Be careful how you hear

Dietrich Bonhoeffer said it, and it is not neo-orthodoxy or bad exegesis but good sense: Whenever you read Scripture, Old Testament or New, you should ask yourself, "What is God saying to me?" This has many benefits, not the least of which is as a safeguard for you, keeping you from the subtle and dangerous alchemy that turns the Word of God into discussable theology, rendering it ineffective in your life. Scripture illustrates:

"As for you, son of man, your people who talk together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, say to one another, each to his brother, 'Come, and hear what the word is that comes from the Lord.' And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not do it. . . . You are to them like one who sings lustful songs with a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument, for they hear what you say, but they will not do it . . ." (Ezekiel 33:30-32).

These are people like you and me, who show up to church and to retreats and who take copious notes in their notebooks.

I have discovered a disturbing principle of communication that specifically applies to the Word of God: When you hear a message from Him, if you receive it as interesting information rather than personal command, it not only does you no good, but further hardens you in your ability to receive revelation. This is why Jesus solemnly warns, "Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks he has will be taken away" (Luke 8:18). This is also why He tells the story of the seed that fell to the ground and was immediately snatched away by birds (Luke 8:5,12). Use it or lose it.

"And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it" (Revelation 12:4). Even at the birthing stool, Satan was present with talons sharpened, to render the Christ child dead on arrival. Having failed at that manger scene, he now contents himself to render God's Word DOA in our hearts as it comes to us in sermons or in our private devotions. Behind the sensate curtain of reality, a dark presence hovers over the place of most promise, the imminent birthings of new life and insight in Christ. The only antidote I have found to the poison is to pray over God's Word even as I am reading it, to thank Him for the truth I am hearing, and to put it into practice at once, either by doing or by praying my assent.

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