Is He or isn't He?

Scripture

Psalm 23:3 “…He guides me along right paths, bringing honour to His name”.

 

Observation

As the Lord shepherds us he chooses paths of righteousness to us on. As we obediently follow, a blessing is bestowed because of the atmosphere of the trail and in turn the obedience of our following radiates praise towards the Father. This is obviously a conditional statement based on whether the Lord is granted our permission to lead us as the Shepherd of our lives in turn allowing Him to lead and guide us along the paths He chooses as the right ones. If He is a conditional or part time Shepherd then we could choose whether we want to walk on the path He calls the “right path” or plot our own course. He has then ceased to be our shepherd – we become our own wise guide, choosing our own pathway therefore bringing dishonour to His name. David recognises that the blessings he has received come as a direct result of acquiescing to the guidance of the Master Shepherd and allowing Him to choose the pathway his life is to tread.

 

Application

Is the Lord my fulltime Shepherd or is he my part time Shepherd? Is He only there to lead me out of trouble after I have made poor travel plans or have I laid down my desire to make all of the decisions and allowed Him to guide me along the right paths? The Master Shepherd isn’t like my electronic map (Tom Tom) that looks for alternative routes when I go against its travel advice. “Go back” from where you deviated from the path is the Master Shepherds call – come back to the right path – not an alternative route – there you will find Me ready to continue the journey.

 

Prayer

The Lord is my Shepherd. To His call I obediently follow bringing honour to His name as I do. Forgive me Lord when I make poor route decisions and decide to take shortcuts, help me to patiently and obediently follow your guidance through the streets of righteousness.

 

Jim Jung