John 10:1-18: Attuned to Jesus' Voice

 “Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” Jesus used this figure of speech, but the Pharisees did not understand what he was telling them.

Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.

“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.” - John 10:1-18

An important aspect of being Jesus' disciple is following him. And in order to follow him, we must be able to know what he is saying right now, in this situation. We can't be going back to look up this situation in the text book, because this situation's moment will pass and our failure to decide is a decision in and of itself. And the situation may not exist in the text book, so we need to listen for fresh instructions from the author of the text book. But how to listen, among the many voices that compete for our attention?

We must be attuned to the shepherd's voice. Not through some mystical connection per se, but through long trusting experience with the shepherd. 

When picking up my children from an event, our ears could help us quickly echo locate our child within the crowd because we had devoted many hours attending to them. In the same way, long hours of devoted attention and even a bit of trial and error with Jesus allows us to pick out his voice from the crowd. We can with integrity say, "That doesn't sound like something Jesus would say."

He is leading us to good pastures. He is defending against the wolf and the thief. He put himself in the most shameful and humble of situations for us, because we are his.

Ephesians 2:4-5: Competing Responses to Disruptions

The most holy and necessary practice in our spiritual life is the presence of God. That means finding constant pleasure in His divine company, speaking humbly and lovingly with him in all seasons, at every moment, without limiting the conversation in any way. ~ Brother Lawrence 

How do we practice the presence of God? During a panel discussion "Less Disruptions, More Presence" this past Sunday at our church there seemed to be two competing strategies towards coming into God's presence. The first is the path of solitude. The second is the path of rhythm.

One of the underlying assumptions in all of these discussions is that the presence of God is not a normal part of human existence. We don't naturally experience him, the kingdom of heaven or, indeed, much of anything spiritual.

And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. - 1 Corinthians 2:13-14 (ESV)

When choosing sin, we lost our spiritual sense-the sense that allows us to experience directly God's kingdom. Elisha asked and God enabled a servant to see the horses and chariots that surrounded them. We often speak of the God (through his Spirit) speaking with us or stirring us or nudging us. What sense are we using? We lack the vocabulary to even describe it, so we borrow other sense words: "Hear the Lord." "Taste and see that the Lord is good."

There is a sense-a spiritual sense. We were not born with it, but we are all capable of it through regeneration in Christ. It was there in Eden, and part of God's design for all humans and it died with sin. 

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. -  Ephesians 2:4-5

But this sense-even among the regenerate-is atrophied. So while hearing the Spirit (what word should I use!?) through this reawakened sense is startling and sweet, we are not used to it. Think of it as a drinking nectar through a micro-pipette. While we have been conditioned from birth to experience the world through our five senses, we have relatively little experience sensing spiritually. As a result, we often don't notice, or if we notice, we misinterpret what we experience. So the presence of God and the voice of God get drowned out by a thousand other sensations that pour into our brain every minute.

The path of solitude addresses this deficiency by removing distractions. Solitude uses silence to allow the "still, small voice" to break through into our consciousness. We can, with practice, hear God and enter his presence and, over time, widen our sensitivity so that the information that we can handle widens from a micro-pipette-sized flow to a straw-sized flow to maybe even a fire hose. In the same way that physical therapy restores an underused muscle to full capacity, the practice of solitude can restore our underdeveloped spiritual sensitivity to a greater capacity to hear and sense God.

One of the spiritual directors (Dan Maust) on Sunday related this path to "prayer dreaming". It takes advantage of the silence, where our brain will naturally wander-sometimes in predictable and sometimes in unpredictable. Rather than fighting this, he suggests that we pray and ask God into each of the items that pass into our thoughts during silence. I have found that long periods of silence, such as those in long drives or airplane flights, often provide the quiet that creates the context for God to speak and me to listen.

I think this is important because we are often too busy, even in our "quiet" times. Why? Because we have filled it with books and Scripture chapters and prayer lists that never leave room for God to speak because we have pre-determined the agenda.

The path of rhythm addresses this deficiency differently, by inviting God into the craziness of everyday life. Rather than removing distractions, it strives to invite God into the distraction using a "familiar, humble and very affectionate conversation with the Lord Jesus." Brother Lawrence comments:

The time of business does not differ with me from the time of prayer; and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess God in as great tranquility as if I were on my knees. ~ Brother Lawrence

Both of these paths are important. We must widen the channel that flows between us and God. The path of solitude helps with that. But the path of solitude takes a rather negative view of disruptions. Should we reject disruptions as moving us away from God's presence-a posture of retreat in the face of what is happening in the environments where God has placed us?

No, rather the path of rhythm takes these "distractions" or "interruptions" as a beat in the musical score. We converse with God at these situations and attune ourselves to his voice.  The problem with an over-emphasis on this approach is the risk of allowing the external world to determine the agenda, rather than allowing God to insert his agenda.

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. - John 10:25

Spend time in quiet. Invite God to each situation.

Proverbs 2:11-15: A Little Bit Shady

Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you. Wisdom will save you from [those] whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their ways. - Prov. 2:11-12a, 15

When I was attending a recent seminar put on by Control System Cyber Security Association International (CS2AI), the presenter, Rahner James, described the type of professional who would excel in the IT security industry as having to be "a little bit shady." This was an updated take on the adage "it takes a thief to catch a thief", presuming that there was a different approach to securing your IT infrastructure if you understood how a hacker might look at it. Your web services don't need to defend against people who use it the way it was intended. Rather, once a system is defined, the hacker finds the cracks in the interfaces and the weaknesses in the safeguards, skirting around the boundaries to gain access. Fair people tend to think others will treat them fairly, while deceitful people assume everyone is trying to cheat them.

One of the attendees of the seminar objected to this requirement. He didn't want to think his moral compass had to be compromised in order to do his job well. I sympathized with him, because I have seen security blindness and I could also see how a glimpse into the dark side might give us insight into the means and motives of attack.

Then James gave an analogy that helped me understand. Hackers, he claimed, divided the world into two categories: sheep and wolves. They are the wolves and IT is the fence protecting the sheep. By challenging the IT security, they are proving themselves--seeing how good and talented they really are. If they win, they are rewarded with financial gain or notoriety. If they lose, they try again, or they get caught. No risk, no reward.

But IT security people see the world in three categories: sheep, wolves and sheep dogs. Sheep dogs have similar genetic makeup and similar instincts and similar tools with wolves, but they win when the sheep are safe and the lose when the sheep go down.

Jesus expressed his own role in slightly different terms:

I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. - John 10:7b-10

Maybe, being "a little bit shady" means remembering the way we are all inclined to be without God. Jesus warned his disciples "I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves" (Matt. 10:16) We look for the angle. We try to get around rules. We look for loopholes. We take advantage of the goodwill of helpful people. People in security have to have a determination to protect that is as strong as the ambition to penetrate.

What is it like to understand the full extent of evil (Genesis 2), but not be evil yourself? I don't know, but I want to move forward with the right heart motivations.

What is it like to be a good God, see the full extent of deception in the hearts of men and women, and still love those who are a little bit (or a lot) shady? I don't know, but I am sure glad he does.