Now What?

Then Jesus said, ‘Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.’ Mark 4:9 NIV

Imagine you are in a discussion and the argument is going back and forth with no progress. Out of the blue your friend says something to stop the conversation in its tracks. You hear your friend say, “Now that I have your attention….” and proceeds to finish his sentence. Normally, the discussion is over at this point because instead of thinking what to say next while your friend is still speaking, he has your full attention. You are no longer speaking over him/her.

On more than one occasion, Jesus used the expression: ‘Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.’ He is saying, now that I have your attention, stop your arguing and listen. Right then, all that is left for us to say is “now what?” because we recognise that Jesus, and only Jesus, has the answer we need to the questions we face.

What is it that has your attention, while Jesus is trying to get through to you? Money worries? Family troubles? Marriage problems? Health? Pain? Sometimes God can use times like these to catch our heart’s attention. We need to use our ears because Jesus knows we don’t always hear properly (if at all). We all know of times when God has only been able to really get through to us, and get our attention, when we are in a place where we can’t try anything else. There is only one person to go to, and that is our loving God.

It is so much better to listen up in the first place, than wait until problems and pain are the only way for God to get our attention. We can almost hear Jesus say to us, “Now that I have your attention”, and the only response we can make is surely, “Now what Lord”?