Yes, Christians have been grieving the Holy Spirit for centuries, causing him to suspend operation in their lives. If you have sin in your life, stop, drop and repent. The Spirit will resume operation.
Let’s review Exodus. The people of Israel have left Egypt. About three months later, they are in the Sinai wilderness camped before Mount Sinai. The Lord then descends on the Mount.
In Exodus 24, Moses tells the people what the Lord expects from them while reading from the Book of the Covenant. The people of Israel agree. Moses sprinkles blood on the people as part of the ceremony, and the Covenant between God and his people is sealed.
The ceremony feels like a marriage, the joining together of God and his chosen people.
After the covenant is sealed, Moses goes up onto Mount Sinai. God gives Moses detailed instructions on building the tabernacle and its furnishings. The tabernacle is to be a symbol of God dwelling in the midst of his people. It will be placed in the center of the Israelite camp. No longer will he be a remote God up on the mountain, but he will be in the center of the camp. God and his people have entered into a sacred relationship.
Exodus 25:8, “And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.”
Exodus 29:45-46, “45 I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. 46 And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.”
We come to Exodus 32. Moses has been up on the mountain for forty days getting instructions for the tabernacle and its furnishing. Meanwhile, back at the camp, the people of Israel have Aaron manufacture a golden calf. They worshipped the golden calf, ate, drank, and rose up to play. They didn’t keep to the covenant.
The people “sinned a great sin.” Within 40 days of the covenant ceremony, the people of Israel have been unfaithful. The relationship with God is damaged. The Lord is not happy. He says so in Exodus 33.
Exodus 33:1-3
The Lord said to Moses, “Depart; go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give it.’ 2 I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 3 Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.”
Again, the people have damaged their relationship with God because of their sin. If God were to travel in their midst, he would consume them. Rather than putting the chosen people in danger, he removes his presence. God is merciful.
Note again in Exodus 33:7. The Lord would go out to the tent of meeting (not the tabernacle). The tent of meeting was outside the camp. For a time, the Lord will not dwell among his people. It feels as if a divorce has taken place.
Later, in Exodus 34, Moses performs a priestly function interceding for the people, the covenant is renewed, and God does dwell among his people.
For Christians, the Sinai covenant is replaced with the New Covenant put in place through Christ. Christians are a new Holy of Holies where God’s Spirit resides and provides us with continuous access to the Trinity. In other words, our hearts have been symbolically sprinkled clean, and as such, we are God’s temple where the Holy Spirit dwells.
Right now, Christian, through Christ, you are bound to God. God will pour his Holy Spirit into you. Amazing.
Romans 8:38-39 tells us that nothing can separate us from the love of God.
38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Now you have the Spirit, and the love of God from which nothing can separate you. You are in an excellent position. Amazing grace, this appears to make sense. Even when I was disobedient to the Godly parents that raised me, they still loved me. However, my disobedience did cause them grief.
Does our disobedience cause the Holy Spirit grief? Yes.
Ephesians 4:30-32
30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Yes, the Holy Spirit, who resides in you, can be grieved. So what does that mean? The Holy Spirit is an immaterial being with intelligence, knowledge, feeling, and the ability to love. Causing the Holy Spirit to feel sorrow means the Spirit may suspend operation. In more scholarly terms, if our behavior offends the Spirit who is Holy, the Spirit will withdraw his presence and influence from us for a time.
You can feel the Spirit’s presence.
I feel the Spirit within me most when I use the spiritual gifts given to me by God. Especially when I am using them to benefit God’s Kingdom and the people of God. In more concrete terms, when I am creating a new piece of art inspired by Scripture, or when I am studying Scripture in preparation for a class I might be teaching, I feel his presence. I am in a place of deep joy. New ideas and enlightenment pop into my head as fast as I can handle them. Often, two concepts that have never been combined before are brought together in my mind through the Holy Spirit’s work. These are the moments when I feel alive.
Typically, in these scenarios, the Spirit, who regularly points me at Christ, has enabled me to discover and articulate some new dimension of Christ that I had not previously understood.
Other times I feel a nudge from the Holy Spirit if I am flirting with sin. This situation happens most commonly when I am conversing with someone, and we begin to discuss another person. I try to be analytical, objective, and forgiving, but I can start to slip into thoughts of the individual’s shortcomings or past wrongs. The Spirit nudges me and lets me know I am moving towards unholy ground. I feel it, and I back out.
Still, other times I fail. My failures typically involve my pride or inability to put the best possible construction on another person’s behavior. The Spirit makes me aware of what I have done and often has me recall a passage of Scripture. I repent.
Read Scripture, pray, repent, stay in a community of faith, and the Holy Spirit will renew your mind so that you will conform to Christ rather than culture. In the next blog, we will look at some instances of when we might quench the Spirit and how to avoid going down the path of bitterness.