Follow the Staff

Going back to my prior posts... as I walked along the game trail, and eventually blazed my own trail, I recognized that I wasn't exactly in the safest of areas. Snakes and rodents are the most likely threat to a hiker. Animals tend to run from the presence of humans. As an aside, that may say much about the respect/disrespect they have for us. They respect our power and cunning, but they disrespect our tendency to destroy just for the sake of destruction. But I've gone off on a tangent (or in keeping with the metaphor, I've taken a rabbit trail, haven't I?)

As I walked along I spotted a branch that had fallen due to rot or wind or some combination of the two. I broke off a large enough span, removed extra, smaller limbs, and began to use it as a staff. When David penned the familiar words "Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me" (From Psalm 23) he was referring to two particular types of sticks. The rod was a short, stout club used to fend off attacking dogs, wolves or others who would predate upon the sheep. That staff was used for several purposes. One was to move the sheep in the right direction with a gentle nudge. Another was to provide a sure footing along the steep hillsides that were easy for sheep's hooves, but not for the sandled foot. Still another use, and the one I refer to today, was to poke and prod at the ground ahead to assure the safety of the ground.

When walking along in the wilderness one might find ground that has been undermined by erosion and poking it will reveal that it won't support your weight. At other times you would poke head in deep brush to assure some animal wasn't lurking, or hiding, thus causing an unexpected and potentially hazardous introduction.

It was also very important that you poked ahead where you intended to walk and not all around in random order. If a staff were to poke to the left and you went right, it wouldn't really serve it's purpose to prepare the path ahead. It's also possible that a staff poked to the left or right and not in the direction of travel might stir up something that would have been better off left unstirred, like a hornets nest, or adder's den. Walking in the path of the staff is the best bet.

So what is the "staff" in your life. The Bible is a clear and sound guide. Within it we read that God's "word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path." In other words it illuminates the path ahead, brings to light that which may be unsafe, and protects us.

Other "staffs" may be people who have trod the path before, or those who are charged with the duty of daily seeking God's will for the community and leading in that way. My prayer is that you come to trust your church staff in that way. We are daily seeking God's will for our community. We are reading our Bible, praying for direction, and seeking the wisdom of members of our church and wider Christian community for guidance. I would never suggest that you walk in blind trust, even Jesus spoke against that. Only to seek to follow the "staff" that has tested the ground ahead and found it to be the right path.