The Voice of the Shepherd

One evening I was taking a stretch break from study, walking out into the night. Soon I began speaking prayers of complaint . . . a little like the lament psalms in the Bible. I wasn’t angry, really, just frustrated. They were “poor me” kinds of prayers. My walking took me into a nearby woods and, as I walked along by the light of the moon, my complaining prayers began to diminish and I became more and more quiet. Finally, I fell into total silence. A still, listening silence. 

It was then that God spoke, spoke out of the…