We use a fly swatter to eliminate flies not a sledge hammer. And, a soft slipper will take care of most spiders. And have you ever noticed that a softly spoken "hi" may be more effective than a boisterous "HELLO, HEY YOU'RE LOOKING TERRIFIC, GREAT SEEING YOU AGAIN, BLAH BLAH BLAH." Just a casual "hi" can be warm, effective and, with eye contact, convey love and sincerity. Sincere zeal certainly has its place, but, like a necessary fire, needs feeding but also close watching. There does exist such a thing as misplaced zeal or hypocritical enthusiasm. One can climb the ladder of success with gusto only to find it placed against the wrong house.
This an era of empty enthusiasm. (Yes, some of those TV ads are extremely 'nuts' and at the end we don't know what was even being advertised.) And, is it not a time of over-hyping? (Yes, those half-time shows are ridiculously wild.) AND this is the era of humongous flags the size of an entire football field! (Yes, thank you, an average size will do and can effectively stir up patriotism. It's what's in the heart that matters. It's not the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog.)
Sadly, (to bring all this into the realm of the Church), God's people can make the mistake of simulating the world by making mere noise, commotion, loudness and forced enthusiasm a supposed genuine work of the Holy Spirit. We must remember that HE, the God we worship, may at times just prefer a quiet place of prayer, a lowly humility of a soul, or a stillness of a reverent spirit.
God tells us: "Be still and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10). He taught this lesson to Elijah in a unique fashion. "Then He (God) said, 'Go out and stand on the mountain in the Lord’s presence.' At that moment, the Lord passed by. A great and mighty wind was tearing at the mountains and was shattering cliffs before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was a voice, a still small voice" (1 Kings 19:11,12), or, a delicate whispering voice. And then it was that "suddenly a voice came to" Elijah, and it was God!
It is an all too prevalent form of worldliness when God's people crave noise, commotion, hip-hip-hooray stuff, strobe lights, a louder-than-necessary sound level and more and more activity ("running to and fro") in the place of a stillness that quietly waits upon God. One teacher wisely said, "Misplaced zeal is zeal for God rather than the zeal of God." John Trapp remarked, "Zeal without knowledge is like wild fire in fool's hand."
We are to rejoice exceedingly before our great God, but still with a holy trembling.
Yes, eliminate the threatening spider but not at the expense of ruining the stately structure wherein he is found. And, let us live life with zest and rejoicing while remembering at the same time that the fruit of the Spirit, among other things, is PEACE (Galatians 5:22,23). The fullness of the Spirit can prove to be one of God's remedies to much of the extreme and debilitating stress (and noise) that hurtfully characterizes so much of today's Western culture. God's way may even address in part the opioid crisis ravaging our land.
At the end of my hymnal is a responsive reading section and one of the entries is entitled PERFECT PEACE. Under the heading are the verses John 14:27; Isaiah 26:3; Psalm 91:1,2; Romans 15:13. Then,
WORSHIP LEADER
Peace I leave you; My peace I give you.
I do not give to you as the world gives.
Do not let your hearts be troubled, and
do not be afraid.
EVERYONE
You will keep in perfect peace him whose
mind is steadfast, because he trust in you.
WORSHIP LEADER
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most
High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, "He is my
refuge and my fortress, my God, in Whom I trust." May the God of hope fill you with joy
and peace as you trust in Him.
- dick christen
