His Sheep Hear His Voice

His Sheep Hear His Voice

“His sheep follow Him because they know His voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” John 10:4-5 NIV

I once heard a speaker at an education conference conclude with the following comment: “There are so many different voices in the world today. To the untrained ear, all of them sound so convincing. How do you know which one you should follow?” Her words reminded me so much of the verses above that I decided to speak with her about the source and meaning of her comment.

When I spoke with her at lunch, I was surprised to discover that she knew nothing about Jesus as the Good Shepherd and very little about the Bible. Furthermore, she politely let me know that she was not interested in continuing the conversation in the direction I was trying to move it. Since I wasn’t interested in her direction either – that of pointless speculation about the future of mankind, and the goals that needed to be set to accomplish that future – we quickly parted company.

As I walked back to my dorm room I felt sad because I thought I’d failed at another opportunity to “do the work of an evangelist” (2 Tim. 4:5). Then Jesus’ comments about the Good Shepherd again came to mind (Jn. 10:1-30). The Lord, of course, is the Good Shepherd. I am one of His sheep, and this speaker is the stranger. I thanked God for showing me that if we sheep know His voice, we have no trouble following Him, even when confronted by a strange voice. His voice of truth will always overwhelm that of the stranger.

I also realized that He hadn’t put me in this particular situation at this time to convince this speaker about Christ, but rather to teach me the importance of “knowing His voice,” which is the Spirit and Word of God. The more we know it, the better we’re able to judge what we hear, to follow Him, and to flee from strangers rather than follow them.

By Larry Ondrejack