Psalm 23 #6–He Leads Me

“He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.”

Lynn Anderson in They Smell Like Sheep, a book about spiritual leadership, relates a true story that happened on a Bible lands tour.

The guide was explaining how ancient Shepherds built a relationship with the sheep and gently cared for them. He pointed out that shepherds don’t drive sheep, they lead them; they hear his voice and follow him.

Suddenly the guide realized he had lost his audience as the they were all staring out the bus window of a guy chasing a “herd” of sheep. He was throwing rocks at them, wacking them with sticks, and siccing the sheep dogs on them. Anderson said, “the sheep-driving man in the field had torpedoed the guide’s enchanting narrative.”

The guide said he was so upset that he jumped off the bus to confront the man and berate him for mistreating the sheep. “What’s going on?” he asked.

Bewildered, he blurted out, “Man, you’ve got me all wrong. I’m not a shepherd. I’m a butcher!”

Unwittingly, the poor fellow had just portrayed what a good shepherd is not. The shepherd leads.

Sheep lack a sense of direction. No doubt David experienced this as a young lad tending his father’s sheep. Jesus speaks of this issue in His parable in Luke 15 about “The Lost Sheep.” While some animals, like a dog, cat, or horse, seem to have some internal compass to find their way home, sheep do not.

Compounding this, sheep have poor vision. Since the Palestinian fields were filled with narrow paths which might led to a precipice where the sheep could fall, they needed to be led.

Furthermore, sheep, if left to themselves, will over graze, ruining the pasture land, leaving it barren and desolate. And they will follow the same paths until they become rugged ruts. The attentive shepherd safely leads the sheep in new paths that lead to fresh pasture land which will provide nourishment for the sheep.

We are too often like the sheep who lose their way. The prophet Isaiah lamented, “All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way” (Isa. 53:6). The answer, of course, is the Messiah, “the righteous servant, who will lead us in paths of righteousness.

Our age can be characterized like that of the Judges which is summed up by the book’s final verse. “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” Sadly, so many have lost their way.

Jesus who proclaimed Himself as “The Good Shepherd,” says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” So, He confidently implores, “Follow Me.”

To become a part of His Sheep-fold and follow Him, we must be willing to surrender our stubborn will. To give up our rights. And to admit our own inadequacy. We need The Shepherd. We need His leadership. His guidance. His direction to greener pastures to a place where we can feed on that which is unpolluted, unspoiled, and spiritually nourishing.

Following Him in “paths of righteousness” will keep us from “the path of sinners.” From the “way of the wicked.” From the “way of darkness.” And from “the broad way that leads to destruction.”

The path of righteousness leads to living with the King of Righteousness throughout all eternity. Rebelliously blazing our own trail will lead to a predictable and perilous fall and cause us to be lost. Lost for all eternity.

May we echo the sentiment of the hymnist who wrote.

Savior, like a shepherd lead us,
Much we need Thy tender care;
In Thy pleasant pastures feed us,
For our use Thy folds prepare:

Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus,
Thou hast bought us, Thine we are

–Ken Weliever, The Preacherman