Week 1: Listening to the Good Shepherd
Listen patiently
(especially when you don’t understand)
Week 1, Day 3
I’m waiting... but how long am I supposed to wait?
I’m listening... but I’m not sure that I’m hearing anything.
I’m waiting... but this is not what I wanted to hear.
I’m listening... but I’m not sure I get it, or that I want to.
Habakkuk 2:3 (ESV)
3 For still the vision awaits its appointed time;
it hastens to the end—it will not lie.
If it seems slow, wait for it;
it will surely come; it will not delay.
Isaiah 55:8-9 (ESV)
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Even when the Good Shepherd tells you where to go, what to do, how to live, or who to follow, you may not understand the why.
Yet, when I’m honest with myself, I’m glad that I don’t always understand the why. Because it means that God is God and I am not. He has the ultimate perspective. I am a lowly sheep in need of a Good Shepherd.
As my Good Shepherd, He knows when a lion is lurking around the corner. And while I may get frustrated to be deterred from my current path, I must trust that He sees the big picture. Everything He does is out of love—for my own protection and wellbeing. Sometimes we listen best through the experiences of others or reminders of times when the Good Shepherd has been faithful in the past.
Describe a time in which the Good Shepherd blessed, protected, or provided for you—a story of something that you didn’t understand at the time, but later recognized the hand of the Good Shepherd guiding you in His wisdom.
Additional notes, drawings, or thoughts from listening to the Good Shepherd today:
We would love to hear from you! Please share with us what you are hearing and how you are growing in your devotion to listening.
This blog post is taken from the book Called to Listen: Forty Days of Devotion. To order a copy of this book, please visit our website and invite a friend to participate in the study with you. The book includes additional guides and questions to be reviewed in a small group context weekly.