Monday 12-10-07

Greetings Internet Campus,

Welcome to a new week on the Internet Campus! I was thinking this weekend about God's love...how does He show us that He loves us? How do I know I'm not alone? Well today's devotional from Greg Laurie explains one way that God shows His love for us....and it's a tough but necessary one.

The Rod and Staff

Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word.

—Psalm 119:67

Sheep have a natural tendency to go astray and get themselves into trouble. When one sheep goes astray, the others will follow. We have the same tendency. The prophet Isaiah said, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way” (Isaiah 53:6).

David, a shepherd, knew some things about straying sheep. He wrote, “Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me” (Psalm 23:4). The rod and the staff were essential tools of the shepherd. He would use a staff to pull in a wayward sheep. And he would use the rod to fight off intruders or threats to his sheep. But some sheep are really stubborn, so at times the shepherd used the rod on his sheep too, the sheep that he loved so much. He would chose to do that rather than see them dead one day. So the shepherd would pull out the rod and apply it.

Sometimes God uses the staff in our lives. When we are going astray, doing something we shouldn’t do, the Holy Spirit convicts us. It’s wrong and we know it.

But if we keep doing it, then God will pull out the rod. You know what I’m talking about. Maybe you had been getting away with something, but then one day, the full ramifications or repercussions of your sin caught up with you in full force. That is the rod. It is not meant to destroy you, but to warn you of the dangers of what you are doing.

The psalmist said, “Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I keep your word” (Psalm119:67). God will chastise you if necessary, but He does so because He loves you.


This week remember that God loves us so much that He allows the consequences of poor choices to catch up with us. This almost sounds counterproductive...but think about it....how would your life be different if you received no recourse for sinful behavior? What lessons in life would you have missed if you had "gotten away with it?"

We serve a just and loving God.

Pastor Brian