Considering His Rod and His Staff

Considering His Rod and His Staff

By Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe

Psalm 23:4b: “Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”

Considering the rod, we find the Hebrew word describes a stick that can be used for disciplining, writing, fighting, ruling or walking.  With his rod, the shepherd disciplines the sheep.  Discipline is not punishment.  Discipline proves direction, purpose, and wisdom. The shepherd guides his sheep.  He leads them to still waters, to places of peace and safety just as the Word of God directs us to the comfort and peace of the Holy Spirit.  In His Word, we find purpose for living.  We find wisdom.  We find hope. 

God’s Word is a mighty weapon.  Hebrews 4: 12: “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”  The Word is the rod we must use in spiritual warfare.  The Word is both an offensive weapon and a defensive weapon. ).   The Word is a two-edged sword.

The Word is the ruling scepter of the Lord extended toward us.  The Word establishes His authority and the authority that He has given us in Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:18

Interestingly, in Hebrew, the rod is also, figuratively, a clan.  It pictures the guidance, purpose, power and authority that is the synergy arising from unity.  May we take Psalm 133:1 to heart: “How wonderful it is, how pleasant, when brothers live in harmony.”  Our unity is a demonstration of our love.  Our unity is a testimony that the Father loves us just as He loves His Son (John 17:31).

It is the rod and the staff together that bring comfort on our life journey.  While the rod represents that which guides our life, the staff represents that which supports our life.  We lean on the staff, and there we find strength.  

  

The day after He had broken the loaves and fed the multitude, Jesus said to the crowds that had gathered, "'For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.'

'Then they said to Him, "Lord, give us this bread always.'

And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst” (John 6:33-35).

When the rod touches us, we are enriched.    When we lean on the staff and ingest the bread of truth, we find ourselves at the table that He had prepared for us before the foundation of the world.  Then, even though we may be surrounded by our enemies, our cup of joy overflows and we rest in His eternal presence.

Considering the Lilies

Considering the Lilies

By Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe

In this season, the Lord is leading me into a time of considering, a time of looking more deeply into His word and into the world around me, a time to note carefully, to learn thoroughly.  I began this journey with Luke 12:27:  "Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Lilies grow all over the world. The Snowdon grows in alpine tundra. Other lilies thrive in the deserts.  Some grow in the shade. Others grow in the sun. Some even grow in the water.

Lilies, like people, grow in unusual environments.  No matter their differences, they still are lilies.

Mary, Mary, don’t be so contrary.

Stop and consider how God’s garden grows.

Some in the cold.

Some in the warm.

Some in the city.

Some on the farm.

No matter the situation or the place.

Not one is hidden from the Maker’s grace.

A lily is more than just another pretty face.  Dried lilies are a rich in fiber, sodium and carbohydrates. Lily bulbs have proteins, starch and other vitamins and minerals.  One of the benefits of the lily is that it helps to regulate the heart rate. The roots of the lily are used in an ointment for treating burns and preventing scar tissue.

In some parts of the world, roots of the wood lily are used as medicinal teas to treat coughs, fevers, stomach disorders as well as wounds.

The essential oil of the lily is used in aromatherapy to treat depression.  The oil is also used in the perfume industry.

Some lilies are surprising!!

The onion and its relatives belong to the lily family. Some, such as the allium, are ornamental; the garlic, leek, Welsh onion, and chive are vegetables. All of the edible forms have related flavors and odors that are due to a volatile, irritating substance.

Those people and situations are grace growers.  We grow in grace as we learn to be more gracious in our dealings with them.

It’s all in the attitude, our attitude.  I can either be a lonely little petunia in a onion patch or a blessed little petunia in a lily patch. It’s all in my perception and attitude.

In the beauty of the lilies, we see the majesty of our Creator.

“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead” (Romans 1:20).

He is the lily of the valleys. (Song of Solomon 2:1) Valleys represent times of trial and temptation.

The flower we call the lily of the valley pictures the love, purity, humility, healing and hope we have in Jesus.  He heals not only our ailing physical hearts, but also our broken emotional hearts. Likewise, He heals the scars of abuse, neglect and betrayal.   He is our healer, our comfort, our joy.

He is also the lily of our mountain top experiences, our times of victory and triumph. He rejoices in our exultation. “The Lord your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you in His love, He will rejoice over you with singing'' (Zephaniah 3:17).

Consider the Lilies

By Joel Hemphill

“Consider the lilies they don't toil nor spin

And there's not a king with more splendor than them

Consider the sparrows they don't plant nor sow

But they're fed by the Master who watches them grow

We have a heavenly Father above

With eyes full of mercy and a heart full of love

He really cares when your head is bowed low

Consider the lilies and then you will know

May I introduce you to this Friend of mine

Who hangs out the stars tells the sun when to shine

And kisses the flowers each morning with dew

But He's not too busy to care about you.”

He does really care when your head is bowed low.  Take time to consider the lilies and then you will know.

Sometimes It Takes a Mountain

Sometimes It Takes a Mountain

By Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe

Sometimes It Takes a Mountain

By Gloria Gaither and Mark Mathes

“Sometimes it takes a mountain
Sometimes a troubled sea
Sometimes it takes a desert
To get a hold of me
Your Love is so much stronger
Then whatever troubles me
Sometimes it takes a mountain
To trust you and believe.”

This song has captivated my heart.  It resonates in my spirit even in my sleep.  It has caused me to meditate on the mountains, the troubled seas and the deserts of life. 

In scripture, mountains often represent difficulties and hardships that must be overcome.  

Jesus assures us, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, `Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will come to pass, he will have whatever he says. Therefore, I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them” (Mark 11:22-24.)

Holding onto the promises of God, we discover that those mountains of obstruction in our lives can be removed, most often one layer at a time. 

However, the mountain image is not one-sided.  We often describe those victory moments in our lives as “mountain top” experiences.  Remember the ark rested on Mt. Ararat.  Abraham offered Isaac on Mount Moriah and received the provision of God for salvation.  Later, Solomon built the Temple on that sight.  Moses received the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai.  Elijah called down fire from heaven on Mount Carmel.  Golgotha gave us the ultimate mountain top experience when Jesus cried, “It is finished” and died to pay the price for our sin.

Whether the mountain offers obstruction or deliverance, a mountain top experience opens us to the revelation of God.  God gets a hold of us on the mountain.

On the troubled seas of life, we can either be like Jonah or like the Apostle Paul.  Jonah tried to escape the Lord on the tumultuous sea.    Jonah asked to be thrown overboard in the storm and found himself in an unlikely and uncomfortable place of protection.  God got a hold of him in the belly of the great fish.

God got a hold of Paul on the road to Damascus.  Later, when the tempest arose, Paul prayed and fasted during the storm and received the assurance that though the ship would be lost, all the lives on board would be saved.  When the stormy sea arose, Paul prayed because he knew his Lord.

His love surrounds us even in the most turbulent times.

Then we come to the desert times when we feel empty, deserted and spiritually lethargic.  During those times, we must remember the Israelites in the wilderness.  God found his people in that desert: "He found them in a wilderness, a wasteland of howling desert. He shielded them, cared for them, guarded them as the apple of his eye" (Deuteronomy 32:10)

When the people of Judah were exiled in Babylon, God told them to return to their homeland.  The desert wilderness that lay between them and Jerusalem became a pathway back to God: "A voice proclaims: In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God!" (Isaiah 40:3.)

We are not deserted in the desert.

What we must learn in difficult times is that His love is stronger than anything that might trouble us.  It is in those seemingly impossible situations that we learn to trust and believe. Sometimes it takes a mountain for us to accept that.