The Lord’s sheep hear His voice, and they know His voice. How wonderfully simple this is, and not only does it establish us, but how it keeps the soul from all danger!
It is association with the Lord here on earth, though we hear the voice that comes from heaven. It is a blessed thing to know you cannot expect less. If you enter into this line of things, you will not confuse it with anything else; it excludes all human wisdom. You could not allow anything to intrude with the voice of God, and the ear that is accustomed to it is on the lookout for it. If our ear is open, we are sure to hear it. Everybody has got a path in this world, and though this is a pathless place, yet there is a path. The Lord Jesus did not require a path down here; He was Himself “the way.”
The Eastern custom is that the sheep follow the shepherd. He goes before them (they are not herded with a dog, as they are in England); they hear his voice, they know it, and they follow him; a stranger they will not follow. Do you think they are going to follow a stranger? They do not raise the question, but they do not doubt the voice of the shepherd. They yield themselves to the voice they know. All that is not of Christ is of another god. “Preserve me, O God: for in Thee do I put my trust” (Psa. 16:11<<Michtam of David.>> Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust. (Psalm 16:1)), our Lord could say of Himself prophetically. We see here the Lord Himself was dependent, as man. He trusted in God.
The Shepherd Marks the Way
The shepherd marks the way, and you have nothing to do but to follow. It is the simplest thing possible; a little child can do it. Christ did not want the way tracked out for Him, but He became flesh, became a man, and that is the reason He had all the persecution thrown upon Him by man. Think of all the scorn He endured which would never have happened if He had not become a man. He was the perfect Man, a contrast to the ruin on the earth, and He suffered for the ruin. It is a wonderful thing that we are allowed to stand with this Man. God sets us along with this Man, so that we are associated with God, and hence this psalm can be also applied to us. To think that God and man are together on this earth. He puts us to stand together, against Satan here. The place the Lord takes is being preserved.
Do you love the saints because you see this or that in them that you like, or because they are God’s? Do not be afraid to be found with the saints, for it is in them He takes His delight. “In whom is all My delight” (Psa. 16:33But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight. (Psalm 16:3)). As for the saints, their life exists in resurrection, where in His presence, they have fullness of joy forevermore.
W. F. B. (adapted), Words of Faith, Vol. 3