A friend of mine's wife just left on mission trip to Ethiopia. Her field is veterinary skills and she is going to minister to the people of Ethiopia and help teach them how to give medical care to their animals and live stock. She will be gone for a month at least. My friend I believe is already feeling the anxiety of the separation. He knows their calling is to the mission field and that one day they both will be ministering together in a foreign land. Knowing this though doesn't make the present separation easier. When you love someone and they are your " soul mate ", every long period of separation can seem like an eternity.
My friend, in his seeming alone'ness , asked this question; " Why do we have to go to the other side of the world to hear God?". Now I believe I know what he was really saying and I believe he knows the answer to his own question, but it did bring me to the thought of this question. Are you hearing God? If so how and where do you hear him?
We don't have to go to the other side of the world to hear God speak to us. Usually we are going to the other side of the world because we heard God speak to us. But, the thing we most deal with is the act of hearing God. We constantly go through moments when we think we are hearing God's voice but are unsure. Is it Him, is me, or is it the devil?
John 10:4
" When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. "
In this scripture we can see two things. The first being that he (God) goes ahead of his sheep (us). He goes ahead of us to lead the way and to clear the way. He knows the way and He knows there can be danger along the way. We would never send our children down a path that we hadn't already cleared for them, or had brought them along to show them how to walk that path and be aware of possible dangers. The second thing is that the sheep hear his voice. Sheep learn their shepherds voice because they have heard it over and over and listened to it over and over. Shepherds spend vast amounts of time alone with their sheep so the sheep learn their voices and will not follow another. This is how we are and must be with God. We must learn and teach ourselves to get alone with God and clear out the clutter of each day and clear out those things that are harmful to our relationship with Him.
Learning to hear God's voice is an important part of our relationship with Him. People who cannot hear each other, cannot communicate their thoughts and feelings to each other. It doesn't take going to the other side of the world to be able to hear God, but it does take spending time with him to learn and know His voice. Do you hear me?
In Christ, Kevin
