His voice - Chambers, Oswald
February 1916, Zeitoun
And the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. John 10:4
We do not use our ears to hear in the particular way our lord means, we use them to listen to what our disposition wishes us to decipher, either from fear or desire, as the case may be. When we desire a thing we shut ourselves off from every other thing and concentrate on our desire, but the hearkening our lord indicates springs from neither fear nor desire, but from an intense humility. When we are born again we are no longer muddled by idiosyncrasies, and we begin to listen irrespective of our disposition.
1. The distractions of individuality
And they heard the voice of the lord god . . . : and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the lord god. (genesis 3:8)
In this verse the identification of voice with personality is clear. When individuality comes into contact with gods voice, it desires not to hear it. Adam, in taking his right to himself, made individuality lord it over personality: communion with god was lost and he became tyrannical over himself and would allow no intimation from personality. Adam and eve are not now saying of gods voice, cause me to hear it; they are hiding from his presence in fear. They have taken individuality, which is the god-created husk of personality, and made it god, and when the creator, who speaks only in the language of personality, came, they were afraid. It is now self-realisation, not god- realisation. Self-realisation is based on individuality which is entrenched in human nature through sin, and it effectually distracts us from wanting to hear gods voice. Anything that makes for the realisation of individual relationships, individual well-being and development that is the thing we want to hear. When the voice of god comes it disregards all that, and it produces terror. We dont want god to cause us to hear his voice, we want god to establish and deify the voices that characterise our individuality, our notions of what we ought to be. Wherever there is self-realisation, the voice of god is a continual embarrassment. Individuality ignores Jesus Christ; when he speaks our individual concerns make too much noise for us to hear his voice. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Are we distracted from hearing gods voice by any form of individuality? If god says something not in accordance with my individual attitude to things, do i really want to hear his voice? Jesus Christ deals always with our personal relationship to him; he totally disregards individuality; it does not come into his calculations and he has no consideration for it, because individuality is simply the husk, personality is the kernel.
2. The delight of intimacy
Thou that dwellest in the gardens, thy companions hearken for thy voice: cause me to hear it. (RV)
The companions of god, i. E. , the angels and the saints, hear his voice. In gods garden god him- self is the cultivator and the producer, the refiner of its atmosphere and flowers, of its human and animal life, and everything.
(a) the detachment of transfiguration
And this voice we ourselves heard come out of heaven . . . (2 peter 1:18 rv). When we are really detached from individuality, detached from every form of self- realisation, we experience something which corresponds to peters experience on the mount, and it is then that god says to us, this is my beloved son: hear ye him (rv ). Not only do we hear god say, this is my beloved son: hear ye him, but we have.
(b) the devotion of trustfulness
And the sheep hear his voice. . . . And the sheep follow him: for they know his voice ( john 10:34). Trustfulness is based on confidence in god whose ways i do not understand; if i did, there would be no need for trust. There are many ways of following the lamb whithersoever he goeth because we know his voice. His voice has no tone of self-realisation in it, nor of sin, but only the tone of the holy ghost. His voice is essentially simple; it is a still small voice, totally unlike any other voice. The lord is not in the wind, not in the earthquake or in the fire, but only in a sound of gentle stillness (rv mg). If we have had a personal touch from Jesus it manifests itself in the desire of inspiration.
(c) the desire of inspiration
Our whole life is desirous of saying cause me to hear it. We discern not by faith, but by love, by intimacy with god. The old testament makes much of faith; the new testament makes everything of the relationship of love; lovest thou me? . . . Feed my sheep. . . . The greatest of these is love (rv ).
That is why our lord placed Mary of bethanys act so high; it was not an act of faith, but of absolute love. The breaking of the alabaster box revealed the unconscious sympathy of her spirit with Jesus christ. Have i this delight of intimacy, or am i trying to bend almighty god to some end of my own? Am i asking him to make me a particular type of saint? If through my love for him i am discerning his voice, it is a proof that individuality has been effaced in the oneness of personal relationship. The real enemy to the delight of intimacy with Jesus is not sin, but individual relationships (cf. Luke 14:26). Distraction comes from intimacy with those who are not intimate with Jesus.
We can always know whether we are hearkening to gods voice by whether we have joy or not; if there is no joy, we are not hearkening. Hearkening to the voice of god will produce the joy that jesus had. . . . That my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be fulfilled (rv ). A life of intimacy with god is characterised by joy. You cannot counterfeit joy or peace. What is of value to god is what we are, not what we affect to be.
Is your life truly hid with Christ in god? If it is, your continual request is cause me to hear thy voice. Can we hear the voice in which there is no self-realisation, no self-interest, no individual preference? Spiritual muddle comes because we have other interests and loyalties, and these loyalties break our intimacy with Jesus christ. When there is the clash of self-realisation, and individual preferences come in and compete, we have to put them on one side and remain loyal to our lord and to nothing and no one else. There is darkness which comes from excess of light as well as darkness which is caused by sin. There are times when it is dark with inarticulateness; there is no speech, no understanding, no guide, because you are in the centre of the light. Stedfastly endure the trial and you will get direction from it. What i tell you in the darkness, that speak ye in the light (rv ).
Darkness is the time to listen, not to speak; if you do speak, you will speak in the wrong mood; you will be inclined to criticise gods providential arrangements for other lives and to tell him he has no business to allow these things. As long as you are in the dark you do not know what god is doing; immediately you get into the light, you discover it. Because thou hast kept the word of my patience . . . The test always comes along the line of patience.