Last night my wife and I watched the latest rendition of the
Superman movies on TV. Over the weekend
our Directv satellite service had a special offering where they had a couple of
the premium movie channels for free.
This happens about every three months and I will usually peruse through
the channels to see if there is anything worth recording. Normally I can justify why we don’t subscribe
to any of them because I only record one or two movies, if any! This time was different though, and I actually
recorded a half dozen movies. One of
them was the 2013 release of “The Man of
Steel”. I was never a fan of most of
the superman flicks of the past, but this one caught my attention, and I think
my wife enjoyed it as well!
In one eerie scene as an alien space ship is spotted first by
the military and then by the news networks, everyone’s electricity goes out and
TV’s across the globe begin to broadcast a strange message. After some scary sounds and music with lots
of accompanying static, a strange voice begins to speak and tell the startled
viewers that “They are not alone…”
and then lays out his terms for what he falsely implies is a peaceful
resolution to their need.
The whole scene, especially as they focused in on the
darkness that suddenly engulfs the Kent farm, reminded me of an old black and
white sci-fi movie I once saw as a kid that scarred the pants off me! But while last night’s experience didn’t have
the same effect on me, it did cause me to get to thinking about how unusual
noises and strange voices can alter one’s peace of mind and confuse their
decision making processes.
I followed that line of thought this morning as I continued
to study Jesus’ discussion as recorded in John chapter ten. In verses four and five Jesus declares that “After he (the good shepherd) has brought out
all his sheep, he walks ahead of them. The
sheep follow him because they recognize his voice. They will never follow a stranger. Instead, they will run away from him, for they
do not recognize strange voices.”
(God’s Word © & Phillips
Modern New Testament)
Jesus was saying that the religious strange voices that we occasionally
may hear should have the same effect as the voice of the alien did to the
people of the world in the movie we watched last night! Have you ever heard a “strange voice” telling
you something that just didn’t sit right with you? My personal experiences over the last few
years showed me that the strange voices of a few that had
been close to us, did nothing to help our situation but worked to instill
confusion, frustration and a lack of peace in me.
There finally came a time where I had to physically separate
my wife and myself from their direct influence.
As I meditated on John 10:5, I began to see my actions as resembling
Jesus’ comments of running away from the “line
of fire” that was shooting the love, faith and peace destroying
council. So even though it was a hard
thing to do at the time, I can now see His divine purpose for what I believe he
instructed me to do. It also brought to
mind my oldest son’s words to me at the time… He had said as I confided in him
that “Your greatest responsibility is to
protect Mom!” I was so confused and
frustrated at the time, that even though I agreed with him, I really didn’t understand
what I was protecting her (and me)
from. Now I do!
Strange voices that contrast to the truth of God by which He is
leading you, through the Word and confirmed by the Spirit, come with uncertainty
(as did the serpent’s to Eve in the
Garden of Eden), confusion, frustration and will cause you to begin to
question yourself. They definitely do
not bring peace and agreement because they are loaded with fear and not the
love of God which causes our faith to operate in the tough situations we face throughout
our lives. Thayer’s defines these strange
voices as “alien,” or “not of one’s
own family.” Robertson’s Word
Pictures say they are “a call to false
philosophy, false psychology, false ethics, false religion, false life.”
You’ll find out, if you don’t already know, that these strange
voices do not agree with Jesus’ self-declared job description a few
verses later. In John 10:10 He boldly
stated that “The thief comes with the sole
intention of stealing, killing, and destroying, but I came to bring them (you
and me!) life, and far more life than before,” (Phillips) I came to realize that the strange voices
spoken to (and about) my wife and I
acted as a blockade to the “far more life
than before” and attempted to stop the abundance that God’s Word speaks over
us. You know… that’s kind of a good
litmus test to the words or “voices”
that we hear. Ask yourself if the voice limits the
activities or potential of God in your life or act to release His abundance of
love, peace, faith and joy?
Hummm…
check it out! Have a great day. Stay in tune to His Word, and keep asking
yourself… “What or Whom am I expecting
today?”
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