They can make you, they can break you. They can put scars on your soul, or stars in your heart. A bad one can ruin a life forever, a good one can redeem a life forever. You will frequently rejoice over the good ones, and you will forever regret all the bad ones. What am I talking about? Decisions, decisions, decisions. They can make you bad, glad, or sad.
I read about a man who had placed some flowers on the grave of his dearly departed mother. He started back toward his car when he saw another man kneeling at a grave nearby. The man seemed to be praying with profound intensity, and he kept saying things like, “Why did you have to die? Why couldn’t you have lived? How could you have left me in such a predicament? Oh, I’d give anything if I could bring you back!”
Well, the first man walked over to him with sympathy and said, “Sir, I don’t wish to interfere with your private grief, but this demonstration of pain is more than I’ve ever seen before. Who are you mourning for so deeply, is it your child?” He said, “Oh no.” He said, “Is it a parent?” He said, “No.”
The man said, “Well, who is it?” He said, “My wife’s first husband.” Now it wasn’t the death of the first husband that caused this man his problem, it was the decision to become the second husband that nailed him to the wall.
We all face decisions in life. You are here today because you made a decision to be here. Really life is just one decision after another. In this verse King David shares two wonderful truths with us. He shares with us that God will love us enough to correct us when we make the wrong decisions, and He will lead us to make the right decisions. You never have to worry about going His way because His way is the right way.
There are some here today who have gotten off the right road onto the wrong road. There is hope for you. There are some of you at a crossroads and you don’t know which road to take. There is help for you. Learn two tremendous truths that will take care of both your past and your future.
I. When We Fall, God Lifts Us To The Place Of Restoration
“He restores my soul;” (v.1a) Literally that verse says, “He brings me back.” Now what does this mean?
Again remember we are talking about the relationship of sheep to a shepherd. There are two dangers that sheep face, and two dangers that only the shepherd can handle when it comes to sheep. One of the dangers is that a sheep will become a cast sheep.
In Ps. 42:11 the psalmist cries out, “Why are you cast down, O my soul?” Now a Palestinian even today would understand the analogy that is given in that verse. He is referring here to a “cast” sheep, or a sheep that is “cast down.” This is an old English shepherd’s term for a sheep that is turned over on its back and cannot get up again by itself. One of the saddest sights you will ever see is a “cast” sheep lying on its back, its feet straight up in the air, struggling frantically to stand up, but in a hopeless situation.
This is a position sheep get themselves into, but they cannot get themselves out of. Sheep are built in such a way that if they ever fall on their side and then over on their back with their legs sticking straight up in the air, they cannot aright themselves and stand on their feet. Here’s what happens. Sometimes a particularly heavy or fat sheep will lie down in some little hollow or depression in the ground. It may roll over on its side to stretch out and relax, and suddenly the center of gravity in the body shifts so that it turns on its back far enough that the feet can no longer touch the ground.
At this point the sheep becomes very frightened. It begins to kick and flail, it bleats and it cries out. It is frightened because it knows it’s opened to attack. Buzzards, vultures, dogs, coyotes, and cougars all know that a cast sheep is easy prey, and just waiting to be killed.
As it lies there on its back struggling, gasses begin to collect in the stomach. As those gasses expand it hardens the stomach and it cuts off the air passage, and if it is hot, sheep can suffocate in a matter of hours. Beyond that, blood circulation to the legs is also cut off, and the legs go numb. If the weather is cool or cloudy, a sheep can survive in that agonizing position for several days, struggling to get its breath. There is not one thing they can do about their predicament; they need a shepherd who can restore their soul.
When a shepherd restores a cast down sheep, he doesn’t do it immediately. It takes time to restore that sheep. First, a shepherd will come to the sheep lying on its back with its legs sticking up in the air. The first thing he will do is to begin to massage those legs to get circulation back in the legs. He will then roll the sheep over on its side to relieve the pressure of gasses in the stomach. He begins to talk to the sheep in very reassuring tones to lower the fear-factor.
Then he very gently puts his hand under the sheep’s belly and lifts it up because it cannot stand up on its own because its feet are so wobbly. He will hold that sheep there until the blood begins to flow in the legs again and it begins to get some stability. Finally, the sheep is able to walk on its own and rejoin the fold.
Now this is a tremendous picture of what God is willing to do for all of us. If you’ve ever had your soul cast down; if you’ve ever been knocked flat of your back spiritually, and you are struggling to get back up, God has promised He will come and restore your soul. He will restore your confidence, your peace, your strength, and your joy. In Psalm 51 David wrote about how his soul had been cast down by sin in his life. He said in Ps. 51:12, “Restore to me the joy of your salvation.”
You may be cast down today by guilt. Well if that is true, the Good Shepherd has a word for you. It is 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
It may be that your soul is cast down by grief. If that is so, the Good Shepherd has a word for you. It’s 2 Cor. 12:9, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Whether you are broken by guilt or burdened with grief, God will restore you.
But there’s another danger for a sheep and that is the danger of becoming a lost sheep. Oftentimes sheep will begin to nibble on grain and grass, and they don’t look up and watch where they’re going; they just walk and eat. It doesn’t take a lot of nibbles until a sheep will wander off into a field trying to satisfy his hunger.
They only have one thing on their mind and that’s the next blade of grass. Before you know it, that sheep is lost. But what’s even worse, he can’t find his way home! Dogs and pigeons and horses have a homing instinct; they can find their way home. A cow will come back to the barn, a horse will return to the stable, a dog will return to his house, but sheep can’t even find their way back to the flock.
You see, a sheep is not strong like a lion; it is not swift like an antelope; it is not smart like a dog. The number one characteristic of a sheep is it is stupid. Once a sheep has gone astray it cannot find its way back home.
Now it becomes a matter of great urgency that that sheep be restored to the flock, because, first of all, sheep don’t even have a keen sense of smell, and left to themselves they’ll eat poisonous weeds or they’ll drink polluted water and they’ll die. Furthermore, sheep are defenseless. Tigers claw, bears crush, mules kick, snakes strike, but sheep are defenseless. So it becomes a matter of urgency for the shepherd to find the sheep.
The last thing a shepherd does before he goes to sleep at night is he counts the sheep. He calls them all by name, and if one is missing he will secure the flock and then go and find that one lost sheep. Because it is the shepherd’s job not only to restore cast sheep to their feet, but to restore lost sheep to the flock.
When you’re on your back spiritually, or when you wander away from your flock, if you belong to the Shepherd, the Shepherd will come for you and He will lift you to the place of restoration.
We can restore antiques, we can restore clocks, we can restore cars, we can restore paintings, but only God can restore the soul. Man has discovered many remedies for sick bodies, but only God can restore a sick soul. There is only one remedy for guilt, or for grief, and that is the grace of the Good Shepherd.
II. When We Falter, God Leads Us To The Path Of Righteousness
“He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” (v.3b) The Good Shepherd not only feeds His flock, He leads His flock; He not only provides for His flock, He guides His flock; He not only protects the flock, He directs the flock; and He leads us to “the paths of righteousness.” Now literally that really says, “the right path.”
Sheep have extremely poor vision. Most sheep can only see about ten yards away. That’s why they tend to wander. You remember Isaiah 53:6 which says, “All we like sheep have gone astray.”
When sheep don’t follow the shepherd, they always get off on the wrong path. Now the Palestinian shepherd was a master at reading tracks. In the Palestinian desert there were many marks and paths that crisscross the land. Some were made by wild beasts, others were made by robbers lying in wait. But to a sheep every path looks the same. Sheep do not realize that this path could lead to a wild animal, or this path could lead to a cliff. I am reminded of Prov. 14:12, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”
But the Good Shepherd always leads the sheep on a path to green grass and still waters. Again, the verse literally says “He leads us to the right paths.” A shepherd never guides his sheep to destruction. He never guides them into polluted waters or poisonous grass. He never guides them into fields where food and water are not available. He only guides them into the places that are right for them.
Now the wonderful thing about this Shepherd is this. He always bats 1.000. He never makes a bad decision, He never makes a mistake, and He will always guide you to paths that are right for you. What a path it is! Prov. 4:18 says, “But the path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day.” Think about it. This path that God will guide you on is a path of no darkness, a path of no danger, a path of no disappointment. Prov. 12:28 says, “In the way of righteousness is life, and in its pathway there is no death.”
Even though sheep have poor eyesight, they don’t really have to see as long as they are following the shepherd and are staying in his path. You know in one sense everyone of us has bad eyesight; not in the physical sense, but in the spiritual sense. Because even with the best eyesight in the world, there is one thing you and I can’t see. We cannot see the future. So how can we face the unknown future? Corrie Ten Boone made one of the greatest statements I have ever heard. She said, “Never be afraid to trust a future you don’t know to a God you do know.”
The occasion was a Christmas Eve address to the British Commonwealth delivered by King George VI. It was his closing address during those difficult days for Great Britain just as World War II had ended. As he spoke that night the entire nation was unaware that King George VI was dying of cancer. These were the last words he said to his people:
I said to the man at the Gate of the Year, “Get me a light that I may walk safely into the unknown.”
He said to me, “Go out into the darkness and put your hand in the hand of God and it shall be to you better than the light, and safer than the known.”
Please understand and get this next truth into your heart. As long as the sheep can see the shepherd and stay close to the shepherd, they don’t have to worry about the future, and they are completely safe. But there is only one way the sheep can see the shepherd because of their bad eyesight—they must stay close to him. The shepherd can only lead the sheep if the sheep are looking at him and listening to him. Sheep can’t follow a shepherd they don’t see, and they can’t listen to a shepherd they don’t hear.
Right now in this very room there are invisible television waves inundating this building. Now you cannot see them, you cannot feel them. The reason for that is you don’t have a proper receptacle. You do not have something that can intercept the signal. Now to receive God’s signal, to be led in the paths of righteousness, or to be lifted to the place of restoration, there are three things you must do on a daily basis.
First of all, ask God to give you wisdom. “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” (James 1:5) Ask God to give you the wisdom to make wise decisions and to correct unwise decisions. Then ask God to guide your walk. Isa. 30:21 says, “Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way, walk in it.’ When you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left.”
Now that verse is referring not only to God telling you which way to go, but which way not to go. You’ll hear that voice when you’re about to make a wrong turn, saying, “This is the way, walk in it.” It’s better to ask God to direct your paths than it is correct your mistakes.
Finally, ask God to guard your ways. “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there are any anxieties in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139:23-24)
A mother in California told about the day her little three-year-old son was literally on her heels wherever she went throughout the house. She was having trouble doing her routine chores because her little son would walk right behind her.
She said that whenever she stopped to do something and turned around, she would trip over her little boy. Several times she suggested fun activities to keep him occupied, but he would just smile and say, “That’s all right Mommy, I’d rather be in here with you.” She said that little boy followed her around for hours. After awhile her patience finally wore thin, and she said, “Son, why do you keep following me so closely?”
The little boy said, “Because, Mommy, my Sunday School teacher told me to walk in Jesus’ footsteps, but I can’t see him, so I’m walking in yours.” Do you know why the shepherd leads us? It’s “for His namesake” that His name might be glorified. Do you know why we ought to make sure that we’re in the path of righteousness?—for His namesake that we might bring glory and honor to Him.
The shepherd has one job—to lead the sheep. The sheep have one job—that’s to follow the shepherd. We do it all for the glory of His name, knowing that His way is always the right way.
