your mind is the awareness of a number of people you care about who are having a terrible day. Now multiply this when your own life is struggling.

This is true of many of the helping professions. The main difference is that, in the helping professions, they are taught to keep a professional emotional distance from those they are helping. There is a wall of professionalism that allows the doctor or therapist to help in a way that doesn’t get too personally involved. Pastors don’t get to do this. Those we are helping are our good friends, our brothers and sisters in Christ that we’ve known personally for years.

Paul said of the church, “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it” (1 Corinthians 12:26). In order to do this well, without being buried under the pile of pain the church is experiencing collectively, it requires the discipline to “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn“(Romans 12:15). This discipline is impossible if we base our rejoicing off of circumstances.

We can’t wait for our life and everyone else’s life to be good before we are able to rejoice. It won’t happen. We have to be able to rejoice in the Lord. Rejoicing in the Lord will give us access to joy at all times. Even when we know ten people going through hard things, we’ll be able to rejoice with the person in front of us because the source of our joy is the Lord Himself.

This is true for mourning as well. Our mourning can’t be based entirely on situations in our life or the life of others. It has to come from the compassion of Christ. If the person in front of us is hurting, we can mourn with them because of the compassion of Christ, even when we know there are others who are celebrating moments of victory.

Our life circumstances and the life circumstances of people in our church community are like waves in the seas. They are constantly going up and down; they will constantly change. Our emotional state will be chaotic if our hearts churn with the waves. Instead, our hearts need to be anchored in Christ–in His joy and His compassion.

The call to rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn is not a call to react to the situation in front of us. Instead, it is a call to respond to the heart of Jesus for the situation in front of us. And that difference makes all the difference. It is an invitation to tap into the joy of the Lord and the compassion of the Lord for the sake of our friend.

Finding Life

For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. 

Luke 9:24

The motto of self-preservation is: “I have to look out for myself because no one else will.” Too many people live with this as the motto for their life. This was the primary lie that led to the primary sin in the Garden of Eden. This is what the enemy whispered in the ear of Adam and Eve.

What Jesus was saying in the above passage of scripture is that self-preservation is self-sabotage in disguise. In relationships, when we are constantly trying to protect ourselves, we end up hurting others. When we put walls up, we end up burning bridges down. Too often, our attempts to protect ourselves from getting hurt are the very things that leave us isolated, alone, and full of shame. Whoever tries to save their life ends up losing it in the process. 

Yet, according to Jesus, we can reverse this. 

If we are willing to lose our life, willing to be vulnerable, to confess, to forgive, to risk loving people who might hurt us, we will end up finding life. Just as self-preservation is self-sabotage in disguise, self-sacrifice is self-care in disguise. 

Giving our life away is surprisingly life-giving. 

Words and Tongues

I went through most of my Christian life not engaging with the practice or the issue of praying in tongues. Then, a few years ago, I entered a new season of my walk with the Lord where I began to pray in tongues. As someone who did not grow up in a charismatic church, this transition caused me to do a lot of research on the issue. I have been asked on a number of occasions to bring clarity to this issue.

But what has been surprising to me is how Christians can be so concerned with tongues (both positively and negatively) and yet so few Christians are concerned with the damaging effects of our words. This is an imbalance that must be corrected in the church.

Whatever interpretive controversy there may be around speaking or praying in tongues, there is no interpretive controversy around what the Bible says about our words. Our words matter. Our words are powerful and can do serious damage. Yet, many Christians, especially on social media, act like verbally destroying people they disagree with is okay. It’s not.

The tongue has the power of life and death,
    and those who love it will eat its fruit.

Proverbs 18:21

The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body…

…no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?

James 3:6, 8-11

Whoever derides their neighbor has no sense, but the one who has understanding holds their tongue.

Those who are kind benefit themselves, but the cruel bring ruin on themselves.

Proverbs 11:12, 17

The bottom line is that the Bible has many scripture passages that talk about the damage that can happen from our words. Over and over again in the New Testament we are instructed to “bless and do not curse” and, “Do not repay anyone evil for evil“(Romans 12:14, 17). Yet, how many followers of Jesus are heeding this instruction from the Lord?

Instead, we want to argue about things like the gift of tongues. Isn’t that ironic? We argue about praying in tongues while never stopping to control our own tongues.

If you have confusion about speaking in tongues, you can go to this link where I taught a seminar on the Supernatural Christian Life. On Week 6, I spent the whole session unpacking the gift of tongues. In summary, I believe the gift of tongues shows up in 5 different and distinct ways in the church today. Each of these is for the building up of the church or the believer. None of these expressions of tongues make someone more or less spiritual than anyone else.

Personally, I celebrate the gift of tongues as an incredible gift from the Lord. Praying in tongues has been a powerful tool in my own life. But if we, as the church, want to focus on something even more powerful, let’s learn how to speak words of life that build up and encourage people. Let’s learn to bless those who curse us.

Maturity in Christ

You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food…

So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don’t need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God. You don’t need further instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And so, God willing, we will move forward to further understanding.

Hebrews 5:12; 6:1-3 (New Living Translation)

At some point in the Christian life, one must move past the basic teachings of the faith in order to mature. The writer of Hebrews tells us that there are meatier lessons for us to learn if we could only move past the foundations of the faith. So much of the church in America is still stuck on the basics and this has stagnated its spiritual maturity.

So why haven’t we moved on to the deeper things of God?

I think it is because we’ve lost trust in God’s revelation, His word. Instead, we have made our reason and experience our primary authority. Our rational understanding can only take us so far. We can only “make sense” of so much, then we reach our limit. The only way to go deeper is to trust that what God has revealed in His word is wiser than human wisdom. Trusting God’s revelation takes us further into the mind of Christ than simply trusting our own understanding.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
    and he will make your paths straight.

Proverbs 3:5-6

The Wesleyan Quadrilateral is one way to think about the four main sources of truth we use as we process our faith. Scripture is the first and primary authority for faith and practice. Picture a pyramid with scripture at the very top point. Experience, Reason, and Tradition are the other three (the three points at the bottom of the pyramid). These three are used by God to help us bring greater understanding, but they never supersede God’s revelation in scripture. God’s wisdom is different and better than human wisdom.

When people get stuck on the basics of the faith, they start arguing about silly theological minutia. Because they haven’t moved on to maturity in their relationship with the Lord, they participate in a kind of imitation of maturity, a counterfeit maturity, by arguing about things that don’t matter. Paul warned Timothy about this. He said, “Don’t have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels” (2 Timothy 2:23). Paul warned Titus of the same thing only with stronger language.

But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless. Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second time. After that, have nothing to do with them.

Titus 3:9-10

It’s one thing to raise questions because you are curious and want to learn. This kind of person has a posture of teachability. But there is another kind of posture that is obstinate. This person raises questions not because they want to learn but because they want to raise doubts, look smart, and feel important. If too much of this is in a church community, the church is never allowed to move beyond the basics and into the deeper things of God. Like the writer of Hebrews says, by this time, a person with this much theological knowledge should be a teacher and, instead, their lack of spiritual maturity still has them drinking milk.

Spiritual maturity isn’t about the acquisition of knowledge but about intimacy with the Lord the application of revelation. It’s less about how much one has “figured out” and more about how much one has surrendered their mind, will, and emotions to the Lord. It’s less about theology and more about trust. And trust will take you much further than your reason and understanding. Reason can only take us so far, then we must trust God’s revelation of Himself to us. And the embrace of revelation comes from intimate time with the Lord, time in prayer, time reading God’s word, time listening to the promptings of the Spirit, and obedience to God’s direction.

Good Shepherd

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
    for his name’s sake.

Psalm 23:1-3

Sometimes we read Psalm 23 and we can think of the Lord as a gentle but weak shepherd. Can you picture it? He’s guiding the sheep along quiet waters and gently caring for them as they lie down in green pastures. It’s a very calming picture, but we might not immediately call this kind of shepherd “powerful.”

Yet, as we continue to read the Psalm, we run into the next verse which says, “I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” And since we don’t come from a shepherding culture, we may have no idea what it’s talking about here. The rod was for the protection of the sheep. It was used to fight off predators. The staff was meant to corral the sheep. The hook at the end of the staff was used to pull sheep back into the flock.

A modern, modified way to read verse 4 would be, “I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your shotgun and Your cattle prod, they comfort me.” In other words, the Psalmist was comforted by the Shepherd’s power to protect him and power to correct him. This kind of power is comforting. It means we don’t have to try to muster up strength that we don’t have. In John 10:11 Jesus identifies Himself as the “good shepherd.” And the only way for a shepherd to be a good shepherd was for him to be a powerful one.

We see this truth in the early life of David before he became king. David was about to fight Goliath. King Saul told David that Goliath had been a warrior from his youth. David proceeds to give King Saul his resume. And the only thing on his resume was “shepherd.” David went on to explain that his training as a shepherd was as good or better than Goliaths training as a warrior.

But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”

1 Samuel 17:34-37

In order to be a good shepherd, David had to be a powerful one. You can’t be a good shepherd and a weak one. They are incompatible. John 10:11-13 goes on to explain that a hired hand will run away when a predator comes after the sheep, but a good shepherd will stay and be willing to lay his life down for his sheep.

So, next time you read Psalm 23, remember that the Lord is our shepherd, and though He is gentle with us, He is not weak. Our Good Shepherd is powerful! Part of what it means to be a good shepherd is to be a powerful one. His power to protect us and His power to correct us brings us rest and comfort. We don’t have to live in fear because He is near.