Psalm 23:3 says, "He restores my soul;/He guides me on the paths of righteousness/For His name's sake." This is the second stage of revival and transformation on the paths of righteousness. To restore our soul is to revive us. Restoring also includes renewing and transforming. This corresponds with the New Testament teaching in Romans 12:2 which says that we need to be transformed by the renewing of the mind, which is the leading part of our soul. Christ in His shepherding restores—revives and transforms—our soul.
He restores us—revives and transforms us—in our soul to make us take His way, to walk on the paths of righteousness. Both the paths and righteousness are Christ. The resurrected Christ today is our paths. In order to be a proper sister or a proper brother, we need Christ as our paths, as our way. A sister who does not behave and walk as a female does not have Christ as her paths. A brother who acts foolishly does not have Christ as his paths. Some brothers need a particular path to be an elder. Others need a path to be a co-worker. We also need a path to act as Christians and another path to work in God's economy. We need many paths, the paths of righteousness, in our Christian life and work.
John 7 says that when we drink of the life-giving Spirit as the living water, we will flow out, not just one river but many rivers (v. 38). There is a river of the proper humanity, a river of kindness, a river of love, a river of patience, etc. We need many rivers. In the same way, we need a path of humility, a path of loving, a path of patience, etc. These are the paths of righteousness.
Righteousness is to be right with people before God according to His righteous and strict requirements. We must admit that we are short of the paths to be right. We have to take the paths of righteousness by being restored—revived and transformed—in our soul, which comprises our mind, our emotion, and our will. We must be proper and balanced in our mind, our emotion, and our will. Otherwise, we cannot be righteous; we cannot be right with man and with God.
Christ shepherds us on the paths of righteousness. A shepherd has a staff to guide and instruct the sheep. Sheep have a tendency to go astray. The shepherd uses his staff to correct the sheep and keep them on the right way with the flock. Quite often our behavior goes astray, so we need Christ's correction.
To be a lady or a gentleman may be difficult, but to be a Christian is much more difficult. Christians should be the highest class of people. Sometimes the sisters do not cut their hair properly, so their hair is not right. If we do not buy the proper pair of shoes befitting a Christian, this shows that we are wrong in our person. We need to be right in everything. The brothers need to be right in the way that they cut their hair and in the kind of necktie they wear.