“He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name sake.” Psalm 23:3
The Good Shepherd of the sheep leads his flock in those righteous paths ordered of the Father and established by the Son. “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delights to walk therein.” (Psalm 37:23) Christ is that good man, sent of the Father to take every step necessary to “finish the transgression , and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.” (Daniel 9:24) In Psalm 40:8 Christ said; “I delight to do thy will O God.” He, “who for the joy set before him, endured the cross, despised the shame,” (Hebrews 12:2) that he might lead his sheep in righteous paths. Micah 6: 8 defines those paths. “He has shown thee O man what is good; and what does the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God.”
- Those who walk the path of justice look alone to Christ’s righteousness imputed for salvation.
- Those who walk the path of mercy bow the knee at the mercy seat crying Lord, propitiate for me.
- Those who walk the path of humility do so knowing their deservedness of eternal death.
Does my walk equal this talk? Only if my motive is grace and gratitude for the law and justice he satisfied for me, the propitiation he made for me and the gift of eternal life he earned for me when he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. I follow him in paths of righteousness when I follow his voice in Isaiah 30:21; “And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, this is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.”
The good Shepherd leads us in paths of righteousness. He is before us. If we “hear a Word behind us”, we have turned to the right or left. We seek to lead the Shepherd. His correction is always the same; “I am the way, the truth and the life, walk ye in the righteous paths.”