It seems like such a simple chart but as i read through it a couple times I began to be convicted about how often I've ignored God's voice in my life, even as I embrace the lies of Satan. ("I know you love me and want the best for me God...but I don't want to listen to that right now cause I'm to busy being discouraged and worrying about what's happening...can i get back to you?")
This chart reminded me of John 10:1-18
In this passage several things stuck out to me. The first was the wording used in verse 3. "The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice." (NIV). In the counseling classes I took last semester (and even in the communication class freshman year) we talked about the difference between hearing and listening. Hearing is what we did when our parents lectured us as children/teenagers, and what we do in particularly boring college classes. When you hear someone you are aware that they are speaking but your brain is otherwise engaged...hearing is passive. In this verse Jesus uses the word listen. Listening is active, it is making a conscious effort to take what a person is saying and to learn from it/take it to heart. The sheep in the passage do not just hear the shepherd, they listen to him and follow him.
How often do we hear God vs. listen to God?
The other thing I noted in this passage was in verse 4-5 which reads "When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice."
How well do we know God's voice?
Even while i was tempted to brush off this chart as somewhat obvious I was convicted over the several times in my life that I have mistaken the lies of Satan for the voice of God...especially in the area of condemnation vs. conviction.
As I've been doing my personal Bible study this past year it's really been hitting me how crucial it is to be in the Word. How can we know God's voice if we do not know him? And how can we know him if we do not study his Word?
The Word is how we recognize the voice of God and how we can contend against the voice/lies of Satan.
I found this little chart a great reminder that I need to be constantly checking who I'm listening too, who I'm ignoring, and using the Word of God to combat the voice of Satan and his lies against me. For me, that starts in Romans 8:1-3. =)
