John 10:27 – My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
Recently, one of my sisters had a cochlear implant procedure. She is a retired music who spent many years teaching middle school children about music. How to sing, read notes, direct concerts. Everything you think a music teacher would do. The loss didn’t come suddenly but gradually started to diminish over an extended period of time, possibly for many years. After having tried several means of treatment with no acceptable comfort, and much prayer time, had gotten to the point that the specialist suggested she have the implant procedure or live being deaf. She had learned to read lips while trying to continue to communicate with everyone. How frustrating and challenging she truly felt. She described the distortions of the different noises around, like people’s voices, media sounds, and even music. None of it was as it used to be. Nothing was even close to normal. A bunch of mixed up noises that didn’t belong together. How painful it must be to not even hear the voices of your own children. But there is one sound that she did not have a problem hearing at all. The sound of her mother’s voice. The doctor commented that it was because that is the first voice we all hear beginning in the womb. It’s ingrained in us.
My question is, could she actually hear her mother’s voice with her ears, or was it with her memory? I say this because my own mother has been deceased for over twenty years. She definitely isn’t speaking to me naturally. But at times I can still hear her voice. And I know this is the same for most people. How many times have you heard someone say “I can just hear my dad saying”, or “I can hear my grandmother’s voice as she sang her song”?
The scripture today says, “my sheep know my voice…”. How? If we use the same analogy as the doctor’s statement, then what a wonderful thing. God’s Word also says He knew us before we were formed in our mother’s womb (Jeremiah 1:5). So, we heard His voice first – RIGHT? Then how do we lose our hearing of God’s voice? How did the music teacher lose her hearing? We can point to many causes to blame or not have any answers at all. I hear my mother’s voice now because I knew her and had a relationship with her. But to not hear Gods’ voice, the One who formed us, we know the cause. It’s disobedience, which caused disconnect. We don’t ingest His Word to nourish our souls. We fail to respond when He calls. We get indulged in life and put Him in a box on the shelf. There is no communication, fasting, or prayer. And we only inquire of Him in desperate need. There is definitely no giving of thanks. Basically, we give God a one-way ticket to elsewhere like God just stand over there and I’ll let you know when you’re needed. The distance causes division. Division causes no relationship. No relationship causes silence. Silence is no voice of God. So even
though we may lose our physical hearing and can’t detect a sound of any kind, there should always be and can always be that place that only God’s voice is audible. The only solution is to have the procedure. A spiritual cochlear implant and stop the hearing loss.
Father: There are times I don’t hear You and I realize I let life get in between You and me. I don’t want to ever not hear Your voice. I ask You to forgive me for pushing You behind. I am desperately trying to do better. Amen