Do You Know Who This Is?

O

ne morning I returned home to find a message on my answering machine.  After putting my books down and arranging a few items on my desk, I turned my full attention to the blinking light of the answering machine.  There were a few new messages left for me while I was in class.  I listened to each message, discarding the ones from car salesmen, credit card companies offering me new cards with outlandish limits at obscene interest rates, and one from a company wanting to sell me vinyl replacement windows.  Since I lived in the men's dormitory at Southwestern Seminary, I didn't figure they'd appreciate me authorizing the replacement of the dorm's windows with vinyl ones, no matter how energy efficient they were.  Finally, I came to the last message.  It only took one initial sound to tell me that my father left the message.  The message began, "Blake, this is daddy..." He always begins his messages this way, although I know the sound of his voice from the first utterance.

It is amazing how we recognize the voices of those dear to us.  We can differentiate the sound of their particular voices even when we are surrounded other people.  Who hasn't received a phone call and known within seconds the person on the other end of the line just by the sound of his or her voice? 

Jesus taught this same lesson to his disciples.  John's gospel paints different pictures of Jesus but none so loving and endearing as the portrait of the Good Shepherd.  Jesus referred to himself as the Good Shepherd in John 10 and spoke of his relationship with his sheep.  In John 10:2-5, Jesus describes this relationship in the following manner: "For a shepherd enters through the gate. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they recognize his voice. 5 They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t recognize his voice.”

This scripture shows just how intimately Jesus knows his own.  It is well known that sheep respond only to the voice of their shepherd.  He is the one who feeds them, who guides them, who protects them, who cares for them, and who loves them.  They will not respond to a stranger, but will only do the bidding of their shepherd.  We, as God's children and followers of Jesus Christ, are like sheep.  We hear his voice and we must follow him.  It is Jesus who cares for us, who protects us, who guides us, and who loves us. 

Not only do we know him but he knows us.  The shepherd knows every intimate detail about each of his sheep.  He understands, loves, accepts, and nurtures each individual sheep.  His voice is distinct, clearly discernible above the noise of the world.  He calls us to quiet pastures, to still waters, and to rest.  He never sends us out on our own, but always goes ahead of us, so that every situation we experience, he has encountered before us and is with us in every trial and joy.  The prophet Isaiah expressed this beautifully when he wrote, "And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left" (Isaiah 30:21).

               How is your relationship; with God today? If he speaks and asks the question, "Do you know who this is?” will you be able to immediately recognize his voice?  I trust you can!