This famous Psalm is one that I’m sure we are all familiar with. This Psalm is made up of six of the most beautiful verses throughout the entire Holy Bible, in my humble opinion. I highly recommend committing this entire Psalm to memory, store it in your heart and use it in your daily prayers. I have personally found this particular Psalm is very powerful, as it brings us much needed comfort in times of trouble.
{A Psalm of David.} The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.” Psalm 23:1-6
I’m sure that I have stated this before in previous posts, but I can’t stress it enough, so I will elaborate and explain how to effectively put together these Prayers of Affirmation using Our Blessed LORD’s Own Precious Words - this is truly more precious than gold.
It’s very simple, all we have to do is shift the point of view in the verses from The LORD as the third person (He) to second person (You). Of course, we dare not change His Word in any way, we are just modifying the point of view to The LORD and addressing Him directly using His Word, thus Affirming His Word back to Him. Thus, instead of saying it as, “The LORD is My Shepherd,” it can be worded something like this - “LORD, You Are My Shepherd.” I always do my best to structure every statement in such a way that puts Him before me in every statement. That’s a big deal and I will probably write a whole other post on that alone.
That’s the way I do it and The Holy Spirit fills me with comfort and joy every time, however I encourage you not to take my word for it. Put it to the test yourself and let The Holy Spirit affirm this for you. The Holy Spirit reveals certain truths to us as we are ready to learn them. We can’t put it all together until after we’ve been given all of the individual pieces. He will show us how they all go together whenever He sees fit. I say that to say this, I am extremely careful not to share anything that I’ve not been cleared to do so. There are revelations that The LORD gives us to share with everyone, some with just a few and some are just for us.
I often paraphrase scripture and I can rarely recall the Book, Chapter and Verse Numbers. At best I can tell you who said what and a bit of the context. I never understood the value of committing The Word to memory, word for word, until The Holy Spirit taught me the importance of it. There’s a whole lot to it but I can summarize it simply for us.
The Adversary (Satan) knows G*d’s Word better than we do and he will surely use it against us and attempt to trick us. Go back and read how he pulled one over on Eve in The Garden and pay close attention to how she added to G*d’s Word when she was questioned about the single commandment that was given to them. That paraphrasing seemed to be an open door for the serpent to have his way. When Yeshua was tempted in the desert, Satan used G*d’s Word to tempt him and Yeshua fired back at him with a commandment directly from The Torah. I posted the following previously about these two instances and see it very fitting to revisit them in detail.
Threefold Corruption of G*d's Word in Eden
When we closely examine the first sin of mankind, we see a threefold corruption of G*d's Word that led to death. Nothing has changed, as it is written:
"You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you." - Deuteronomy 4:2
"And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest FREELY eat:
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt SURELY die." - Genesis 2:16-17
1) Taking Away From - When Eve was being tempted by the serpent, her first error in repeating G*d's Word was omitting the word "Freely" - this reduced G*d's giving nature and painted the picture of G*d as less bountiful than He was. Here we see His Word being Taken Away From.
"Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:" Genesis 3:1-2
2) Adding To - Eve added to G*d's Word when she told the serpent that "Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die." - by doing this, she was making G*d out to be more severe than He was. Here we see His Word being Added To.
"But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die." - Genesis 3:3
3) Altering - When Eve repeated that last part, she changed or altered "thou shalt surely die" to "lest ye die" - thus weakening the certainty of the Divine threat into a contingency. Here we see His Word being Altered.
This threefold tragedy was the recipe for disaster. When you explore it all at this depth, it's easy to see how she was tempted by the serpent. The Word is our only true weapon against The Adversary, we stand no chance without it. It must be kept pure and perfect with no corruption in anyway. This was a personal lesson for me that taught me the importance of committing The Word to memory; something that I've never been good at...so, needless to say, I have much work to do.
Three Times in The Desert
Yeshua was tempted Three Times in The Desert and each time Yeshua quoted The Torah to overcome The Adversary. This is a powerful lesson for us all. We also see here that The Adversary knows scripture as well and uses it try and throw us off. Yeshua could have gotten rid of the devil in so many ways that we can't begin to comprehend. Yeshua used The Word of G*d to combat that darkness to show us all exactly what we have to do as well.
"The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.
And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’” - Luke 4:3-4
"He humbled you, and in your hunger He gave you manna to eat, which neither you nor your fathers had known, so that you might understand that man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD." - Deuteronomy 8:3
"And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will.
If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.”
And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’” - Luke 4:5-8
"Fear the LORD your God, serve Him only, and take your oaths in His name." - Deuteronomy 6:13
"And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here,
for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’
“‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”
And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.
And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. - Luke 4:9-14
"Do not test the LORD your God as you tested Him at Massah." - Deuteronomy 6:16
Work and Study as Worship
Studying scripture is a form of worship, so just the act of committing it to memory is worship in itself. When The Holy Spirit takes you deep in His Word and teaches you The Mysteries of His Torah, it will drain you physically - because it’s work. Spiritual Work is Service to Our Heavenly Father. As a matter of fact, the Hebrew word for Work - Avad ( עבד ) and it can also be translated as Worship. This verb is used like this several times throughout the Hebrew Scriptures in regard to serving The LORD and also to pagan idols. The best example of Avad ( עבד ) as Worship is in the following section of Exodus, just before The LORD reveals His Name to Moses on Mount Sinai.
“Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them.
Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.
And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?
And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.” - Exodus 3:9-12
תעבדון את־האלהים על ההר הזה
TahAvdoon Et-Elohim Al HaHarhazeh
“…You shall SERVE (or Worship) G*d upon this mountain.”
There are at least five other Hebrew Words that I know of in The Holy Bible that are rendered in English as “Worship” - but this one has a deeper connotation to me, as it blurs the lines of service/worship and labor, which it seems is exactly the point. Everything that we do in this world should be a testimony to The Grace of Our LORD. All of our work, the quantity and quality of it, serves as a testimony to Him as well. I know that in my own job, when I have chances to witness to others, it brings light into their day which brings so much more into mine as well. It's a tremendous blessing that I look forward to each day.
To walk that Narrow Path and reach the central perfection in this world, we have to always be conscious of the fact that G*d is everywhere at all times. What we call the workplace is G*d’s Place first and foremost. He has allowed us to be there as a Witness to Yeshua, therefore the work that we do is not done for our own benefit, it’s all done in servitude as offering to Our Heavenly Father. We have to try to wrap our heads around the fact that there really is no such thing as a “secular world”, as it’s all His World. It’s our job to make others realize this as well and the most effective way to help them see it is through our own actions…talk is cheap, folks. Go around preaching to everyone all of the time and rest assured, whenever you slip up and make a mistake (which you surely will to be humbled at some point) then you will be deemed a hypocrite and there goes your credibility.
We can’t just sit at the house and hide from the darkness of this world - the darker the world gets, the brighter we shine. The world needs that light more now than ever before. They stumble in their own darkness because of the lack of light to know their right from their left.
“But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day.
The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble.” - Proverbs 4:18-19
“At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.” - 1 John 2:8-11
“For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light” - Ephesians 5:8
“But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible,
for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” - Ephesians 5:13-14
I started writing this to point out one thing that I’ve learned in the third verse of this Psalm that will provide some interesting depth. Just like everything else in The Word, we can always keep coming back and meditating on it for a new revelation over and over again, we will never fully grasp it all in this life.
When I really started digging into this song, I immediately had to question why it stated paths of righteousness (plural) instead of path (singular). Since Yeshua taught us that He is The Way and He speaks of The Narrow Path that few will find, how can there be paths of righteousness? If we investigate the Hebrew word ( used in this passage that’s translated as “paths” we gain a lot of insight that ultimately points to the life long process of sanctification.
“He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.” - Psalm 23:3
נפשי ישובב ינחני במעגלי־צדק למען שמו
Nefshe Y’Shovev Yanchaeni B’Ma’Gelei Tzedek L’Ma’an Shemo
It seems as this particular word is only used like this in one place in the Hebrew Scriptures and that always for a worthwhile in depth study. It’s a derivative of the word “MaGal” ( מעגל ) which means ‘path, track, course or circuit,” so the KJV translation is fine in that regard. However, we find the metaphoric spiritual depth when we take it down to the three letter root word word, or Shoresh. The Shoresh of the word “MaGal” ( מעגל ) is Agal or Agol ( עגל ) which means "to roll, to revolve or round,” respectively. Now we can begin to understand why “paths” are used, in the plural form.
As I stated early, these “Paths of Righteousness” seem to allude to the process of sanctification. This is a vast difference from what Yeshua was referencing as The Way, which is about Redemption and Salvation. WE CAN NEVER DO ENOUGH GOOD DEEDS TO EARN SALVATION, that can only come through the Greatest Gift of Grace by Having Faith in Yeshua. The Narrow Path could very well have something to do with the Sanctification Process - as He says that few will find it. After we have been born again, our lives should reflect a consistent progression to become more like Yeshua each day. He dwells within us, so our body is no longer our own…and we need to seriously meditate on that and make sure that we are striving to move in the right direction.
Sanctification doesn’t happen overnight, it takes a lot of time and work. Many times even after we break certain habitual cycles that cause us to sin, they come back around with a vengeance and we fall right back into it all over again. Ultimately through G*d’s Grace and Mercy, as long as we never give up the fight and repent when we fall, He gives us the ability to overcome time after time. The more difficult this cycle can be for us to overcome, the more we turn to Him for help and the greater His Presence becomes evident in our lives. I believe that at some point while going through His Paths (or circles) of Righteousness, get to a point where the guilt of our sin outweighs the momentary earthly pleasure we gain from it - and that’s when we can truly lay it down and move on. More specifically, we don’t lay it down, we give it back to Yeshua - because He has already paid the ultimate price for them all. How foolish are we for attempting to carry all that dead weight on our own backs, allowing it to drag us down time after time again?
“As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.” - Proverbs 26:11
“Then I saw that there is more gain in wisdom than in folly, as there is more gain in light than in darkness.” - Ecclesiastes 2:13
As I was trying to find a couple other related posts to link to this one, I literally ran across one that I made just over two years ago where I covered this. I guess there was more that The Holy Spirit wanted me to share about it. So here we are after several hours of work…it’s all a blessing, regardless.
This one’s way better, but you should probably check out the older one as well - if you liked this one:
It’s interesting for me to look back on older posts to see just how much I’ve grown along the way. Some days we will feel defeated in almost every way and those are the days that we shouldn’t look at our shortcomings, but focus on just how far we have come in our walk with The LORD - when I think back and where I was and see where I’m at now, I have to rejoice and give thanks to The LORD for it all. Sometimes after that reflection and thanksgiving, He will give me a tiny glimpse of my true potential and show me who actually He created me to be. It’s such an intense journey and I wouldn’t trade any of it for everything in this world.
Let’s all take time to reflect on the darkness that He has brought us out of and give thanks each day - that’s a good place to start.
“Light dawns in the darkness for the upright; he is gracious, merciful, and righteous.
It is well with the man who deals generously and lends; who conducts his affairs with justice.
For the righteous will never be moved; he will be remembered forever.” - Psalm 112:4-6
חסד ושלום עליכ והרבה אהבה וברכות
May Grace and Peace Be Upon You and Much Love and Blessings!
Check out these two older posts that shed some more light on Narrow Path:
I'm really glad that you said not to take your word for anything on this website. It's not that you are false on this accord, especially since I see that the Holy Spirit has blessed you with this information, but we are commanded to "believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world" (1 John 4:1 (KJV)).