“He guides me in paths of righteousness…”
Read through Psalm 23 today slowly. Allow it to refresh you with the assurance of the Lord’s presence. He is your Shepherd.
The Good Shepherd guides us. But let me remind you that we can choose whether to follow that guidance or not. In fact, the root of our sinful nature comes from the refusal to follow God’s guidance. Remember our heritage from the garden of Eden? God had given specific guidance but it was rejected and we have continued in that rebellion since. Our sin is that we believe that we know a better path. I sometimes do that with my GPS. It will be directing on a certain route and I will disagree, “I know a better way” or “Yes, you can go that way but I know a quicker route”. We, as humans, have a harder time than we will admit when it comes to following directions.
So, how can we do this? How can we keep from straying from the directions God gives us? More importantly…how can we know and receive God’s directions? This same question is posed in Psalm 119:9,
“How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to Your Word.”
The most important thing that we can do is stay connected to God’s Word. The Psalmist goes on to say, “Your Word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path” (Ps. 119:105). The Scriptures contain God’s instruction or directions for our daily living. The principles that we find are timeless and give us guidance. But, this requires us to read it, study it, and think about it.
Secondly, we must ask God for His guidance. There is the well known Scripture in James 4:2 that says, “You do not have because you do not ask God”. Why do we NOT ask God for guidance? Well, some may not ask because we really don’t want to know. Or maybe we do not think that God cares about where we are going?
Let Psalm 23 speak to your heart today. God is the Good Shepherd. He does care and He desires to guide you in the paths of righteousness. Will you re-commit yourself to pray and read His Word and follow His guidance? I know you may think you have a better way…but His is the best for you.