John 10:27 - Hearing the voice of God

My parents have this cat named Fozzy. He was a stray that showed up at their house. He was timid and it took him a while to let my parents (or me when I would visit for a weekend) pet him. Now he pretty much completely trusts my parents and me, but that is about it. He has warmed up to my aunt, but he isn’t completely trusting of her. When other people are at the house he prefers to be outside. This past Easter, my entire family was at my parent's house. Fozzy was on one end of the house and wanted to go outside, but that meant he had to cross the house, and the paths of the other people, to get to the door. He heard my dad calling him, trying to coax him to leave the temporary safety of the space he was in to go outside where he would be happiest. He didn’t just hear my dad though. He also heard the voices of the other family members. I watched and listened as he cried to tell my dad that he wasn’t happy with the situation and darted back into the room he wanted to leave. I saw him consider following my dad’s voice but instead run to hide because he was listening to the voices of the other people.

In that moment I thought about hearing the voice of God and hearing the voices of the world around us. It is so easy to let the voices of the world drown out the voice of the Lord. In John 10:27 Jesus says, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” My dad knew what was best for Fozzy. The cat should know by now that my dad always takes care of him. Instead of listening to my dad though, he listened to the other voices, the ones that he could not trust.

Sometimes I do that too. I know that I should listen to the Lord. I know that His voice is trustworthy, but there are times when I let the voices of the world drown out the voice of the Lord.

I recently purchased a pair of earbuds that are silencers. This means that they block out high decibels noises like gunshots and fireworks. They also have microphones though so that while the loud noises are silenced you can still hear the people around you talking. I tried them out during one of the 4th of July celebrations that I attended. I heard a slight popping sound during the fireworks but I also clearly heard the people who were around me. What if there was a way to block out the voices of the world and at the same time more clearly hear the Lord? There is! There is already a silencer for that! Actually there are two and they work together to create a perfect environment for hearing the Lord. The Holy Spirit and the Word both act in drowning out the voices of the world and help us focus in on hearing Jesus. John 14:26 says, “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.”

As Believers we have the Word of God and the Holy Spirit as our silencers. They drown out the voices of the world and allow us to clearly hear the voice of God. We have to use them though for them to actually work. We cannot leave them on the charger or sitting in the car. We have to put them on. We must be in the Word regularly and we must learn to listen to the Holy Spirit. As my faith and trust in the Lord continues to grow, it is easier to listen only to the voice of God and to tune out the voices of the world. Some days the Lord speaks to me clearly and directly in response to something I have been praying about. Some days, His words are general truths about His character that I can cling to in the midst of a hard day or season. Each day He speaks to me. Most days I choose to listen to Him. Some days I choose to listen to the voice of the world. Those are the hard days. Those are the days that are usually filled with tears and harsh words for others. Each time that happens though all I have to do is ask the Holy Spirit to fill me and remind me of God’s goodness. Then I can refocus on what He would have for me to hear in that moment.