Being a Pilgrim

The Rod and Staff

Posted on 6th Jun 20251st May 2025 by korgrocker

“The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need. He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honour to his name. Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.”
Psalm 23:1-4 NLT

David’s pastoral poem develops with a reminder about the shepherd’s rod and staff. In those long ago days, when sheep followed shepherds, from meadow to meadow, and the shepherd lived with them, because grazing often took the flock a long way from home, there was a need for weapons and other means to protect the sheep from predators and from their own wayward ways. Such implements were the rod and the staff, essential tools in the shepherd’s hands. The rod was a sort of club, heavy enough to do serious damage to a lion or a bear, as David told Saul in 1 Samuel 17:34-35, “But David persisted. “I have been taking care of my father’s sheep and goats,” he said. “When a lion or a bear comes to steal a lamb from the flock, I go after it with a club and rescue the lamb from its mouth. If the animal turns on me, I catch it by the jaw and club it to death“. So the rod in David’s hands was a formidable weapon, and he would have been skilled in using it.

The shepherd’s staff would have been something more familiar to us today, as it was a long slender pole with a crook at the end. Examples can be found in tourist shops in Scotland, but David’s staff would have been much more than a decorative souvenir. It was a device used to protect and direct wayward sheep, the crook fitting nicely around the sheep’s neck, allowing it to be guided back onto the right path.

The rod and staff were essential to the shepherds in David’s days, and having been one himself, David knew how to use them effectively. In the shepherd’s hands, one protected the sheep from attack and the other provided the comfort of being led to safety. But Psalm 23 starts with another perspective, “The Lord is my Shepherd”. David considered himself as a sheep and the Lord as his Shepherd. The pastoral analogy can be found in Ezekiel 34:2 where we read, “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds, the leaders of Israel. Give them this message from the Sovereign Lord: What sorrow awaits you shepherds who feed yourselves instead of your flocks. Shouldn’t shepherds feed their sheep?”, a rebuke delivered to the Israelite authorities. In the Israelite economy, sheep and goats were an important source of income and food, with skins and wool for clothing, and the leaders of the people had a responsibility to provide protection and to foster a secure economy, just as a shepherd had to for the sheep and goats in his care. In a similar way the religious leaders were failing in their duties, allowing apostasy and neglect permeate the Jewish religious society. But Ezekiel continued with “the word of the Lord” and he issued a damning indictment against the leaders who were failing in their responsibilities. “As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, you abandoned my flock and left them to be attacked by every wild animal. And though you were my shepherds, you didn’t search for my sheep when they were lost. You took care of yourselves and left the sheep to starve. Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I now consider these shepherds my enemies, and I will hold them responsible for what has happened to my flock. I will take away their right to feed the flock, and I will stop them from feeding themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths; the sheep will no longer be their prey” (Ezekiel 34:8-10). Significantly, Ezekiel went on to write, “For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search and find my sheep. I will be like a shepherd looking for his scattered flock. I will find my sheep and rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on that dark and cloudy day” (Ezekiel 34:11-12).

We saw the fulfilment of Ezekiel’s prophecy with Jesus. He said, “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd sacrifices His life for the sheep. … I am the Good Shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep” (John 10:11, 14-15). Jesus was, and is, the Good Shepherd. He is totally trustworthy, strong and capable. He leads us, His sheep, to all the right places where we can flourish as His followers. He protects us from harm, as we trust in His ways, and if we err and stray from the right paths, then He will gently draw us back.

We pilgrims may also be responsible for shepherding others, in our families, churches or friendship groups. You see, we have been blessed by our knowledge of the Good Shepherd and His ways, because He is the Way to eternal life. But there are those around us who behave like “sheep without a shepherd”, with no apparent moral compass, no idea of right and wrong, other than by following the other wayward sheep in our societies. Without any perception of the Good Shepherd, they try to shepherd themselves, a way of life that will not end well for them. And in the process they find themselves in places without green pasture and peaceful streams, caught up in lifestyles bringing chaos and confusion, their souls shrivelled and malnourished. And so, we pilgrims try and lead and counsel them by example, by word and deed, behaving as under shepherds to the Great Shepherd Himself. We may not have physical rods and staffs, but we have the Word of God, with which we can bring God’s truth and comfort into needy people’s lives.

We also will have our own under shepherds, our pastors and ministers, who are responsible for spiritual guidance and care in the churches and fellowships of which we are a part. We support them and encourage them as we hear Your word from their lips, and feel the benefit of their prayers uttered over us day by day. God has designed a system for our care just as a shepherd looks after his sheep. And in it all we look to Jesus, the Author and Perfector of our faith.

Dear Good Shepherd. We thank You for Your guidance and provision for us sheep, so prone to take wrong paths and end up in trouble. We thank You too for our pastors who care for us, Your servants who diligently shepherd us in our daily lives. Thank You for Jesus, the Good Shepherd who willingly gave His life for us. Amen.

Darkest Valleys

Posted on 5th Jun 20255th Jun 2025 by korgrocker

Notice that David wrote “when” not “if” when he considered the darkest valleys. We know that David suffered some dark times in his often eventful journey through life. Take what he wrote in Psalm 31:9-10 for example, “Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am in distress. Tears blur my eyes. My body and soul are withering away. I am dying from grief; my years are shortened by sadness. Sin has drained my strength; I am wasting away from within“. Was that a “darkest valley” for David?

Elijah came to suffer in a dark place too, as we read in 1 Kings 19:4, “Then he went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.”” In Elijah’s case, he had just been God’s front man at the epic event on the top of Mount Carmel, where God sent fire to consume the sacrifice, after which Elijah despatched 450 prophets of Baal. But the miracles didn’t stop there, because the three and a half year drought came to an end and “the Lord gave special strength to Elijah” allowing him to run faster than Ahab’s chariot. But then we read that Elijah literally did a runner after Jezebel’s threats, ending up in a “darkest valley” in the wilderness and under a broom tree, whatever that was.

One of the darkest Psalms in the Bible is Psalm 88. It was written by a man called Heman the Ezrahite and contains eighteen verses of gloom and depression, describing a valley so dark that it is a wonder that he could have written it at all. Verse 6, “You have thrown me into the lowest pit, into the darkest depths“, and he finishes “Darkness is my closest friend”. Oh dear! But to Heman perhaps the most poignant verses are 13 and 14, “O Lord, I cry out to you. I will keep on pleading day by day. O Lord, why do you reject me? Why do you turn your face from me?”

Being in a “darkest valley” is indeed a terrible place to be. A blackness descends over all aspects of a person’s thinking, to the extent that no good can be found anywhere. But there are varying degrees of “darkest valleys”. Today we would perhaps suggest that such a place as a “darkest valley” is the mental state of depression, which seems endemic in today’s world. In the context of Psalm 23, a spiritual “darkest valley” is more likely than a physical “darkest valley” of which there are many around the world in the wildest and most remote parts, valleys sometime scary but mostly harmless. But why should we pilgrims ever experience depression, because, after all, God loves and cares for us. There are many causes of depression, a study of which is beyond our morning’s read, but the reality is that a Christian is no more immune from a valley experience than an unbeliever. Sadly, some consider depression as a sin, and although that could be the case in some situations, it is unhelpful to treat the depressive as a sinner.

I occasionally meet people who tell me that they are depressed about the state of the world, usually in response to me sharing about my hope in Jesus. Their response is a forerunner to a question that goes something like this – “If God is a God of love why does He allow so much suffering and mayhem in the world?” They reject God because they consider Him to be the architect of all their, and the world’s, woes, or, if not, He is at least powerless to stop them. Without waiting for an explanation, such a person walks away, continuing in their depressed state, one more hopeless person in a hopeless world. But we pilgrims have a message of hope for such people and we pray for the opportunities to share all about God and what He has done for us. God is indeed a God of love, but He is also a God of righteousness and justice, and we will never know, in this life, the extent of His gracious power in holding back the forces of evil, intent on destroying God’s created human beings.

But what should we pilgrims do when we get depressed? We get medical help just in case the condition is treatable, and we call on our pastor and Christian friends to pray for us. We remember all of God’s promises. Ones that have helped me include 1 Peter 5:7, “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you“. David prayed Psalm 43:5, “Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again— my Saviour and my God!” Jesus said to His disciples, “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). And we pray for ourselves, believing God for a solution. But in those “darkest valleys” where things are so black that we cannot even contemplate anything to do with God, we are assured that He is close behind us, protecting and comforting us. And we remember that every valley is followed by a mountain top. Valleys won’t last forever.

Dear Father God. We know that in Your presence there is no sickness and pain, and we look ahead to the time when “darkest valleys” are no more. Thank You Jesus. Amen.

Bringing Honour

Posted on 4th Jun 20251st May 2025 by korgrocker

David has packed much into these first few verses of Psalm 23. Meadows and streams where strength is renewed and guidance provided for a spiritual walk along the “right paths”. David lived in a society where it was assumed that God was real and everyone believed in Him. Of course that is not to say that sin didn’t exist. Quite the opposite, as we find when we read the historical accounts of the Israelites. Take for example what happened just after Joshua died. Judges 2:11-12, “The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight and served the images of Baal. They abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They went after other gods, worshiping the gods of the people around them. And they angered the Lord“. But if those idol worshipers had thought about their relationship with God, the Lord who brought them out of slavery in Egypt to the land that He had prepared for them, then they would have realised that they were not bringing honour to His name. But at this point in their lives they probably didn’t care. After all, they would have said, “everyone is doing it”, an age-old justification for bad, sinful, and Godless behaviour.

“Bringing honour” to something or someone is considered important even today. An opposite to “bringing honour” would be bringing into disrepute, something that can be a dismissible offence in many companies and organisations. For example, one HR consultancy website reports, “Bringing a company into disrepute refers to actions or behaviour by an employee, contractor or representative that negatively impacts the organisation’s reputation. It can include conduct both inside and outside the workplace that creates public criticism, loss of trust or damage to the company’s standing with stakeholders, customers, or the public. In such situations, the employee can be said to be bringing the company into disrepute, which may give the employer legal cause to take disciplinary action“. If an secular organisation looks so negatively at a member who is failing to bring them honour, and doing them reputational harm, how much more will God look on if His children behave in the same way, bringing His name and Kingdom into disrepute? Some Christians like to attach a bumper sticker to their cars, such as “Jesus Saves” or a fish symbol, signifying their relationship with God. But if they then are caught exceeding the speed limit is that not bringing their faith into disrepute? And even if they are not caught, what does that say about them to the society in which they live? A common argument put forward by people who refuse to go to church, is that such buildings are full of hypocrites, people who behave in one way within the walls, but in another way outside. A churchgoer who acts piously in a meeting but who swears and verbally abuses the referee from the terraces at a football match is bringing God’s name into disrepute.

Whether we feel like it or not, we pilgrims are people who must bring honour to God. After all He is our Father and we are His children, and people around us will be watching us because the only glimpse most of them will get of God is through us.

So, moving away from the opposite of “bringing honour” to God, how do we bring honour to Him and His name?

Firstly, we must realise that it is not just the outward manifestation of honour that we should be concerned about. It is also about what is going on inside of us. Isaiah 29:13, “And so the Lord says, “These people say they are mine. They honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And their worship of me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote“. The people Isaiah describes are not bringing honour to God. When Samuel was in the home of Jesse, acting on God’s instructions to select the future King from his sons, he heard God say to him, “ … Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).

Secondly, we bring honour to God in our homes. How are we husbands treating our wives, and vice versa? How are we treating our parents, or our children? Jesus repeated what Moses had decreed, “For instance, Moses gave you this law from God: ‘Honour your father and mother,’ and ‘Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death’” (Mark 7:10). Paul wrote, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). Through our righteous relationships within our families we bring honour to God and His name, and the attitudes we foster in our homes will spill over into our workplaces and anywhere else where we meet people.

Thirdly, we bring honour to God and His name by our relationship with Him. What is going on in our hearts? As Isaiah wrote, are we only following man-made rules, deluding ourselves that this constitutes a relationship with God? When He was asked what the greatest commandment was, “Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment” (Matthew 22:37-38). There is no half-hearted way of “bringing honour” to God. It is a whole-life commitment. A question we must regularly ask ourselves is about what we are doing, or watching on TV, or anything else. Is God getting honour out of this or am I behaving like a wayward child, dishonouring my Father?

Thankfully, God is “slow to anger and quick to forgive”. He knows the pressures of living in a secular society. After all, His Son Jesus did just that, but He never sinned. Doing things the world’s way is not the only way, because Jesus is the Way and all who follow Him “with all [their] hearts” will bring honour to His name.

Dear Father God. Our gratitude to You is never enough. You deserve so much more, for to You is all the praise and glory. Amen.

Right Paths

Posted on 3rd Jun 202528th Apr 2025 by korgrocker

David wrote that the Lord guided him along “right paths”. Of course, in the pastoral context of this Psalm, there would be paths in the wilderness that would be far from ideal, and at the end just more desert or, at best, poor quality grazing. These would have been the “wrong paths”. The shepherds in those days relied on their local knowledge to find all the best of the “green meadows” and the “peaceful streams” necessary to assuage the sheep’s hunger and thirst. It was a very different environment in David’s day, because the sheep knew that they had to follow the shepherd along the “right paths” to find pasture. If they didn’t then they would soon lose their way and get lost in a dry and dusty landscape, where they wouldn’t survive for long. Here in the UK sheep are mostly kept in fenced-in fields and don’t need leading anywhere unless the farmer moves them to another field, but then it is a case of herding rather than leading.

Speaking to the Pharisees and other religious leaders, and comparing them to sheep, Jesus said, “But you don’t believe me because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:26-27). His allegory highlighted the difference between two flocks of sheep – those that believed in Jesus, and had a relationship with Him, and those who didn’t because they followed a different shepherd. Earlier in John 10, Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep” (John 10:14-15). If asked which shepherd they followed, the Pharisees would have said God Himself, but their “God” was different to the One who was the only true God, the One from Heaven Jesus, Himself. The Pharisees had constructed their own god, starting with the Law and the prophets but then adding and subtracting the bits as they thought best. But as Jesus said to them, “What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore justice and the love of God. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things” (Luke 11:42). They had replaced a relationship with God with legalism, relying on their own strength. But before we become all smug and climb up to the moral high ground, Christians can be legalistic as well. They say all the right words, they turn up for the Sunday services and warm the pews. But they fit the prophecy from Isaiah 29:13, “And so the Lord says, “These people say they are mine. They honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And their worship of me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote“.

David’s statement that the Lord “guides him along right paths” suggests that there must also be “wrong paths” to be followed, with guidance being supplied by someone else claiming to lead the sheep. Jeremiah warned about false shepherds, “What sorrow awaits the leaders of my people—the shepherds of my sheep—for they have destroyed and scattered the very ones they were expected to care for,” says the Lord. Therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to these shepherds: “Instead of caring for my flock and leading them to safety, you have deserted them and driven them to destruction. Now I will pour out judgment on you for the evil you have done to them” (Jeremiah 23:1-2). Today, the danger of being lured away by false shepherds remains. Cults spring up, led by men and women who claim a special word or revelation from God (for example the JW’s), and the sheep are fooled by seemingly logical and good-sounding arguments, to their ultimate detriment. But as Jeremiah wrote, the false shepherds, driven by evil, will come to judgement with a verdict that, for them, will not be a good ending.

The Jews were comfortable with the idea that they were God’s chosen people and that He was their Shepherd. But then Jesus came along, claiming to be the Good Shepherd, the Gate to the sheepfold, offering salvation only through Him. And then He said, “I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd” (John 10:16). That would really have upset the Jews, because what could He have meant other than the Gentiles, you and me? Jesus was a divisive Figure in His day, and still is today, with many people rejecting His claim to be the only Good Shepherd.

But back to the “right paths”. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “ ... I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me“. John 10:9, “Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures“. There is no other way to Heaven, to salvation and eternal life., except through Jesus. Only He is the “right path” and any other claim by any other religion or faith is the “wrong path”. There is only one place to which “wrong paths” will lead … but we don’t want to talk about that!

Dear Lord Jesus. We proclaim to all who will listen that there is only one way to eternal life with God, and that is You. Not Mohammad. Not Buddha. Not Hari Krishna. But only You. Thank You that before the world was even created, You had Your hand upon us. Amen.

Strength Renewed

Posted on 2nd Jun 202528th Apr 2025 by korgrocker

With our picture building of “green meadows”, “peaceful streams” and times of “rest” it is inevitable, or so we think, that our strength would be renewed. After a hard day’s work, a good meal and an evening on the sofa followed by a good night’s sleep, we will be equipped for the next day with all the strength we need. But that’s the physical strength that is necessary for our work-a-day lives. When we consider our spiritual strength we are in a different league, one that needs a different approach, and one that cannot be achieved without God.

Consider the spiritual “green meadows” and “peaceful streams”. They are places where we can satisfy our spiritual hunger and thirst, but finding them is impossible for those who don’t believe in Jesus. We have said before that counterfeit solutions are sought after, in the hope that a worldly solution exists to renew an unbeliever’s spiritual needs (they definitely have them, by the way). Just because someone says he or she doesn’t believe in God doesn’t remove the need to find a remedy to the internal craving in their souls. Just yesterday, I shared the Gospel with a neighbour who subsequently became quite agitated and defensive. I suspect that I wasn’t the first to talk about God in his presence but he explained that he wasn’t “religious” and that he tried to be a good and kind person, worthy of respect. Of course he was, but that won’t feed and satisfy his soul. I pray for another opportunity to introduce him to God, the only One who can satisfy his spirit’s needs.

We pilgrims know where we can find the “green meadows” and “peaceful streams”. We find a quiet place somewhere and open God’s Word if we can, or remember a particular verse if we don’t have our Bibles with us. It could be a park bench, or a corner of our bedrooms. Our office desk or on a walk somewhere. I can remember the rich times I spent with God feeding my spirit as I walked around the Union Canal in Edinburgh during my lunch breaks. I was going through a stressful time at work and I needed to “renew my strength” before facing the second half of the day. It was truly amazing how God spoke to me and encouraged me through God-incidents and encounters on those walks. I am eternally grateful.

Isaiah wrote, “Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding” (Isaiah 40:28). We worship a God who is limitless, who has all the resources we need, and who is always looking for an opportunity to bless His people. But we have to put ourselves into a receiving mode. For most of our waking hours we are filling our lives with noise, not just of the audible variety, but also with our busyness, with our activities and distractions. Hence the need to find a quiet place, where we can get away from all our worldly cares and anxieties. Isaiah knew the limitlessness of God. He knew about God’s constant presence and he went on to write, “He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:29-31). What an amazing picture of God’s bountiful provision. It doesn’t matter if we feel “weak” and “powerless” because God has, and is, all the strength that we need. It’s not a physical thing, with muscles strong and functioning. It is all about our spiritual resilience in a world that despises anything to do with God.

Yesterday I had a walk in a local park, where the weekly “Parkrun” was taking place. Runners displaying a cacophony of colours, with different forms of attire. Lycra very much in evidence. People of all ages and shapes pounding their ways around a circuit marked out with different coloured cones. I was amused to even see a man with a toddler in a running buggy (one with extra large wheels) puffing and panting, pushing his way around the course. What the toddler thought I don’t know. The runners’ dedication to their event was commendable. They would have eventually returned home, full of self-satisfaction no doubt, but the hunger and thirst in their souls would have still been there. I remarked to one of the stewards that physical exercise was good, but all these sweating bodies would one day lie “mouldering in the grave”, their souls that will live forever sorely neglected.

We pilgrims “trust in the Lord” don’t we? David did and he wrote this wonderful Psalm from his own experiences. Pastures and streams for his body and his soul. He knew them all. He fed his soul in places of rest, as he worshiped and meditated in God. There he renewed his strength, just as Isaiah wrote. And so can we pilgrims. If we find that we don’t have time in the morning to spend it with God, then we must get up a bit earlier. But find the time we must, because our spirits are refreshed and our “strength renewed” only when we sit in God’s presence.

Dear Lord Jesus. Only You are the Way to Heaven. Only You have the word of eternal life. Only You can refresh our souls. Thanks You. Amen.

Peaceful Streams

Posted on 1st Jun 202526th Apr 2025 by korgrocker

What an idyllic picture David paints, with his canvas containing green meadows and peaceful streams. We can all let our imaginations build our own versions of what he describes in our minds, personal pictures that would be largely based on our own experiences of farmland and the countryside. We can even visit an art gallery and there we will soon find a landscape or two that could have been lifted right out of Psalm 23. But David’s word picture was based on his own personal experience of the meadows and streams he visited while leading his sheep around the hills and valleys of rural Palestine.

After the “green meadows” David moves on to the “peaceful streams” that make them green in the first place. Water, pure and clear, bubbling into a steady stream of peace, providing precious water for his flock to drink in a dry and dusty land. But David wasn’t writing about his sheep and their provision. He put himself into the position of being like a sheep with the Lord Himself being his Shepherd. The description of the meadows and streams provides a picture of a journey through a countryside that wasn’t all green and lush, a journey that David would have know well as he travelled with his flock. And here he is, walking along beside a stream of water, peaceful and pure.

We pilgrims are on a journey as well. There are times when we rest in a place of refreshing but other times when we journey onwards, never far from the life giving water that flows from God Himself. The Lord provides for us, body, soul and spirit. These days in the West it is unusual to find physical hunger, with most people having the wherewithal to be able to feed themselves. But spiritual hunger and thirst is a national disease of epidemic proportions, with most people unable to find the Source for which their souls and spirits yearn. There is something within each one of us that longs to be satisfied. God provides all that we need but most people try and satisfy themselves from a source that is man-made and ineffective. A source like alcohol or drugs. Sex or the occult. Sin has so twisted and screwed up people, and the world on which we live, that most will never find the way of true provision, the lush “green meadows” and the “peaceful streams” supplied by God for all to enjoy.

David knew all about the importance of being rooted in a “peaceful stream” somewhere. About God’s people he wrote, “But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do” (Psalm 1:2-3). God has supplied water for us to drink to satisfy our bodies, and He has supplied His Word to satisfy our souls. David could see the connection between people and trees, with those that are planted where they can access His life-giving water functioning just as He designed. Back in Genesis 2 we read about God’s plan, “The Lord God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground—trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit. In the middle of the garden he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river flowed from the land of Eden, watering the garden and then dividing into four branches” (Genesis 2:9-10). One of the trees was the “tree of life” that supplied everything Adam needed for his existence. But that tree reappears in Revelation 22:1-2, “Then the angel showed me a river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. It flowed down the centre of the main street. On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month. The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations“. David could see God’s provision for him and he knew that he had to stay close to the “peaceful streams” because otherwise his spirit would soon shrivel and die, like a tree planted in the middle of a desert.

In a sense we pilgrims are living between two trees. The tree of life in the garden of Eden and the trees of life planted either side of the “water of life” that flowed from the very throne of God. God has never stopped the water flowing. It flowed in Eden and it will flow from His very presence in the New Jerusalem that we read about in Revelation 21. We pilgrims know all about God’s life-giving water because of Jesus. In John 7:37b-39a He said, “ … Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’” (When he said “living water,” he was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in him. …)“. God promised His supply through a prophetic message brought by Isaiah, “For I will pour out water to quench your thirst and to irrigate your parched fields. And I will pour out my Spirit on your descendants, and my blessing on your children. They will thrive like watered grass, like willows on a riverbank” (Isaiah 44:3-4).

On the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came with a mighty roar and His presence has never left us ever since. We pilgrims each have living within us God’s Spirit, a Source of living water that Jesus first introduced us to in John 4:10, “Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water””. So in this period of living between the two trees, we pilgrims are the Source of the living water that mankind so desperately needs.

Where is God leading us today? Are we walking besides a “peaceful stream” or have we camped somewhere dry and barren? Perhaps we need to get up and get moving. We may be tired, perhaps resigning ourselves to a dry and waterless existence away from any thought of life-giving spiritual water. We may go through the motions of Christianity but denying its power, as Paul wrote. But there is something in God’s hands that will flow into our souls, empowering us and commissioning us for His Work. We can’t produce the fruit that God requires in a waterless desert. That’s the place where the God-deniers live, a place full of sin and evil. But we can walk by the “peaceful streams”, drinking our fills, and then visit the dry places to tell the inhabitants about Jesus. There is a world out there dying of thirst, but we know where there is water, the water that will refresh their souls.

Dear Father God, thank You for Your life-giving water, so freely given. Amen.

Green Meadows

Posted on 31st May 202526th Apr 2025 by korgrocker

What comes to mind when we consider “green meadows”? Here in Scotland there is no shortage of such parts of our landscape, with tourists often suggesting that the abundance of greenery is due to the quantity of rain we receive. But to an extent that is true because it is rare to find a Scottish field blighted by drought, grass yellow and burnt. “Green meadows” are where herbivores such as cattle and sheep find their staple source of nourishment, their digestive systems wonderfully constructed to extract the maximum amounts of nutrition from otherwise tasteless vegetation.

David wrote that the Lord, his Shepherd, “lets [him] rest in green meadows”, building a picture of those lazy summer days, when he could lay in a place of rest, enjoying the cool of the grass beneath him, the sheep around him doing the same. A place of rest for his body but also for his soul. I can remember as a small boy lying on a patch of grass looking up, warmed by the sun, at a mostly blue sky, fascinated by the shapes of a few puffy clouds of white contorted into various shapes that stimulated my imagination, a day when the cares of the world seemed far away. So David would have found his “green meadows” but with one big difference – it was here that he developed his relationship with God. We remember the invitation Jesus offered to His disciples everywhere, “ … Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). Here in his “green meadows” David found such a place where the burdens of life reduced in significance before the presence of his Lord.

We remember the first day of rest that occurred in the Bible. “On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation” (Genesis 2:2-3). David found the rest his body required after a day’s work, a day spent in leading the sheep from one pasture to another. From his supplies of food he would have had a simple meal, a drink from the “peaceful streams” and then rested his aching bones in the soft lushness of a “green meadow”. If God rested after His work, then there was every reason for David to do the same. David knew intuitively that resting was an essential part of his life.

In those Genesis days, God introduced the concept of a Sabbath rest, a day set aside when human beings will enjoy a special day in God’s presence and away from their labours. The writer to the Hebrews wrote, “So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labours, just as God did after creating the world. So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall” (Hebrews 4:9-11). Sadly, unbelieving people have failed to understand the concept of the Sabbath rest, that precious time in God’s presence, and they instead spend their time on a golf course, or going to sports events, or doing overtime so that they can purchase more “stuff”. If only they stopped to think that one day all that they have will be left behind, freeing their souls to continue in an afterlife of their choosing.

We pilgrims set aside time to rest in God’s presence. We pray and we read His Word, providing “green meadows” for our souls and in these spiritual “meadows” of our lives we find peace and divine blessings. We find that sweet spot of communion with our wonderful Creator, who created the “meadows” in the first place. Sometimes it is hard to put aside the cares of life, the tyranny of the urgent demands, the strident phone calls, texts, and emails, but put them aside we must. And God will help us balance our lives to conform the way He designed us in the first place.

Dear Father God. we pray that You will revive Your people, and help them find a Sabbath rest in Your presence, this day and every day. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Heavenly Shepherd

Posted on 30th May 202524th Apr 2025 by korgrocker

We now move onto Psalm 23, that well known and incredibly comforting Psalm, containing “must read” verses often spoken out at a funeral or in difficult times when someone is facing into seemingly insurmountable problems. Just the thought of the Lord being a Shepherd can bring feelings of comfort that help dispel any feelings of loneliness or despair. But to us Western pilgrims, mostly living in an urban or city environment, the profession of “Shepherd” is relatively unknown. We don’t have flocks of sheep wandering around our town centres munching the grass in our green and open spaces these days, and the only contact we have with them would tend to be on the supermarket meat counter. But there are supposed to be 31 million sheep populating the rural parts of the UK and they need many shepherds. On long journeys cross country, however, we will notice the fluffy white animals and while I am writing this many of them are producing lambs, that run and play and amuse us with their gambolling. I’m sure we could soon work out a job spec for a shepherd, but the reality is a long way from a paper description. Many sheep live on farms in inhospitable parts of our country, and the shepherds role is hard and often lonely. Sheep have a tendency to get into bother, woolly coats caught in bushes, or getting stuck in muddy places and the presence of their shepherd can be life-saving for them.

And all that brings us to the point of this Psalm, because David was a shepherd in his early years and he honed his craft in the presence of the Lord, giving him insight into the work of the Heavenly Shepherd Himself. It was easy for David to imagine people as a flock of sheep, knowing their tendency for sin and doing wrong things, and he knew that the Lord Himself would lead and guide them out of trouble – if they let Him. At first sight, verse 1 could be interpreted as the Lord meeting physical needs. In David’s day, the shepherd would lead his flock between pastures containing the food needed for the physical well being of his sheep. But today, us townies would mostly fail to connect God with our food. We might say grace before a meal but that would be about as far as we would go. In a restaurant in Fife near where I live there is the Selkirk grace written on the wall in large letters, a grace written by Scotland’s well known poet, Rabbie Burns. “Some hae meat and canna eat, And some wad eat that want it, But we hae meat and we can eat, Sae let the Lord be Thankit!” A naval chaplain I used to know was famous amongst sailors who knew him for the briefest grace possible – “Heavenly Pa, Ta!” But how many of us really look at the plate before us and realise that what we see is all down to God’s grace? He created a world on which all the food we need has been grown. The trouble is that we don’t tend to dwell on the complexities of our lives on this planet and we have forgotten what Jesus said about concerns we may have about our food and drink. He said, “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are?” (Matthew 6:25-26).‭‭

But the first verse of Psalm 23 contains the phrase “I have all I need”. The Lord’s prayer includes the words, “Give us this day our daily bread” and as we ponder on the meaning of these words, we soon realise that God’s provision for our bodies is a complete food, that nourishes body, soul and spirit. Our cornflakes for breakfast may fill an empty stomach but did we remember our spiritual food this morning, the Word of God? How many times have we set off on the activities of the day hungry and unsatisfied souls, our spirits shrivelled and unable to cope with the pressures of life, our spiritual resilience missing and leaving us forgetful of the Heavenly Shepherd. He holds in His hands the food that we need but have we decided to go without for another day?

Our Lord and Shepherd knows what we need, just as David knew what his flock needed each day. But wouldn’t it have been strange if his sheep arrived at a lush pasture and then refused to eat, instead just lying down and ignoring the feast before them? We can be a bit like that some days. We have the richness of God’s Word, loaded with a veritable banquet of food for our souls, and yet we instead pick up a newspaper, full of sin and evil reports, bad news that will do our spirits and souls more harm than good In fact, the world’s news will sap all the strength remaining in our souls, leaving us with no resilience to face the day before us. All the media will do is to introduce fears and anxieties that turn us away from God and His Kingdom.

So, today, we reach for our Bibles in anticipation that there are some rich and nourishing morsels there to fill the needs of our souls. As we ponder and meditate upon them, we won’t be disappointed or hungry in the day ahead. In the strength of the spiritual food we have received, we will find that our Heavenly Shepherd, Jesus Himself, will lead and guide us through the minefields of life.

Dear Lord Jesus, our Heavenly Shepherd. Thank You for Your complete provision for us and the strength to face into the day ahead. Amen.

Future Generations

Posted on 29th May 202524th Apr 2025 by korgrocker

“Let the rich of the earth feast and worship. Bow before him, all who are mortal, all whose lives will end as dust. Our children will also serve him. Future generations will hear about the wonders of the Lord. His righteous acts will be told to those not yet born. They will hear about everything he has done.”
Psalm 22:29-31 NLT

It is a fact of human life, that the species homo sapiens maintains its existence by the production of future generations. God’s plan was set out in the early chapters of Genesis, starting with Genesis 2:7, “Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person“. That was the male of the species, but he was shortly joined by the female, “Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man” (Genesis 2:22). That original male “WOW” must still be reverberating around the Universe! The next wonder is a few verses on, “This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one”. Earlier in Genesis 1:27-28a we read, “So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply …””. To complete the picture we turn to Genesis 4:1, “Now Adam had sexual relations with his wife, Eve, and she became pregnant. When she gave birth to Cain, she said, “With the Lord’s help, I have produced a man!”” And so “future generations” were established and the process repeated. Simple biology as we all know, but this was God’s plan for populating Planet Earth.

But each new life introduced into our world has a problem – they are born with sin built in. Psalm 51:5, “For I was born a sinner— yes, from the moment my mother conceived me“. It is troubling to think that this beautifully formed child, so innocent and so loved, has the potential within it to be sinful, but there is no escape, as Paul wrote, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard“. And as that child grows up into a man or woman, a process that can be painful, particularly for the parents, one of three things happen. The child may, through the witness of his or her parents or others, become a believer like them and live a life of piety in relationship with God. Or the child may become more and more sinful, living a life of evil and wickedness that continues to the end of their lives. Thirdly, the child may grow up to become a “good” person, following all the laws of the land (well, mostly!) and be considered an upright citizen in whatever country they live. But however they live their lives, these grown up children continue the cycle, producing their own children, adding to those in the category of “future generations”.

But David wrote, “Future generations will hear about the wonders of the Lord”. In fact, he developed this theme, writing “His righteous acts will be told to those not yet born. They will hear about everything he has done”. How is that going to happen, in our world corrupted by sin and bombarded with sinful advertising, and in places where sinful practices take place. How will people hear about the Lord’s wonders in our schools where sinful ideologies are taught, often as fact. And overlaying it all, like letters embedded in a stick of rock, within each human being there is a preference for doing sinful things, a preference for evil rather than for God’s ways. In these final verses of Psalm 22, David wrote down a promise of the Lord. In faith, and prophetically, he assured his, and future, generations that God’s wonderful works will never be forgotten. In fact, he wrote, even those not yet born would know about them. We pilgrims know within us the wonderful things God has done in us, through us and by us. Hardly a morning goes by without me being reminded of the wonderful presence of God, with memories of how He has come through for me in dark times as well as good times. Our enemy the devil has forgotten one major thing about human beings – they are all born with a God-shaped hole within them, and throughout their lives people will try to fill it. Genesis 1:27, “So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them“. If people are created in God’s image then they will inevitably look for ways in which they can connect with Him. Some turn to mystic practices such as mindfulness or Yoga. Back in the 60’s, transcendental meditation was all the rage. Others explore all the chemical substances available, drugs and alcohol just for starters, in the hope they can introduce some way of filling the yearning within them, or, more likely, to dull the pain of knowing that they are lost without Him. But intuitively people know that there is only one way into God’s presence and that is why today there is an increase in the numbers of our young people embracing Christianity here in the UK. A wonderful revival is about to take place, because God will never forget His creation, and His love and compassion with burst into the lives of human beings through His grace.

Isaiah wrote, “Seek the Lord while you can find him. Call on him now while he is near. Let the wicked change their ways and banish the very thought of doing wrong. Let them turn to the Lord that he may have mercy on them. Yes, turn to our God, for he will forgive generously” (Isaiah 55:6-7). While a human being, now or in the future, is alive and breathing, he will have an opportunity to look for, and find, a personal relationship with God. But once dead, the opportunity is gone. That is why we pilgrims are on a mission, to tell everyone about the “wonders of the Lord”. Yesterday I met a depressed dog walker, weighed down by, as she put it, the state of the world. So I took the opportunity to tell her that because of Easter Sunday we have hope in this otherwise dark and evil world. A seed planted that God will water and nurture, hopefully bringing eternal life to one of the “future generations”. It is a privilege to be able to share what God has done for us. There is no shortage of stories to tell of God’s grace, and we never know that the stranger we might share the Gospel with may become another Billy Graham, reaching millions with the Good News of God’s saving grace. And so we praise and worship the One who has promised never to leave us or forsake us, ever. As we step out today, we pray for God to lead us to yet another hopeless soul, scared witless by the state of the world. The society around is full of such people, just existing in a life of sin, some even wishing that they had never been born. And we pray like we never have before, because the days are short.

Dear Lord Jesus. Only You have the words of eternal life. Only You are the Way, the Truth and the Life. Please help us reach out to those You have prepared for the seeds of the Gospel to be planted, bringing hope to the hopeless, and life to the dying. Amen.

A Dusty End

Posted on 28th May 202522nd Apr 2025 by korgrocker

Why did David write, “all whose lives will end as dust” rather than “those who will die”? Both phrases mean the same thing, both referring to a human being’s mortality, but of course we know that. About Adam we read in Genesis 3:19, “By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made. For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return“. Adam was originally made from dust, as we read in Genesis 2:7, “Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person“. But were human beings originally intended to be immortal, because it was only after the Fall that Adam was informed about his ultimate demise and destination. In Genesis 1:27 we read, “So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them”. We know that God is immortal, so if human beings were made “in His image”, would that have included immortality? God intended a very different world to what we have today, with the first inhabitants living a very long time, even after sin had entered Planet Earth.

Most people are unable to contemplate the end to their earthly lives. When we were young, such a subject was never given much thought because the prevailing attitude was that we would live forever. People generally know that they have to face death one day but it is something they can’t control and therefore don’t think about it. A friend of mine once said, “I don’t fear death, but I just don’t want to be involved”. But death can and does happen to all ages and the wise amongst us make suitable preparations. I don’t mean getting affairs in order, planning a funeral service or starting a funeral plan with the local undertakers. I mean ensuring that the bits of us that are immortal, our souls and spirits, go to live in the right place. That is something we do have control over, through the grace of God.

People of all ages and regardless of sex all have bodies that one day “will end as dust”. Increasing years will introduce aches and pains and even serious health challenges reducing qualities of life, and Western countries in particular are facing into the problem of having a large and health-demanding elderly population. A human being is made up of many chemicals and a large amount of water (about 60% of an average adult’s body apparently) but it will all one day break down into its constituent parts, parts that David defined as “dust”. A depressing thought for most people, but for us pilgrims it will be just the beginning of an adventure we can only marvel at and look forward to.

Paul wrote quite a bit about the process of dying but he followed it with the facts about resurrection. In 1 Corinthians 15:42b Paul wrote, “ … Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they will be raised to live forever.” He continues in verse 44, “They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, there are also spiritual bodies“. In our current human lives, we have a glimpse of what it means to live in the Kingdom of God, but we will never experience the fulness of such a life until we have a body that is appropriate for God’s Kingdom. And then comes the crescendo of the final experience, “For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies” (1 Corinthians 15:53).

But we must read 1 Corinthians 15:47-49, “Adam, the first man, was made from the dust of the earth, while Christ, the second man, came from heaven. Earthly people are like the earthly man, and heavenly people are like the heavenly man. Just as we are now like the earthly man, we will someday be like the heavenly man”. We must meditate on this and chew over the wonder of it all. One day we will have a body like Jesus’ resurrected body. Read that sentence again, and again. Jesus was about 33 when He was so brutally put to death. Do we ever want to be 33 again? In a body that will never die. In a body which will never experience death, or pain, or sickness? Is that a resounding “YES” that I can hear?

I suppose we must think for a moment on the fate of all those who don’t believe in Jesus. They too will be resurrected but will find themselves standing before a Great White Throne. Revelation 20:12, 15, “I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books. … And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire“. Has anyone thought why people have to be “thrown” into their final destination? Purely because they don’t want to go there. Hell will not be a place that anyone will walk into by choice. Jesus said, “The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will remove from his Kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. And the angels will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13:41-42).‭‭

But we won’t dwell on the fate of the wicked, because we do our best to tell them about what is ahead. Not to frighten them into the Kingdom, as preachers of old used to do, preaching sermons in which they dangled their audience over the flames of hell. William Booth was reported to have said, “Most Christians would like to send their recruits to Bible college for five years. I would like to send them to hell for five minutes. That would do more than anything else to prepare them for a lifetime of compassionate ministry. I am not waiting for a move of God, I am a move of God!” But we tell our friends and families and anyone we meet about our testimonies of God’s grace. How God has done so much for us, saving us from the finality of a horrible existence beyond the grave, that will ultimately be full of their dust.

Father God. We thank You for Your grace and favour, so liberally poured out on mankind, grace manifested by Your free gift of salvation. Please help us to tell all who we meet about You . In Jesus’ name. Amen.