The Lord's Paths of Righteousness and Promise of Comfort
As we continue with our exploration into the 23rd Psalm, let's look --
“The shepherd, it is written, will leadeth you in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.”
We so often use the word, path, to describe our life journey. How delightful this psalm uses that symbolism to talk about what kind of life journey the Divine wants for you. I looked at many versions to be sure I had it written correctly, and indeed, "paths" is plural. That had me pondering if it is meant that there are many paths of righteousness, not just one? For His name's sake speaks to the importance of the goodness of God, and that we are named as God is named (are we a namesake?), therefore we are privileged to be together with the Divine as we are guided on our paths.
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I shall fear no evil. For Thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”
"Death" in this case is separation from the Divine, the valley is a low point in our lives -- even at the worst of times, the promise is that the Shepherd will protect us (as the sheep are protected with the shepherd's rod and staff) and we can trust the shepherd to keep us safe. This psalm also says what I feel so strongly -- that God is always present -- by saying thou are with me. Finally, the nature of the Divine is to give comfort. Perhaps God does not make good or bad magically happen in our lives, but we can rely on being comforted in our joy or sorrow.
I say this part of the psalm in my darkest times. I go into that spiritual place that rests in my inner reservoir and I ask the Shepherd for comfort. Since writing the book PRESENCE, there have been some valleys. I had a raw sense of that dark valley today in part of the process to bring this book into being. I will be better tomorrow, but while I'm in that shadow, while I feel separated from the goodness of the Divine, while I feel less than the namesake of the Divine, I will open myself to be comforted until I return to the paths of goodness abundantly present. If you happen to be in that valley today, I hope you can find the comfort that the abundance of the Divine promises in the 23rd Psalm.
