The 23rd Psalm is the most well-known psalm, in which the writer sees himself as being led through life to his ultimate resting place. He is taken by the Lord – who is the shepherd – to green pastures and still water, but he’s also led through dark valleys. The shepherd himself is well equipped to take care of the sheep while on this pilgrimage through life. He restores the soul, his staff comforts, he has a horn of oil to bind up wounds (surely branches and nettles will prick the flesh of the legs of the sheep as they traverse dark and narrow crevices) and he knows the “right paths.” (v.3) The metaphor shifts abruptly in the last two stanzas, and now the sheep has become a pilgrim for whom the Lord has prepared a lavish table even in the very presence of his enemies – not to speak of a final abode where the pilgrim will reside his “whole life long.”
Jesus is somewhat of a tour guide. Have you ever been responsible for a large group of people – adults, children, students – as you traveled to some destination? Talk to some elementary schoolteachers about their experiences herding first-graders on a field trip to a museum or some such place. Your conversations and experiences will give you context for the idea of a shepherd trying to get a flock of sheep from pasture to pond through thick and thin and finally to the fold at the end of the day. What’s the goal of a teacher when she takes 20 children into the city to see the museum? Safety is a primary concern, of course. What does she do to ensure safety? She counting heads every 15 minutes. She’s arranged for a buddy system, too. Learning is another goal. She leads the kids to a place where their minds and souls are nurtured. Sometimes it might be boring, but still, the students can’t help but come away from it with something. Then the dark valleys. She stands in the street while her students cross to the other side. And then at the end of the trip, she prepares a table in the cafeteria in the presence of their “enemies,” i.e., all the adults who, when seeing a group of little kids walking into the café, groan and bemoan their bad luck.
This story and other stories of real life unfold in ways that only God knows the outcome. May we feel anointed with the grace of God as we realize that all blessings do indeed come from our Shepherd. Let us dwell with our Lord and Savior as we follow and  encourage others to follow the right path for the sake of God’s world.