The ABC's, the books of the Bible, lyrics of age old songs all have one thing in common for me: They were all memorized rote-style so much so that I could recite them verbatim without thought!
The same is true of Psalms 23. It was a passage that was taught and recited through Vacation Bible School and Sunday School so much so that the true meaning of the passage was easily missed. Over time, like pieces of a puzzle, I began to merge scripture with meaning and as I heard various speakers give their breakdowns and read books that explained the excert from the context perspective, I became more acquainted with this familiar passage.
Just the other day, verse 3, "He restores my soul, He leads me in the paths of righteousness, for His name's sake..." struck a chord with me. God, leading me, in order to make HIS name/reputation look good? Hmmmm, I'd never seen it from that angle before. I understood my role as a sheep to mean that I needed guidance and as a believer that guidance would need to be along paths of righteousness. But again, my perspective was that it was for my good; namely because I'm so foul and capable of straying away from my Shepherd. While this is true, I find this simple refrain to indicate that my primary purpose for needing guidance is to protect the Lord's reputation from damage. He, being the jealous God He is realizes the importance of His name being unblemished as the method through which people will 'hear' and accept His Son and that drives His desire to not only restore us when fallen, but to then lead us in the right direction.
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