Draw Me Nearer

This morning Marley and I ventured along the farm road that is adjacent to our property. We walked back into the forest. It is a walk that I avoid during the warm summer months. The likelihood of meeting a black bear foraging for raspberries is a factor that keeps us out of our favourite walking trail until the cooler weather is upon us. I enjoyed a glorious fall walk with my faithful walking stick and my loyal canine companion sniffing out the scent of wildlife as she ran alternatively ahead of and behind me. I purchased a stout walking stick the day I decided to retire. I use it daily summer and winter. While walking on a smooth surface, it simply balances in my right hand. On rough or slippery terrain it provides greatly increased stability and balance. A walking stick is invaluable for breaking cob webs in front of you on early morning summer walks near trees and shrubs. It also affords at least the psychological promise of protection. Where we walk, even on our own property, bear encounters are common and in the past I have had to deal with an aggressive dog as well. I am not sure about the wisdom of using a walking stick on an attacking black bear, but this well worn instrument gives a modicum of comfort. It is the height of my shoulder and a little more than an inch in diameter. It also makes an excellent leaning post when I stop for a rest. Marley understands its use in pointing out directions along our journey. In short, I have become uncomfortable walking anywhere but on the driveway without my walking stick.

This dependence has made me much more attentive to the use of walking sticks in the Bible. The mention of rods, staffs and crooks is very common in scripture. When Moses is charged with the responsibility of leading the Israelites out of Egypt, God actually makes use of the staff that is in the hand of Moses as he speaks to him. In verse Exodus 4:20 that walking stick becomes “the rod of God” which Moses uses to punish Pharaoh over and over until he is ordered to leave Egypt with the Hebrew nation. Moses also uses this staff to smite the rock to find water in Exodus 17:6 and he held it aloft in order to fight Amalek in Exodus 17:9. When he held it up, his troops prevailed. When his arm tired and he let it down, the troops of Amalek prevailed. This walking stick became an instrument of God.

Lately, I have been meditating on the very familiar words found in Psalm 23: 4

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

I read the words “rod” and “staff” as one instrument; namely, a heavy walking stick probably with a shepherd’s crook at the end. I have always understood that comfort for His “sheep” comes from the protection afforded by the staff of the Lord. I am not to even fear the threat of death. I will fear no evil because the Lord is there to look after me. It has also dawned on me of late that the reference to “rod”, which is also an instrument of punishment in the Bible, may suggest that I may need to be disciplined from time to time, and indeed I do. The crook on the end of the staff signifies my need to be redirected from time to time, and indeed I do need that as well. I am recently heartened by the realization that a staff with a crooked end is used primarily to pull the sheep towards and closer to the shepherd. The strange thing is my realization later in life that such discipline and redirecting is a comfort, particularly when I know that the direction of redirection is always closer to Him. Indeed, the attention paid to my welfare and direction in life by a loving and disciplining God is forever a comfort that leads to heaven.

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