He Leads Me

Psalms 23:1a, 3 ESV

“The Lord is my Shepherd… He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.”

In Biblical times, the shepherd was responsible for the welfare and safety of the sheep. The sheep needed a leader, food, water and a sage place to graze. Beyond what the sheep wanted: the shepherd was responsible for the sheep’s safety. If a sheep wandered off, the shepherd would go and find them. If one fell into a pit, the shepherd would climb down and retrieve the sheep.

In verse 3, the Shepherd led David in the path of righteousness. These paths refer to David’s course of conduct and righteousness. These paths refer to David’s course of conduct and righteousness refers to moral standards like honesty, justice, and uprightness. So, David was saying that God led him in the correct course of conduct to have Godly morals and standards.

He does all of this with His own reputation on the line. What we do, or do not do, reflects His glory or taints the image of God. God teaches, trains, feeds and protects, if there is a failure, it is not on God’s part. He leads us in a course of conduct in righteous living based on His own reputation.

We have a tough time following God sometimes. He leads, sometimes we forget to follow. He picks out the path, we find a rabbit trail and get off course. Remember the Shepherd never drives the sheep, He leads them, it is up to us to follow and when we do not follow, He has to come and get us. Can I tell you, the retraining to get us back on course can be daunting. He has patience, thank God!!!

Prayer: Lord, where You lead us, we will follow. What You provided we are thankful for. How You have trained us, let us reflect Your glory and bring You honor with our lives. In your name Lord Jesus, Amen!