1 Thessalonians 5:19 — Quench not the Spirit.

I am going through some difficult issues at the moment. Don’t make any mistake, these are not the devastating life-destroying issues that many other people are going through. All the same, those issues are not much fun for me. Like many people, I have been pushed to wonder about why these things happen.
I can trot out the scriptures that are so often called upon when times get tricky … try Isaiah 55:8-9, Jeremiah 29:11-12 and Romans 8:28-30. Truly, all of those scriptures and many others do provide comfort and encouragement. They are part of the larger perspective that has presented itself to me.
While I am going through this time in the shadows, there have been real encouragements. One, of course, has been the support – the cheerleading – of my wonderful wife. Another has been the small requests for help from people whose ministries we support. Yet another has been the constant refreshment as I participate in the worship ministry in our church. Best of all, however, have been the moments – only moments, it is true – of special light and refreshment in my devotional times.
The question that has presented itself to me is how brightly would those points of light shine against a sunnier background? Have you ever looked at a cellphone in full sunlight? It is hard to see what’s on a screen in that full glare. Move to a shadier area, though, and the screen seems much brighter. That little idea brought me back to the thought of Jesus on the cross. He shines so much more brightly for me now. There is a passage in the first letter of John that is very clear to me:
This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:5-7)
This is full of encouragement for me. One thing to be clear is that difficult times are not dark “night” times – but times of shadow in the daylight. The second is that there is a time when I can walk from the shadow into full light, in full fellowship with Jesus. He spent his time in the shadows. For me, He even went fully into the darkness – only to rise from it into glorious light.
I feel, at the same time, a sense of warning. I could extinguish the points of light. It would be easy to say “I’ve been trying so hard, doing the right things for so long, why do I bother? I give up!” I know that’s what the enemy wants. I could stop listening to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. I could choose to stop exercising spiritual gifts, and drift from the shadows into the darkness. That is to quench the Spirit. Yet when I look at the sufferings of others around me – real suffering, not “some difficult issues” I am ashamed. When I turn my eyes to the cross, I see the truth. I will keep on keeping on:
Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. (Habbakuk 3:17-19)