He Guides Me in Paths of Righteousness For His Name's Sake

“God uses all the wrong roads to get us to the right places,” CS Lewis 

Sheep are notorious creatures of habit.  If left to themselves, they will follow the same trails until there are ruts. They will graze the same hills until they turn to desert wastelands.  They will pollute their own ground until it is corrupt with disease and parasites.

A good shepherd knows this of sheep and plans where He will take the sheep to graze.  He rotates from one grazing area to another~ seeking out the healthy land.  The shepherd knows where his flock will thrive.

Isaiah 53:6 says, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way.”  Just as sheep will blindly, habitually follow one another along the same worn trails, we cling to the same habits that we have seen ruin others’ lives. We are stubborn and proud and end up grazing on the polluted grounds.  

In the midst of the wrong roads we travel, Jesus the Good Shepherd tenderly draws us, “I am the way, the truth and the life; no man comes to the Father, except through me,” John 14:6. He beckons us to follow Him.  He tells us that” if any man will follow me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me”, Mark 8:34.  If one follows the Shepherd, they will discover fresh pasture areas; new abundant life and wholeness, maturity, humility and holiness in their walk with God. 

Oh that we, His sheep would trust that the Good Shepherd knows where the flock will thrive….that we would trust His leading in the paths of righteousness.  Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.”  We will end up where we are headed.