In the Gospel of John, Jesus speaks about himself as the Good Shepherd, making a variety of parallels. In particular, he explains that his sheep will hear his voice:
Whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.
The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice,
as the shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. (John 10:2-3)
At first glance that seems like something easy: Jesus will call us by name and will simply lead us to greener pasture.
However, in practice we typically don't hear Jesus' voice. We may want to hear Jesus speak to us, but are confused because we never do.
How can you hear the Good Shepherd's voice?
Still, small voice
The reality is that most of us are looking for God in all the wrong places and think God will speak to us in a specific way. If we read the Bible, we will find quickly how God's voice does not meet our own expectations.
One popular example is God's speaking to Elijah, asking him to, "Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord; the Lord will pass by" (1 Kings 19:11). Then God reveals himself to Elijah in what some translations call a “still small voice.”
There was a strong and violent wind rending the mountains and crushing rocks before the Lord—but the Lord was not in the wind; after the wind, an earthquake—but the Lord was not in the earthquake; after the earthquake, fire—but the Lord was not in the fire; after the fire, a light silent sound. (1 Kings 19:11-12)
God speaks in silence, and in today's noisy world it can be difficult to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd.
Noise doesn't even mean exterior sound, as we are most frequently assaulted by the "noise" going around in our head from all the notifications that keep coming up on our screen.
Our attention is super fragmented and so we really shouldn't be surprised that we can't hear God's voice.
The more we can detach ourselves from the noise that surrounds us, the more likely we will be able to notice God's movements in our heart.
