God's Voice

 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. (John 10:27)

         “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

“Come,” he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water, and came toward Jesus. (Matthew 14:28-29)

 

It’s embarrassing, but it’s a reality with which I live. If I encounter you in a place or at a time that I don’t expect to, chances are good that I won’t notice you or that I won’t recognize you. I suspect I’m not as unique in this as I think I am. Jesus went walking on the water, and His disciples didn’t recognize Him. He wasn’t where they expected Him to be. People don’t walk on water, so it had to be a ghost.

People praise Peter, but he’s only a little better. Notice the second word he says: “if.” IF. I know it’s an aside, but a quick question for you. If what they saw was a ghost or a demon, or something else other than Jesus, did Peter think it would have said, “Oh, well, hey Peter, you know, I’m not really Jesus. I was just joking…”? Really?

Back to the subject of the day. Jesus said that His sheep listen to His voice. But the disciples were afraid, and even Peter questioned. What do you expect God’s voice to sound like? Some people think God is a grand old man, so He probably has a soft, papery voice. Others think He’s a good ol’ buddy. Or a taskmaster. Or a party pooper. Each of these has a different voice. If you expect God to be Mr. Loveable, and He speaks to you like a Taskmaster, are you really likely to recognize His voice?  

Today’s first passage says we’ll know His voice like sheep know the voice of the shepherd. But ten seconds after a lamb is born, does it recognize the voice of the shepherd among ten other people talking to it? Yes, the Spirit is likely to nudge us in the ribs and say, “God.” But what if the recognition isn’t 100% immediately?

I’ve heard many times that US Treasury officers handle lots of good American money. They become experts in the good stuff so that when they encounter funny money, they recognize that something is wrong. It’s not a ten-minute orientation and out to the field.

Learning to hear God takes time. If we insist that the only possible voice of God is one that sounds like X, He may speak to you like X, but you may miss out on all the other things He says. Remember Elijah’s experience on the mountain? God was in the still, small voice. But remember also that God spoke to Moses through a burning bush, to Pharaoh through Moses, and to the people of Israel through prophets. And, He got his message to Balaam through an ass. He’s a creative God who refuses to be limited in His creative media.

So the answer to our recognizing God’s voice would seem to be that we become familiar with it by the study of His Word so that we recognize when we encounter imposters. The medium may change, but God does not. After that, we prayerfully examine what we think He’s saying. And if nothing else seems to suffice as a test, get out of the boat and try to walk on the water, because God can rescue you.

One of the things I’ve found as a sort of fleece to put out is that when God has guided me in one direction or another, I’ve often found my automatic reaction to be, “No, no, no, no, no, no, no….” It’s not a guarantee, but the fact that I have an idea that I wouldn’t likely come up with and don’t want to do tells me I need to talk to God about it and be ready to break camp and head out.