Bible News: The Arm Of Mercy & Judgement

♠♠♠ The Arm Of Mercy & Judgement ♠♠♠

“…thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” -Psalm 23:4

When the Psalmist spoke of the rod and the staff of God comforting him, he wasn’t talking about being pampered. As a matter of fact, he spoke about the training like the book of Proverbs puts it ‘that train up your child in the way he should go so when he is old, he will not depart from it’.

In the Middle East the shepherd carries only a rod and staff. The rod was what he relied on to safeguard both himself and his flock in danger. And it was, furthermore, the instrument he used to discipline and correct any wayward sheep that insisted on wandering away. It is a symbol of his strength, his power, his authority in any serious situation.

The staff is essentially a symbol of the concern, the compassion that a shepherd has for his charges. The staff speaks of all that is longsuffering and kind.

The shepherd’s staff is normally a long, slender stick, often with a crook or hook on one end. It is selected with care by the owner; it is shaped, smoothed, and cut to best suit his own personal use.

Somehow the staff is of special comfort to the shepherd himself. In the tough tramps and during the long weary watches with his sheep, he leans on it for support and strength. It becomes to him a most precious comfort and help in his duties.

There are three areas of sheep managment in which the staff plays a most significant role. The first of these lies in drawing sheep together into an intimate relationship. The shepherd will use his staff to gently lift a newborn lamb and bring it to its mother if they become parted. He does this because he does not wish to have the ewe reject her offspring if it bears the odor of his hands upon it.

The staff is used by the shepherd to reach out and catch individual sheep, young or old, and draw them close to himself for intimate examination. The staff is very useful this way for the shy and timid sheep normally tend to keep at a distance from the shepherd.

The staff is also used for guiding sheep. Again and again I have seen a shepherd use his staff to guide his sheep gently into a new path or through some gate or along dangerous, difficult routes. He does not use it actually to beat the beast. Rather, the tip of the long slender stick is laid gently against the animal’s side and the pressure applied guides the sheep in the way the owner wants it to go. Thus the sheep is reassured of its proper path. [Excerpts from: A Shepherd Looks At Psalm 23 By Phillip Keller].

Like a shepherd, God is concerned about the sheep. Therefore, he takes the necessary measures to safeguard the sheep which includes discipline. What will the mercy of God be without judgement? It will mean that God is not just.

For us to have salvation, He had to let his son shed His blood for the remission of our sins. God paid the sacrifice for us through Jesus. That right there was mercy and judgment… that right there was justice!

If all there is, is mercy without judgement, there will be imbalance. We will do whatever we like, go however we like and then return when we like to psych God into mercy for us. In doing this, we will live in His permissive will, we will not be aligned with our true purpose, we will definitely not have roots for we wouldn’t have endured anything, nor been through trials that produces the gold in us.

God is a just God, so He balances mercy and judgement so that we do not wander like sheep but guides us as a good shepherd, although, if left alone, we would have wandered off but His guidance kept us in His will.

David who wrote Psalm 23 wandered away from God’s will and tried to seek His mercy. He fasted, prayed and kept himself sober because his son was dying as a result of what he had done but on the 7th day, the child died. David dusted himself up and went to eat. Very weird for a man who had been sober and sad while the child was sick but what David tried to get God’s mercy in the place of consequence. Note, David had been forgiving but for every action there is a reaction.

This is why when Jesus died and rose again, he paid the sacrifice for the consequence of our sins and extended God’s mercy beyond the sacrifice of ram thereby giving us grace. Mercy triumphs over judgement.

I perceive that it is possible for David to have obtained his wish if it had happened after Christ death and I am not saying that when Jesus came, He did not take the consequence of our transgressions and placed it on Himself. What I am saying is better explained by Hebrews 10:26; “For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins”.

So God is a merciful God but He is also a God of judgement. The fact that He forgives does not mean He won’t correct and if need be, you will endure some hardship so He can with that draw you closer into his will – like a good shepherd. God forbid that we become unrepentant, like Hebrews 10:26 puts it, there is no more sacrifice but judgement!

About Alex Amos

Alex Amos is a Creative Writer and Team Head at Lexyville Entertainment, publishers of SelahAfrik. He is a publicist for Christian personalities including Wole Oni, Wilson Joel, Glowreeyah Braimah, Ada, Chris Shalom and more. Alex is an assistant pastor, serving in Heaven on Earth Ministries.