There’s Someone Stalking Me
What if another person
could follow me around all day witnessing my every deed and hearing every word
I said? What if they had the power to even read my thoughts and know my true
intentions and they were even able to whisper in my ear—or send a message to my
mind?
If that person really
wanted the best for me, I suspect sometimes they’d be pleased. They’d cheer me
on and affirm my good choices. Sometimes they’d say, “Yes!” But, at other times I’m afraid they might be
disappointed or even be embarrassed. If that person really loved me, they might
wince at times by what I say. A person like this might be sometimes grieved by
what I do or intend to do. If I ignored their whispers long enough and
constantly rejected their guidance they might even want to draw back from my
side.
There is such a
person—the Holy Spirit. I sometimes forget about the Holy Spirit’s continual
presence. I sometimes consider God somewhere “out there” and not “right here” as
a constant companion. Yet the Holy Spirit is a person who is following
me around all day. He—not “it”—has the characteristics of personhood—he can be
pleased and he can be grieved. While I like the idea of a constant companion
encouraging and cheering me on, I sometimes forget that the person of the Holy
Spirit can be grieved, ignored and disappointed—and if I do that repeatedly He
responds like a person—with hurt, pain, and feelings of rejection. He could
even be tempted to draw back from me.
The Bible describes the
sensitive personal nature of the Holy Spirit in at least three places.
It’s almost like the person of the Spirit is “touchy” or easily hurt and we
must be careful or the Spirit will withdraw for a time, or even forever. There
are three passages that come to mind as I look for cautions in how to treat this
person who is following me around all day.
1. Grieve not the
Holy Spirit (Eph. 4. 30-31).
I can grieve the Spirit
and give Him deep feelings of sadness like any person would feel. I understand
how a parent might feel “grief” over their son or daughter’s actions or words,
but I sometimes forget that I can cause similar feelings in the Holy Spirit.
What might I do, say or think that makes the Spirit wince—gives him pain like a
parent’s grief? The rest of the passage suggests the kind of things. Reordering
them, I see six:
a. Clamor—loud
argumentative fights and conflicts grieve the Spirit.
b.
Anger/brawling—emotional outbursts of conflict.
c. Evil
speaking/slander—speaking ill of others depreciating their reputation.
d.
Wrath/rage—indignation seeking retribution against someone.
e. Malice—secret inner
desire to cause pain or injury to others.
f. Bitterness—harboring
an unforgiving attitude toward people who hurt me.
This passage probably
was not intended as a complete list of the things that grieve the Spirit, but
it shows the sort of things that make the
Spirit wince—interpersonal strife and inner feelings of ill will toward others.
When I don’t get along with others it grieves the Holy Spirit. How often does
the Spirit get a “heavy heart”—grief—as he follows me around all day?
2. Do not resist the
Holy Spirit (Acts
Stephen condemned his
listeners for resisting the Spirit like their fathers did before them. Resisting
the Spirit happens when the Spirit is at work and I resist him. My
continual relationship with the Spirit is two-way street—He works and I
cooperate…or resist. How might I resist
the work of the Spirit?
a. …when the Spirit is
really working among others yet I dismiss it as emotion?
b. …when the Spirit is
using denominations but I dismiss them as loony?
c. …when others say the
Spirit has done something in them and I doubt it?
d. …when the Spirit
fills new wineskins but I prefer the old ones?
e. …when
the spirit prompts me but I drag me feet obeying.
Resisting is the
opposite of yielding. I want to yield,
not resist the Spirit’s fresh work in me and others.
3. Quench not the
Spirit (1 Thessalonians
The NIV puts it “do not
put out the Spirit’s fire.” I worked for five years fighting forest fires in as
a youngster—I know how to quench a fire: douse it with water. I can douse the Spirit’s
fire too. The next verse gives and example of one way I might douse the
Spirit’s fire: “do not treat prophecies with contempt.” Maybe this passage is
mostly about the corporate activities of the Holy Spirit in the church.
Sometimes when the Spirit begins to move I can get nervous—especially if I’m in
charge of the service. I worry it might “get out of hand” or degenerate into “wildfire.”
After all, fire can be a dangerous thing! How might I “pour cold water on the
Spirit’s corporate work?”
a. …by
dismissing real moving of the Spirit as mere manipulation?
b. …by
resisting when others are being moved by the Spirit?
c. …by
preferring to be an observer more than a participant?
d. …by
checking my watch when the anointing is on the service?
e. …by
rolling my eyes at the pubescent spirituality of the young?
How ever I might be in
danger of dousing the Spirit’s work it must be possible. We all carry around a
fire extinguisher and sometimes we are tempted to use it.
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All thee combine to
remind me that the One who follows me around all day is a person. He can
be grieved, resisted–even quenched. In some ways it seems like the Spirit is
overly sensitive—too easily hurt. But I know that is not completely true
because I have resisted, grieved and even quenched the Spirit at times and he
does not walk away pouting. He stays near. Yet I know He has been hurt. Like a
sensitive person who loves me, the Spirit stays near yet backs away a bit. I
can feel it.
Maybe we all should
commit to be more sensitive to the Spirit: To avoid giving Him grief by our
conversations with and attitudes toward others… to avoid resisting his quiet
prompting and work in our midst... and to keep our fingers off the trigger of
the fire extinguisher we all carry around with us. Maybe then the Spirit would
work more powerful in our midst?
So what
do you think?
During
the first few weeks, click here to comment or read comments
Keith Drury