In 2 Peter 1:3, there’s this great promise: “God’s divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence.”
God has given us power for all things in life, and it comes through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence. Knowing God in the present tense – the here and now – is what gives us his power.
But experiencing God in the present can be tough. In our community group this week, Kyle shared the words of Screwtape, the senior demon in C.S. Lewis’ book The Screwtape Letters:
Our business is to get them away from the eternal, and from the Present. With this in view, we sometimes tempt a human (say a widow or a scholar) to live in the Past. But this is of limited value, for they have some real knowledge of the past and it has a determinate nature and, to that extent, resembles eternity. It is far better to make them live in the Future. Biological necessity makes all their passions point in that direction already, so that thought about the Future inflames hope and fear. Also, it is unknown to them, so that in making them think about it we make them think of unrealities. In a word, the Future is, of all things, the thing least like eternity. It is the most completely temporal part of time — for the Past is frozen and no longer flows, and the Present is all lit up with eternal rays.
Lots of us know God really well in the past tense. Maybe you know lots of facts and stories about the things God’s done in the past. Or maybe you know God’s power from a camp or a conference you went to, but that spiritual high just didn’t last, and you’re not sure you’ll ever experience it again in your lifetime.
Some of you know God really well in the future tense. You read Left Behind, or you went to a prophecy conference, and so you’re all about what God will do when this age is finally through. You can’t wait until Jesus comes back with eyes like a flame of fire, and voice like the roar of many waters. You’re saying, “Bring it!”
But you’re still kind of confused about the present-tense God. You’re not really sure what he’s doing in the world. You’re not even sure what he’s doing in your life! You know you’re supposed to have this power Peter promises from God, but most of the time you just don’t experience it.
Moses was in a similar place when God confronted him in the desert. That’s why God called himself Yahweh, “I Am.” The God of the present-tense. Here are a few more things we experience through this name:
3. God’s objectivity
When God calls himself I Am, he’s saying, “I am who I am, and everything else is measured by me.” If you want to know whether or not something is true, you just ask if it contradicts God. If something is good, or right, or beautiful, it’s only because it measures up well against God’s goodness and God’s beauty.
This kind of yardstick is crucial. Without it, you’ve got nothing to judge anything by but your own logic, senses and feelings. My own logic and senses can deceive me. Logically, I thought for sure that I would own a flying car by now. It’s 2010 for crying out loud! Where’s my flying car?
And feelings – feelings are even worse! My feelings change all the time. I used to think curling was lamest sport in the world – but last week I was watching it for hours at a time, transfixed in a zen state watching those granite blocks glide across the ice. I still don’t have any idea what the rules for curling are, but I love it!
We’re up and down, back and forth all the time. One minute we love something, the next minute we hate it. But God – I am – is the objective standard we can judge everything by.
4. God’s nearness
God said to Moses, “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob… and I am also the God who’s right here in front of you.” Theologians call it God’s immanence. He’s not only transcendent as the God of the universe, he’s also immanent. He’s close. He’s the God who lives inside of you through the Holy Spirit.
But it says in 1 Thessalonians 5 that it’s possible for you to quench the Spirit. Sometimes I do that. I spent three years in a church where people abused the power of the Holy Spirit. They treated him like a guy who makes balloon animals at a birthday party. … “Ooooh, can you make me poodle?” They loved God’s tricks more than they loved God.
I said to myself, “I’m never going to be like those people.” And so whenever the Spirit starts doing something a little funky in my life, I twitch a little. I resist a little. And I quench the Holy Spirit.
The question is, do you experience God in the present tense every day or not? Is he just the God who mostly stays in history? Or is he the God who’s ready to take action and deal with the stress at your work, and the conflict in your family, and the selfishness in your heart?