Teach Me, Holy Spirit

Teach me to feel that Thou art always nigh;
 Teach me the struggles of the soul to bear,
To check the rising doubt, the rebel sigh;
 Teach me the patience of unanswered prayer.

Spirit of God, Descend Upon My Heart
By: George Croly, 1780-1860

Listen as you read.  This is a lovely piano solo version.

On Tuesday we considered the first two lines of this stanza, which contained two different things we desire for the Holy Spirit to teach us.  In these last two lines we will consider three more lessons we seek to learn from our Teacher, each expressions of different soul struggles with their own unique challenges.  Let’s think about this.

Rising Doubt

Like storm clouds gathering on the horizon, so are the doubts that occasionally cloud our minds.  The difference is that the first can only be checked by God, and the latter can only be checked by us, with check here meaning to stop or slow the advance of something.

Doubts seem as real and as daunting as an actual storm front, but in comparison they are practically illusory.  Oh do not misunderstand me to say they are not significant threats to our journey of faith, but I would merely contend they do not have to be.  Consider what is required to slow the rise of doubt in your mind.  Trust.

Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. Hebrews 3:12 ESV

Doubt and unbelief are so similar they can be mistaken for one another.  One might say doubt could lead to unbelief if left unchecked.  Doubt is a lack of conviction, whereas unbelief is the absence of it altogether.  Belief requires trust. Trust checks doubt and rebellion at the door, for you can exercise faith to submit to one you trust.  It really is a decision.

Rebel Sigh

Left unchecked doubt can lead to rebellion, or a falling away from one in whom you formerly decided to place your trust.  It can rise slowly like doubt as well, creeping up on you while you are unaware until you find yourself not so much in a place of radical  rebellion, but despondent dissent.  Lost in an encroaching darkness.

In this way it is kind of like the darkness of night slowly settling on you.  You do not realize the departure of the light and the arrival of the dark until it is consuming you.  Then you find yourself all alone unmoored by any sense of direction, of right or left, or right from wrong.  This lack of ability to perceive direction leaves you complacent until all that is left is a sigh of resignation.  What started at as careless departure from all that is right and good ends up causing you to fall away from the living God.

It is especially in those moments when we need the last of our lessons to have taken root.

Unanswered Prayer

On first glance this last line seems like a prayer for the patience required to wait until God answers prayer.  That certainly may be a part of the request, but I think there is a very possible alternate or additional interpretation.  I think it may be a request for the same patience God exhibits between our prayer and His eventual answer.

I believe God hears and answers every prayer, just not how and certainly not when we would like.  Where might we might draw such belief?  From words like these.

And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. 1 John 5:14 ESV

This kind of confidence gives us the patience to wait for the answer when we may be inclined to doubt if our prayer was even heard.  It also gives us the ability to refrain from the audible expression of resistance, and even the feeling that prompts it.  Finally, it gives us the opportunity to carefully examine our motives in the event we are asking something outside of God’s will, which may be the very reason the prayer remains unanswered, God is giving us the time to understand and adjust to the reality that the answer will actually be “no.”  After all, “no” is an answer.

Take some time to pray the prayer below and if you are a Subscriber or Free Member walk through the podcast which will guide you through such a journey in just about 5 minutes, as each one does.

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