Affirm #15

Sometimes I get so confused. The other day I was watching the Television and a familiar face appeared on a commercial. It was the guy who used to always say, “Can you hear me now?” Of course, at that time, he was promoting Verizon Cellular. His kind of nonchalant, only the facts persona, won people over. Verizon’s catchy little slogan caught on with people and it didn’t take long for them to be sharing the same slogan in many different settings. I remember using it myself as I was discipling one of my children – “Can you hear me now?” I thought it had a great effect in that context.

But in the commercial, just the other day, this same guy actually came out and asked if we remembered him saying, “Can you hear me now?” but wanted us to know he wasn’t asking that anymore. He then went on to describe the minimal differences between any and all of the major cellular services available to us. He had switched sides, joining Sprint and wanting us to do the same by asking, “Did you hear that?”

Something tells me what really happened was Verizon’s little slogan had run it’s course and this guy’s services were no longer necessary. His contract wasn’t renewed. Which opened the door for the competitor to step in and take advantage of something that worked really well in the past, hoping it would work well again now.

Well, I share all of that with you, because as I was reading the Word today I read this…
“The shepherd walks right up to the gate. The gatekeeper opens the gate to him and the sheep recognize his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he gets them all out, he leads them and they follow because they are familiar with his voice.” John 10:2-4 MSG

And then twice more Jesus says this…
“I am the Good Shepherd. I know My own sheep and My own sheep know Me.” John 10:14, 27 MSG

There are so many familiar voices in our world today. Voices that push us and pull us in every direction. Voices that offer to us the world, but voices that will only suck the life right out of us. Voices that will cause division and confusion, but yet sound almost OK.

Here’s my word of encouragement for you today: Listen for the Good Shepherd’s voice. It’s like none other. He’s still speaking to us today. He’s never stopped. You may need to silence all the voices trying to drown out His, but if you will, you’ll find the peace, the joy, the contentment for your unsettled soul that you’ve been looking for.

Father,

Speak to me now and often. Holy Spirit help me silence all the other voices in my life because I want to hear the voice of my Shepherd. Jesus, in Your name I ask this, Amen.

Rev. Dr. MM Marxhausen