Psalm 23 Day Six:
“Even though I walk through the darkest valley, you are there. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” Psalm 23:4
Day 6: Comforted with Guidance & Protection
“Even though I walk through the darkest valley, you are there. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” Psalm 23:4
In Day 5 we talked about how we can be free from fear because in our darkest moments the shepherd is there guiding and comforting. Today, we will keep our focus here as we look at the tools of the shepherd – the rod and the staff. One is for protection and defending; the other guides and rescues.
Traumatic events can disrupt the present in two directions:
The past intrudes into the present. We can be sailing along when we stumble on some seemingly random trigger sends our nervous system into panic or pain.
Fear of the future invades the present. “This is the way it will always be.” “You will never be able to trust again.”
Our verse today address those two disruptions with the promise “Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
The rod is a tool of protection. It was a weapon to ward off the enemy. The shepherd would wield it to protect his sheep.
With trauma, painful events of the past don’t stay in the past but become the painful event of this present moment – like it is still happening. I can use my own experience as an example here. My first marriage involved damaging secrets. Information was withheld from me that profoundly affected my life. When I’d stumble on what was really going on and being hidden from me, my world would be rocked. It eventually would destroy my relationship. Now, although in my current relationship there are no dark secrets withheld from me, all it takes is a whiff of me feeling some piece of information is being withheld from me and I’m ready to run. The danger is gone but my nervous system hasn’t entirely received the memo.
Our nervous systems work so hard to protect us. It never wants to experience that devastation again but reacting to the present as if it were still stuck in the past isn’t helpful.
This is precisely where I need the Shepherd – that guarding that guiding presence who can lead me back to what is true and safe in the present.
Taking a breath and stepping away from consumerism is a beautiful way to recognize what our souls are truly longing for.
Michael Cusick in his book, “Surfing for God” states “If we seek on the physical level what can only be obtained on a spiritual level, then we set ourselves up for a never-ending cycle that only leads to desperation, despair and bondage.” (P. 15)
A Level Deeper.
But there is another whole level of depth that this phrase “I have what I need” speaks to.
For many of us it is a profound statement that speaks to our inner depths.
Many of the difficulties in our adult lives echo back to our childhoods. Every child needs food, clothing, shelter as well as to be taught appropriate boundaries, to be emotionally guided and to be loved for who we are. When those needs aren’t met one of two things happen: we either work to meet those needs for ourselves, sometimes in destructive ways, or we minimize or squelch that need completely.
Before we jump on the parent-blaming bus, it’s important to note that even the best of parents, who may be sacrificing their own lives to make life better for a child, cannot hope to meet all the needs of their child, every moment of every day of their life. This is especially true for those whose parents were never given the tools to know how to recognize and meet that need.
Many people I talk to in my counselling office quickly recite that they had a great childhood. They were clothed and fed, given an education and opportunities to play. They miss the crucial needs of appropriate boundaries, emotional guidance and validation and love for who they are as they are. Many of these lost needs hide in plain sight.
"Our nervous systems breathe a sigh of relief when we know someone has our back and is atturned to how we feel."
One of the deepest wounds you can inflict on a human is when someone who was supposed to protect you wounds you instead. Betrayal can be especially complicated because the person we depended upon for safety became the source of the wound.
Dr. Sue Johnson in her book Hold Me Tight, emphasizes that there are basic core needs we bring into our closest relationships: “Can I count on you, depend on you? Are you there for me? Will you respond to me when I need, when I call?” (Sue Johnson, Hold Me Tight)
It doesn’t take very long living in this world to discover that even the humans we love will sometimes fail us or fall short.
In Psalm 23, we see when humans fail and leave us with scars on our soul, leaving us reliving the past or dreading the future, our Shepherd holds the the tools of healing.
The first part of this verse already addressed a key component of relationship – being present. God assures us we are not alone. We have covered this in Day One and again in Day Five. The expansion into the mention of the rod and staff add important factors.
The imagery of the rod, which is a tool of defense, shows us that God sees what is threatening you. He has the tools to come to your side. No threat, no wound and no experience from your past puts you beyond the reach of the Shepherd. That is a different story than our nervous systems experience.
What might change if the anxious parts of your nervous system believed that God has your back. That he sees precisely how what has happened in your past is disrupting your present and the fear that this is your new, endless reality that will ruin your future. You can count on him. He is there for you. He hears when you call.
"The Shepherd wants to gather the scattered, the shatteered, and the scared."
Secondly, the second tool, the staff, offers the promise of guidance. Trauma can make us afraid of what will happen next. If it’s happened once, what will stop it from happening again? When those you should have been able to trust failed you, how will you know who you can trust?
The staff offers a different kind of comfort. It reassures that you don’t have to see the entire path ahead of you. You have a Shepherd who does. He has his eyes on you. His staff represents his desire to guide andut gently draw you back.
In the words of Dr. Curt Thompson, “We come into the world looking for someone looking for us.”
The imagery of the shepherd’s staff shows that kind of attentive attunement. He knows where his sheep are and he has the tool to gently guide them back. Or to make that personal: He sees every thing that has you in danger. He is watching and when needed, His staff guides you back closer to Him. Further from harm.
Our nervous systems breathe a sigh of relief when we know someone has our back and is attuned to how we feel.
The rod and staff are also symbols of authority. Unfortunately, authority has for many of us has been abused. The staff was used to manipulate and control, pressure and coerce. This is not the imagery of shepherding. The Bible has harsh words for shepherds that abuse their sheep.
“Woe to you…you do not take care of the flock. 4 You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally. 5 So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals.”.
God’s desire is for the people closest to you to take care of you. When someone violates that it can erode our trust in all authority. It then is hard to believe, when the difficulties of life knock the wind out of us, that the shepherd has our back and is watching.
What might shift if the anxious parts of our nervous system began to believe tha tGod has your back?"
The reassurance of this Psalm is that He is there, active and watching even when we don’t see it.
Listen further to the words of God written in Ezekiel: 11 “‘I myself will search for my sheep and look after them… I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. 15 I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign Lord. 16 I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak.”
The shepherd wants to gather the scattered, the shattered, and the scared. For those feeling lost, he wants you to feel the security of being found – of being carried and guided. His desire is that you could rest. He see your injury and longs to bind up your wounds and help you rehabilitate those parts that are weak.
What circumstances in life would be more manageable if you truly believed that?
Instead of our brokenness driving us away from God, it can instead be a means to draw us closer. I love the way Michael Cusick states it in his book, Sacred Attachment. “So rather than hide our neediness and escape from our brokenness, we are free to steward them as currency in how we connect with God. Our surrendered heart learns to rest in the embrace of the Trinity”
The rod reminds me that what happened in my past does not have authority over everything that happens next.
The staff reminds me that I do not have to know the way forward. I have a Shepherd, who sees me, stays with me, protects me and guides me. What would shift if you knew someone was attuned to how this is affecting you and is actively working to guide and protect you?
- Have you ever had someone in authority abuse their power over you? How has that affected your ability to trust in a Good Shepherd who guides and protects you?
- Have you ever had someone close to you break your trust? How does that continue to affect you
- Which are most in need of today: that someone has your back or that they understand what you are going through? What would shift if both of those were true?
- Who are people that have had your back or are attuned to your circumstances? Have you told them how much that is appreciated.
- Do you recognize the things that trigger you or activate your nervous system? What might change if those moments became an invitation to draw closer to the Good Shepherd rather than something you had to manage alone?
Prayer:
Lord, thank you for walking with us even when we don’t see it.
Thank you protecting us in ways we’ll never know.
Thank you that you continue to guide us gently closer back to you.
Teach us how to trust more fully.
Teach us how to trust your guidance.
Amen
