Staying in Rhythm, Part Four: Getting Ready for the Dance
All of my life, I have been fortunate to have active parents and grandparents in my life. Even now, I am nearly fifty years old and still have both parents and two grandparents in my life. They were and still are active in my life and the lives of my siblings. My parents and grandparents enjoyed having children and watching us grow up. Whatever my siblings and I were up to, our parents and grandparents were there, cheering us on and encouraging us. They also worked hard to give us great experiences, such as outings to the lake, where we would swim and boat. On rare occasions, we would make trips to an amusement park or museum, though these events were less regular due to my family’s financial hardships when I was a child.
Sometimes I would notice my grandfather watching us as we participated in an activity that he was incapable of doing due to his age and physical condition, such as inner-tubing or riding a roller coaster. Yet, he seemed content, even happy to be watching. As a child, I was puzzled at how he could enjoy watching us do something in which he could not take part. I remember asking him, saying, “Grandpa, doesn’t it make you sad only to be able to watch us having fun when you cannot be part of the fun?” To which he said, “I am having fun. You’ll understand someday when you have children and grandchildren.” He was right. Though age and physical disability prevent me from doing some activities with my children and grandson, I get tremendous joy from watching my children and grandson do them.
I also remember the joy my parents had in helping us participate in social activities. I enjoyed going to middle school dances, and my parents went out of their way to make it possible for me to go to them. Despite my family’s financial hardships, my parents would scrimp and save to make sure I had something nice to wear to each dance. Also, my father worked an irregular schedule. Still, my parents would make sure I had a way to get to the dance, even if it meant paying a neighbor to take me. The memory of going to dances is one of my favorite childhood memories. But, without the personal sacrifices my parents made, I would never have been able to go to them. Their hard work and encouragement made that possible. They did the groundwork.
Similarly, the Holy Spirit has been at work in our lives since way before our awareness. This work of the Holy Spirit is called prevenient grace. Prevenient grace is the groundwork God does on our behalf to prepare us for himself. It is the prevenient grace that makes it possible for us to have a relationship with God. Prevenient grace is how God seeks after us. God’s work of prevenient grace comes way before any desire, on our part, to seek after God.
So, when our spiritual journey begins, we do not necessarily feel up to acting in faith. For example, in Mark 9, we read about a desperate father who brings his ailing child to Jesus for healing. The man does not have great faith and stammers as he requests help for his son, saying, “If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”
Jesus answers the man. “‘If I can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for one who believes.” Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief.” – Mark 9:20-25.
Through prevenient grace, God gave this man enough faith and courage to get him to Jesus. And then, Jesus strengthens the man’s feeble faith so that he might be bold enough to receive Jesus’ healing mercy.
In John 6, we encounter a group that is hostile and resistant to Jesus and his message. Jesus says something to them that has been recorded for our benefit as we read this story. In verse 44, we read, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them.” In other words, God must work on the human heart to overcome our spiritual recalcitrance. Otherwise, our stubborn sinfulness will prevent us from coming to Jesus, as it prevented the people in this story.
Both of these stories are an example of God’s prevenient grace on display. I want to spend the rest of this chapter providing greater detail about how the Holy Spirit does his work of prevenient grace. To do this, I want to look at a passage from 1 Samuel 3:1-11. As we walk through this passage, we will look at five distinct ways in which God’s prevenient grace works in our lives. These are not sequential. And each of them is subtly different from the other. It would be best if you didn’t get hung up on the order or the specific differences. I just want you to get a sense of what we mean when we talk about God’s prevenient grace. #1Samuel3
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The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days, the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions. One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the house of the Lord, where the ark of God was. Then the Lord called Samuel.
Samuel answered, “Here I am.” And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down.
Again the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
“My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.”
Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord: The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. A third time the Lord called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”
Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
And the Lord said to Samuel: “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle.”
1 Samuel 3:1-11, NIV
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The first thing God’s prevenient grace does is to make the encounter with God possible. I think about my participation in middle-school dances. My family lived far out in the country, about 20 miles from the school. Without my parents providing transportation, I would never have been able to go to any of these dances. Also, at age 13, I had no disposable income of my own. I needed my parents to provide me with the means to participate. In the same way, God made it possible for Samuel to encounter the LORD.
Proverbs 16:9 says,
In their hearts, humans plan their course,
but the Lord establishes their steps.
Prevenient grace gets us to a place (literally or figuratively) where we can understand and respond to God. For Samuel, that place was the Tabernacle of the Lord. Samuel’s parents had dedicated their child to the work of the priesthood when he was very young. In this setting, Samuel and the people of Israel would receive a new word from the LORD.
I have so many conversations that have gone like this: “Pastor, I don’t know why I came to church this morning. I haven’t been inside a church in years.” I have also known many young men and women who have come to church because of someone they hoped to meet. But instead of finding a spouse or even their next date, they have found God.
Sometimes it is not a place but a condition that sets up an encounter with God. Hitting rock bottom sometimes causes people to look to God. Sometimes it is a new, exciting opportunity that causes a person to consider the bigger picture of life. Through prevenient grace, the Holy Spirit makes it possible for us to be open to God’s presence in a new way.
Through prevenient grace, the Holy Spirit opens the eyes and mind, that we may perceive the work of God happening all around us. Samuel did not live in a very spiritually sensitive time in history. The Bible says that “In those days, the word of God was rare.” It also says that “Samuel did not yet know the Lord.”
Like Samuel, most of us do not start this journey with a heightened sensitivity to God. Most of us begin blissfully ignorant of God and our need for him.
In Galatians 4:8, Paul says that before their conversion to Christ, the people in his congregation did not know God and were spiritual slaves to the powers of darkness. That is why, in another of Paul’s writings, he prays this prayer for the church:
I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength for us who believe. – Ephesians 1:16-19.
The Old Testament prophet, Ezekiel, says that our condition before the coming of the Holy Spirit is a state of being spiritually dead. In chapter 37, the prophet says that God’s people are like a valley of dry bones. Until new life comes, these people are not going to be able to respond to God. They cannot desire him. They cannot perceive him. They can do nothing until God restores them, raises them, and breathes life back into them.
In this state of spiritual death, there is nothing we can do to change our condition. Thus, Jesus says,
The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. – John 6:63
Paul makes this exact point as he talks about the Holy Spirit’s role in moving us from spiritual death to spiritual life. He says,
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. – Romans 8:1-2
Through their involvement in my life, my parents had instilled in me a sense of excitement for life. They encouraged me to jump in and experience life. Also, they made sure that music, dancing, and laughter were a part of my life from early childhood. So, when it was my time to dance, I was ready to get out on the dance floor. Through prevenient grace, God revives the soul to perceive and respond to God so that we may participate in the divine life (2 Peter 1:4).
Through the work of prevenient grace, the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin and shows us our need for more of God’s grace in our life. This part of Samuel’s story comes after our reading. One of Samuel’s primary roles would be calling the nation back to God. Under Eli’s sons’ leadership, the priesthood and the nation had wandered a long way from God and from following the ways of the Lord. You could say that the nation had lost its way. They had lost sight of God to such an extent that they no longer realized their need for making God the center of life. They were spiritually sick and did not know it. #conviction
God not only called Samuel to himself but showed Samual how far the people had drifted from the Lord. Only after Samuel saw this fact could he help himself and his people to begin following the Lord again. Sin not only distorts our lives; but also distorts our ability to recognize what is keeping us from being whole. The Holy Spirit shows us what is wrong and how it can be remedied.
Jesus said that this would be one of the primary works of the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus calls the “paraclete” and the Advocate. Jesus says:
“But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment.” – John 16:7-8
Helping people to recognize what they are doing wrong is delicate work. Though later in life I became a good dancer, I did not start that way. I can remember several people helping me learn to dance. They had to be careful not to make their corrections sound too harsh. Otherwise, my self-consciousness and the embarrassment that comes from looking stupid would have made the experience of dancing too awkward to continue.
That is why Paul instructed Timothy in his pastoral work with sinners, saying:
“Opponents must be gently instructed in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth.” – 2 Timothy 2:25
The purpose of dealing with our sin is so that the Holy Spirit can remove all the obstacles that keep us from coming to him. When that is taken care of, the next work of prevenient grace is the Holy Spirit drawing us to himself.
When the Lord first spoke to him, Samuel did not know what was happening or how to respond. Thankfully, a part of the work of prevenient grace is that God often puts someone in our lives to help us recognize and respond to God’s call. For Samuel, that is his mentor, the elderly priest, Eli. Though Eli had failed in his role as a national leader, he still had enough wisdom to guide his young protégé. Eli was there to guide Samuel and to facilitate God’s call on Samuel’s life.
Notice that in Acts chapter two, when the Holy Spirit falls upon the church, the first thing Jesus’ followers do is begin announcing the good news of the kingdom and inviting people to surrender their lives to Jesus. We all need encouragement to hear and respond to God’s call.
In middle school, I had plenty of friends who facilitated getting me to the dance floor. As the weekends approached, the phone would begin ringing. Friends were calling to invite me to come dancing. #conversion
Finally, through the work of prevenient grace, the Holy Spirit creates in us a desire for God. Jesus said:
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.” – Matthew 5:6
Psalm 63 says:
“You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.”
There is no point in offering food to someone who is not hungry. Nor is there much point in offering a drink to one who is not thirsty. Even if one does feel both hunger and thirst, one cannot seek food and drink if one does not know where to find it. Before the call of God, Samuel did not know that something was missing. Amazingly, he was living a life of religious service without an awareness of God. Sadly, many people do the same today. Religion devoid of God’s presence feels normal to many people.
Samuel did not know that anything was missing. And, at the time in which he was growing up, he would not have known how to meet his need for God, even if he had felt it. The people of his day no longer craved God. They needed someone to stir their spiritual appetites.
In the book of Revelation, we read these words of Jesus:
“It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty, I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life.” – Revelation 21:6
We then hear the Holy Spirit say:
“Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.”
The Holy Spirit offers quenching water for all who thirst for God.
As I say one more word about my experiences of participating in my middle school dances, I have to say something about my mother and grandfather. Both are fun-loving and have a zeal for life. They instilled both qualities into me from an early age. Because of them, I was eager to dance and to join in all of the fun life sent my way.