“He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” (Psalm 23:3)

At the heart of Christianity is a simple call from Jesus: “Follow me.”

Christianity certainly includes believing what Jesus taught. Truth matters. But discipleship is more than intellectual agreement with the teachings of Jesus. To be a Christian is to follow him—to follow him in his words and in his ways.

That is exactly the picture David gives us in Psalm 23. The LORD is the Shepherd, and his people are the sheep. As we have already seen, the emphasis of the psalm falls again and again upon what the Shepherd does for his people. He provides for them, gives them rest, and restores them.

Psalm 23:1 — His Provision

Psalm 23:2 — His Peace

Now David adds another wonderful truth: “He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.”

The Shepherd does not merely provide for his sheep. He leads them. And the sheep, dependent upon their Shepherd, are called to follow.

“He Leads Me”: The Shepherd Knows the Way

Think about the relationship between a shepherd and his sheep. The shepherd must know where he is going. He must know the way, and the sheep must depend upon him to lead them.

That dependence is part of the picture Psalm 23 gives us. Sheep need guidance, protection, and leadership. Jesus himself looked upon the crowds with compassion because they were

“like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36; Mark 6:34).

The Shepherd knows the way; the sheep follow.

That is an important picture of the Christian life. Coming into a saving relationship with God is not simply a matter of receiving forgiveness and then going about life independently. We entrust ourselves to the care of God. We look to him, listen to him, and follow him in obedience because he knows the way.

David expresses this same dependence elsewhere:

“Show me your ways, O LORD;
Teach me your paths.
Lead me in your truth and teach me.”

That is the prayer of a sheep who knows he needs a Shepherd.

“Show me. Teach me. Lead me.”

There is humility in that prayer. It acknowledges that I do not know everything I need to know. I cannot safely make myself the final authority over my life. I need the wisdom and guidance of God.

Following Christ Is More Than Agreeing With Christ

When Jesus called his first disciples, his command was “Follow me.” That language matters.

It is possible to know a great deal about Christianity without actually following Christ. It is possible to agree intellectually with Christian doctrine while resisting the Lord in the way we live. But Jesus calls disciples to hear his words and walk in his ways.

This is why Jesus repeatedly connects hearing with doing. At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, he speaks of the person who hears his words and does them as a wise man who builds his house upon the rock (Matthew 7:24–27). James makes the same point: “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only” (James 1:22).

Hearing matters. Understanding matters. Believing matters. But true discipleship does not stop with hearing. The Shepherd leads, and his sheep follow.

This is also why Christian discipleship touches the whole of life. We do not give Christ one compartment while reserving the rest for ourselves. Jesus said that no one can serve two masters (Matthew 6:24). If Christ is our Shepherd, then we are learning to bring our thoughts, desires, decisions, relationships, ambitions, and conduct under his gracious rule.

The question is not merely, “Do I agree with Jesus?” It is also, “Am I following Jesus?”

“Paths of Righteousness”: Where the Shepherd Leads

David does not simply say that God leads him along a path. He says:

“He leads me in paths of righteousness.”

That tells us something about the character of God’s guidance.

The Shepherd leads his people in righteous ways—in ways that are right, just, holy, and pleasing to God. His guidance does not contradict his character. God will never lead us into sin and then ask us to call it his will.

This helps us understand divine guidance in Psalm 23. The verse is not primarily giving us a technique for discovering every detail of God’s will. David’s emphasis is upon the character of the path on which the Shepherd leads: it is a righteous path.

That means God’s leading and Christian obedience cannot be separated.

Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness” (John 8:12). There are ways of darkness and ways of light. There is a broad road and a narrow road (Matthew 7:13–14). There are ways that lead us away from God and ways consistent with his righteousness.

Our natural tendency, however, is to wander.

Sheep wander, and so do we. We are tempted to choose our own path, trust our own wisdom, and listen to competing voices. But the Shepherd continually calls his people to follow him in the righteous way.

The Christian life therefore includes repentance. When we recognize that we have wandered from the Shepherd’s path, the answer is not to redefine the path. It is to turn back to the Shepherd.

The Shepherd Leads Through His Word

How, then, do we follow?

First and fundamentally, God has given us his Word.

The psalmist says:

“Your word is a lamp to my feet
And a light to my path.”
— Psalm 119:105

Scripture illuminates the path before us. It tells us who God is, what he loves, what he commands, what he forbids, and what it means to walk faithfully before him.

This means we should be very careful about claiming that God has “led” us somewhere Scripture forbids us to go. The Shepherd does not contradict his own voice. Whatever else we may say about God’s guidance, his written Word gives his people an objective standard by which our desires, impressions, and decisions must be tested.

And so we come to Scripture with the prayer: “Show me your ways. Teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth.”

But then we must be prepared to obey what God shows us.

There is little value in asking God to show us the path if we have already decided that we will only follow when we like where it leads.

The Shepherd Leads His People by His Spirit

God has also given his Spirit to his people.

Jesus did not leave his disciples alone. The risen Christ poured out the Holy Spirit upon his church, and the New Testament describes God’s people as those who are led by the Spirit (Romans 8:14; Galatians 5:18).

We must speak carefully here. Being led by the Spirit does not mean treating every feeling, impulse, or personal preference as the voice of God. Nor does the Spirit lead us contrary to the Scriptures he inspired.

Rather, the Spirit works in God’s people so that we understand, love, and obey the truth of God. We depend upon him for wisdom, conviction, strength, and holiness as we follow Christ.

So the Christian life is not lived merely by our own strength or intelligence. We listen to the Word of God, we pray for the help of the Spirit of God, and we seek to walk in obedience to the Son of God.

Word and Spirit belong together in the life of the church.

The Righteous Path Is Not Always the Easy Path

When we hear that the Shepherd leads us in “paths of righteousness,” we should not assume that the righteous path will always be the easiest path.

Psalm 23 itself will soon make that clear. The Shepherd’s path can pass through a dark valley, yet even there the Shepherd remains with his sheep.

Psalm 23:4 — His Presence

Following Christ can be costly. Jesus spoke of a narrow way. Sometimes obedience will put us out of step with the people around us. At other times the struggle will be much closer to home: our own desires may pull us in a different direction from the commands of Christ.

But righteousness is never the enemy of our good. God’s commands come from the character of a good Shepherd.

That matters because sin often presents itself as the better path. It promises freedom, pleasure, or fulfillment. Yet sin takes us away from the Shepherd.

The path of righteousness calls us to trust that our Shepherd knows better than we do.

Hearing the Shepherd and Following Him

Jesus takes up this shepherd imagery beautifully in John 10. He presents himself as the Good Shepherd who knows his sheep. His sheep know his voice, and they follow him.

That gives us a helpful way to think about discipleship.

A Christian is not simply someone who once had a religious experience, learned Christian language, or outwardly identified with the church. Those things cannot substitute for Christ himself. The life of discipleship is a life of continuing to hear the Shepherd through his Word and to follow him.

That following will never be perfect in this life. Sheep wander. Christians stumble and sin. But there is a real direction to the Christian life: when the Shepherd calls us back, we return to him. When his Word corrects us, we repent. When he shows us the righteous path, we seek by his grace to walk in it.

The question is not whether you have ever stumbled. The question is: Whom are you following?

Jesus is the Good Shepherd. His call remains, “Follow me.”

“For His Name’s Sake”: God’s Character Stands Behind His Leading

David finally tells us why the Shepherd leads him:

“He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.”

That phrase takes our eyes away from ourselves and puts them upon God.

In Scripture, God’s name is bound up with who he is—his character, his reputation, his glory. David’s confidence is therefore not grounded ultimately in his own wisdom, goodness, or ability to keep himself on the path. His confidence rests in the Shepherd.

God leads his people in a way consistent with who he is.

This is tremendously encouraging, because if God’s faithfulness depended finally upon our performance, none of us could stand. We wander. We fail. We sin. But God is faithful because faithfulness belongs to his character.

Our hope is not, “I have been such a good sheep that surely the Shepherd will keep me.”

Our hope is in the Shepherd himself.

This does not make obedience unimportant. It gives obedience its proper foundation. We do not walk in righteous paths in order to persuade God to become faithful to us. We follow because he is faithful. Grace does not remove the call to obedience; grace brings us under the care of the Shepherd and teaches us to follow him.

Following the Good Shepherd

Ultimately, Christians read Psalm 23 in the light of Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd.

He is the Shepherd who came seeking wandering sheep. He laid down his life for the sheep. Through his sacrificial death, sinners receive forgiveness and are brought into his flock. And the risen Shepherd continues to lead his people.

So when Psalm 23 says, “He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake,” it gives us both comfort and a calling.

The comfort is that our Shepherd knows the way. His wisdom is greater than ours. His character is faithful. His Word is true. His Spirit is at work among his people.

The calling is to follow.

Perhaps the prayer we need is simply the prayer of the psalmist:

“Show me your ways. Teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth.”

Do not merely admire the Shepherd. Do not merely agree that the Shepherd knows the way.

Follow him.

Hear his Word. Depend upon his Spirit. Turn from the paths that lead away from him. Walk in the paths of righteousness.

And when you discover that you have wandered, look again to Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd. Our confidence is not in the perfection of the sheep, but in the faithfulness of the Shepherd.

He leads his people in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Explore the Meaning of Psalm 23

The paths of righteousness are one part of the larger journey David describes in Psalm 23. The Shepherd who leads his people in the right path is the same Shepherd who provides and restores, remains with them when the path enters the valley, welcomes them at his table, and brings them home. Read: Psalm 23 explained: meaning, context, and message to see how the whole psalm develops this picture of God’s faithful care.

Explore the complete Psalm 23 series:

• Psalm 23:1 — His Provision
• Psalm 23:2 — His Peace
• Psalm 23:3 — Paths of Righteousness
• Psalm 23:4 — His Presence
• Psalm 23:5 — His Party
• Psalm 23:6 — His Promise