Meet sweet little Lizzy. Lizzy is an 8-month-old, chocolate-dapple dachshund. Mary and I have been Blessed with miniature dachshunds for 30 years, so we know & love the unique dachshund characteristics. This is the look we get sometimes when “she is deciding if she hears.” This can be an exasperating experience, some call it stubborn, when you know she hears you AND knows what you mean and yet just turns and walks away.

One trick we use is getting her attention with something she likes. Food & treats, her unicorn toy are far more effective in training to hear & obey than hollering & shouting. But sometimes the discomfort of disobedience is the only way to open the ears.

Why do Mary & I go through the challenges of having dachshunds? Simple. It’s a unique relationship centered on love. We know obedience is a learned process. It’s the commitment to the process we are willing to pay for the sweet times when she is in our laps confidently resting in peace.

You & I are a lot like Lizzie. We have selective hearing. We only want to hear what & when we want to hear. We choose to allow the noise of today drown out God’s whispers. We go through life fat, dumb and happy until the wheels of life fall off…THEN we scramble for the Master to protect us.

I have learned a lot about Our Father’s love through Lizzie, Molly, Maggie, Frank, Hannah & Fritz. When they are at peace in my lap I think about Him, how this is where He wants me… “Be still and know that I am God.” (Ps 46:10). I have learned the true authority of knowing Him…of knowing what He wants… what obedience means is only found in His Word. “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the Word about Christ. But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did” (Romans 10:17-18)

Listen to these powerful words of Jesus from John 10:14-16, “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. 16 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.” Let these words linger in your heart, “I know my sheep and my sheep know me.” Expectant listening.

Jesus said this in Mark 4:23, “If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear.” He then repeated the warning 3 times in Revelation 2:7, 2:11 and 2:17, “Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Do you know His voice? Are you training your ears & heart through daily Bible Study, Prayer & Obedience? Are you setting aside time just for Him, to be still & know Him?