"He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake" (Psa. 23:3).

Sheep are creatures of habit; if left to themselves they will follow the same paths until they become ruts, graze on the same hills until they turn into desert wastes, and pollute their own ground until it is corrupt with disease and parasites.

Sheep cannot "get along by themselves." They have to be constantly moved to new ground. If left in the same place they gnaw the grass to the ground and will even paw out the roots, leaving the soil utterly barren. They choose "favorite spots" and these well-worn areas quickly become infested with parasites, making them very thin and sickly.

For the sheep’s sake, as well as for the shepherd’s reputation, the sheep have to be moved at least once a week. This is the greatest single safeguard for the sheep. This is the constant self-denial that the Lord calls us to; His will, not ours (Lk. 9:23-24).

The Lord says His sheep hear His voice and they follow Him (Jn. 10:27). We show that we hear it when we are walking in paths of righteousness, led by His Spirit and word, putting to death our sins (Rom. 8:13-14, Col. 3:5).

May we be, and do, as David, who saw the Lord going before him; he knew that He would show him the path of life so he followed Him (Psa. 16:8, 11). He kept himself from the paths of the destroyer by always praying that his Shepherd would uphold his steps in His paths of righteousness so that his footsteps would not slip (Psa. 17:4-5). He knew that all the paths of the Lord (all the painful, stony paths that hurt our feet or even break our legs) are paths of mercy and truth that drip with abundance - with abundant life (Psa. 25:10, 65:11, Jn. 10:10).

For those of us who haven’t grown as "fat and healthy" as David yet, let us not be "cast down." Our Lord is a Shepherd that not only goes before His sheep, but behind as well, to catch all His strays. We will hear His voice. He will say, "This is the way, walk in it" (Isa. 30:21).

May we prove ourselves to be true to our nature as sheep. When sheep are moved onto new feeding ground they kick up their heels and leap with delight. Even the old ewes will do this. Here are more "green pastures!"

This is why we can count it all joy when we fall into temptation (Jas. 1:2). The Lord is moving us away from our own paths of destruction into His paths of righteousness. May we not turn out to be even dumber than sheep, continually feeding on barren ground that will only produce death.