Job 18:1-12 – There is so much sorrow and distress in this world. How do you comfort people going through that? Ever get angry with those you are trying to help? Bildad show us how not to do it…and Thomas Manton shows how to communicate the God of all comfort.
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If you regularly leave Sunday morning worship with an overwhelming sense of once again having been beaten with a big stick, surely something must be wrong!
As you rightly indicate, Ps 23:4 does remind us that the Shepherd has a rod and a staff. However for the psalmist it would seem that the outcome or abiding memory of the rod and staff are one of comfort, and not one of the pain of the moment. So how do we personally handle that or as preachers proclaim the correction of our heavenly Father that is an essential part of discipleship, without leaving, either ourselves or others with a sense of just another beating? Is it down to a a failure to leave any encounter with Christian truth without a greater understanding and experience of the overwhelming mercy of God, a fresh appreciation of Christ the mediator and of the gift of the Spirit’ presence and renewing power?