The Lord is My Shepherd

As God's sheep, have we spent enough time with him to recognize his voice?

Shepherds in Israel are quite young. Boys and girls as young as twelve can have charge of an entire flock. Grown men rarely travel with the flocks.  Instead the men watch their undershepherds from a distace while they care for matters in the camp.

Over time, the shepherd's voice becomes familiar to her sheep. When several flocks stay together for a night, the sheep always recognize their shepherd's voice in the morning. They will not follow any other voice.

Describing God as a shepherd in Psalm 23, David created a beautiful picture for the Israelites, and for us. As we undershepherd the "flocks" God has put in our care—whether they be friends, children, students, or coworkers—God is watching over us.

But the comparison also brings a challenge. As God's sheep, have we spent enough time with him to recognize his voice? If we are truly his sheep, then we will follow him alone, ignoring other voices that may tempt us.

A friend of mine told me a story about an experience he had in Israel that demonstrates how sheep know their shepherd's voice. He and his wife were visiting some of the famous biblical sites when they saw a group of shepherds and their flocks. 
They watched as three different shepherds put their sheep in the same pen for the night, and they wondered how in the world the shepherds would separate their sheep the next day, since none of them had any identifying marks on them.
My friend got up early the next morning to watch the shepherds gather their sheep. The first shepherd went over to the pen and called out to his sheep. One by one, his sheep (and only his sheep) filed out to follow him. The same thing happened with the other two shepherds. My friend said it was amazing to watch how only the shepherd's sheep followed him while the others remained in the pen--and all because they recognized his voice. 
What a picture of Jesus' words spoken centuries earlier. "I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me. . . . My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me" (John 10:14,27).

Ask God to help you hear the voice of God--even on the job.

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