Psalm 23 Paths of the Righteousಮಾದರಿ

your rod and your staff, they comfort me. (Psalm 23:4b, ESV)

Gladys Aylward was a British-born missionary who served in Yangcheng, China from 1932 until her death in 1970. As a young missionary, she endeared herself to the Chinese people by her warm hospitality, her care for orphans, and helping end the cruel practice of footbinding. 

One day, she received a summons from the mandarin to go assist the prison warden to stop a riot. Fear and dread instantly overwhelmed her. What could she a small, foreign woman possibly do to help stop a riot? The warden reasoned that the only one who could stop the men from killing each other was the woman from the village who told everyone the living God was inside of her. Gladys felt sick to her stomach. The harder she tried to back out, the more insistent the warden became that the men wouldn’t kill her. 

She knew that if she refused to go, word would spread that there was no living God inside Gladys. But if she agreed...there was no telling what would happen. Little 4’10” Gladys was the last person on earth who should’ve gone in to stop a prison riot, but God was indeed living inside of her. His reputation was as much on the line, as was her life. She knew she had to go.

As Gladys made her way through the tunnel into the prison she prayed, “Oh God, protect and comfort me now. I can only do this if you go before me.” The scene at the other end was worse than she had imagined. Dead bodies and blood were everywhere and a man was running toward her waving a machete. Without thinking, Gladys stepped forward and yelled, “Stop at once, and give me that machete!” 

His Divine Protection Emboldens Us

As if an invisible hand was holding him back, the crazed man froze with his machete in mid-air and dropped it to the ground. The unusual scene caught the attention of the other prisoners, and they stopped fighting to watch the little foreign woman bring order to the chaos. 

Psalm 23:4 introduces us to the shepherd’s tools. With a rod, he beats off predators, and with his staff pulls his sheep away from danger. Gladys experienced the Shepherd’s invisible rod that day, as she was divinely protected. Whatever valley you may be facing, be reminded that his protection and discipline are for those that belong to him, and that gives us comfort to walk through the fiercest valleys.