In our series looking at questions God asks us, today we focussed on the questions He asked Job in Job 38-42. We see from the book of Job many questions (from Job and his friends and from God to Job), but we also see that questions don’t automatically lead to neatly packaged answers. God seems to bombard Job with questions in these last chapters, asking over 70 questions related to creation and the natural world which might seem more at home in a David Attenborough documentary series than in the Bible! These questions ultimately demand answers that are beyond human understanding and ability. They mark God out as being sovereign over all, the Maker of heaven and earth, present at creation, sustaining all things by His powerful word. (Heb 1:3) They reveal to Job his inadequacy and mortality, his humanity in all its frailty, and remind Him of the transcendence and omnipotence of God.

The questions posed in Job 40:8-9 show us how, in their questions, Job and his friends have discredited God’s justice and condemned Him in order to justify themselves. We so rarely see the bigger picture and understand our suffering in the context of eternity. God’s questions pierce our souls (see Heb 4:12). They result in Job’s repentance and true understanding of God’s greatness (Job 42:1-6), for God’s words are like living javelins, piercing us but also bringing unexpected healing. Paul reminds us that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us (Rom 8:18) and that we must fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Cor 4:18) Job is given a glimpse into the eternal plans of God and into His authority through the questions God asks Him. This leads to greater blessing than Job has previously known (Job 42:10, 16-17). We must never be afraid of God’s questions, even though they can be painful to bear!

The first Sunday after Pentecost is known in the Christian calendar as ‘Trinity Sunday’, when we celebrate one God in three persons, Father, Son and Spirit. Often, the Holy Spirit is the neglected person of the Trinity; it seems that in church history, the first battles were around proving the divinity of Jesus Christ and in that debate, the Holy Spirit was forgotten. Nonetheless, in modern days, there has been a reawakening of interest in the Holy Spirit as He has worked in power throughout the whole world.

The Holy Spirit is personal, not merely a ‘force’. Just as the Father and Son are holy, He too is holy. His work is to bring people to holiness, to draw people to the Father through the Son. We use different symbols to represent Him (dove, tongues of fire, streams of living water etc.), but these are only symbols, not the full picture. Trinity Sunday reminds us of the need for Father, Son and Spirit (see Matt 28:19, 2 Cor 13:14). We can know fellowship through the Holy Spirit; we must never relegate His importance, nor must we grieve Him. (Eph 4:30) He has a mind and will and can be praised and grieved, but must never be ignored.

I often think of the prophets as hugely courageous men, people who spoke God’s word fearlessly and boldly. They have an other- worldly quality to them, a level of sanctity which appears beyond mere mortals like myself.

But the Bible is scrupulous in showing people as they really are (James 5:17) All the heroes of the faith had feet of clay, in effect. They were all human and knew fear and doubt. Elijah panicked when faced with the threat of death from Jezebel, to the extent that he asked God to let him die. (1 Kings 19) Even Samuel was wary when told by God to go and anoint a king to succeed Saul: ‘How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.’ (1 Sam 16:2) Jeremiah knew fear and insecurity; Jonah even ran away from God!

What ultimately distinguishes the prophets is not an absence of fear, but a refusal to be cowed by it. “Samuel did what the Lord said.” (1 Sam 16:4) In this one verse, we see the secret of his success. He who had spoken of the need for obedience above sacrifice (1 Sam 15:22) practised what he preached. Courage is not the absence offear, but a refusal to let fear dictate our actions.

Paul came to the Corinthians ‘in fear and trembling’ (1 Cor 2:3). Many of us feel fearful, that we lack courage. David said, “When I am afraid, I will trust in You.” (Ps 56:3) Doing what God says, even with fear and trembling, is the key to spiritual success.

Stephen spoke tonight from 1 Tim 2:1-6, which might seem a strange reading for Pentecost, but shows the actions and effects of Pentecost on believers. The Holy Spirit is one of God’s greatest gifts to us. Gifts are freely given and are ‘something for nothing‘, so to speak. Pentecost happened because of Christ and what He did; after He ascended to heaven, we received the gift that keeps on giving. God wants us to receive His Holy Spirit with open arms.

One of the most amazing things about the description of Pentecost in Acts 2 is how the believers spoke in other languages and the impact this had on the crowd in Jerusalem. Effectively, this led to a new sphere of communication, and Paul urges us all to walk with a correct attitude and foster our relationship with our Father God, because our communication with God now covers everyone and every situation. Everybody is included and it pleases God when our prayer life is for everybody. Communication is a key and active part of our lives and Jesus acts as the facilitator of this new union between God and mankind. God wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth, but He entrusts His message of good news to us to pass on.

Our ‘circumference’ is increased as now we are Christ’s ambassadors to everyone – family, friends, neighbours, work colleagues, those in authority, and even kings! Like those early disciples, we may not understand the significance of what we say to others, but God can work through us by His mighty power. The trend today is for us to be ‘carbon neutral’ to save the environment, with zero-emission, ‘greener’ cars being manufactured, but just as the problem with this form of energy is currently connected to how long a battery can last, our lives can often seem limited by our own energy. When we are dependent on the Holy Spirit, however, we are connected to a source of power that never runs out! As we learn to rely on Him more, He can help us to keep on going (better than the Duracell batteries!) and to become so much more than we can be on our own.

History teaches us that there have been many occasions when God has come in power upon His people as He did on that first Day of Pentecost. We generally call these occasions revivals: God bringing to life the dry bones of His church as He showed Ezekiel in that prophetic vision during Israel’s exile. (Ezek 37) A revival is a sovereign work of God, leading to an increased interest in spiritual matters, spilling over into the local community and having an effect that goes far beyond that local community. We cannot control revivals, any more than the disciples could control the arrival or movement of the Holy Spirit. But we can put ourselves, as they did, in a good place to receive God’s outpouring by gathering together in prayer. Every revival that has ever happened seems to have happened where people have been praying. Maybe not many people! The revival which swept through the Hebrides between 1949 and 1952 largely started in a small cottage by the roadside in the village of Barvas, where two women, Peggy and Christine Smith, lived. They were 84 and 82 years old. Peggy was blind and Christine was almost bent double with arthritis. They were unable to attend public worship because of their age and infirmities, but they held on to the promise of God: ‘I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground.’ (Is 44:3) They prayed faithfully for many months and God revealed to them that the church would be crowded again with young people. Peggy asked her minister to call his elders and deacons together for special times of waiting upon God and together, people prayed. One night, as they waited, a young deacon rose and read part of Ps 24: ‘Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart.’ (Ps 24:3-4) Turning to the others he said: “Brethren, it seems to me just so much humbug to be waiting and praying as we are, if we ourselves are not rightly related to God.” Then lifting his hands toward heaven, he cried: “Oh God, are my hands clean? Is my heart pure?” He got no further, but fell prostrate to the floor. God had begun to work in awesome power. It was the start of a revival as God poured His Spirit out on the church and many people were also saved.

We desperately need God to move in these sovereign ways today, but we have to admit that we are often scared to experience these things because this means renouncing our need for control and letting God alone be in control. Most of us are not afraid of being in water if our feet touch the ground: ankle-deep, knee-deep, waist-deep is fine, because we still retain a modicum of control. Last year in Whitby, my younger granddaughter, paddling in the sea, was floored by a (very small!) wave and ended up flat on her back! She didn’t like the experience one bit, and that to me was a parable of how the deep-flowing waters of Ezekiel 47 are often resisted by us. Yet when we learn to swim, we can let go of fear and enjoy the experience even of swimming in the sea. We should not be afraid of God’s Spirit; God will never give anything to us which will harm us, but His Spirit is given to be our helper, comforter, guide and advocate, for He is a Father who loves to give good gifts. (Luke 11:11-13)

Today is the Day of Pentecost, and so this morning we looked again at the need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. (Eph 5:18) We read about the outpouring of the Spirit in Acts 2:1-21, where wind and fire are both used as symbols of the Holy Spirit, but the idea of an outpouring goes back to Joel 2:28, and the Holy Spirit is often likened to water (see John 7:38, Ezekiel 47).

Both wind and floods can frighten us, reminding us of our lack of control against the elements, but whilst we should rightly fear God (Prov 9:10), we should never be afraid of His gifts to us, which include the Holy Spirit (Luke 11:11-13). God gives us His Spirit to empower us and equip us to be His witnesses (Acts 1:8); His Spirit is the means by which we live for God. (Gal 5:22-23)

We cannot determine when God will move in power by His Spirit, but it seems from a history of revivals that prayer is a prerequisite to God moving forcefully in this way. Is 59:19 reminds us God moves at times ‘like a pent-up flood’. Prayer is a spiritual weapon which can break spiritual strongholds (2 Cor 10:3-5). We must seek God for His Spirit, for only He can break through all that stands against Him. The Pentecost outpouring changed the disciples beyond recognition. Prior to this, even after the resurrection, they believed but still doubted; they were still not really doing anything much. After Pentecost, they were bold, confident, prepared to suffer persecution and willing even to die for the Lord. They preached the gospel wherever they went; they saw God move in miraculous power, in healings, in deliverances, in ways they could have only dreamed about beforehand. This can be our experience too if we thirst for God, seek His face and turn from sin. (2 Chron 7:14)