The Now Word of God

By Tatjana Mayer; 2 September 07

At the Hillsong conference this year one of the speakers made the comment that many churches are struggling because they no longer hear God’s word for the present, his ‘now-word’, and keep relying on God’s input from several years or decades ago.

That made me think. Do we personally sometimes struggle because we no longer hear God’s word for the present, his ‘now-word’? And what is a ‘now-word’? And that is our first question.

1. What is the Now Word of God?

The Abraham story gives us an insight into the ‘now word’. I read from Gen. 22: 1-2:

[God] said to him, ‘Abraham!’ ‘Here I am’, he replied. Then God said. ‘Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.’

God gave Abraham a word. That was nothing new. God had spoken to Abraham on many occasions before. When Abraham lived in Mesopotamia, God spoke to Abraham and told him: “Get out of your country … To the land that I will show you.” (Gen 12;1,2). When Abraham arrived in Canaan, where he was to settle, God said to him: “All the land that you see I will give to you…Go walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.” (Gen13:15, 17). When Abraham remained childless, God told him: “A son coming from your body will be your heir...count the stars…So shall your offspring be.” (Gen 15:4,5).

God speaks into Abraham’s life on a continuous basis. Isn’t it wonderful to hear God speak to you so clearly in any situation? Have all this encouragement said to you by God himself, all these blessings pronounced over you, ‘your offspring will be like the stars’, ‘I am giving you this land’?

Now Abraham is settled in a place, has a son and things seem to be great, and God speaks to him again. Only this time God sends Abraham a major challenge. God is asking Abraham not only to give up his son for God but to do the deed himself, take the knife and cut his son’s throat. Trust God to do something like that. It seems like hearing clearly from God comes at a price: It may not always be the soothing words we want to hear.

Have you ever experienced God do that to you? You are comfortable where you are at and God sends a challenge? When I lived in Germany, I was quite good at expressing myself in German and liked to use big words every now and then, it came easy, it sounded good. I guess I felt somewhat proud of that achievement. Then God spoke to me, I ended up in Australia and had to give class presentations in English after having been here only for a couple of months. It was an extremely humbling experience for me but entertaining, although probably not very instructive to my listeners.

God knows our present situation more than anyone else, more we ourselves do, more than our partner or family members or friends. He knows what we need to hear and he speaks his word into that situation. That is God’s ‘now word’. A word from God specifically designed for our present situation. That may be a challenge spoken into a settled life or an instruction or warning when we move into dangerous territory or encouragement when we struggle. As our situation changes, his word will be a different one. When Henry Blackaby’s daughter was suffering from cancer, God assured him of his love and gave hope. When Blackaby made a ministry decision which was based on human reasoning, God rebuked him and instructed him in the decision making. God wants to be involved in our lives and has a ‘now word’ for each one of us to speak into our present situation.

So for Abraham the ‘now word’ was to go and sacrifice Isaac.

Abraham took that word very seriously. Listen to how the story continues (Gen 22:3ff): ‘Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. …When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.’ Abraham redirected his life according to God’s word. He packs for a long journey - he doesn’t even know where he is going - takes his son and servants along and then sets out towards an unknown place where he will kill his son. He knows, he will return alone, without a son. But as he takes the knife –what an example that God is never late but also never early, God speaks again and Abraham receives a new word which seems to contradict the former word. ‘Abraham! Abraham! ‘Here I am,’ he replied. ‘Do not lay a hand on the boy’, he said, ‘Do not do anything to him.” First he is to kill the boy, then he is to spare Isaac and sacrifice a ram. Speak about an emotional roller coaster. Has God changed his mind?

The answer to that question is in Genesis 22:17: ‘The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time, and said, ‘I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore.”

God had an ultimate plan which was to test Abraham’s character so that God could bless him. God’s plan consisted of different steps along the way.

What if Abraham hadn’t followed these steps but continued to rely on God’s first word, what implications would that have had? 1. He kills Isaac, the son he loves, even that is no longer required. 2. He acts in fact against God’s will. 3. He obstructs God’s plan to make Abraham the father of nations and Sarah the mother of nations. Not hearing the ‘now word’ for the new situation has consequences not only for his son’s life, his own, his wife’s but also for generations to come. He thwarts God’s plan for future generations.

God keeps speaking to us into each new situation. He has a plan for our lives and if we want to accomplish God’s plan in our lives we need to continue to listen to new instructions from him.

In the Old Testament God gave the Israelites rigid instructions about clean and unclean food. Not following these instructions made the Israelites unclean, unholy and removed them from God’s presence. That was a huge word of God. It separated the Israelites from all other people. In the New Testament Peter heeds God’s instructions and abstains from unclean food until God gives him a new ‘now word’ and says to Peter: “Kill and eat…Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” (Acts 10:13,15). The ‘now word’ is: “Food does not bring us near to God.” (1 Cor 8:8). For the sake of God’s plan to save all people these laws are replaced. Practices are changed, because one person has a vision. Imagine one pastor in our church has a vision that infant baptism is to be replaced. How would our church react?

Some thirty years ago renewal broke out in one of the mainline churches in America. The congregations that were affected by renewal considered to leave their denomination. Their ‘now word’ from God was, ‘Bloom where you are planted’, and so they stayed. Now thirty years later and after many struggles within their denomination, some are wondering, if they have missed a new word from God along the way, because now the institution has now swallowed up any evidence that there ever was a renewal movement.

One last example. Some time ago, Bretto and Kirsty felt that God’s word for them was to fast for one day per week for two years. It was blessed but after many months they began to wonder about the impact and felt that God was telling them to stop fasting. God’s now word was to let it go. As they did and checked their diaries, they discovered that exactly two years had passed.

If we don’t listen to God’s new instructions, we may continue to do things just for the sake of doing them and not discover the new blessings which God has in store for us. We may bind ourselves to words and activities which were meant for a previous situation and so we are not free to be released into a new stage in our lives.

If we desire to have God’s plan and his blessings unfold in our lives, we need to keep listening to the ‘now word’ for our current situation so that we are released into the next stage of God’s pan for us. So now that we know what a ‘now-word’ is, how do we receive it?

2. How Do We Receive the Now Word?

In order to recognise someone’s voice we need to know them.

A magazine reports that a long time stalker of the actress Sandra Bullock, was confronted by Bullock's husband, after he found the woman lying in their driveway. Instead of doing the smart thing, which would be peacefully leaving, the stalker decided to try and run Bullock’s husband over with her Mercedes, not once, but four times! Now, while the stalker may know numerous details about Sandra Bullock and pursue, I think no one would deny that the stalker does not really know her, understand what is on her heart or have a relationship with her. A relationship, a true relationship, is based on the two sided desire to know each other, heart, mind and soul.

Abraham recognises God’s voice, he knows God, and God knows Abraham. In Genesis 18:19, God says: “I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised.” The relationship between God and Abraham has a massive impact for Abraham’s life. Through this relationship with God, Abraham and his family know what God’s way is and may “keep the way of the Lord”. As a result God can implement his promises for Abraham’s life, a positive future, many descendants, land to live on.

God knows you and me by name and wants a relationship with us. This relationship also has a massive impact on our lives: When we know God, we know his mind and what his ways are and we can follow his ways. As a result, God can implement his purposes in our lives.

Sounds neat but how do we recognise God’s voice? How do we develop such close relationship with God?

The messages and devotions I have researched for this, offer different patterns, but are all unanimous in two things – and this won’t surprise you: To get to know God we need to spend time with him in prayer and we need to read his word.

Like in any other relationship we need to spend time with each other, set time aside when we can talk to each other, be in each other’s presence. Martin Luther once said, "I have so much to do today I think I'll need to pray for three hours.” We may set out with the best intentions but we have busy lifestyles and when things get hectic, prayer is generally not our first priority. Listen carefully, we can’t know God or expect to know his voice without spending time with him. A pastor relates a time when he had ruptured a disk and was confined to bed for six weeks. He says: “I was helpless. I was also terrified ... I was the only pastor for our church and I could do nothing for it. Out of sheer desperation I decided to pray for the church. I opened the church directory and prayed for each member of the congregation, daily. It was not piety that made me do it. It was boredom and frustration. But over the weeks the prayer times grew sweet. One day I … was praying and I told the Lord, ‘You know, it’s been wonderful, these prolonged times we’ve spent together. It’s too bad I don’t have time to do this when I am well.’ God’s answer came swift and blunt. He said to me, ‘Ben, you have just as much time when you are well as when you are sick. It’s the same 24 hours in either case. The trouble with you is that when you are well, you think you’re in charge. When you are sick, you know you are not.” We think we are in charge of our life and our time until things go wrong. The question I have for us is this: Do we want to hear from God badly enough to choose to spend time with God on a daily basis, to pray and read his word? But if we do, we will hear God’s word for us. So the next question is, when we do hear God’s word, what do we do with it?

3. What Do We Do with the Now Word?

The more we get to know God through prayer and his word, the more we love him. Augustine said "Love God and do what you want." He understood that a person who knows and loves God, wants to do His will. Abraham knew God and when God demanded of Abraham to take his son and sacrifice him, Abraham did not argue. We can only surmise what went on in his mind but he got up the next morning and set out to do what God had told him to.

In theory, we want to do the will of God, and if it is a word that suits us, we obey gladly. In practice, I suggest we are not quite like Abraham. We argue, when it doesn’t suit. “What? Sacrifice Isaac? That doesn’t make sense, you promised me descendants. I must have misunderstood you. And if Sarah hears about this, she’ll kill me! Besides, it is such a long trip. It’s really inconvenient for me just now. And what good is a sacrifice anyway?”

We tend to be choosy about which ‘now word’ to follow. We prefer selective obedience.

Has anyone seen Blood Diamond? There is one scene when the main character, Danny, played by Leonardo Dicaprio says – and he speaks about the wars and killings in Africa: “Sometimes I wonder, if God will ever forgive us for what we have done to each other. Then I look around and I realise that God has left this place a long time ago.” Sometimes, it feels like God has left the place, that he has left us to fight on our own. He gives us a burden to carry, a son to sacrifice, but he is not there to help us. Is that what Abraham felt when he was walking up to Moriah and built an altar to lay his son on? That is obedience. Following God’s word despite what the situation may look like, despite what we see and what we want. That kind of obedience is only possible when we know of God’s love for us and when we love and trust him.

That kind of obedience is vital, because it allows God to speak his next ‘now word’ to us. This is important. Only as Abraham set out to Moriah and stepped outside his current situation, God could speak his next word to him: “Do not lay a hand on the boy’, he said, ‘Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God because you have not withheld your son, your only son.” The ‘now word’ of God can only become available once we have completed the last word of God, when we have stepped outside our current situation. God’s plan in our lives is implemented when we continue to follow each ‘now word’ at the time and are prepared to hear God speak again.

That is not to say that we can’t make a mistake. Missing a word or failing to implement it is not the end of God’s plan in our lives. God can alter a plan and accommodate mistakes in our lives as we come back and focus on him. Yet, obedience, not selective obedience, leads us directly to the next step in God’s plan for us.

God is good. He loves us and he has a plan for each of our lives. He speaks into our individual lives and has a ‘now word’ for each of us in our situation. I would like to encourage us all to be open to his voice, spend time with God and listen to what God’s ‘now word’ for us is at this point.

Take stock of your life: Is what you are doing right now based on an old word of God or perhaps no word at all? Is God’s ‘now word’ moving you into a new job, a new area of ministry? Maybe God has not called you into leadership before but now his word does? Is God’s ‘now word’ for you to step up as the spiritual head of your family? Is God’s word for you to increase your devotion time or to intensify your holiness and be more cautious what you read, watch and listen to?

Be prepared to hear the ‘now word’ of God for you. Be prepared to move outside your current situation, to be released into something new and be ready for God’s blessings to unfold in your life.

Amen.