My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me…John 10:27 King James Version

          My sheep recognize my voice.  The Message

          My sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me. The New Living Translation

When Jesus was in the midst of his ministry, he often spoke allegorically about smaller, four-footed tame animals that are accustomed to grazing such as sheep or goats in contrast to larger animals such as cattle, horses or donkeys. It was one of these lost sheep (Gr. probaton) for whom he would leave the 99 in the pasture, to search without ceasing, to find, and to return with rejoicing from the place of no pasture to the place of pasture, in Luke 15:1-7 and about which we wrote in CHESED–The Prophetic Mercy of God. It is a prophetic figure of speech about people whom he has retrieved from being lost to being found, and people who as a result know him and are known by him.

Literally translated, Jesus said these “sheep” are continually hearing his voice, using a verb tense that can take place in the past, in the present and in the future. By using the verb tense he chose, he could have said, “My people have heard my voice in the past, they are hearing it now, and they will hear again in the future.”   This may be news to you but Jesus hasn’t stopped looking for the religious outsiders who are in the place of “no pasture”, so they can know him (because he already knows them; after all, he created them–that’s why he’s looking!).  And he has already stated, he will keep on looking for them until the last one is “found”.  And as he finds them, he begins conversing with them and these conversations are the subject of our post.

Don’t you think this is wonderful news? Can’t you imagine anything you would like to ask Jesus?  How about talking directly to God the Father?  Most people tend to think that Father is silent and never says anything.  But please take our word for it (until you can prove it to yourself by your own conversations with him), Father is very talkative and responsive.  If you don’t believe us, here is what Jesus said:

          But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’  Matthew 4:4

          And the Father who sent Me, He has testified of Me.  Matthew 5:37

          It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught of God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me. John 6:45

          Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven.  Matthew 18:19

You may be asking, Why don’t we hear God’s voice? or, If we do hear God’s voice, why don’t we recognize it? Our post today is the first in a series about definite and practical steps to conversing with your heavenly Father. At the outset, we concede there was once a famine on hearing the words of God, as recorded by the prophet Amos.  But we believe that time is over, and based upon the above words of Jesus, anyone who wants to talk to Father may do so.

Sooner or later, the thought is going to occur to you that you should be afraid of talking to God.  There are reasons for the idea that go beyond the scope of this post, but generally this fear originates in guilt, actual or induced by others.  You have probably heard from some of our friends who are religious insiders that Father’s holiness requires him to send somebody to hell and also prohibits him from talking to such people, and you religious outsiders are prime candidates.  So forget about talking to God, because he is not interested in talking to you; instead, be afraid, be very afraid.  This kind of thinking is so far from the truth as to be laughable! It is certainly not found in the Bible!  Jesus came into the world to re-open the communication lines between the Godhead and all mankind.

Step number 1 is to get this straight in your head:  Father loves you and ain’t mad at you!  We have repeatedly pointed out because of what Jesus did on the cross, Father is no longer counting your wrongdoing against you.  Guilt should not keep you from starting to talk to Father or Jesus.  Do not allow guilt to prevent you from asking Father yourself if what we are saying is true.  Either bow your head and close your eyes if that’s how you were raised, or walk outside and look up into the sky–but ask him!

To all of our friends who just asked Father, both religious insiders and religious outsiders, we sincerely say:  Congratulations! You just took the first step to hearing God’s voice!

Please indulge a brief history lesson to underscore our encouragement not to be afraid of hearing his voice.  The story begins all the way back at Mount Sinai, in Saudi Arabia, when the first Pentecost occurred.  The Israelites had been led out of Egypt by Moses in early April, and 50 days later were camped in the northeastern part of Saudi Arabia.  At the appointed time, Father spoke through fire, clouds and thick darkness–the top of the mountain was actually on fire.  Father caused everyone to hear him in their own language.  Years later, Moses recounted the story in Deuteronomy 4:10-12:

          Specially the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb, when the LORD said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear (Heb: yare’) me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.  And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness.  And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire:  ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice.  KJV

Did you catch the word “fear”?  We have gone back to one of the earliest versions to show you where this alleged fear comes from–but notice in the link that the word also means “reverence“.  Which definition is correct?  The religious insiders put it this way:  To demonstrate his “holiness”, God set the rocky mountain on fire, pierced their ears with a trumpet sound, rumbled through the clouds, smoke and darkness, to scare the snot out of them for the rest of their lives, so that they could in turn scare the snot out of their kids for the rest of their lives.  The support for this position results from the fact that it actually did scare the snot out of them, although not for the rest of their lives–they simply said, “we don’t want to talk to him anymore, because if we do we will die; Moses, you go talk to him and tell us what he says.”

Try this for a different perspective:  “Instead of worshiping snakes, fish, the sun and moon, and crocodiles (all of which you can see), I will set a stone mountain on fire, announce my arrival with a trumpet and speak to you in your own language, so that you will know I am alive even though you cannot see me, and so that you will reverence me as the true God and will teach your children to do the same.”

Which perspective makes the most sense to you? The god that frightens children, or the God that wants to have relationship and conversation with you?  The people had just heard God’s voice–why did they say “if we hear God’s voice we will die”?  Has anyone ever heard God’s voice and died from it? Is that the kind of god you have? God is love and he doesn’t kill people by talking to them!

And so we have come to the first important lesson about hearing from Father:  the people did not mean that they would die physically–they understood that hearing Father’s voice usually means your will has to die to itself, sometimes a little and sometimes a lot.  Do not ask to hear God’s voice until you are ready to agree with what he has to say.  As one of the brothers says sometimes:  maybe you are not sure you are ready, but you are willing to be ready.

This is why they were afraid to hear his voice.  Someone who is unwilling to agree with whatever Father says will generally be afraid to hear his voice.  So, make up your mind to agree with him quickly.  We say, be confident in his love for you and you will see that whatever he says will always be for your good–you can trust your Father!  Try him and see for yourself!

Blessed are you O Lord, the Father from whom every family gets its name.  How faithful are your love and your words and how we live and breathe in them.  Thank you for speaking to us!  We repent of falsely believing that you are silent and angry. We had a false image of you, and thank you for freeing us from it, and for the joy of your fellowship!

         

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