Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens,
    your faithfulness to the clouds.
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
    your judgments are like the great deep;
    you save humans and animals alike, O Lord.
How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
    All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
They feast on the abundance of your house,
    and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
For with you is the fountain of life;
    in your light we see light.

Shepherds spent an incredible amount of time with their sheep. The shepherd’s voice led the sheep to food. Their voice called out for those sheep who had wondered off. It was the shepherd’s voice that kept the flock together so that they would be safe from danger. The shepherds almost never left their flocks, except when they would secure them in pens, often with other flocks of sheep. When the shepherd opened the gate to the pen and called their sheep, their flock would follow. Jesus understood the relationship between a shepherded and the sheep…