Micah 2:7. O thou that art named the house of Jacob, is the Spirit of the Lord straitened?
3. The question, “Is the Spirit of the Lord straitened?” is intended to convey a rebuke to the Church for not sufficiently valuing the Holy Spirit, and therefore not asking for and receiving Him.
The question is evidently designed to intimate to us that the reason why the Spirit of the Lord is so much withheld from us is to be traced entirely to ourselves. If the Spirit is restrained in His actual communications, this must be either because He is unwilling to bestow His influences upon us, or because we are unwilling to accept them. We have already seen that the former is not the case. We have shown that in this sense the Spirit of the Lord is not straitened. There is no lack of willingness or ability on His part. The latter therefore must be the case, for there is no other option in the argument; there is no other way of accounting for the fact of the Spirit being in any degree restrained in His actual communications.
We know that in one sense this is to be resolved into the divine sovereignty. We acknowledge that the Spirit of God is a “free Spirit” and that, as the “wind bloweth where it listeth”, the Spirit breathes upon individuals where and how He pleases. But secret things belong to God; those which are revealed belong to us and to our children. We are here speaking not of the secret purposes of God, but His revealed will, and of our duty and privilege in regard to it. But further, in proof that the hindrance is all on our part – in proof that our unwillingness is the sole cause of our being denied this heavenly gift, this incomparable blessing – we would proceed to appeal to the tribunal of conscience. Let us try ourselves upon this point. Is it not true that we are all naturally very self-sufficient – that we fancy we have ample resources in ourselves for attaining true happiness and are able for every duty to which we may be called? And is it not true that, being thus self-sufficient, we have no inclination to be entirely indebted to another but, on the contrary, a very great disinclination?
Let me apply these general remarks more particularly to the two great classes of the unconverted and the converted. (1.) There are some who are entirely destitute of any work of the Spirit of God upon their hearts. They have never yet received the Spirit. Dare they say that they have long been willing to receive Him but have found it impossible? Their consciences would not suffer them to say so. They must feel that they do injustice to this divine Being. They cannot deny that He has been offered to them; they cannot deny that they have every encouragement to ask Him. They cannot say that they have asked Him and been refused. They know, though they may not choose to admit as much to others, that they never once in good earnest and sincerity put up a petition that He would descend upon their souls. And how can they wonder that they have not received Him? Still more, how can they presume to charge upon God a hindrance which exists only in themselves? Their hearts are opposed to the Spirit, being proud, impure, obstinate. This is their guilt now, and this will prove their condemnation at last. They act sinfully in rejecting the Spirit, because they act voluntarily. Their rejection of Him arises from the state of their hearts, and is therefore sinful; and it is our design in all this to convince them of sin – to fasten a charge of guilt upon their consciences.
(2.) As for those who have in some measure received the Spirit, they often complain of the low state of religion in their hearts, and in the world around them. As they contemplate the present condition of the Church and contrast it with what they have been led to believe was its condition in former times, and with what Scripture warrants them to believe it will one day be, they are led to exclaim, “Our leanness, our leanness!” And in despondency and unbelief they ask, “Is the Spirit of the Lord straitened?” Hard thoughts of God are suggested to them, as if He had become careless of the interests of His Church and had, in unkindness and unfaithfulness, withdrawn His Spirit from it! But let them beware of this. Let them think for a moment, and they will find reason to exonerate God of all blame and to place it to their own account. “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save.” The Spirit of the Lord is not straitened, as they imagine. O no!
Why then, it may be asked, do we experience so little of His reviving and rejoicing presence? We will endeavour to satisfy them on this point. We appeal too to their consciences; we draw an answer from their experience. Have they cherished as they ought to have done the visits of this divine Person to their own souls? Is it not true that they have grieved and quenched Him by indulging in those desires and actions which are contrary to His character and work as the sanctifier of His people? Have they prayed, with all the intensity and perseverance of which their souls were capable, that the Spirit of the Lord might be shed forth upon themselves, and not upon themselves only, but upon the whole Church and upon the whole world according to the extensive, all-comprehending promise: “I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out My Spirit” (Joel 2:28,29)? Or is it not true that they have in a great measure ceased to realise their dependence upon Him, and that their desires after Him have become proportionally faint and few; and that thus, religion decaying in their own hearts, they became less concerned about the progress of religion in the hearts of others?
If all this be true, and without doubt it is, how can they complain that the Spirit of the Lord is straitened? How can they complain that there is little of life and peace in their own souls and that the cause of Christ is making so slow progress in the world? Do not their own consciences charge them with great neglect and great sin in this matter? Are they not compelled to own that their unbelief is the cause of it all? Do they not perceive that by their deficiency in faith and prayer they have been standing in the way of the more plentiful effusion of the Holy Ghost and of that immediate and general revival of religion of which they admit we so much stand in need? We do not know if these remarks will be interesting, or even intelligible, to all; yet we are sure there is no real Christian who will not acknowledge that he is justly chargeable with coming far short of the duty he owes to the Church and the world, of using all his influence at a throne of grace that the Spirit may be poured out upon us from on high.
4. The question, “Is the Spirit of the Lord straitened?” is intended to convey an encouragement to us to ask Him – and to ask Him confidently and largely.
The encouragement is twofold: drawn (1) from the form of the question itself and (2) from those to whom it is addressed.
(1.) The question, as we have seen, is evidently designed to teach us that the Spirit of the Lord is not straitened – that is, is not limited or confined in the sense our unbelief suggests.
And consequently it is also designed to teach us that we ought not to be straitened in our applications for Him. It is as if it were said: Set no bounds to your desires; what you ask for is free, rich, abundant – yea infinite. Therefore ask in faith, doubting nothing; ask more and more; ask again and again. Do not fear that you will offend God by too great urgency, by too high demands. Such a thing has never yet happened, and never will or can happen. God has never yet said to any suppliant at His mercy seat: You have asked too much of My Spirit; I cannot afford to be drawn upon to such an extent; there is a definite limit you must in future take care not to cross. O if we had to deal with God on such terms, who does not see that all our ardour and all our confidence would be checked – and that we would apply to Him, if we applied at all, in fear and distrust?
But God proposes to transact with us on the most liberal terms. His only controversy with any of His people is that they do not meet His offers in the same frankness with which they are made. He is grieved to find them so suspicious, especially after the many proofs He has given them of His willingness to impart to them whatever they need. O then let us take God at His word! Let us believe that He is as beneficent as He says He is. Let us not transfer to Him, who is infinite, the selfishness of our own hearts and the narrowness of our own resources. God’s ways are not as our ways. Here lies our error: we judge of God as we would of a creature; we think Him altogether such a one as ourselves. We look into our own hearts and we find there no such disinterested benevolence, no such unchanging faithfulness; we find there nothing but selfishness and deceit and we cannot give anyone else – not even God – credit for being better than ourselves. Hence we see the sin and guilt of unbelief. Unbelief brings down the all-perfect God to the level and standard of the creature; unbelief invests the Infinite One with all the littleness of the finite; unbelief limits the Holy One of Israel; unbelief makes God a liar, for it will not trust His promises. O then let us beware of unbelief and seek to be strong in faith, that we may give glory to God!
(2.) Notice next to whom this question is addressed, and you will find additional encouragement from this consideration: “O thou that art named the house of Israel”.
It is addressed to the professing Church and people of God, and so it is designed to put them in mind of the relation God bears to them as their God and the warrant thereby afforded them to ask and expect the Holy Spirit. To the Church belong all the promises of spiritual influence from on high. The Spirit is the purchase and gift of the Son to His Church, and from that Church He will therefore never, never depart. “As for Me, this is My covenant with them, saith the Lord; My Spirit that is upon thee, and My words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever” (Is 59:21). The words of Haggai in reference to this point are very remarkable: “According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so My Spirit remaineth among you; fear ye not”.
Does it not then tend mightily to strengthen the faith of God’s people and to encourage their expectations, even in the lowest and least promising condition of the Church, to think of that sure and well-ordered covenant whereby the continued presence and agency of the Spirit are ensured? Often may they be led to fear lest the Spirit, grieved and resisted, should for ever have taken His departure, never again to return to revive and bless His languishing and drooping Church. But the everlasting covenant is their stay, their comfort and the foundation for their faith and hope. If they lose sight of this, the prospects of the Church will often seem dark enough; but so long as they keep sight of it, their hearts will be filled with joy and confidence.
To look back at how the Church has been recovered from a low and apparently expiring state on many former occasions tends greatly to strengthen the faith of the people of God in reference to the revival of religion in the Church through the enlarged communication of spiritual influence. Often before did it seem as if the Spirit of the Lord was about to forsake His Church altogether when He, mindful of His covenant, returned and shed forth His benign influences, and then forthwith, to use the beautiful imagery of the Song, the winter of His Church was past, the rain was over and gone, the flowers appeared on the earth, the time of the singing of birds was come, and the voice of the turtle was heard in the land; the fig-tree put forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grapes gave a good smell. All was again life and beauty and fruitfulness and spiritual prosperity. It was thus in the past history of the Church, and so we may surely conclude it will be again.
It tends further greatly to strengthen the faith of the people of God in reference to a revival of religion to mark any symptoms of its approach, however few and faint they may be – when they perceive an unusual shaking among the moral mass of people, when they perceive a greater degree of interest excited about religion, when they perceive more prayer and zeal and activity, when they perceive extensive conversion work taking place and, finally, when they perceive Satan more than usually busy in disseminating error and impiety of all kinds and more than usually violent in ridiculing and oppressing and oppressing good men, whose only crime is too high a standard of piety and too great a zeal for the extension and purity and efficiency of the Church. Then they may well conclude that a great and good work is going on, and that the prince of darkness, the god of this world, is beginning to tremble for his throne. All this, we say, is a proof that the Spirit of God is beginning to bless the Church with more of His presence and power, and should just the more encourage us to pray and hope for His continued and enlarged outpouring.
Should not prayer be redoubled – should it not be increased tenfold in the Church at the present moment? There never was such need for prayer; there never was such encouragement for prayer. Thank God there is more prayer in the Church than there used to be. Yet there is by no means enough.
Let prayer be increased among ministers. “Prayer”, exclaims Robert Leighton, “is the converse of the soul with God, the breath of God in man returning to its original. Frequent and fervent prayer is the better half of our whole work, and that which makes the other half lively and effectual; as that holy company tell us when, appointing deacons to serve the tables, they add, ‘But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and the ministry of the Word’.” Yes, it is prayer that makes the rest of our work “lively and effectual”. The minister who neglects “frequent and fervent prayer” – who does not engage in his work in a prayerful spirit, beginning it with prayer, carrying it on with prayer, concluding it with prayer – cannot expect the seal of the Spirit’s approbation to rest upon it. How can he? He is not honouring the Spirit, and the Spirit will not honour him. A prayerless ministry must needs be, to a very great extent at least, a fruitless ministry. The Spirit indeed is not to be limited in the use of instruments any more than in any other matter, and He may – there is reason to believe He does – sometimes employ those who have never been brought under the influence of the truth to lead others to a saving knowledge of it. But unquestionably the most successful ministers have always been the most prayerful and spiritual ministers.
Here it is that so many of us fail. Let us never forget that no amount of labour in public or private – that no faithfulness and ability in preaching, and no diligence and care in visiting and catechising – will make up for the lack of prayer. Precisely in proportion as we do all this in prayer and faith will we succeed in converting sinners and edifying saints. But we work too much in our own strength, and in righteous retribution we are left to our own strength, which, in this cause, is very weakness. We long to see a revival of religion among our flocks and we have recourse to all those expedients which an enlightened zeal can suggest for producing it. Still no revival appears. If an impression seems on the eve of being made, we are doomed to a sad disappointment of all our expectations. Who does not see that there must be some deficiency in our ministrations? There must be something lacking; and what can that be but the lack of sufficiently earnest and believing prayer. Immediately, then, let this lack be supplied. Let our ministrations be more prayerful; let them be more simple, more dependent, more childlike, if I may so speak – and then let us see what the result will be. O believe it, the result will be glorious.
And let prayer be increased among the people as well as among ministers. Not only ought ministers to conduct all their ministrations in a prayerful spirit, but the people ought to be taught to wait upon these ministrations in the same spirit. Who has not reason to complain of how few praying persons there are among us? Is it proposed to increase the number of our elders or Sabbath-school teachers? This is the great hindrance in our way. It is humiliating to think of it. The spirit of prayer would seem all but extinct, and we must make an effort to resuscitate it.
That there is a close connection between meetings for prayer and a revival of religion can be established by an appeal to fact. No sooner is a parish thoroughly awakened than they arise as one of the natural and necessary fruits of such an awakening. They indicate its progress and contribute to its increase and stability. No need for a minister then to urge upon his people such a duty; they spring up unknown to him. And where is the minister who has really at heart the cause of Christ – of that Master whom he serves – that does not rejoice at them and offer them all due direction and encouragement? It proves that, wherever the life of religion is imparted to the soul, it will seek vent for its exercise in this particular way if is left to its natural tendency. And where it does not thus put itself forth, it is because violence has been done to it – because, from a groundless fear of abuse, it has been altogether, or in a great measure, checked. Had it been allowed to go forth in this way, how much more progress would the individual himself have made in the divine life – for all our graces, and especially the grace of prayer, improve by exercise – and how much more good would he have done to the Church and the world!
1The final part of a sermon which is reprinted, with slight editing, from The Free Church Pulpit, vol 1. The first two heads, in last month’s section, were: (1.) The Spirit is not straitened in the sense which our unbelief would suggest, (2.) The question in the text implies that He is often straitened or diminished in His actual communications to the Church.