He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.

Psalm 23:3 NKJV

Psalm 23 is one the most well known Psalms in the Bible. In this Psalm, David shares a beautiful imagery of his relationship with God where God is his shepherd and David the sheep. A careful ponder on Psalm 23 will reveal deep truths about who God is in our lives and how we ought to pursue God. In this reflection, I want us to take some time to ponder on Psalm 23:3. In this particular verse, David reveals God as the one who leads us in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.

What are the paths of righteousness and how does one find them?

Question for reflection

In this life, one will encounter different phases of life. Such as the phase of childhood, teenage-hood, adulthood, education phase, singleness, marriage, career pursuance phase, parenting, old age etc. In all of these phases of life God has specifically designed an ordained path for His children to take in each of these phases. The omniscient God (All-Knowing God) has every detail of our lives taken into account and He has provided grace, wisdom and truth to navigate every aspect of the life we may face. As a child or adult God has clearly laid out the path for your life, yours is to humbly obey and follow God’s word and will. The paths the Lord has set for us as we encounter the many phases of life is the paths of righteousness.

Beloved in Christ, whatever phase of life you may be experiencing at this moment, I am kindly urging you to seek and pursue the righteous path that the Lord has set for your life. In a difficult or challenging time, we may easily be inclined to chose an easier wrongful way out that will bring about a temporary relief to the situation we are facing, but the end of that is consequences that will end up hurting or destroying us. That is why the wise man in the book of Proverbs wrote ” There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death.” – Proverbs 14:12. In a time when we face for instance a financial difficulty the seemingly easier way will be to find illicit ways to earn quick money but the end of it is not only legal consequences but also we will suffer spiritually.

The Righteous Paths

The righteous paths of the Lord are revealed in His word when we study and listen to His word. God has graciously provided His truth, wisdom and grace through the Bible to guide us through this life. When we diligently and prayerfully search the Scriptures, we will find the mind and heart of God concerning every phase of life. God reveals the entirety of His truth in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. The life the Lord Jesus Christ lived is the blue print of the righteous paths we ought to tread in whatever phase of life we may be experiencing.

God’s word assures us as believers that He directs us on His righteous paths and in these paths are full of God’s glory. As you tread the righteous paths your life will manifest God’s love, holiness, joy, gentleness, goodness, patience, peace, and all that God’s word reveals as the nature of God (God is holy) and the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:23).

Dear beloved, let’s yield our hearts to God and allow His Word and Spirit to lead us on the righteous paths of life. Dear one, God has set a righteous path before you, please let God lead you on it and you will experience the fullness of God’s glory in your life.

As you yield to following God on the righteous path you partake in the work of God in the earth, your holy and godly life become the blessing it is meant to be, you walk in the purpose God has ordained for your life, you live out the life our Lord Jesus Christ obtained on calvary for you. Let’s not allow the voices and the things of this world to lure us into deceptions and evil pleasures but keep our focus wholly on God like David did and allow God to lead us on the paths of righteousness for His glorious name sake.

Let’s meditate and pray through these scriptures as we ask the Lord to lead us in our lives on the paths of righteousness

Make me know Your ways, O Lord;
Teach me Your paths. -Psalm 25:4

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
⁶ In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall ^[a]direct your paths. – Proverbs 3:5-6

The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day. – Proverbs 4:18

You will make known to me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
In Your right hand there are pleasures forever. – Psalm 16:11

May God help us as we press on to always abide in Him and follow Him on the righteous paths. Amen!

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