What does David mean when he says, "He leads me in the paths of righteousness" (Psalm 23:3)?

J. T. M. It was once true that all we like sheep turned every one to his own way. Then our straying feet trod the paths of unrighteousness. But now we have heard the Shepherd's voice, and as we follow Him obediently and adoringly we are walking in the paths of righteousness, for we are taking His way, not our own.

Moreover, He does not only restore, but having restored, He leads us into "the paths of righteousness for His name's sake." Alas! how often we may even in sincerity and zeal turn aside into paths of self-will, that are inconsistent with His Name, only to prove how little, in practice, we allow the LORD to lead us as our Shepherd. The path of righteousness, in which He leads, is a "narrow way" in which there is no room for the self-confidence of the flesh, and can only be trodden as we have the LORD as our Shepherd before us. Even so an Apostle found, when with real sincerity and zeal, and yet with great self-confidence, he said, "Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death."

"He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His Name's sake". In a day when moral values are largely ignored and truth is lightly esteemed, how blessed to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd — "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me" (John 10:27). He is "Jesus Christ, the Righteous" — He leads in right paths. Peter in his epistle speaks of the unique dignity marking the path of those who knew the shepherd — "that ye should follow His steps." The path in which He leads is not limited by earthly circumstances, nor even by death itself — it is the "way everlasting" (Psalm 139).

But, Christian reader, however deeply you may have learnt, through His grace, to feel and judge the dreadfulness of wandering from such a Shepherd; if really restored, you will have learnt another thing, namely: that it is henceforth not only a question of "walking" in the right path, but of His leading our feet in the paths of righteousness. Have you learnt that every moment of independence of Him, and His guidance, is a step out of that narrow path of righteousness, and into the broad and slippery road of sin? Only in the light of His holy presence, it is, that we see light. There alone it is, that we learn to discern true from false, right from wrong, good from evil. And at His feet only, it is, that we shall find His Word to be "a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path." But remember, it is not His Word that leadeth us in the paths of righteousness, but it must be Jesus Christ Himself, none but He. Blessed be His gracious name.

But why does He lead us in that happy path, Christian reader? For our good! no doubt. But mark, there is a higher motive, a higher principle, infinitely superior to that of our own welfare. And that motive and object is "for his name's sake." Yes, it is for His own blessed name's sake, that He leadeth us in the paths of righteousness. When Jehovah-Jesus was upon Earth, He had not come in His own name, nor did He speak or act in His own name, but in that of His Father.

H. S. He leads us so to walk as to glorify His Name. That Name stands for all that is holy. He leads in paths that accord with His Name.

J. T. M. He does it; but He does not drive or drag, He leads. I watched a lady teaching her little boy of fifteen months to walk. She did not make him take long strides nor make him go fast. She shortened her steps to his, and went the pace that he could manage, and she knew it exactly. As I watched her, this verse came to my mind. That is how the Lord leads us. We may trust Him altogether, all the time, and for everything, and He will lead us in right paths for His Name's sake.

But then, too, "He restoreth my soul," — not simply He refreshes or renews it, but brings it back from wandering, as the parallelism seems to assure us: for "He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His Name's sake." These last words give us the principle of these tender and holy ways, — a principle which guarantees their consistency absolutely. He does this "for His Name's sake." His Name is that by which we know Him; it is the manifestation of what He is. God desires to be known by us: known, that we may trust Him; known, that we may delight ourselves in Him. This knowledge of God is that which is all power and blessing for our lives here, — that which awakes and sustains the worship of eternity. If He who is light and love is acting thus in us to make us the vessels of this display of Himself, how gladly should we yield ourselves up to Him for it! How perfectly confident may we be as to the result!

I will quote two Scriptures. “All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way,” and “He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.” The first describes the road that we take when we follow Adam, the second the road we take when we follow Christ. There are these two leaders, and we are following one of them, our choice must be one or the other. This is not theology, worn out and exploded, as some would say, it is fact, stern and solemn fact, as all will discover either here or hereafter. Let us consider these two leaders.

And not only have we thus received the forgiveness of our sins, but our feet are also kept, while passing through the wilderness, in the same way. We read, for example, in Psalm 23: "He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake." That is, God has undertaken everything for us on the same ground as that on which He has forgiven our sins. The motive for all His activities of grace and love, for His unchanging attitude, for His watchful care and protection, is found in Christ, and not in ourselves. This is blessedly exemplified in the Psalm whence the above citation is taken; only here, it is the Lord as our Shepherd, acting rather from His own heart, and from the relationship which He has been pleased to assume towards His people. The simple argument is, if He has become our Shepherd, He will provide everything necessary for us, whether in our pilgrim path, or as passing through the valley of the shadow of death. But the verse quoted shows that it is for His own name's sake that, He maintains these relationships of grace. If we are weary, disheartened, discouraged, or depressed, He restores our souls; and, as needing constant guidance, with every desire to tread in His paths, but often unable to discern them, He has placed Himself at our head, and leads us in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake. If, then, the name of Christ is so unspeakably precious to God, and if it constitutes the all-efficacious basis of His dealings with us, how. we should zealously seek to be in communion with Him about it, and thus, having some feeble sense of its value, delight to lose ourselves in it resting in it in our approaches to God, even as He rests in it in His relationships with us.

And just as we are indebted to Him for restoration, so also for being kept and guided into right paths — paths of righteousness — paths which are according to His own will. Mark, moreover, that He so leads us "for His name's sake." It is again — it cannot be repeated too often — what He is — on account of His own name; and therefore His own glory is concerned in guiding us into these paths of righteousness. We can thus ever plead with Him on this ground; and whenever we do so, our plea is irresistible. It was so with Joshua. When the Israelites were smitten, after the gin of Achan, before the men of Ai, Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord, and pleaded with God; and the whole burden of his cry was at last expressed in the one question, "And what wilt Thou do to Thy great name?" (Joshua 7:6-9). Rising to this height, the answer immediately came. Let it always, then, be remembered that the Lord is concerned for His own name's sake, to lead us in the path which is according to His will.