In the Paths of Righteousness

Psalm 23 is a rich portrait of a human being desperate to submit his life to the will and power of a God big enough for the universe and personal enough for individual hearts. It is more than just an ode to God’s undying love and the sense of duty He feels for us humans.

Audio: In the Paths of Righteousness

In some circles, Psalm 23 may be interpreted as a relentless expression of God’s will, where He takes us and leads us to places He has determined to be best for us because He knows best. Importantly, according to 2 Timothy 3 vs 16, we learn that all scripture is given by the inspiration of God and, according to Philippians 2 vs 13, we find out that it is God who works in us both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

These two New Testament scriptures identify God as the inspiration behind the written words in Psalm 23 and the heart that belies them. If we know anything about God, we know of his desire for willingness and obedience (see Isaiah 1 vs 19) and his penchant for order. He holds no one hostage, meaning essentially that Psalm 23 was an expression of the depth of feeling in David’s heart towards God – as well as the result of inspiration from God.

A look at the first three verses of Psalm 23 shows a clear desire on the part of David for affiliation with the divine (e.g., “the Lord is my shepherd”). It also provides evidence of first-person narrative (e.g., “I shall not want”) as well as evidence of both knowledge and an understanding of God’s voice and will (e.g., “He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.”) The use of the word ‘makes’ might suggest coercion or that David is an unwilling or passive party to what is going on but notably later in the chapter David describes an absence of fear (e.g., “I will fear no evil”) – perfect love, as we know from 1 John 4 vs 18, casts out fear.

Psalm 23 is not a visual of some extraordinary type of person that we cannot approximate or hope to surpass in our lives. It is a portrait of King David, who was just as much human as anyone alive today. This is important to understand and accept because when David writes “He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake”, he is describing both what God has shown through inspiration to be His process for reuniting him to Himself, and a journey which he is consciously aware that he is on. This understanding is key to Christianity. Just like David, we are moved towards righteousness both by inspiration from God and by a choice we must make to give the process a chance. It will never be a hostage situation.

Yet, God was not leading David in the paths of righteousness for arbitrary reasons. The qualifier “for His name’s sake” is the given reason for this journey. In other words, to bear God’s name, to have the Christ-like identity and to be Christian in the contemporary understanding of the word, righteousness is necessary. So, God led David down the paths of righteousness – in the same way He wants to lead us – because that ensured communion with Him. Righteousness is a clear requirement for fellowship with God.

Essentially, knowing that being with Him is the best place anyone can hope to be, God proposes to make this happen by leading people down the paths of righteousness. A number of factors come into view here: firstly, God’s desire for fellowship with us; secondly, the human need for the divine; thirdly, God’s unblemished reputation as the Most High; and fourthly, our sinful, imperfect nature. The first two factors promote attraction but the last two oppose attraction. The only one who can resolve this stalemate is God. So, as a result of His agape love, He creates a way that will grant us the exquisite gift of proximity to Him. This way is to bring us into right standing with Him by leading us down the paths of righteousness – a pathway that will rid us of the harmful side effects of sin which include separation from God.

David’s part in this process is key though. He describes self-determination and some level of self-motivation (e.g., “Yea, though I walk….). He is clearly not under duress of any kind to take the actions he describes. He feels no coercion but instead describes comfort (e.g., “Your rod and your staff, they comfort me”). Notably, much later in the New Testament, Jesus Christ identified himself as a shepherd, whose sheep hear His voice and follow Him (John 10 vs 27). So, it’s reasonable to suggest that when David describes being led beside still waters, he’s not so much being led as he is following.

A key point: David is beside the still waters primarily because He followed and then also because He was led but certainly not because he was forced. If David was led without the self-determination or self-motivation to follow, then we are speaking of a hostage situation and it is beyond doubt to those in the know that this is not God’s way of doing things.

These points are important in how they illustrate God’s role in our lives and our role in the life God has designed and intended for us. There is no place for coercion in Christianity because God does not himself operate through coercion. There is a particular amount of self-determination that is required in Christianity. This self-determination is healthy, sanctioned and designed by God, and is necessary for a relationship with Him.

The paths of righteousness lie off the beaten track and have been carved out by God to bring us close to Him. Going down those paths is only to human benefit. The paths may pass through valleys of the shadow of death and our enemies may loiter around them but God is close by. Leadership in the paths of righteousness is God’s job but it doesn’t mean we should be passive. Being led down the paths of righteousness is not something that happens in the background of our lives and then one day we magically arrive at the destination. ‘Being led’ also means we are actively following Him. It means we are actively writing a story – like David was – as it is happening to us in real time. It is an ongoing state of inspiration and action. It is a statement that can only follow the conscious choice to be on the paths, an actual presence on them and ongoing performance of the work the paths require.

The paths of righteousness are a place of grace where we get a privilege we don’t deserve – the privilege to be close to God. The paths of righteousness are only for sheep whose shepherd is the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who are on the paths know the voice of the shepherd, they can hear the voice of the shepherd and they follow everything that voice says.

The paths of righteousness exist because God wants the best for us. Notably, He has also left the choice to take up His offer up to us. Today, that choice involves the acceptance and following of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.