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The rod and the staff comfort the sheep because sheep are dumb animals.. if they fall they can not get back up alone.. the shepherd uses the staff to help them up... They have a very strong herding instinct and so they always follow the crowd.. thus they are easily led into the slaughter house.. but this can lead to major problems when the shepherd has to step in and save them because they have no way to defend themselves ..this the shepherd carries the rod to fight off the wolves that attack them.
If they wander and fall into water they drown because of their soaked coats

Recently an entire flock of sheep went over a cliff following the “lead sheep” because the shepherds were not diligent in their task...

They spend all day grazing and do not pay attention ..and so sometimes eat themselves away from the flock needing the shepherd to find them..

Davis was a shepherd.. he knew about the rod and the staff.. he knew the sheep would eat themselves to exhaustion if the shepherd did not make them lay down . he knew that they would sometimes wander off and get lost ..they did not come looking for the Shepherd.. The shepherd had to come and find them ...

This is the picture God has of us.. we can not defend ourselves ... we wander in circles and wander off from the flock..

The line that He “makes me lay down in green pastors.. is actually the work of a good shepherd.. they will eat and eat and not rest..so the good shepherds make them lay down to rest.

This psalm is not about us looking for a shepherd..it is about the shepherd looking for and caring for us.. His work not ours..

One more interesting factoid is when a lamb of a sheep keeps wandering off there is a way the shepherd deals with it

We all see the picture of Jesus carrying the lamb and say awww ..but it is not a gentle a picture as one might think..

The shepherd will break the legs of a wandering lamb..and carry it while it heals..so that it becomes bonded to him ..