“The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need. He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honour to his name. Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.”
Psalm 23:1-4 NLT
David wrote that the Lord guided him along “right paths”. Of course, in the pastoral context of this Psalm, there would be paths in the wilderness that would be far from ideal, and at the end just more desert or, at best, poor quality grazing. These would have been the “wrong paths”. The shepherds in those days relied on their local knowledge to find all the best of the “green meadows” and the “peaceful streams” necessary to assuage the sheep’s hunger and thirst. It was a very different environment in David’s day, because the sheep knew that they had to follow the shepherd along the “right paths” to find pasture. If they didn’t then they would soon lose their way and get lost in a dry and dusty landscape, where they wouldn’t survive for long. Here in the UK sheep are mostly kept in fenced-in fields and don’t need leading anywhere unless the farmer moves them to another field, but then it is a case of herding rather than leading.
Speaking to the Pharisees and other religious leaders, and comparing them to sheep, Jesus said, “But you don’t believe me because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:26-27). His allegory highlighted the difference between two flocks of sheep – those that believed in Jesus, and had a relationship with Him, and those who didn’t because they followed a different shepherd. Earlier in John 10, Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep” (John 10:14-15). If asked which shepherd they followed, the Pharisees would have said God Himself, but their “God” was different to the One who was the only true God, the One from Heaven Jesus, Himself. The Pharisees had constructed their own god, starting with the Law and the prophets but then adding and subtracting the bits as they thought best. But as Jesus said to them, “What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore justice and the love of God. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things” (Luke 11:42). They had replaced a relationship with God with legalism, relying on their own strength. But before we become all smug and climb up to the moral high ground, Christians can be legalistic as well. They say all the right words, they turn up for the Sunday services and warm the pews. But they fit the prophecy from Isaiah 29:13, “And so the Lord says, “These people say they are mine. They honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And their worship of me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote“.
David’s statement that the Lord “guides him along right paths” suggests that there must also be “wrong paths” to be followed, with guidance being supplied by someone else claiming to lead the sheep. Jeremiah warned about false shepherds, “What sorrow awaits the leaders of my people—the shepherds of my sheep—for they have destroyed and scattered the very ones they were expected to care for,” says the Lord. Therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to these shepherds: “Instead of caring for my flock and leading them to safety, you have deserted them and driven them to destruction. Now I will pour out judgment on you for the evil you have done to them” (Jeremiah 23:1-2). Today, the danger of being lured away by false shepherds remains. Cults spring up, led by men and women who claim a special word or revelation from God (for example the JW’s), and the sheep are fooled by seemingly logical and good-sounding arguments, to their ultimate detriment. But as Jeremiah wrote, the false shepherds, driven by evil, will come to judgement with a verdict that, for them, will not be a good ending.
The Jews were comfortable with the idea that they were God’s chosen people and that He was their Shepherd. But then Jesus came along, claiming to be the Good Shepherd, the Gate to the sheepfold, offering salvation only through Him. And then He said, “I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd” (John 10:16). That would really have upset the Jews, because what could He have meant other than the Gentiles, you and me? Jesus was a divisive Figure in His day, and still is today, with many people rejecting His claim to be the only Good Shepherd.
But back to the “right paths”. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “ ... I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me“. John 10:9, “Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures“. There is no other way to Heaven, to salvation and eternal life., except through Jesus. Only He is the “right path” and any other claim by any other religion or faith is the “wrong path”. There is only one place to which “wrong paths” will lead … but we don’t want to talk about that!
Dear Lord Jesus. We proclaim to all who will listen that there is only one way to eternal life with God, and that is You. Not Mohammad. Not Buddha. Not Hari Krishna. But only You. Thank You that before the world was even created, You had Your hand upon us. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 