Our Shepherd’s Voice
Do you know our Shepherd’s voice, the many ways in which He can speak to us? This article shows how vital it is that we do.
Paul wrote that we have the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:16
We also have Jesus’ words, “I am the Vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” John 15:5
A bit earlier Jesus had told His disciples, “I am the Good Shepherd” and that His sheep follow Him because they know His voice. John 10:11, 4
That voice was not new; it pre-existed Jesus’ birth. According to 2 Kings 19:12 Elijah, who had been hiding in a cave after fleeing Jezebel, heard God’s voice – “And after the earthquake was a fire, but Jehovah was not in the fire. And after the fire was a still, small voice.” Then he had a discussion with Jehovah, who gave him instructions as to what he was to do next. One translation renders “still, small voice” as “whisper.”
More than 150 years later, our Father had Isaiah write at Isaiah 30:20-21 (GNB),
“The Lord will make you go through hard times, but he himself will be there to teach you, and you will not have to search for him anymore. If you wander off the road to the right or the left, you will hear his voice behind you saying, “Here is the road. Follow it.””
God’s objective in providing “hard times” just like He provides bread and water, was to get His children’s attention so that they would be able to hear His whisper. Yes, our Shepherd was hard at work even way back then, about 2,700 years ago, guiding His sheep. “Here is the road. Follow it.”
And just as it did then, that whisper seems to come from somewhere behind us; we can’t see the source. An obvious reason we can’t see it is because our Shepherd abides in us, as well as outside in the heavens. But mostly we can’t hear His whisper because either we haven’t been taught to be aware of it, we’re not paying attention, or we ignore it.
Paul, however, got to a point where Jesus was his constant guide. He wrote,
“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20 (KJV)
One obvious question could be, “When do we get this “mind of Christ” that can guide us? One answer might be at the time of our baptism. Another might be When we first dedicate our lives to the Lord before we are baptized. But I would like to suggest that “the mind of Christ” exists in the parents who birthe a child. So, at the moment of conception that zygote already has the “mind of Christ” (the potential for perfection.) Additionally, because of “epigenetic inheritance”, it also has some of the “mind” or spirit of its ancestors. And that “mind”, or body of transgenerational memories, works against the mind of Christ.
In addition to its ancestral memories, from conception to birth, a baby is absorbing its mother’s spirit, and to a lesser degree, that of her environment. Once born, the ungodly spirit of the world works against the baby’s ability to pay attention to the “mind of Christ.” But even so, the child is still not as conformed to the world as s/he will be as an adult.
This perspective can explain several things:
• Why we are sinners from birth, and
• Why Jesus said we must be as children if we are to enter the kingdom of the heavens.
The vast majority of parents do what they can to protect their children from the bad influences of the world. They do what they can to preserve the innocence we so admire in children. But they themselves have been molded, to a greater or lesser extent, by the spirit of the world. Consequently, they themselves are more or less deaf to the voice of our Shepherd.
The result is that, rather than teaching their children to listen to and obey that “whisper” of Christ within, parents pass on the best knowledge, tools, and techniques of how to cope with the challenges of life, that they know of.
Our Biggest Challenge
And that helps us understand why our greatest challenge as a Christian is to be reconciled to God. At Jesus’ baptism, a voice came out of heaven that said, “This is my Son, the beloved. Listen to Him.” His disciples at the time could listen to Him with their physical ears. Today, however, we need (as they did too,) to listen with the “ears of our hearts.” Ephesians 1:18 is a similar reference.
It is our heart that responds to the call of God. And the apostle Paul encourages us to satisfy that hunger to connect with someone bigger, wiser, more powerful, and more loving than we are. He wrote, “I beg you, be reconciled to God.” It was so we can be reconciled to God that Jesus told us how to do that when He invited us,
“Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke on you, and learn from me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest to your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
Why come to Jesus, and no one else? Because, as He pointed out, “No one knows the Father but the Son, and the one to whom He reveals Him.” (Matthew 11:27) We can’t be reconciled, or become one with God, except under the tutelage of the One who knows Him.
On another occasion, Jesus said, “Go in through the narrow gate that leads to life…” (Mathew 7:13-14) What’s on the other side of the gate? God. And it is through Jesus that we can learn to be one with, or reconciled to Him. But He is limited in how much He can teach us about our awesome Father by our willingness and ability to follow the voice of our Shepherd, that “whisper”, that “voice behind” us.
So, our biggest on-going challenge is not whatever the world is throwing at us at the moment, but rather learning to hear and obey the voice of our Shepherd. It is often a struggle to resist temptation and do what the Advocate, or Holy Spirit, tells us to do. But obeying the voice of Christ, who abides in us, is how we are reconciled to God. This is how Christ saves us, and this is the only way we can hallow God’s name.
All scriptural references are from the Modern King James Version (MKJV) unless otherwise noted.
GNB – Good News Bible
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