Lenten Devotion
By Pastor Guy Weatherly

Scripture Reading:

” My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:27

Reflection:

A few years ago, I purchased a pre-owned car that was engineered to respond to verbal commands. After it was synced in, you were supposed to be able to tell the car to do something and it would acknowledge and do it. I was so excited when I took it out for the first time. It was on a hot Florida day when the heat was radiating from the scorching pavement.

I leaned over and said, “Turn the climate to 71 degrees.” It spoke back, “Now turning the climate to 81 degrees.” I spoke louder, “Turn the climate to 71 degrees.” It responded again, this time saying, “Now turning the climate to 84 degrees.”  This time I bent over the dash board and in a loud voice shouted, “TURN THE CLIMATE TO 71 DEGREES!” Then it said, “This system is not programmed for temperatures above 84 degrees.” 

It was at that moment I heard God speak, “Now you know what I feel like when I am talking to you.” Busted.

When we decide to follow Jesus, the Holy Spirit “syncs” us in. We can hear His voice when we are lost, we can hear His voice when we are hurting, we can hear His voice when we say “Here am I Lord, send me.” All that He requires from us is to simply listen.

Listening is a simple thing but it is so hard to do in our noisy world when we are thinking about other things and listening to other voices. It may require us to do impossible things like turn off the tv and push back the distractions enough so we can hear Him!

This 40 day season of Lent is an opportunity to listen for His voice - not only for ourselves but for our Church. 

” My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:27