following the sound of His voice...

My 3 1/2 year old grandson, Bryton, is obsessed with a survival show called 'Man, woman and wild'. In this show, a married couple is dropped off in a remote area of the world and has to depend on their own skills and resources to survive for 4 days and be rescued in that time period.  Bryton watches the show with all his attention focused on Mike and his survival techniques. He plays 'survival' often and imitates what he has seen on the show.

The other night after Ashlie had put Bryton to bed she had gone back to the living room to finish folding clothes and after a bit she heard Bryton calling her from the hallway. "Mama.. Mama...."

She answered him and asked him what he needed and he replied, "Keep talking so I can follow the sound of your voice"

Well, we all got a good laugh at that and decided that if we were ever lost in the wilderness, Bryton could probably get us out with all he is learning. But it also was a good lesson for me as I pondered on what he had said.

"And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him; for they know his voice." (John 10:4)

Do we recognize the sound of our Masters voice? And do we follow Him?

God clearly tells us that if we are His sheep, we WILL hear His voice when He calls and we WILL follow Him. But we have to KNOW Him to be able to distinguish His voice from the voice of the world.

The closer we get to God in our intimate, spiritual relationship, the better we are able to discern His voice and the more eager we are to listen for it and to heed it.  We have to keep ourselves faithfully engrossed in the Word of God so that we can grow in our walk with Him day by day. Only through a continual and deepening knowledge of our Lord and a deepening fellowship with Him, are we going to get to the point in our lives where we readily recognize Him when He calls.

Indeed, there have been times when I have had to say, "God, just keep talking and calling my name so I can follow the sound of your voice!" Amen anybody?

God wants us to know Him like that! He is continually working in our lives to bring us to where He desires for us to be! He is working to sanctify and transform us. He is working to redeem and restore us. He is working to cleanse and refine us.

The more we allow Him to work in our lives, the closer we draw to Him. And as we become more intimate with Him, we will always be listening for His voice and learning to recognize it immediately.

We will then have the desire to follow Him wherever He leads. And we can do this knowing that where He leads is where He will be with us. Close enough that when He calls, we can hear Him and follow the sound of His voice.
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Lord, keep molding us to be more like you and teaching us how to listen for your voice.Give us the growing desire to heed and follow you, wherever you may take us. For we know that where you take us, you are right there with us and will never leave nor forsake us. Thank you for the promise of Your Word.