READINGS
Psalms 23
A Psalm of David
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.
Luke 15:1–7
Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”
So he told them this parable: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
Divine Providence 211:2
The Lord by His Divine providence continually leads a person in freedom, and freedom appears to a person no other-wise than as his own.
Moreover, to lead someone opposed to oneself in freedom is like …[when] someone is in the hands of an enemy who intends to kill him, of which he is at the time unaware, and having a friend lead him away by secret passages and afterward disclose the enemy's intent.
ADDITIONAL QUOTES
Psalms 25:4-7. Show me Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation.
Psalms 25:10. All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth, for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.
Psalms 139:7–12. Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.
Isaiah 2:4-5. Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the Word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
Isaiah 9:2. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. They that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them the light has shined.
Isaiah 42:16. I will bring the blind by a way they did not know; I will lead them in paths they have not known. I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight. These things I will do for them, and not forsake them.
Luke 1:77-79. The Dayspring from on high has visited us to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Divine Providence 164. Those who receive the Lord are conducted to their places through an infinite maze of winding paths.
The Valley of the Shadow of Death
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