TO CHEW ON: "You send forth Your Spirit, they are created;
And You renew the face of the earth." Psalm 104:30
"In the realm of nature it is the role of the Holy Spirit to give life to all animate creatures, whether on the ground or in the sky and sea," says Wayne Grudem in his chapter "The Work of the Holy Spirit," Systematic Theology, p. 636.
I haven't seen much mention of the Holy Spirit as creator. But if we look at the creation story, there He is: "The earth was without form and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters" - Genesis 1:2.
And so we can take all of this psalm of creation (Psalm 104) as a praise song to God the Holy Spirit whose role it was to fulfill the Word of creation (John 1:1-3).
The Spirit sustains life too: "You take away their breath; they die and return to their dust" - Psalm 104:29.
Of course we can't see the Holy Spirit in His role of giving physical life without remembering that He is also the One who gives Spiritual life. Grudem again:
"Parallel with this (the Holy Spirit giving physical life) is the role of the Holy Spirit to give us new life in regeneration. Jesus told Nicodemus, 'That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born anew' John 3:6-7" p. 636.
In this same line of work, it is the Holy Spirit who:
- Conceived Jesus in Mary's womb (Matthew 1:18,20; Luke 1:35).
- Raised Jesus from the dead (Romans 8:11).
- Will give us life at the resurrection (Romans 8:11).
What dynamic, creative power we have in the Holy Spirit, who lives within us: "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" - 1 Corinthians 3:16.
PRAYER: Dear God the Holy Spirit, thank You for giving and sustaining physical and spiritual life. May I be very careful not to resist, grieve, or quench Your life in me. Amen.
MORE: The life of the Spirit in us.
We can offend the Holy Spirit and effectively staunch His blessing in our lives. We do this when we:
- Resist Him - Acts 7:51.
- Grieve Him - Ephesians 4:30.
- Quench Him - 1 Thessalonians 5:19.
- Sin against Him - Acts 5:3,9.
- Blaspheme Him - Matthew 12:31-32. (Sometimes called the unpardonable sin. " '...blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven...' " Jesus made this pronouncement about the Pharisees who attributed the powerful work of the Holy Spirit to Satan - Matthew 12:24.)
Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
