Scripture Scribbles: May 11, 2025

the Gospel

John 10:27-30

Jesus said:
“My sheep hear my voice;
I know them, and they follow me.
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
No one can take them out of my hand.
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all,
and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand.
The Father and I are one.”

the scribble

He leads you.

He speaks to you.

Do you hear his voice?

I remember when I encountered these verses in John’s gospel in the early days of my conversion. By that point I had intellectually concluded that Jesus lived, died and was raised from the dead and that he very likely was who he claimed to be in the Gospels. I was reading about the lives of the saints and listening to podcast after podcast all describing intimate relationships with this man and the joy and peace relationship with him brought, regardless of circumstance. But I felt trapped in my own head. I didn’t know how I could have a relationship like that. So when I read these words,

“My sheep hear my voice;

I know them, and they follow me.

I grabbed hold of them as a promise.

I would pray: Jesus, you promise that your sheep hear your voice. I want to hear your voice.

Day after day.

As I let him lead me more deeply into relationship with him through Scripture, prayer, the sacraments and holy friendships, his voice became more and more clear. Now I can say by the grace of God, I have come to know him and I hear his voice.

So I hadn’t prayed that particular prayer in quite some time. But a few days ago I was having a really hard day. My head was full of self-accusation and self-deprecation. I was feeling anxious, discouraged and alone and frustrated. I knew I was not listening to his voice, because his voice is tender and loving and the voice in my head was definitely not. 

I desperately prayed for help, Jesus help me hear your voice!

He answered me right away in two beautiful ways. I will share both with you today because maybe they will help you refocus on our Good Shepherd too.

The first way was to nudge me to spend a little extra time with him in prayer. I picked up Heather Khym’s book Abide and these two lists were on the next page of the Blocks to Healing chapter I was working through (there are no coincidences!):

God’s Voice: Gives hope, Merciful, Gives peace, Convicts, Strengthens, Comforts, Kind, True, Loving, Reassures, Guides, Patient, Gentle, Restores

Enemy’s Voice: Condemns, Brings despair, Discourages, Creates Stress, Harsh, Causes worry, Deceives, Shaming, Lies, Accuses, Confuses, Causes fear, Abuses, Creates chaos

The second way he answered was through my daughter saying, “Mama, can we play the Ha-ha song?” Then grabbing my hands to dance around in the kitchen with her and her little sister singing it at the top of our lungs:

The joy of the Lord is my strength
And He is my anchor in the midst of the waves

The joy of the Lord is my strength
And I find it when I praise
The joy of the Lord is my strength

So haha hallelujah
Haha hallelujah…

The Good Shepherd knew just what his little sheep needed: a reminder that he will never speak to me the way the evil one does and a dance party praising him with my two little girls.

We are all his sheep. This promise of hearing his voice is for you, too. He knows you. He leads you. He is speaking to you. He loves you.

So sing with me - haha hallelujah!

Today’s devotion was written by Lucia Parker DeMarco