Whose voice are you listening to?

John 10:7-18

     My current place of residence happens to be what most would call out in the middle of nowhere.  It is out in the country on a gravel road at the end of that road.  It is not very large, but it has one of the most beautiful views for the area.  However right next to my two acres, a neighbor has a pasture full of cows and with every new season comes new calves entering the world.  In this pasture is a 2yr old bull, that let’s say is quite ornery.  He likes to escape down into the water where the fence stops and come back up on my side.  You know the phrase, “The grass is always greener…”

Each time he “escapes” I and usually a family member do our neighborly thing and attempt to get him back through the gate with all the others.  The first few times it took forever to get him to go where we wanted him to go but something interesting happened yesterday that I wasn’t quite expecting.  Rather than take nearly an hour to get him back in, it took less than ten minutes.  Why is this?  Did we get lucky?  Possibly.

I think there might be another reason for it.  This bull has discovered after repeated times corralling him back to his fellow cows that I bear him no harm.  My only desire is to see him safe back where he belongs and with a momma that bellows and bellows at him for leaving the pasture.  He is beginning to get accustomed to my voice.  The more that I am around him the more he recognizes who I am.

     In John 10 we see Jesus talking about the Good Shepherd, Himself.  How all His sheep recognize His voice and follow but there are a couple other things about the shepherd that need to be recognized.  Look at verses 14-18:

¹⁴ “I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me,¹⁵ just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep.¹⁶ But I have other sheep that are not from this sheep pen; I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. Then there will be one flock, one shepherd.¹⁷ This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it up again.¹⁸ No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.” (CSB)

Not only do His own sheep recognize Him but He knows there are others that do not currently know Him that He wishes to bring into the pasture as well.  And because His love is so great, He willingly gave His life for a people that did not recognize Him.  The Father did not force Him to go to the cross but rather He willingly took it up of His own free will.

With Christ, there is solace and peace.  Safety and life without fear and trepidation.  But it is only when we follow the Shepherd’s voice that this can truly be recognized in our lives and we can get into the right pasture.

What voices are you listening to in your life?  Are you listening for the Good Shepherd’s voice?  There is only One Shepherd worthy of following and when we do we have union and safety to be realized forevermore.