“He leads us in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.”

Psalm 23:3

“For His name’s sake” is the one God-centered descriptive in this entire psalm. The rest of the psalm describes what God does for His children. How He cares for, provides, protects, and blesses His people in such gracious and immeasurable ways. This one little phrase tells us why - “For His name’s sake.”

Now if you look at that phrase through a man-centered lens, you will totally skew your view of God. You will think things like “I thought it was all about me and how much God loves me and how special I am and my worth and nothing more.” “Does God have an ulterior motive?” “Is He just self-serving?” Misreading the God-centeredness of God has caused many believers to become agitated with God, to neglect many rich doctrines of the Bible, and/or to reinterpret clear, straightforward biblical passages. It also causes many unbelievers to reject God. They reason that they are not interested in a “selfish” or “jealous” God. Tragically, they have misread the God-centeredness of God by reading Scripture through a man-centered lens.

If, however, you read this phrase through a God-centered lens, you see the beauty and joy and comfort that it brings. Namely, if God loves you and cares for you and saves you for His name’s sake that only means He loves you and cares for you and saves you in the highest, most glorious, most joyful ways to be loved and to be saved. There is no higher purpose than the glory of God! If it’s all for His name’s sake, it will not fail!