Hearing His Voice #225

[Jesus said,] “I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me.”

John 10:14

Most Christians are familiar with the verse that says the sheep follow the shepherd “because they know his voice” (John 10:4). But here Jesus declares that His sheep know Him. They can sense His presence, interact with His personality, understand His ways, and recognize His work. This knowing isn’t a mental process of discernment; it’s an intuitive, spiritual familiarity. The sheep pick up on the scent and the voice and the mannerisms of the Shepherd.

We tend to try to sort out this familiarity with logic. We think it through. We look for steps to develop it. We read and memorize Scripture in an effort to improve our understanding. All of these efforts are good, but our knowledge of the Shepherd isn’t an intellectual exercise; it’s a spiritual awakening. He puts this sense of the familiar in all of His children, even when we’re encountering Him for the first time. It may be covered up with normal thought processes and emotions, but it’s there. We know Him because . . . we just do.

The biggest part of hearing God’s voice is recognizing what in your life is from Him and what is not. All things are under His sovereignty, of course; it isn’t as if there are aspects of your life that are beyond His control. But the messages you receive from your circumstances, the people around you, your own thoughts—and even the various interpretations you derive from His Word—are a mixed bag of perceptions. Some are true, some are not. Some are God’s leading, some are distractions from His leading. How can you sort it all out?

Look for the deep, intuitive, spiritual “knowing” of the Shepherd. Even new experiences and ideas will feel, smell, and taste strangely familiar in the depths of your spirit when they are from Him. They carry His personality and look like His work. Deep within every sheep, the Shepherd’s voice rings true.

Jesus, I’m not even going to try to figure it out. Help me sense, deep in my spirit, Your presence and voice. May everything in Your Kingdom and in Your heart feel like “home” to me.