"Formed and Informed"

"For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today if ye will hear his voice," (Psalms 95:7)
Odd, is only the beginning; you should see how the NLT breaks this up; the "for he is our God" is the start of this verse, but it is the second part of the last. Personally, I think I like this way a little better; only because I like the sum-up response being that we hear His voice, verses the other way, which makes the worship based upon Him being our God. I mean either way is good, but this way it makes it more personal, because we hear His voice, because He is our God. Isn't that what Jesus said about His sheep, that they would hear His voice? The portion of Scripture is John 10:22-42, which is where Jesus went to the Temple during the "feast of dedication," now referred to as 'Hanukkah' or 'The Festival of Lights.' In a strange and mysterious way, this has so much to do with our ability to put our trust in God, despite even the darkest days and events in our lives. Without getting into all of the history of this practice, let me sum up what it represents: "it is about the darkness of persecution and the light of God that leads His people through the darkness of those figurative nights with a promise of joy in the morning, (Psalms 30:5)". This can be applied to so many different areas in our life, beyond just persecution; it can also apply to the power over struggles we might have with sin in our lives. Something I had learned long ago, it was taught during a Men's Retreat back in the early 80's, and the theme of the message was the portion of Scripture from Zechariah 4:6, "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the LORD." The general premise was based upon David coming out against Goliath, and how it was all brought on by what David heard Goliath say and how it caused him to respond; as if someone could actually have the nerve to challenge the God of Israel! This is pretty much the same basic reaction Elijah had at Mount Carmel to the challenge of God against the prophets of Baal. We have got to understand how important it is to believe in God's power to save! It's not just a matter of saying that we have the faith, the faith must be real and tangible enough to hold on to. Here is the point, as dull as the point might be, it can still prick our hearts: God must be bigger than anything else! He must be bigger than our enemies, bigger than our persecutions, even bigger than our sin; no matter what it is that we are dealing with or being held captive by, God is bigger! And the most amazing thing of all, is that no matter the Bigness of God, we still hear His voice, one on one, we hear His voice...
""I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd sacrifices his life for the sheep. A hired hand will run when he sees a wolf coming. He will abandon the sheep because they don't belong to him and he isn't their shepherd. And so the wolf attacks them and scatters the flock. The hired hand runs away because he's working only for the money and doesn't really care about the sheep. "I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep. I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock with one shepherd.""
(John 10:11-16) NLT