paths of righteousness

There’s a line in Psalm 23 that hunts me down every time I read it.  And while I would love for it to be about God making me lie down in green pastures and leading me beside still waters and restoring my soul, that’s not the verse that haunts me.  It’s the one right after that: “He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” 

Now, I’m not exactly sure what these paths of righteous look like, but they certainly don’t sound easy and comfortable.  They don’t sound like paths that allow me to coast; they actually sound like the exact opposite.  They sound difficult and challenging and exacting.  They sound like paths that are going to require a great deal from me.  They will most likely require all that I have and all that I am.  I suppose that’s why Jesus said that “the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life.” (Matthew 7:14)

But even though they do not sound like easy paths, they do sound like right paths.  They sound like the kind of paths that will make me more and more into the man God desires me to be.