A matter of trust

(post title from a Billy Joel song)

In whom do we trust?
Put another way: to whose voice do we listen?

“When he has brought out all his own, the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” Jn 10

“Today, listen to the voice of the Lord. Do not grow stubborn . . .” (or: "If today you hear His voice, harden not your hearts . . . ") Ps 95 (As I continue to meditate on this psalm, I keep seeing new stuff in it. Until this morning, I never realized how this verse follows "for we are the his people, the flock he shepherds." How directly this ties into the Jn 10 quote!)

We can't help listening to somebody. But to whom do we give heed? Who do we allow to lead us? Who do we trust? Whose will is really in our best interest?

Don’t we tend to trust primarily in our own understanding and follow our own desires? Haven't we exalted our own ability to figure out how the world works above our need to heed something as old-fashioned and outdated as scripture or church teaching? We've concluded that we have the ability to fully understand the world, and we reject anything that doesn't fit into that understanding as primitive superstition.

Oh, what pain we cause and experience when we listen to the wrong voice!