Day 22 | Right Paths – John
Before smartphones, there was MapQuest. You had to literally type in the address of where you wanted to go and PRINT the step-by-step directions on paper. The last time I used MapQuest was to go and visit my now wife two-a-half hours way. On paper, it shouldn’t have been a bad drive. Four hours later, I still hadn’t made it to her house, and she couldn’t call me because I didn’t even have a cell phone.
If we aren’t careful, we can make a wrong turn in our lives, and it can lead to problems, pain, and destruction. We do not wake up in the morning trying to go down the wrong path, but if we aren’t careful, we can quickly drift from what God wants for us.
Most of the time, we simply follow the path in front of us. One more email, one more practice, one more commitment, one more purchase, and one more thing that turns one more activity in a busy season into a lifestyle that crowds out what God really wants for us. If we keep doing that those paths can turn into ruts that keep us stuck and imprisoned from the life Jesus died for you to be able to live right here, right now.
This is why Psalm 23:3 is such a gift. David says, “He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.” The Shepherd does not merely restore our souls and then leave us to figure life out on our own. He refreshes us, then He leads us. He turns us right side up, then shows us where to walk and how to walk.
That matters because as Phillip Keller writes, “Sheep are notorious creatures of habit. If left to themselves, they will follow the same trails until they become ruts, graze the same hills until they turn to desert wastes, pollute their own ground until it is corrupt with disease and parasites.”[1]
Does that hit a little too close to home? We follow the same habits until they become ruts. We keep grazing in places that cannot nourish us. We keep returning to the same patterns even when they are slowly draining life from us. We scroll until exhaustion takes over. We overwork when we are anxious. We isolate ourselves when we are overwhelmed. We keep saying yes because we do not know how to say no.
We need a new path for our lives and David shows us that it is available only because our Shepherd provides it for us.
The phrase, right paths or paths of righteousness, describes a path that leads to life (Prov. 12:28). A path that you can travel down that frees you to live your life to its fullest, right here and right now (John 10:10). A path that enables you to live a life where you are fully enjoying and freely living in the protection (Ps. 1:6; 5:8; Isaiah 42:16) and provision (Proverbs 12:28) that your Good Shepherd can only provide for you.
David uses two Hebrew words to communicate one concrete concept. From a linguistic standpoint, Psalm 23:3 shows us that righteousness isn’t some abstract quality but rather an actual path or direction for your life. It is an actual framework or filter in which you approach all of your life. But what is so freeing is that your Shepherd, through the guidance, direction, conviction, and empowerment of the Holy Spirit actually provides this path for you. You, as the sheep, don’t create these paths for yourself; rather you simply follow them.
Right paths look like living a life of honesty, generosity, steadfastness, courage, mercy, and justice.[2] Compassion (what Christ felt for others) is foundational, while kindness represents acting on that compassion rather than merely feeling pity. Humility places others’ needs above your own, as Christ demonstrated throughout his earthly ministry. Patience involves enduring wrongs against yourself and tolerating others. Forgiveness stands central; while the world honors revenge, Christ models forgiveness, which should shape your behavior. Love encompasses all these traits and represents the most important characteristic.[3]
Are you walking down the right path today? That is not an abstract question because Matthew 7:15-20 shows us that we can examine the fruit in our lives to determine whether we are truly following our Shepherd and continually being transformed into His image.
In his book, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction, pastor Eugene Peterson writes, that “There is a great market for religious experience in our world; there is little enthusiasm for the patient acquisition of virtue, little inclination to sign up for a long apprenticeship in what earlier generations of Christians called holiness.”[4]
Traveling down the right paths that your Shepherd provides for you is what following Jesus is all about. Obediently following the path set before you by your Shepherd will change you, free you, and transform you, but it will also challenge you, confront you, and show you that you need Him more than you can ever know. Choose His right path for your life because Proverbs 12:28 says, “In the way of righteousness there is life; along that path is immortality.”
REFLECT
Where in my life am I stuck in a rut but calling it “normal”?
What path am I currently walking that may be productive but not producing righteous?
What areas do I need to stop leading myself in and begin listening to my Shepherd?
PRAYER
Jesus, You are my Shepherd. I confess that I often choose my own path and then ask You to bless it. Forgive me for confusing busyness with faithfulness and success with fruitfulness. Teach me to hear Your voice. Lead me in paths of righteousness. Guide my work, my marriage, my parenting, my relationships, and my soul for Your name’s sake. Amen.
TAKE ACTION TODAY
Before you say yes to anything new today, pause and ask:
“Is this the Shepherd’s path for me, or just another rut I could get in?”
Then pray: “Jesus, guide my next step.”