My Father's Voice by Tammy Blackburn

I know all of you who are parents understand about toys cluttering the floors. It only seems like yesterday that Lego sets, Barbie dolls, and video games were a huge part of my home’s décor. Well, my children are grown up and it is not their toys I find myself tripping over anymore. I have an adorable little Maltese dog that is absolutely spoiled to death. He thinks we were placed on earth for him alone. His name is Cooper and he is the most loving little dog I have ever seen. He will climb up beside me and put his head under my hand and insist that I give him a good belly rub. Cooper has no idea what size he really is. He tries to curl up in my lap as if he is a tiny little thing, then the next thing you know, he has puffed out his furry chest and is barking at the doorbell like a German Shepherd. He has an unending amount of energy and will play fetch until my arm is worn out. However, my little fur ball has very picky tastes when it comes to his toys. He prefers soft cuddly toys that squeak. Even with those, he has certain ones he likes more than the others. When one of them wears out, we have to go find one just like it for a replacement or he will search for days to find the missing toy.

The cool thing I have been noticing is that Cooper knows the different squeak of each toy. I noticed one day that when I stepped on one of his toys, he came running straight to that particular toy as if to see if it was okay. I thought to myself that it had to be a coincidence. So, I began to test him. I would take several toys into another room and squeak one. Sure enough, he came running straight for the exact toy I had squeaked. “What if there were lots of other noises going on,” I wondered? I turned on the TV and some music and even took his toys to another floor. I placed them all in a pile and squeaked one. That dog came running and picked up the exact toy and took it out of the room. Now don’t laugh that I seem to live such an exciting life, but I was truly amazed. I have been watching and testing him ever since and he never gets it wrong. He knows the sound of each toy even though they all sound exactly the same to me.

God spoke to me through all of this. John 10:27 tells us, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” (NAS) There are a lot of voices in this world and I wonder if I stay close enough to my Heavenly Father that I can pick His voice out from among all the others. When I hear His voice, do I come running straight to Him or do I question the origin of the voice? I often hear people say they wonder if God is telling them something or if it is someone else. I began to search the Bible and found at least a hundred references to listening, hearing, and obeying the voice of God. I feel sure there are more, but I stopped looking because God had made His point to me. I want to know His voice. I want to know it so clearly that I immediately can pick out His voice from among the voices around me. I also want to come running with an open heart and willing spirit each time I hear His voice.

"You have today declared the LORD to be your God, and that you would walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments and His ordinances, and listen to His voice.” Deuteronomy 26:17 (NAS)