Do not quench the Spirit. (I Thessalonians 5:19)
Quench: satisfy one’s thirst, extinguish
a fire, rapidly cool.
Since we’re talking about the Spirit,
and the Spirit is often associated with fire, the pertinent part of the
definition of quench is probably the one in the middle. My study Bible
says that this has to do with stifling the Spirit’s ministry in an individual
or a church. Pastor Sam Storms suggests that we quench the Spirit when we:
Rely decisively on any resource other
than the Holy Spirit for anything we do in life and ministry.
Diminish his personality and speak of
him as if he were only an abstract power or source of divine energy.
Suppress or legislate against his work
of imparting spiritual gifts and ministering to the church through them.
Create an inviolable and sanctimonious
structure in our corporate gatherings and worship services, and in our small
groups, that does not permit spontaneity or the special leading of the Spirit.
Despise prophetic utterances (1
Thessalonians 5:20).
Diminish his activity that alerts and
awakens us to the glorious and majestic truth that we are truly the children of
God (Romans 8:15–16; Galatians 4:4–7).
Suppress, or legislate against, or
instill fear in the hearts of people regarding the legitimate experience of
heartfelt emotions and affections in worship.[1]
Each one of those might be explored
usefully, and Pastor Storms discusses them further, but today, most of them are
in too formal a language to connect to my life. Given where I am this morning,
the way these words make sense to me is to say that we are not to do things
that limit, reduce, or attempt to control the Spirit. Given my love of
definitions, I can easily see myself doing this. After all, the New Testament
provides a list of gifts of the Spirit, all of which seem to me to involve the
function of the Church. That’s fine, but is that absolutely the extent of the
gifts of the Spirit?
And how might we quench the Spirit with
regard to those gifts? The first thing that comes to mind is to say that we
have no gifts. Another is to say that the gift given to me isn’t important or
valuable.
A third is to say that the direction,
the dream, the idea that you have can’t be from God because it’s not “spiritual.”
As I think about this today, I find myself remembering. When I was in college,
I wanted to be a writer. By the time I graduated, I had figured out that if my
name wasn’t Isaac Asimov or (name that best-selling author) no one would ever
publish my work. I also remember doing research on herbs. Decades later, I’m
publishing my own books and I’m dreaming of turning my home into a garden. I
don’t know if what I’m thinking is the Spirit’s direction for me, and I have a
lot of learning to do if it is, but how much further would I be in that learning
if I hadn’t spent forty years saying “No.” At the same time, the forty years have increased
my education, my experience, and my wisdom. It was not wasted.
When it comes down to it, I’m not sure about
most of this, but that may be one of the ways in which we quench the Spirit,
when we walk away from our ideas because they don’t fit our preconceptions
about the Spirit’s leading. There are books about listening to what the Spirit
is saying, and I need to go back and read some, but the key today is that while
others may be too quick to attribute “leadings” and “leanings” to God, I may be
too slow.
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