Courtney Gilmore He who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep… My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
John 10:2-5, 11, 27
This verse used to haunt me. Did I know Jesus’s voice, or would I be willing to follow a stranger?
Sometimes it’s hard to know when God is speaking to us. We aren’t sure if it’s Him, our own thoughts, or even Satan trying to trick us. We may wish that God would just talk to us like a person so we would know for sure. But I guess if I didn’t know His voice that wouldn’t help either.
When God called to Samuel the first time it was in an audible voice. But because God had never spoken to Him before, He thought it was the high priest calling to him from the other room. It wasn’t until Eli realized that Samuel was hearing from God and was able to explain it to him that he knew God’s voice the next time He called out.
Because God speaks to our spirit, the voice in our head sounds the same no matter who puts it there. So, how do we know that it’s Him?
Thought Experiment
If a stranger called you and could perfectly disguise his voice to sound like your loved one, would you eventually realize it a trick? Even if their voice sounded right, if the words they said and the way they said them were uncharacteristic of how your loved one normally talked, you would probably know it was not them if given enough time.
Or if someone you loved was kidnapped and forced to call and give you the kidnappers message and not their own, they could probably signal to you in some way that they were being coerced just by saying something uncharacteristic to them.
In both of these scenarios, the voices are the same, but because you know this person so well, you know the types of things they would and would not say and do. You also know how they interact with you and the way they would handle certain situations. Something would feel off.
Getting to know someone that well takes time and effort. We have to spend a lot of time with them, ask questions, pay attention, watch how they act and react. But eventually, we will be able to anticipate how they might handle a specific situation or what their reaction might be.
Growing in Your Relationship with God
So, for us to be able to distinguish God’s voice from our own, or from an imposter’s voice, we have to know Him really well. We need to know the types of things He would say to us. But how do we know that?
Reading God’s word allows us to study Him. The bible helps us understand His character, which is akin to knowing someone’s personality and traits. We can also observe how He acts and reacts in different situations. This is one very good way to get to know Him better.
Then, when we pray. But don’t just talk to Him. Learn to listen. This takes some practice, but just talk to God like you would a friend who you want to know better. Ask Him questions and pay attention to what He might be telling you. Most likely none of us will ever hear an audible voice from the Lord. But His Spirit will speak to your spirit and soon, like Samuel, you will realize it’s Him.
But God also speaks to us through circumstances and interactions with others. The Lord will open doors in our lives when He wants us to walk through and close doors that He wants us not to enter. If we tune our ears to hear His voice, He will speak, and we will hear.
Getting to Know Him
So, don’t worry about it. Just practice. We don’t just automatically acquire the ability to discern God’s voice the moment we accept Him into our lives. Getting to know anyone doesn’t happen overnight and God is no exception. But if we will put in the time and effort, our relationship with Him will grow. Then, as we grow in our relationship, we will grow in our knowledge and understanding of Him. We know the types of things He would say and do, and it will be easier to recognize His voice.
So, we don’t need an audible voice, and it wouldn’t matter if we had it. We just need to know God better. After you hear His voice once, it will be easier to recognize it the next time and then even better the next, and so on. That is what growing in a relationship with Him looks like. It’s just like a relationship with anyone else. The more time you spend in HIs Word, with Him in prayer, and the more you pay attention, the better you will know Him.
Then, once you do hear Him speak, respond as Samuel did, and say, “Speak, Lord. Your servant is listening.”
Links
You can Watch or Listen to all recent and future blog posts as devotions on LivethruJesus Weekly Devotions Channel on Podcast or YouTube and Substack.
This is inspired by “When God Calls” which is about God speaking to Samuel for the first time. You can Watch or Listen to it on YouTube, Podcast, or study it on Substack.
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