Psalms 23:3 – He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Today’s article is inspired by chapter 6 of “A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23” by W. Phillip Keller.
“…it is no mere whim on God’s part to call us sheep. Our behavior patterns and life habits are so much like that of sheep it is well nigh embarrassing.” – W. Phillip Keller
In this chapter, Keller observes a couple of things about sheep. First of all, sheep left to themselves will absolutely destroy a pasture. They will turn a lush green pasture into a useless piece of ground filled with parasites. The sheep need to be rotated onto different pastures, for the health of the pasture and for the health of the sheep. This takes a considerable amount of energy, knowledge and foresight on behalf of the shepherd.
Secondly, sheep are notorious creatures of habit. They will follow a path until that path becomes a rut, and that rut eventually erodes into a gully, according to Keller. Their stubborn, habitual ways leave a path of destruction behind them.
Aren’t we as human sheep the same way? You and I may not want to admit it, but doesn’t God have to keep us on the move and change our pasture regularly? Otherwise we get stuck in a rut spiritually. Also, just like sheep our habits and stubborn ways leave a wake of destruction behind us. We arrogantly assert that our ways are right and we try to justify them, but as the Proverb writer points out, the end of the path I choose is death (Proverbs 14:12).
I need a shepherd. You do too. That shepherd is Jesus. He is the Way (John 14:6), and as the Good Shepherd He leads down that pathway of His righteousness. He came to give us life and an abundant life at that (John 10), but that requires keeping us on the move down His pathway, not our own.