The Staff- Eight words can say so much.

Then he took his staff in his hand; and he chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag, in a pouch which he had, and his sling was in his hand. And he drew near to the Philistine.

1 Samuel 17:40

Last week when we ended our study on the battle between David and Goliath, I said that we would begin a new study on the weapons every Christian needs to live a successful Christian walk. So what are those five smooth stones that the Lord provides?  Most mature Christians can name them easily. The stones are the word of God, prayer, worship, fellowship, and spiritual service.  Each one of these grows a Christian and provides protection against the enemy. It only takes one to take down a warrior of Goliath’s magnitude, or sin in our lives, if we’re sincere in our faith.  Before we get into the stones, let’s take a look at the first eight words that proceeds the choosing of the stones.

Then he took his staff in his hand…

These words should not be overlooked. A staff is a very important part of a shepherd’s life. It’s not just a stick. It’s a lengthy piece of wood usually with a hook or a widening at the end of it. I grew up on a farm and used staffs frequently with our herds of goats and occasionally with sheep. I can tell you firsthand how we used the staff with our animals. First, we used it with the very young to direct them to their mothers. It helped us from having to touch them by gently nudging. Secondly, we used them to keep the herd moving in the directions we wanted them to, like a fence. We would run up beside a wandering animal and give it a little tap on the side, and it would return to the group. Sometimes if they just saw the staff coming up they’d run back to the center of the group. And finally we used it often to defend the herd against any thing that came up to do harm to them. A good swift whack to a stray dog’s quarters was usually enough to cause it to retreat, but if it continued we knew how to take aim at places that would cause more severe damage.  Staffs were a major part of our arsenal in defending our little flock as well as being a tool for caring for the actual herd.

When the staff is used scripturally it usually symbolizes God’s strength and comfort. The staff was the extension of the hand. When David took the staff into his hand, in a sense, he was reaching up and taking his heavenly Father’s hand. It was a way of saying, “Come on, God, you got this. I’m just holding fast for you to take this guy down.”

The strength of God is revealed in other ways as well. All through creation God’s amazing power is shouted at us. He has given us strength to sustain us as well as to protect us. He gave us amazing paradigms to live within. We call these structures laws. There are many of them in our existence. There are the physical laws like the law of gravity, the laws of motion, and the laws of thermodynamics, but I’m not a physicist so I won’t even attempt to explain them. They are awesome God laws. Then there are the moral laws which we should all follow. Those laws are such laws as “do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” which is not in the Bible. What is in the Bible is found in Matthew 22:39 in which Jesus says that second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. That’s hard to do because it requires you think as much of the person next to you as you do yourself. Most of us don’t think about the person next to us as person at all, at least not as a complete person with a life and feelings, and emotions, much less as a coheir in the kingdom of God.  For most of us our neighbor is usually not that important to us, unless they’re between us and the emergency exit as we’re trying to escape the downed plane. Then they become very important to us, especially if they take the time to reach out to us just as we see a spark somewhere in the distance.  The final kind of laws are spiritual laws. These laws determine how you live your life, how you view your world, and who rules your heart. These rules are written in our heart by God when we ask Jesus to be our Lord. These are the most difficult to follow because we try so hard to break them. We know the right thing to do, but we don’t do it. (See Romans 7)

The staff can also represent doctrine. I’m not talking about your own church doctrine. I’m speaking about the doctrine handed down by God. The word doctrine means teaching or standard. God has given us a standard that we must live by, but since the fall we’ve been going our own way and determined to stray, like my goats when I was growing up. So the shepherd has to use His staff.

All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:6

One interesting thing about a standard is that a standard is also the pole or post that the nation of Israel used to travel under. They were those signs that were used to be held up over the people. These signs led them into battle, and led them along the path they should follow. More interestingly then that was the standard was made up of a long vertical pole that was lifted high and a cross bar from which hung the signal piece. In short, it resembled the cross.  The cross led the people. The staff led the sheep.

Eight words, just eight, that are so much more than just a description of an action. It should make us think that there is a reason for every word that is written in the Bible. Every word has a reason for its placement in His word. God wants us to know Him. He uses his staff, his strength, to protect and guide us.  

Next week we will begin to look at the five smooth stones, with none other than God’s word.

Until then God Bless and have a great MLK Day!