My Sheep Know My Voice Part 2

One day, after being at the park for an hour or so, I decided it was time for us to go home. I stood up and started calling my son’s names. I looked around at the myriad of children but didn’t see mine running toward me. I called their names louder, but still didn’t see them running my way. I went over to a swing set with a ladder and stepped up on it so I could have a better view of the park. I then saw my sons at the far end of the park playing on a jungle gym. I realized they were too far away to hear me calling so I walked closer to them. As I got closer to where they were, I called their names and saw their little heads pop up as they began to look for me.

They recognized my voice and seeing me began to run towards me.

As I was thinking back on that incident, I began to think about it in the context of John 10:27, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them and they follow me.

You see I knew my children’s voice and they knew mine. But regardless of that recognition, they had strayed away to the point they could no longer hear my voice.

We often complain about the fact that we pray, and nothing happens. That God is not talking to us, that He isn’t listening to us.

Could it be that He is speaking but that we have strayed to the point that we can’t hear His voice?

When Jesus spoke of the parable of the lost sheep. He told us that the shepherd left the 99 to go after the 1. The lost sheep knew who his shepherd was. He still belonged to the shepherd. But he had wandered away to the point he couldn’t hear his Shepherd’s voice.

As sheep we know our shepherds voice, but it’s our responsibility to stay close enough to Him that we can hear when He calls our name.

The verse says “and they follow me.” You can’t follow Christ if you don’t stay close enough to Him to hear his voice.

Lesson Learned: Its not enough to know who your Shepherd is, it’s not enough that you can recognize His voice when you hear it…you must stay in a close enough relationship with Him, that when He speaks you are able to hear His voice.

Rita Sanders