By The Ear

Isa.30:²¹ “Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, “This is the way you should go,” whether to the right or to the left.”

In John 20:11-18 [please read], Mary went to the tomb where Jesus had been buried but had now resurrected. Outside the tomb, She saw a man who she mistook for a gardener. Even though it was Jesus standing there, she did not recognize Him. He asked her, ‘Who are you looking for, young lady?’ and still thinking He was the gardener, she said, ‘If you took Him, tell me where you have put Him so I can go and will carry Him.’ At that point, Jesus knew that this was just pure love and He could not ignore that. So, Jesus said, ‘Mary’ and as soon as Jesus called her name, the Bible said she lifted up herself and said, “Rabboni.” It was not her sight that connected her to Jesus, it was her ears. She did not recognize Him when she saw Him but when He called her the way only He calls her, she recognized Him. If God calls you, would you recognize Him?

God called Samuel, “Samuel, Samuel”, and Samuel ran to Eli and said, ‘Did you call me?’ Eli said, ‘No, I did not.’ Samuel went back to sleep and God called the second time “Samuel, Samuel”. Samuel ran to Eli again because he has home training. If it were some people, they would not go back to Eli, after all they went before, and he said it was not him. I can easily imagine myself saying that when I was growing up, ‘I came all the way and you said it was not you, keep calling!’ Samuel could have said that, but because of his heart, he went back to Eli. Again, Eli said he did not call Samuel and it happened a third time and even then, Samuel went back to Eli again. Then Eli said, ‘Oh! Prophecy 101, have you taken that class?’ Samuel said, ‘No Sir.’ Eli said, ‘You have not, and you are in church?’ So, Eli gave Samuel a crash course, ‘The next time He calls you say, ‘Speak Lord, for Your servant heareth.’  This is the posture of obedience; it is the posture for hearing from God. [1 Sam.3 paraphrased].

John 10:³ “…He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.” (emphasis added). If there was a gathering of about twenty churches for instance, and maybe I get and say, “God’s Favourite House…”, there would be a response and that is because we have our own lingo that is unique to us. Other churches also have their own lingo that is unique to them. There was a time in John 12:29, when God spoke to Jesus and it was like thunder.

John 10:^11-13 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep” (NKJV]. With God’s work, are you a hireling [a hired servant], are you a shepherd, or are you an under-shepherd? You and I need to wrestle with this question because it determines what flows to us in every area of life.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are my Shepherd and I am Your sheep, I will recognize You by the ear and Your voice will not be strange in my ears, in Jesus Name. Amen!