“He restoreth my soul; He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His Name’s sake.” Psalm 23:3

Along with John 3:16 and The Lord’s Prayer, the masterpiece poem Psalm 23 is one of the most familiar and memorized portions of the Bible.  A marginal note in my well-worn copy of The Psalms reminds me that about two years ago my mother-in-law, now deceased, recited all of Psalm 23 with me in a hospital room.  She was forgetting more and more of every day, but her anchor to this Scripture somehow held firm.  She knew it word for word.

Though the author of the twenty-third psalm uses an extended metaphor, the text is fairly straightforward in its consoling expression of human response to a Creator’s love.  He leads me…He feeds me….He protects me…but what about that third verse, which the RSV renders “He renews my life; He leads me along right paths for His Name’s sake.”  How is it that our choices in life come to be aligned with God’s leading?  Why is it important that we’re led along these pathways of righteousness?  For the believing Christian, following God’s lead produces several obvious benefits:  we have the peace of knowing we’re in His will, we see heavenly gain if we persevere to the end.  Others in our lives profit too if we’re on the right path.  For example, those who don’t know God, but do know us, have a Christlike lifestyle modelled.

A well-lived life is an attractive goal, both for us and for those with whom we share our lives, but the purpose of righteously lived lives ultimately has nothing to do with us or others; it is “…for His Name’s sake” that we pursue holiness.  We bring honor to God’s name when we engage in right living – it is why we were created in the first place, in the second place called, and in the third place chosen. 

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