Wandering Sheep VI

Don began by asking for prayers for Alice and her husband and family in this time of sickness.  

The Parable of the Lost Sheep, continued.

Don began by summarizing last week’s discussion on the voice of God. He read from Acts 9, the passage in which God accosts Paul on the road to Damascus.

What motive is there for hearing the voice of God? There seems to be a sense that if one hears God’s voice and accepts its leadership, then one’s life will be better, less fearful, less stressful. The journey will be better.

He quoted from a passage by a believer in the Inner Voice, which said you don’t need external proof (in contrast to Gideon). That inner voice is all you have to make final decisions of right and wrong. People who claim to act on behalf of God are not to be trusted. God can only be heard through the behavior of people.

Does the lost sheep parable meet the need of humans to relate to God? Is the “eternity” implanted in us (Ecclesiastes 3) sufficient to meet our needs?

He asked the group if they had ever distinctly, unambiguously, heard God’s voice,  how we knew it was the voice of God, and what was God communicating?

David recounted a dream he had about 20 years ago [not 30-40 years ago as he said in the meeting] in which he experience great terror, of being the presence of utter malevolence, evil. He called out to God, and there cam a presence that made the eveil diminish and disappear. It wasn’t a voice. It was just a sense, a feeling. Like the sheep, which hear frequencies but haven’t a clue what the words mean but are reassured by the voice. In the dream it felt as though evil could and would triumph.

[Jim?] Was Hindu until 15 years ago. An Adventist classmate taught him he could pray for God’s help. He was trying to quit smoking, and could hear warring inner voices – one saying it’s OK to smoke, another saying “help me.” They were feelings, an experience, rather than words. Since then, every time he felt the need, he has been able to recall that “voice.”

Harry: Has never heard the voice and doesn’t think he would like to – it might be too disturbing. But in quite, contemplative times, certain thoughts may resonate with him; thoughts that give him peace, a sense of direction. This what he feels is his communication with God. People who say they have heard the voice of God always want to be followed.

Jazlin: God speaks to her strongly through dreams.

Ghada thought that God has spoken to her through the love of her parents. That reminded David of Mr. Singh’s remarks last week about God speaking to us through Nature.

Don: What does God communicate? Does he care about our petty concerns or only about our major concerns?

Harry thought that if the inner voice or intuition is the voice of God, then perhaps the communication helps us decide what is right and what is wrong about a situation we are contemplating. The magnificence of Nature does something to us, for sure. It sensitizes us to God, perhaps. It’s a kind of prayer.

Don: Pentecostals and others believe God speaks in tongues – audible but unintelligible. Our inability to speak in tongues is evidence that God is not with us. Do those of us who have not heard the voice of God feel cheated?

Emma: Remembered an incident in school where she was running recklessly down some stairs … [garbled]

Eb: Suffered a power cut last week…. Was sleeping on the floor, daughter woke him up with fear of an intruder. Got up, found nothing, went back to sleep. Eb can sleep anywhere, any time, because he feels that God is always watching over him. The world will never be at peace, but those that trust in God find inner peace. People have to see that inner peace in you to hear the voice of God through you [hope I am not misunderstanding here — DE]. How you achieve it is by listening. Even if you don’t understand the words, understanding percolates up.

Harry: The Bible is just one way to listen to God. You may hear Him through other people’s experiences. What people are looking for is God’s reassurance of peace, of freedom from fear and evil.

Don recalled Jay’s point last week that it is easy to misappropriate the authority that comes from hearing God’s voice, so God has to be careful how he speaks to us.

Jay said there is a lot of danger in the voice of God – that’s the powerful message from Elijah.

Francine: When the voice speaks to her, it uses her full name audibly, not “Fran.” Rather like her father would speak to her. It brings her comfort, takes away her fears. She knows the voice is not that of her late father. It has to be God. It is not a frightening voice.

Harry has heard his name called from out of nowhere, when he was a child, but each time it scared him.

Jay reminded us that the sheep in the parable don’t get messages; all they hear is a voice of comfort.

David: The group seems to focus on the taking away of fear, and this was precisely his experience. It doesn’t seem to make much difference to daily life – he still has everyday fears, but when the real chips are down, he has that sense that there is something that is so much bigger than all of us, that can remove the evil, remove the fear.

Next week: Even sheep who are outside the fold also hear God’s voice. How come? What does this mean?

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