To Know His Voice

Helen Syski sees that bringing Christ to others means speaking and living so they will recognize His voice as one they know, love, and trust.

The post-birth chaos of the delivery room was overwhelming. This squirmy red infant on top of me was not nursing, there were three medical personnel butting in with their agendas, and I was starving. My husband had left the room to order some food from a Chinese restaurant, because the hospital apparently didn’t think mothers should eat after 8 PM and had all food access closed.

“The food should be here in 20 minutes,” my husband reassured me as he reentered the room. Our newborn’s head popped up like lightning, turning towards the sound of his father’s voice. Even in his little, weak, just-born state he wanted to be with his daddy. The nurses admitted defeat in their fussings and wrapped him up so Daddy could hold him.

Even though our little guy was meeting Daddy face to face for the first time, he already knew him. He knew the sound of Daddy’s voice, his tones, his inflections because being in me meant being around Daddy. And now, when he heard Daddy’s voice in the big wide scary world, he knew who it was and sought him out. The words were not important. It was the sound—his voice meant love, accompaniment, reliability, trustworthiness.

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When we know people well, we know their voice. We can identify them without needing to see them or hear a name. We also begin to know their inflections, their meanings, their intention. Are they happy or sad? Asking for help, or just needing a hug? We begin to know when they are trying to convince themselves of something, or when they are sharing something they believe with their whole heart. When we have a relationship of trust, the sound of the voice brings consolation to us, especially if we are in a crisis. There is a resonance to every voice that is unique, and acts in our soul.

Jesus tells us He is the Good Shepherd and “the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice” (John 10:4). Again, “I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me” (John 10:14). And again:

“I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd” (John 10:16).

When we live with the love of Jesus in our hearts, our hearts are full. Out of this fullness pours a genuine kindness, fortitude and excitement that is contagious. It is the sound, the taste, the feel of Jesus that spills out to others.

The sheep that do not belong to this fold. How do they come to know Him? Not with training. Not with herding. Certainly not with lecturing or chastisement. He leads them, He says. They follow because they know His voice. The sound, the feel, the tone.

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Jesus living in us is primarily about giving those around us a relationship with Him before they even know Him. They come to know His voice because they hear Him in ours. The tone, the intention, the trustworthiness. It is because they have learned to love Love, they have experienced the gentleness, mercy and fierceness of His joy. They know, they are intimate with it, they have experienced it so often that it has worn a sure path in their heart.

“Amen, amen, I say to you, the hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.” (John 5:25)

When my husband’s best friend sneaks into the house at 8:30 PM for an adult night of conversation and port, any hint of his voice making it upstairs pops my kids heads off their pillows and they scurry downstairs to give him a hero’s welcome. Even our senior dog will command her creaky old back legs to get up off her bed and come to him like a puppy. It doesn’t matter if they were sleeping; if the noise makes it to their brain, their hearts respond!

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Jesus living in us is primarily about giving those around us a relationship with Him before they even know Him. #CatholicMom

This is the key to preparing the soil of the world for God’s grace of conversion. God is the one who will change their hearts. He is the one who calls them. Our job is to channel the sound and tenor of His voice, to help them be intimate with His tone, His love, His joy. Then they will hear His voice as that of a loved one, and jump up, and go.

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