“The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought all his own outside, he goes ahead of them. The sheep follow him because they know his voice…Jesus said again, Truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep…I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me.” — John 10:3-4, 7, 14
How often do you think about sheep? Honestly, I can say that I don’t really think about sheep too much. In fact, I rarely have contemplated sheep much throughout my life. Until recently. Oh I was aware of how pastors liked to use the Good Shepherd illustration, and aren’t we all familiar with the 23rd Psalm?! But I have been hanging out with the Beloved Disciple, John, in his gospel a lot lately and have found myself considering sheep. But maybe we ought to be thinking MORE about sheep. Perhaps we all should aspire to be more like sheep. While the old adage is to count sheep to fall asleep, I have found that thinking about sheep does not put me to sleep; rather, it draws my focus to the Shepherd.
In the tenth chapter of the gospel of John, twice Jesus calls himself the Good Shepherd. This concept of shepherding is a theme throughout the Bible. King David, from the Old Testament, was also a shepherd, before he was ever anointed as king. Before he was responsible for running a kingdom on a grand stage, he learned how to care for the exposed and vulnerable. He learned the qualities it required. As a shepherd himself, David could easily make the statement in Psalm 23:1, “The Lord is my shepherd; I have what I need.” David understood what it meant to be a shepherd.
A shepherd made himself to be the actual door to the sheep pen. The shepherd leads his sheep. Jesus offered the example of what a hired hand does in the face of a wolf attack upon the sheep–he tells us the hired hand flees when the wolf comes and the wolf attacks the sheep. But the shepherd will face the wolf and lay down his life for the sheep. A shepherd will defend the flock. In Matthew 18:12 we read that the shepherd will find even one lost sheep, when separated from the ninety-nine. In Psalm 23, we learn that shepherds provide for the needs of their sheep and lead their sheep to safe spaces of rest and sustenance. To be a shepherd in Bible times was a lowly and humble position. Yet Jesus identified himself as a shepherd though he was truly the King of Kings.
It delights my heart that when the angels announced the birth of Jesus, they told the shepherds first. Isn’t that just the way of God? Jesus, born in the humblest state to a young teenage girl and her carpenter husband in a barn, identified with the shepherds, who society often overlooked and considered unclean. Sheep and the role of shepherd were valuable to the Father.
We take comfort in the fact that the Lord is our Shepherd, and that Jesus himself says He is the Good Shepherd. When I read Psalm 23, I feel secure and at peace. Jesus said he would lay down his life for the sheep. Jesus knows our every need. Jesus leads us beside quiet waters, and he offers us hope and restoration and renewal. Jesus protects us as his sheep.
Jesus leads us. Why does it seem, then, that we so often get off track and venture down the wrong paths rather than choosing to take the right paths? This question has haunted me as I have read and studied John 10. If you’re anything like me, you long to hear and to know God’s will. I want to know what it is God wants me to do, when to do it, where it will take place, and how to get there. This stems from a heart that wholeheartedly wants to follow Jesus and do His will. I don’t want to miss it. But sometimes, it feels like I cannot hear him or see him or feel where he is leading. This often leads to doubts and potential paralysis regarding next steps.
“The sheep follow him because they know his voice.” (John 10:4b) Sheep will not follow a shepherd that is not their own because they recognize the sound of their shepherd’s voice. Sheep will not follow a stranger. Amongst all the voices vying for my attention and affection, Jesus’ is the one that should stand out to me. His is the one I recognize. Seems so simplistic yet so challenging at the same time. The sheep know his voice. I am the sheep, and Jesus is my Good Shepherd. So often we get hung up on the concept of God’s will for our lives, and I am not knocking that desire in any way, but perhaps we are too busy asking to listen. Could it be that we have a listening problem?
To know the Good Shepherd, we must spend time with him. How else will we recognize his voice and distinguish from all the others trying to drown out his? The closer we draw to Jesus, the more discernible his voice becomes. As I try to lean in to follow him, I will know the paths to take because his is the voice I will know. “The sheep follow him because they know his voice.” I want to know his voice. I don’t want to be led astray by the countless others that the enemy uses as a distraction from following Jesus. It has been said that it’s not what you know but who you know. How much more does this apply to Jesus?! I don’t need to know the what, the where, the when, the why, or the how. All I need to know is the Who, and his name is Jesus, and he is my Good Shepherd.
“The sheep follow him because they know his voice.” What have you been following that is diverting your path from Jesus? If you are a child of God, then you are one of his sheep. As his sheep, you will recognize his voice. The time has come for us to stop chasing all the strangers’ voices and quiet ourselves to listen for the Master’s voice. His sheep know and recognize his voice, and follow him. When we hear his voice, we, as sheep, need to follow him. We don’t need to know the whole journey; all we need is to follow the voice of the Good Shepherd. In him, we have all we need. We experience protection, renewal, and restoration. Turn up your ears and focus your eyes on the Shepherd–His way is always perfect and he will lead us exactly to where we are supposed to be.
How do we recognize his voice? Even as I have been trying to apply this passage to my own life lately, I feel frustrated at times. If I am God’s sheep, then why am I struggling to hear his voice? I wish that Jesus’ voice was amplified with a megaphone, thus leaving me without any doubt that it is his voice I am hearing. But like Elijah experienced, God’s voice is not in the wind nor the earthquake nor the fire (1 Kings 19). No, God’s voice is often heard in a whisper. When someone whispers, we tend to quiet ourselves and slow down and be still in order to hear what is being said and to listen. Perhaps this is how we as sheep begin to recognize and know our Shepherd’s voice–by slowing down, by leaning in, by quieting ourselves, and by waiting for him.
We also learn to recognize his voice by spending time with him. I know the people closest to me and I recognize their voices because I spend time with them. How do we spend time with the Good Shepherd? By opening up His Word! This is how he often speaks to us–through the pages of Scripture and the discernment of the Holy Spirit within us. Sometimes this can feel overwhelming if you don’t even know where to begin. And there is no right or wrong way to do it or an expectation of how much. God will reward our efforts to seek him and to know him by revealing more of himself to us. Remember, God delights in his children spending time with him, much like we as parents delight in time with our children.
In closing, I encourage us to commit to quieting ourselves in God’s presence and learning to distinguish his voice over all the others. He is our Good Shepherd, and he will always lead us down the right paths. So starting today, let’s all be sheep!
The Satisfied Soul 
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