(Transcribed from a tape of the meditation)

Alison L. Barfoot

Jesus said, "I came that they might have life and have it abundantly." I don't know about you, but that's a promise I can live with! Who of us wouldn't want to live a full, satisfying, and fulfilling life? A life almost better than we can imagine? I'm not talking about a "name it and claim it" kind of life, or a kind of materialism represented in the American dream. Rather, I'm talking about a life of enduring values — a deep life — a life that is not superficial or two-dimensional, but a full-bodied, three-dimensional life. A life of joy, peace, and freedom from worry; a life of doing something worthwhile, knowing the love of God and His people, belonging to a family, and believing with conviction that God is sovereign and in control in spite of the evidence to the contrary.

Jesus said, "I came that they might have life and have it abundantly." He said this in the context of comparing himself to a shepherd and his sheep. So, if we want the abundant life, we need to hear and heed the Lord's voice. But, how do we learn to recognize and hear the Lord's voice among all the other voices competing and clamoring for our attention?

Have you ever had the experience of being in a room full of people, engaged in a conversation and heard your name mentioned in another conversation? For people with common names, like Cathy or John, you must get accustomed to it. But, Alison is a less common name. Sometimes I think I've heard my name when someone says Ellis, Allen, or even "or else!" But, certainly when my mother called me as a child, I always knew it was her. I could even tell a lot of the time what she wanted. When she used my first and middle name together — Alison Lynne — I knew that I was in trouble. Still, it was the intimacy of the mother-daughter relationship which made her voice very familiar to me.

There's a story in the Old Testament about a boy named Samuel and his mother Hannah. Samuel was a miracle baby. Hannah wasn't supposed to be able to have children, but she did. She was so happy and grateful to the Lord that she dedicated him to full-time service in the temple. One night in the temple, Samuel heard a voice calling his name. This happened three times. Each time he got up and went to the priest in the temple and said, "Here I am, Eli." But, Eli said, "I didn't call you." Finally, on the third time, Eli realized it was the Lord calling Samuel, so he told him and instructed him to say, "Yes, Lord, your servant listens." And, Samuel followed his instructions and heard the Lord speak to him.

Many years later, Samuel became a prophet in Israel and a very important leader. God told him to go to Bethlehem to a specific family. And, within that family, he would anoint the next king of Israel. When he was surveying all the sons in this family, he said to himself, "Surely, the oldest is the one to be anointed King." But, God said, "No! You are looking on the outward appearance; I look on the heart. I'll let you know which one to anoint." And, God spoke and Samuel heard and heeded God's voice by anointing the youngest boy in the family His name was David and he grew up to be a heroic and faithful king in Israel.

How did Samuel learn to hear God's voice? Surely, after the priest Eli helped Samuel recognize the Lord's voice at a young age, he spent many years in the temple praying, becoming totally familiar with God's voice. Then, later he was able to tell the difference between his own voice and God's voice.

Intentional prayer where we simply spend time with God alone, in silence and through Bible reading, with no other agenda, prepares us to discern God's voice at other points in the day when his voice has to compete with a lot of other noise. Fostering intimacy in our individual prayer life makes the Lord's voice familiar so we can pick it out of a crowd. This is the point Jesus is trying to make when he says, "I am the Good Shepherd; the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out."

Middle Eastern sheep herding is different from American practices. There is one sheepfold with several different flocks mingling in it together, and, only one gate into the sheepfold. The shepherd has a special call that he uses and to which only his sheep respond. So, he calls into the sheepfold with his call and all of his sheep come to him. Then, he leads them; he doesn't drive them from behind. He leads them, using the call to encourage them to follow.

The sheep have formed such an intimate relationship with their shepherd that when they are mixed together with the other sheep and several other shepherds call into the sheepfold, they will only respond to and follow their shepherd. They can't be fooled. If a stranger tries to call them, they instinctively scatter. Also, sheep have very poor eyesight. So, like anyone with a disability, the other senses compensate. Their hearing is highly sensitized. They may not be able to see their shepherd or where they're going, but they will follow the voice they have learned so well.

How can we recognize the Lord's voice among so many other voices? His voice is the familiar one. It's the voice we've come to know through intentional, individual, intimate prayer. If there is a group of children playing and one gets hurt and starts to cry, most parents can tell without looking whether or not it is their child. It's the same in our relationship with God. Because of our intimacy with Him in prayer and Bible reading, His voice will be familiar, even in a crowd.

The first way to hear God's voice, then, is to be familiar with it. The second is to know that the Lord's voice is a life-giving voice. The Lord's voice brings us to the abundant life described earlier.

The other voices, Jesus says, kill and destroy. They ultimately squash the spirit of a person. They heap condemnation on us, hurl lies at us, and generally lead us away from God. They rob us of our relationship with God which is the only place we can know a genuinely abundant life. The Lord's voice is life-giving. If it leads us and others closer to God, then it is His Voice. Ask yourself: If I do this, will it lead me closer to God? When phrased this way, the decision becomes much more focused.

We can begin to discern the Lord's voice because it is familiar and life-giving. But, it is also a sacrificial voice. Jesus said, "I am the Good Shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." A good shepherd — not a hired hand — sees shepherding as his life, not a job. At night the sheep would be in the sheepfold and the shepherd would literally lie across the entrance to keep the sheep from wandering out and to guard against wolves and thieves attacking. He lays down his life. This is also what Jesus meant when he said, "I am the door of the sheep."

Many times we may hear a voice speak to us. It sounds familiar and life-giving. But, if it is not sacrificial, it is not God's voice. The Lord cares more about our lives — our safety and security, peace and joy — than He does about His own life. Like the shepherd, he's willing to lay down his life for us.

There's a story of an early French Christian, Martin, who lived around 350 A.D. One day while he was praying he was confronted by a radiant figure in gorgeous array, claiming to be Christ. After he looked carefully, he said, "I do not see the print of the nails," and the figure vanished. Martin knew that he had been visited by the devil. The Lord's voice is a sacrificial voice.

About ten days after I was ordained a priest, I was serving in my first parish. The Rector was on vacation and I received a phone call. A two and a half year old boy in the parish had died. Less than a month earlier he had been diagnosed with leukemia. I will never forget the anguish and lament of his mother. "If only it could have been me. If only I could have died instead of him." That was a cry of sacrifice. The Lord did sacrifice; he did lay down his life for us.

If we want to know the abundant life, we need to hear and heed the Lord's voice. The word 'hear' includes the sense of obedience. True hearing includes acting on what we've heard. We can recognize the Lord's voice because it is the familiar, life-giving, and sacrificial voice.

On the Sunday after Jesus' crucifixion on Good Friday, Mary Magdalene came to Jesus' tomb. She was in great distress because, as she said, "They have taken away my Lord and I do not know where they have laid him." Then, she turned around and saw Jesus, except she didn't recognize him. She asked him about the body. Finally, he spoke her name — Mary. Instantly, she recognized him and wanted to touch him. But, he forbid her because he had not yet ascended to his Father.

When Jesus called her name, the familiarity from the three years of their friendship broke through her distress and she recognized him — complete with nail prints in his hands and feet — evidence of a life sacrificed so that she and we might know the abundant life.

Through the intimacy of our friendship with Jesus in prayer, we will come to be able to pick his voice out of a crowd because it will be the familiar, life-giving, and sacrificial voice. As we hear and heed that voice, we will come to know life and have it abundantly. Perhaps we should begin like Samuel did, by saying, "Speak, Lord, for your servant listens."