Spurgeon Saturday: Ps 23:4

Psalm 23:4 “I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

The worst evils of life are those which do not exist except in our imagination. If we had no troubles but real troubles, we should not have a tenth part of our present sorrows. We feel a thousand deaths in fearing one, but the Psalmist was cured of the disease of fearing. “I will fear no evil,” not even the Evil One himself; I will not dread the last enemy, I will look upon him as a conquered foe, an enemy to be destroyed, “For you are with me.”

This is the joy of the Christian! “You are with me.” The little child out at sea in the storm is not frightened like all the other passengers on board the vessel, it is asleep in its mother’s bosom; it is enough for it that its mother is with it; and it should be enough for the believer to know that Christ is with him. “You are with me; I have in having thee, all that I can crave: I have perfect comfort and absolute security, for you art with me.” “Your rod and your staff,” by which thou governest and rulest thy flock, the ensigns of thy sovereignty and of thy gracious care—“they comfort me.” I will believe that thou reignest still. The rod of Jesse shall still be over me as the sovereign succour of my soul.

— C. H. Spurgeon