Psalm 95:7a

Psalm 95:7a

Let’s pick up on the last part of verse 7, “Today, if only you would hear His voice.” It follows the reminder that those who believe in and who serve and obey the living God are the sheep of His pasture. We are His flock. A shepherd’s role in eastern lands is rather different to what we are used to in the west where there are large areas of green pasture inhabited by flocks of sheep who are rounded-up by well-trained sheepdogs when the shepherd needs to attend to them. Not so in ancient times or even today in many parts of Israel. Here the flocks are small and mixed with goats and the occasional donkey. Sheepdogs are rarely seen because the rustic shepherd stays with his flock, and he leads it. The sheep know his voice and follow him, the dogs are unnecessary. The shepherd takes his animals across the rugged ground and stops when there is sufficient grass for his animals to feed. Then they all move on to the next spot. While he watches over his animals the shepherd talks to them, he knows them by name.

It is in this context that the Psalm writer longs that the sheep of Israel would hear the voice of their God, their shepherd and their protector. That longing should be ours, especially if we are pastors of a flock. What the writer is really saying is that if we obey our Good Shepherd and stay close to Him, we will hear His voice. It is only when we stray away or deliberately go in another direction, that we put distance between ourselves and the Shepherd and can no longer hear Him speaking. I long that you will hear Him today

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