John 10:1–16 ‘His sheep follow him because they know his voice.’ (v4)
In this passage, Jesus is calling Himself the Good Shepherd, an excellent picture of love and provision.
He is the Shepherd who looks after the sheep. Anyone who doesn’t genuinely care won’t stick around; but if it’s the Shepherd’s own flock, then He will protect them.
The enemy He speaks of in verse 10 is a robber who comes to ‘steal and kill and destroy’. Sounds like a good description of Satan, doesn’t it?
How important it is for us to discern the voice of our Lord, so we can dismiss other voices that may speak negatively to us – voices from the past, voices from our enemy who wishes to harm us.
God may sometimes gently rebuke us, but He always speaks good into our lives. He, like a great shepherd, knows the safe paths for us to take.
Knowing and discerning the voice of the Lord can take time. But in these scriptures, Jesus encourages us that it is possible to know Him intimately.
We can know Him, just as we are known by Him (v14). Isn’t it wonderful to think that He knows us, and wants us to know Him too?
We need to spend time in His Word, the Bible, because we know that any prompting to do something contrary to His Word will not originate with Him.
He does not change (Mal. 3:6). We need to continually be filled with His Spirit (Eph. 5:18), so that we have the renewed life of God bubbling away inside us.
How amazing it is to be able to have true friendship with the One who made us, knows what is best for us, and speaks words of love to our hearts.
A Prayer To Make:
‘Jesus, I thank You that You are my Good Shepherd. You will never lead me astray. You will always lead me in the good paths. Help me to learn to listen to You. Amen.’
An Action To Take:
Find out all about sheep! Think about their behaviour. Are humans and sheep similar? How? How important is it for us, as sheep, to have a Good Shepherd?
Scripture To Consider:
Ps. 23:1–6; Isa. 40:1–11; 1 Pet. 5:1–11; Rev. 7:9–17
Join the 40-day challenge. Read our Lenten articles every day for the next 40 days!
https://www.barnabastoday.com/category/faith/40-day-challenge/
