Today’s Reading: Genesis 48:8-16
Genesis 48:15 — God . . . has been my shepherd all my life long to this day.
God promises to show us the way. Just like his descendant David would do hundred of years later, Jacob acknowledged that the Lord was his shepherd. Jacob said that God had been shepherding him all his life, showing him the way to go.
Jesus said that He was the Good Shepherd and that His sheep know His voice. Sheep know their shepherd’s voice by having an intimate relationship with him. Jacob and David were both shepherds and spent days and hours with their sheep.
Sheep spend so much time with their shepherd that they can distinguish his voice from other voices and will not respond to other shepherd’s voices. In Jesus’ time, flocks of sheep were kept in the same pen. It was necessary for a sheep to recognize his own shepherd’s voice when he called his sheep.
Here we are in this world as believers, penned together with sheep from other flocks. Every person in this world is a sheep who listens to some shepherd’s voice. The devil says, “Follow me.” The demonic world system says, “Follow me.” Our selfish sinful nature says “Follow me.” Because of these evil voices, the Bible says that all we like sheep have gone astray (Isaiah 53:6). But then there is the sweet voice of Jesus who says, “Follow Me.” Jesus the Good Shepherd will lead us in the everlasting way (Psalm 139:24) if we will listen to His voice and follow Him.
How do you recognize the voice of Jesus? When you spend a lot of time with someone listening to his voice, you become familiar with it. The voice of Jesus is a loving, holy, spiritual voice that always speaks the truth. There is no other voice like it. Spend time tuning your ears to the voice of Jesus. You will hear it in the Bible, in your pastor’s sermons, in your times of prayer and praise. Hear the voice of your Beloved.
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