The uniqueness of a human voice is universally experienced. A close friend or family member may phone and speak but a few words before we know exactly who it is. The unique cadence, pitch, inflection and accent which resonate through our vocal cords, tongue, palate and nasal cavity to produce sound patterns is as singular as are our fingerprints. When the patriarch Isaac was old and blind, his son Jacob deceived him into thinking he was his son Esau in order to secure the blessing of the first-born. The deception worked even though Isaac discerned that “the voice is Jacob’s voice,” and not the voice of Esau, whom Jacob was claiming to be (Genesis 27:22). The key to voice recognition is familiarity. Verbal communication builds up over time the unique sound patterns which are stored in the brain along with our visual identity of a given person. Jesus, following the teaching style of Jewish rabbis, used this simple human reality to illustrate the need for would-be disciples to listen to His voice. On one occasion He spoke of Himself as the “Good Shepherd” and those who responded to Him as sheep in a sheepfold:

“The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers” (John 10:3-6).

In the past, we listened to what we thought was the Good Shepherd’s voice only to discover to our dismay and disillusionment that the voice we were responding to was not His voice, but rather the voice of someone pretending to speak for Him. We stopped listening to that voice and now many other voices are telling us how foolish we were to have listened to that voice in the first place. They then proceed to speak forth and say (by implication), “hear now the true voice of the Master.” It is like being in a large room with many people speaking to us all at once. It is in this din of verbal dissonance that we are challenged to discern the true voice of the Good Shepherd. While this seems unique in some ways, the reality is that it has never been any different. Every generation of Christian believers, from the first until now, has had to sort out this confusion of voices. And there has never been any other solution than to become so familiar with Jesus’ voice that we cannot mistake it. We know that voice when we hear it.

Jesus’ words are clear and to the point in matters that explain our relationship with God through faith and what He expects from us. His centrality and our total dependence on Him are spelled out in unmistakable terms. We must read, ponder and meditate on those words continually throughout our days and use them to filter all other information that flows to us in various ways. We are enabled to have ears to hear clearly the Master’s voice by the indwelling Spirit of truth ~ the Spirit of God and Christ. This Spirit works in complete harmony with the written Word of God. Together they project a consistent sound pattern of spiritual truth that those who are in Christ know in an unmistakable way because nothing else sounds like it. It is totally unique! Once we know that voice, which means, in practice, to be responding to it, we have little trouble sorting out and discarding all other “voices” that clamor for our acceptance and submission.

R. Frye ©CDMI