The Voice

“Mama, Mama!” the little boy cried as he entered the tent. “Another shepherd came in and put his sheep in the pen! Now there are a thousand!”

“I don’t think there are a thousand, Aaron,” his mother gently chastised as she kneaded the bread.

“Well, there are a lot.” Then the boy got a puzzled look on his face. “How will the shepherd get his sheep back? Won’t they get all mixed up?”

“When the shepherd is ready to go, he will come to the gatekeeper and call his sheep and they will come to him. Only his sheep will come because they know his voice. The other sheep will ignore him because they don’t recognize the voice.”

“How do they know his voice?”

“They have spent time with him. They have learned to listen to him. He talks to them and takes care of them and they depend on him to protect them and care for them. They have built a relationship with him. It is the same as me and you. When I call your name do you know it is me calling?”

“Yes.”

“If Naomi calls you, can you tell the difference?”

“Yes, she sounds different.”

“The sheep know the difference too. If they hear someone they do not know they will not follow because they do not trust them. They will wait to hear the voice they trust to lead them.”

“Oh,” says the boy. “I’m going to go back and watch the sheep.”

“Aright, I will call you when supper is ready.”

"My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.”  John 10:27-28

Do you know His voice?