The Power That Remains

    Have you ever been fascinated by mountain climbers?  I just think it's incredibly daring and awe-inspiring.  They train intensively for the altitude differences in oxygen levels and physical exertion.  They research and prepare the proper equipment and layers of moisture wicking clothing, and for most of them, they hire a competent and experienced guide. 
    As much as they train or prepare, though, things can go wrong. 
    I remember a few years back when an extended family member had been training rigorously for a climb.  Unfortunately, he broke his leg shortly before the trip was to start, and disappointedly he wasn't able to go with his team.  During the week he had been set to go, Nepal was hit with a severe earthquake and avalanches began on the mountain he was set to climb--Everest. 
    Tragically, all the training, protection and guidance couldn't stop the injuries and even deaths that resulted from an unforeseen and uncontrollable force of nature.  
    In my studies this week, I saw some of the same devastation in the life of King Saul.  In 1 Samuel 16, we find that after his rejection of God, he made a progressive series of poor and destructive choices that avalanched over his kingdom and family.  

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After the Spirit of the LORD had departed from Saul, a spirit of distress
{evil, bad, wicked} from the LORD began to torment {terrorize, startle} him. Saul’s servants said to him, “Surely a spirit of distress from God is tormenting you.
1 Samuel 16:14-15
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​    Without the Spirit of God, Saul was susceptible to the mental torment of an evil spirit.
Earlier in 1 Samuel we see that when Saul was anointed as king, God sent His Holy Spirit to rest upon Saul and empower him with courage, passion and wisdom to get the tasks done that the Lord gave him for his position over the people.
     Once Saul, however, had thoroughly rejected God as his own king (1 Sam 13:13-14; 14:11-26), God in turn rejected Saul, and by consequence, the Spirit of God was removed in order that Saul and all the people of Israel could see just how evil power without godliness could be (1 Sam 8:7-18).
     After the Holy Spirit and presence of God was removed from Saul's life, it was a natural next step for Saul to be harassed by an evil spirit. While we see from the passage that God sent the evil spirit, displaying the sovereignty of God, we also know from Saul's own free choices that he was dwelling on the very temptations that the evil spirit enticed him with...jealously, evil suspicions, envy, murder, deceit, malice, debilitating fear, worry, and discontent. 
     The word used in the Hebrew for the evil spirit “tormenting” him, means to terrorize, bring fear, make one easily startled. He became unable to properly handle the ministrations of the kingdom, being often brooding, enraged, distracted, anxious and rash.
     While God indeed is sovereign in this situation, Saul also made his choice. He chose to serve the evil of his own heart rather than to repent, which in turn led to an open invitation by his spirit to other evil spirits. Spirits of fear, of lust, of pride, and of murder.
    Jesus tells the story in Matthew 12 about a man who had been freed from an evil spirit, and had “swept his house clean, and set it in order.” The healed man's spirit was free and clear and in completely order, free to make its own choices. Tragically, the man's choice was to leave his own spirit empty. In so doing, he became a target for the evil spirit who had previously occupied his body. Going to arid places, Jesus tells us, the evil spirit sought seven other spirits more evil than itself and invited them to come with him to reoccupy the empty man's body, since there was an open vacancy. “The final condition of that man,” Jesus tells us, “was worse than the first.”
     A few years ago we owned a delightful dark chocolate brown newfoundland puppy. He was fluffy and cuddly and playful.  Very quickly, though, we discovered that we enjoyed him better without that "wet dog" smell that is so classic to long-haired dogs. Now, newfoundlands are bred to be water rescue dogs.  Their coats are extra insulating and warm, and they love to play in the rain and snow, making him a perfect dog for our mountain home.  What we learned, though, is that if we shampooed his coat it would temporarily strip the natural oils from his fur and take away the natural waterproofing with which he was created.  Without the oils saturating his fur, the moisture would have access to his skin. 
   Jesus' story illustrated that the only way to not be occupied by evil was to be filled with the Holy Spirit, effectively shutting the door against any unwanted occupation.

                                               Submission to God, His will and His spirit
                                                 results in a saturation that repels evil.

     But there is another condition which the Bible shares with us about torment from evil spirits, one of which believers should also be aware. It is not an occupation, but it is an exterior pressure that brings suffering internally.  An occupation or indwelling of an evil spirit gives it mastery over a person, and enslaves a man to do evil. In contrast, though, suffering experienced by a believer from an evil spirit results in the power and glory of Christ and increased ministry!
     My husband and I are currently leading a youth group at our church. Over the course of the year, I have noticed that whatever Biblical principle I am about to share in our ministry ends up coming very close and raw in my own life, and I far too often find myself confused at the particular and unique trials and feelings that I go through. 
    Confused that is, until I start to work on the next passage for our studies, and find the very answers to my own situation and needs! To be truthful, I am both a little annoyed at this and very grateful. I wish I didn't need to go through even a taste of each problem before I shared it, but it does help me to understand the frustrations and challenges that are involved in working through these principles with the Lord, and I am so very grateful that He does know how to help me handle them!
    This last week, I found myself often coming under a particularly frustrating attack on my nerves. It was debilitating. I am used to having the end of a long day or when my blood sugar is low be very challenging or stressful for me, particularly with noise or mess. But this particular morning was unique in that I was thoroughly rested, well fed, and with no greater than normal noise level. I found that all of a sudden every noise was excruciating, my work on homeschooling or on the computers were met with every kind of roadblock and frustration, and that my soul seemed completely overwhelmed.
    Not only that, but even with my holding in my feelings so that the kids wouldn't be disturbed (I certainly can't say that I have the self-control to never spill my frustrations onto my kids, but this morning I had been extra careful), I started to hear the little kids reacting to this spiritual attack in the middle of what had been a peaceful morning, and they were completely unable to cope. It dawned on me after a bit (I should have noticed it sooner!) that it was spiritual in nature, rather than just a typically difficult day. I prayed silently, submitted our school day and agendas to the Lord, asked for His help and peace and Spirit to comfort us, and commanded any evil spirit to leave in Jesus' name. Within moments God's Spirit had restored my calm and peace completely, and the kids were peaceful again as well, praise the Lord!
    The funny thing is, and rather embarrassing to admit, I forget those moments so very easily! Even today, as I was trying to sit down to write out this devotional, the very same thing happened. This time, it wasn't until I started reading through the passage that it dawned on me that the spiritual attack was happening again, and that I needed to deal with it in the Lord. Once again, as soon as I did, His peace and comfort returned and I was free to work without impairment.
    While that is so simple and wonderful, though, there have been many times where whatever trouble it was that I pleaded with the Lord to remove just remained in my life, and I had to live with the problem while living in His peace in the middle of it, sometimes for years, and some that are still ongoing for me.
   In 2 Corinthians 12:17 the Apostle Paul shares with us his story of great favor, blessing and revelation from the Lord, and his subsequent suffering in order to not give himself over to sin. For Paul, it was very similar—an evil spirit to bring him suffering. However, because Paul's spirit was indwelt with the Holy Spirit, he had an entirely different outcome: “Lest I should be exalted above measure, there was given me a thorn [stake, impalement] of the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to buffet[beat, pound in] me.”
    Paul doesn't share with us in this context to what he was referring, whether it was a physical ailment, emotional trauma, mental agony or spiritual temptation, but whatever it was left him feeling weak and inadequate for what he was called to do. The words he used suggest to me that it was his own form of bearing the cross, the impalement of the cross, from which Jesus Himself prayed also to be spared.
  Therefore, when Paul asked Jesus three time to remove this evil spirit, this acute suffering, Jesus would not, but replied to him:

                    “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."

    Paul's response is both awe-inspiring and humbling at the same time:

                          “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses,
                                               so that Christ's power may rest on me.”

     Honestly, this is hard for me. Being weak and inadequate while allowing God to use me is not really what I had hoped for in my dreams of a future in ministry or parenting. Dealing with pain, frustration, uncertain physical outcomes and spiritual attacks on my family definitely wasn't.
   But if my weakness and inadequacy makes Christ's power more evident, if it increases His glory and leads to more healing and wholeness for myself, my family and the people God brings into my life, then I want it.  It does feel backward to me, but a couple of verses come to my mind, "for the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God....But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things--and the things that are not--to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before Him." (1 Cor 1:18, 27-29)
    What about you? What things in your life does the Spirit put his finger on and say, “This....[pain, unfinished story, brokenness, weakness, insufficiency].....this is what I want to use to bring people to Me? This...is how I will bring you the very most blessing.....

       "This...is what makes My power rest on you...and remain.”

"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. 
Cast me not away from Your Presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.  
Restore unto me the joy of Your salvation, and renew a right spirit within me."  
Psalm 51:10-12
A Psalm of David
​after he sinned with Bathsheba