Are you one of the many who are living lives of overfullness? There are too many responsibilities to respond to. There are too many opportunities to take advantage of. There is too much impact to attempt to achieve.
Are you one of the many who are living lives of lack? There is too little time. There isn’t enough provision, even for what we might consider basic needs. There is loneliness from too few meaningful relationships.
These are sides of the same coin. They both send us into a mode of existence that requires interruption. That interruption normally comes in the form of ceasing. Just stop.
Think for moment about what is leading you. What are you following?
What kind of life might it lead you into?
Does the order look something like what the writer of the 23rd Psalm describes?
Does your shepherd take you into a life without lack? Do they guide you into rest in the midst of plenty, then refreshment and restoration?
These are important things to ponder. The vision of a particular kind of life is important in answering some of these important questions.
Life after all is what we are talking about. That is the totality of you. Your complete experiences, the beliefs you are willing to act on as true – even without all the evidence or facts – your interactions with others and your environment is just the start. There are the goals you extend and work towards achieving. There are the ways in which you pursue those goals. There are the affect and consequences of choices that you make along the way. There are the joys and challenges you face when other’s choices affect you. This all begins to paint a picture of what a life is.
As we begin to dig into the meat of Psalm 23 we find that the writer has spent the opening few lines setting the scene. The writer hasn’t gotten to any real action yet. We know they have a shepherd and we know who the shepherd is. We know that they are experiencing a particular kind of life and we know what some of that looks like. We have come to know that along this journey it is the writer’s shepherd who has restored their soul.
The writer is describing a kind of complete restoration. This is not just physical, mental, relational, or even strictly spiritual restoration. Since it would be possible to have a willing spirit and an unwilling body. I keep coming back to the idea of the soul as the wrapper of the person thanks to Dallas Willard. The soul is a part in and of itself and the wrapper that encompasses every other part of the person. When the soul is restored it speaks to the restoration of every other part as well.
Well, what then? Celebration? Skipping off into the sunset? Maybe, there would enough cause for both. But the writer of this psalm has a different idea. The writer describes the way he will now go, and for what purpose.
He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.
Again we have leading. The writer is not doing the leading, finding, or otherwise way making on this path. Rather he is allowing himself to be led by the trustworthy shepherd in the paths of righteousness.
Righteousness is one of those foundational words that gets defined with itself sometimes. I like the Merriam Webster Dictionary definition. It says that righteousness is acting in accord with divine or moral law: free from guilt or sin. Another way to say it is that righteousness is having good standing with God.
The writer of the psalm doesn’t get into what this looks like – the “how” of it all. In a sense the Bible might be described in its totality as an unfolding answering of the question of how we might live a righteous life. Here we get one clue – we are led.
The other side of the coin is the ultimate purpose of such a life. While I happen to believe that a righteous life – a life with God – is the best possible life one can have, it might be jarring to hear the writer say that he is being led in righteous paths for the sake of his shepherd’s name.
This brings up the relationship between what we follow and how we show up in the world. Whether we like it or not, we are representatives of what we follow. We represent what we follow in two primary ways.
One is words. Many of us do a lot of talking or writing, or sharing of posts online. These are mostly word-based. Through words we share our specific beliefs, desires, preferences, what we are thinking about, and the vision of life we are working towards.
The other way is through physical actions. Through actions we work to bring about the reality we envision for ourselves. We work towards experiencing loving relationships, a fulfilling job, and a pleasant home for example. These all take action to come about. If we follow a more material vision of life, our life will reflect that. If we follow a more human-centric vision of life, our life will reflect that.
What, or who, we are following shows up in our words and actions. The more we are immersed in the reality of what or who we are following, the more that reality will come out through us. It is inevitable. Ultimately we might imagine becoming the kind of person for whom our reality and the reality of what or who we are following is exactly the same. So immersed in their world are we that when someone else comes into our world, they will end up encountering the reality of what or who we follow.
This immersion obviously changes us as well.
This is precisely what the writer of Psalm 23 is envisioning. That our own change is representative of the reality expressed by the shepherd we are following. That change is also a data point for others of the reality in question. Both our own change and the public expression of our new life has direct impact on the reputation of the shepherd for others.
After all, some of the most profound learning happening through modeling, and some of the most profound questions have to do with the reputation of unseen things.
“Is God good?” For example, is a question that can be asked because of a questionable reputation. Alternatively, “Can you show me what God can do?” Is a question that desires visible modeling as to the reality of God. While, “I’ll believe it when I see it,” is the expression of a desire that’s a little more dug in.
We might say that this is all well and good. But our imagination might be hard stretched to think of a shepherd who is trustworthy enough that their idea of righteousness, their leading, and their name’s sake can somehow be best for us as well.
Journeying with a shepherd outside of the context of love will indeed lead to a multitude of evils. However, the opposite is equally true. Journeying with a God who is love, will lead to a multitude of good – living in the paths of righteousness and a life reflective of the name of God.
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