In the first part of this topic, we learned about Jesus being the good shepherd. He made this statement himself in John 10:11 and went on to explain the difference between the good shepherd and a hired hand. I wrote about how I memorised Psalms 23 as a child but did not really understand it until I gave my life to Christ.
We continue to journey through Psalms 23 as we take on the second part of verse 3. “He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake”. The world we live in is full of dangerous paths into which many have fallen with grave consequences. The people who fall into these deadly traps are not necessarily gullible or unwise, but even those who are wise can inadvertently get caught up in a lie that can lead them into risky and slippery terrains.
David understood that it is the Lord who is able to help him navigate the journey of life. God could have decided, “I have given you my Son; it is left for you to find your way”. But in His mercy and for His own dear name's sake, God guides us on the right paths. We are blessed today because when Jesus returned to heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit to be our guide.
“But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.” (John 16:13).
A lot of what we hear in our world today is far from the truth. Unless we have a source to obtain the truth, we would live according to the falsehoods that we hear daily. This is why the Father, in His mercy, sent the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth. One of the roles of the Holy Spirit is to guide believers into all truth.
We live in a world that is corrupted by sin. Everywhere we look around us, we see the evidence of man’s sinful nature. We need the Holy Spirit’s guidance to help us discern what is truth because it is so easy to be deceived. In Galatians 5:16, Paul wrote, “So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.” (Galatians 5:16 NLT) The more we allow the Holy Spirit to guide us, the more we deny the sinful nature in us from controlling us.
We are such a blessed generation. When David wrote those words, He didn’t have the privilege that we have today of walking with the Holy Spirit, but He knew what it felt like to follow God and obey His commands.
Left to our own devices, we would follow any path that seemed right to us. The writer of Proverbs 14:12 understood this when he wrote, “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end, it leads to death.”
David was a Shepherd, and he understood what it meant for the sheep to follow the voice of the Shepherd. The sheep know that the Shepherd would not lead them into danger but will ensure that they are led into safe pastures. When sheep stray, they are exposed to danger along the path they take, and unless the shepherd comes to the rescue, they could end up harmed or killed.
As children of God and believers in Christ Jesus, we will do well to walk with the Holy Spirit daily. He guides us uniquely in the way each of us understands, and we can recognise that what He tells us is true because it aligns with God’s word.
