Be Sensitive!

Have you ever heard a song or advertising jingle in the morning and then have it play in your head all day long?   I think we probably all have right?  The first thing I do each morning when I walk into the front room of the house is to open the drapes in the dining room, push up the blinds in the living room and then turn on the home entertainment system to play my personal mix on Pandora.

My kids always joke about the eclectic selection of music types that I play whenever they visit.  What can I say, over the years I’ve come to enjoy a wide mix of music types and styles!  My Pandora shuffle includes Southern Gospel, 1970’s contemporary Christian classics, modern Praise and Worship bands, Christian Bluegrass and Gospel Choirs, to name just a few.  So, you can see how easy it is for me to catch a new song in my ear each day and then unconsciously sing it for hours.

On Sunday morning I was listening to the Sirius Satellite Radio’s Southern Gospel station enLighten and their regular Sunday morning program of older hymns, while studying the Word and enjoying a hot cup of coffee.  All of a sudden, my focus on what I was reading was broken when I heard one of Piper’s and my old favorites coming from the speakers in the ceiling near the dining room.  At that moment my heart skipped a beat and I sat back in my chair full of memories of a very special service back in 1975 when the congregation gathered on that Saturday afternoon in July sang:

“There’s a sweet, sweet Spirit in this place,

And I know that it’s the Spirit of the Lord;

There are sweet expressions on each face,

And I know they feel the presence of the Lord.

CHORUS:

Sweet Holy Spirit, Sweet heavenly Dove,

Stay right here with us, Filling us with your love,

And for theses blessings we lift our hearts in praise;

Without a doubt we’ll know that we have been revived,

When we shall leave this place.” *

That was Piper’s favorite hymn before we got married and there was no question when asked what the congregational hymn would be during our wedding service.  It was not just a beautiful and meaningful hymn to her… but it was everything that was her!  Like I’ve said on many occasions, she had a sensitivity to the voice of the Holy Spirit like none other that I’ve ever known.  It’s also that song that got stuck in the ear of our hearts from day one of our marriage… literally!

The Psalmist wrote in Psalm 119:130 that “The unfolding of Thy words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple.” (NASB)  The word “unfolding” in the original Hebrew describes “an opening, entrance or a doorway,” while that word “understanding” means “to separate mentally, to discern, perceive or to be discreet”

When I read a verse like this one it stirs me up with expectation and excitement because it’s talking about the abilities that the Word can have in yours and my daily existence.  But there is an important caveat that goes along with verses like this one.  The entrance or doorway that it talks about, along with the accompanying understanding of what is being said in the Word, cannot be perceived without the help of the teacher, the Holy Spirit in us.  And the Holy Spirit can’t come to live in someone until their spirit is born again in the Christian conversion experience. (See Romans 10:9)

Once saved, the real work begins as we need to develop our sensitivity to the Holy Spirit’s voice and leadings.  This development process is a lifetime learning experience.  Our sensitivity to Him grows daily as we spend time with Him in His Word, in prayer, in being quiet and listening for Him as well as by walking in faith.  I truly believe, as I know Piper did as well, that that the most important thing for a strong Christian is to develop and stay increasingly sensitive to the voice and the leadings of the Holy Spirit. 

Some of the toughest situations that I had to work through with Piper’s illness was with other people’s insensitivity to our needs and situation.  To be “discreet” as the Hebrew meaning to the word “understanding” stated in our verse above, means to be “careful and circumspect in one’s speech or actions, especially in order to avoid causing offense or to gain an advantage.” (Oxford Online Dictionaries)  What made it tough was that while I wasn't too surprised by those who didn't really know us, I was shook by those who I thought did and should have... but their words and actions proved otherwise.

To me, that’s where being sensitive to the Holy Spirit is a necessity in our daily Christian walk.  Piper almost always had the sensitivity to quickly ascertain the Spirit’s leading in a situation and then respond with the right encouraging and healing words and their gentle and appropriate actions.  But like I said above, that is just what was in her that she continued to develop throughout her lifetime!  It goes back to my toothpaste tube analogy of what comes out of us when we get squeezed by the situations of life!

I got a little frustrated when I tried to squeeze some paste out of an empty tube of toothpaste yesterday morning, but was quickly put at ease when I remembered that I had a full tube in the drawer under the bathroom counter… then I burst out laughing and proceeded to spray toothpaste all over the mirror in the middle of the laugh, when I remembered the time a few months before Piper passed, when in my exhaustion, I squeezed hair conditioner from a similar sized tube onto my tooth brush and brushed my teeth with it… YUCK!

It’s in those delicate, stressful and sensitive times of need, that we definitely want the right stuff to come out of us… wouldn’t you agree? And that stuff isn’t going to be right until you’ve developed and continue to grow in your sensitivity to the voice of the Holy Spirit in you.

Have a terrific week, and as you do say with me… “I am expecting to grow in my sensitivity to the Holy Spirit in me today!”

*"There's a Sweet, Sweet Spirit"  Doris Akers, 1965  (there are two more verses to the hymn as well)