1 Samuel 22:1-23:29
John 10:1-21
Psalm 115:1-18
Proverbs 15:18-19
Does anyone else have the same problem I do? Does anyone else struggle to really understand, and really appreciate in a way that transforms them, the words Jesus speaks in today's NT reading? I have read the passage about the Good Shepherd countless times. I've been familiar with the concept since childhood - even my favorite strawberry jam growing up was from a place called Good Shepherd Convent. So I get the whole "sheep know the shepherd's voice and follow the shepherd, and ignore the unfamiliar voice who is only there to steal them" idea...but I struggle to appropriate it, to make it meaningful in my life as fully as I think it should be.
The problem cannot be with Him - He's said as much: "I know my sheep". The problem must then lie with me - I do not know Him well enough, which is why I remain so very distracted, unable to focus on His Words in scripture, unable to sit quietly and listen for Him during prayer time. How different from David who, when he inquired of the Lord, so very clearly heard what God had to say, and in his obedience he was saved from Saul's clutches.
Wouldn't it be amazing to be able to hear the voice of God the way David did? And yet there is no reason why we shouldn't - Christ Himself tells us we will know His voice.
Father, Who knows our voices and hears our prayers, grant us please the stillness of heart and mind and the closeness of relationship with You that will allow us to hear and know Your voice. Then give us the courage and the desire to act on what we hear. Amen.
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