THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

Judges 6:34 “The Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon.”

If this congregation is not the fellowship of the Holy Spirit it is a mere social gathering like thousands of others which meet together sharing a mutual interest in such matters as painting, gardening, steam engines, séances, singing or recovering from alcohol. Without the Spirit indwelling, motivating, structuring, strengthening and directing we are at best deluded men and women and at worst a bunch of liars. The Spirit of God must be at the heart of the throbbing life of our assembly or we are denying what we claim to be.

It seems to me that one great challenge for any congregation is to insist that the Spirit in its midst is truly the Old Testament Spirit of the Lord God of Israel, not the spirit of happy times and crowd dynamics but the Spirit who breathed in creation and sustains all life on earth. “He is the Spirit who empowered the mighty acts of those who served God over many generations. He is the Spirit who spoke through the prophets, inspiring their commitment to speak the truth and stand for justice. He is the Spirit who anointed the kings, and ultimately anointed Christ the Saviour-King. He is the Spirit whose coming in power was anticipated in words of almost unimaginable cosmic transformation. And he is the Spirit through whom the whole creation will finally be renewed in, through, and for Christ” (Christopher J.H. Wright, Knowing the Holy Spirit through the Old Testament, Monarch Books, 2006, p.10). “I am that Spirit,” the third person of the Godhead declares. “That is how I must be known.” He will allow no breach between himself in the New Testament and the identical Spirit that we meet in the Old Testament Scriptures. Do we as a congregation meet in the fellowship of this Spirit? Are you as individual Christians increasingly affected by this Spirit in his mighty, biblical fulness? There is no other Spirit who can give life and holiness except him. Without him in our midst we will achieve nothing and we are deluding ourselves with a lot of fake substitutes.

Some ignorant Christians think that the Holy Spirit was unknown in the Old Testament, that he was a stranger to the believers of that dispensation. The truth is that the Spirit of God is seen more readily in those Scriptures than the second person of the Godhead. The Spirit is referred to by name far more frequently than the Son of God. There are about 75 references to the Spirit of God in the Old Testament. How far do you have to read the Bible before you come across a reference to the Spirit of God? Two verses. You begin with the majestic opening words of the Bible and you read, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters” (Gen. 1:1&2). The Holy Spirit makes his appearance in the second verse of the Bible.

1. THE SPIRIT OF GOD WAS THERE AT THE CREATION OF OUR WORLD.

The opening verses of the Bible are the most widely read words of all literature. Perhaps they were the first sentences ever written down. They give elementary understanding as to what the Christian religion is. For example, they refute atheism that claims there is no God because they say, “In the beginning God.” They refute pantheism that claims that simply everything is God, because they say that God existed before the universe. Those words refute polytheism that claims that there are many gods because we are told one God alone created everything. Those words also refute the big bang because we are told that it was the living God who created it all. There is this Creator God, and yet alongside him there is the Spirit of God. There is God, and there is the Holy Spirit, and there is one God, and yet very soon we shall hear the Lord speaking and saying, “Let us make man in our image,” (v.26).

At the beginning we are told there was this situation of chaos and darkness. God looked out upon a bleak empty wasteland, a trackless waste, an enormous void. It was like being in the midst of the Irish Sea 35 miles from both nations, half way between Wales and Ireland, on a pitch black night, without the light of a single star, lying on a raft without a compass, tossed about every way. The initial step of creation resulted in a totally bleak scenario. It was not at all like our cosmos today; it was utter chaos, but there, over it all, was the Spirit of God. Some scholars have argued that the words ‘Spirit of God’ [ruach elohim] should be translated as a ‘mighty wind’ but there are two unanswerable arguments that constrain us to reject that possible translation. Firstly, that everywhere else that the word elohim appears in this chapter it is translated ‘God’ never ‘mighty.’ Secondly, a wind does not ‘hover’ especially a mighty wind. It blows and howls. Pannenburg, the German professor, considers the translation, ‘mighty wind’ to be ‘grotesque.’ To help us understand this word ‘hover’ we find one of its few uses in the book of Deuteronomy, where it describes an eagle rising up a little above its nest, its wings spread, gliding, hanging suspended over its young in an air current.

So here is the first step of creation and initially everything is black chaos, an utter wasteland and void. Yet there hovering over it was the Spirit, not high above it, far away in some remote heaven. The Spirit of God was there, like a hovercraft, moving above the face of this primordial abyss. He was as involved as an eagle is involved in what is happening in its own nest, protecting and keeping its young, poised, alert, watchful, serving its fledglings. Can we even say ‘loving’? It is not that over the beauties of paradise in the Garden before the fall of man the Spirit of God was there. There would be no surprise in that. He was there, of course. It is not that over the manicured fields of such a fair county as Kent - the ‘Garden of England,’ or over the beautiful landscaped farms of Cornwall, or in the magnificent arboreta of Kew Gardens in London that the Spirit of God is exercising his sustaining presence in those places. Yes, he is present where every prospect pleases in the Swiss Alps and American Rockies, but at the beginning, when there was nothing remotely beautiful in the creation, no order, simply a black discordant abyss that would strike any spectator with terror, the Spirit of God was there, involved, unafraid, close and concerned. Let me turn that in two ways.

i] The buzz word first is ‘ecology.’ What would be the environment you most fear? What would be the circumstances that would fill you with most dread? Being in the midst of an Arctic winter with no light or warmth for days? Or stuck in the midst of the Sahara with no relief from the baking heat? Would you think such an environment to be God-forsaken? Or would you dread being trapped by a methane gas explosion and a rock fall in a narrow gap in a coal mine in total blackness half a mile underground unable to move? Or being at the heart of the Chernobyl radiation . . . or living in a labour camp in China, or in the Russian Gulag? The world has been told recently of an Austrian who kept his daughter locked up in a cellar for fifteen years without any natural light, the object of his abuse. Poor, poor girl. That would be like being buried alive. We all have our private nightmares, and yet here in the Bible we are told that in the darkest place that this universe has ever known the Spirit of God was there, caring, involved and protective.

Don’t you think that any Christian view of ecology would have to start here in Genesis one? The earth created, and not worshipped, and the Spirit of God present in the bleakest places. Doesn’t it tell men not to despair of the dustbowls or the spreading deserts or the drought-stricken, dried up inland seas? What can I do, practically speaking, as a man who cares about God’s creation? Certainly I will not go for help to Brazilian tree spirits, or believe the hokum men tell us of the primitive Celts. We must all do what we can, for example, if the tenants of the house you’ve bought left the garden like a chemical waste-site then do what you can. Don’t give in. I enjoyed learning of my friend, the late John Marshall of Hemel Hempstead. He was a minister who preached every Saturday afternoon in the market in that town, and yet we read, “He supported the Woodland Trust and loved to try and plant trees wherever he could. His friends driving with him would sometimes be surprised to see him throwing flower seeds out of the car window onto grass verges and sometimes he actually planted bulbs in empty spaces. His son, Jeremy believes, ‘There is a bridge on the road to Cambridge which now has masses of daffodils which Dad planted’” (John E. Marshall, Life and Writings, Banner of Truth, 2005, pp. 31&32). Can you see that there is a line linking both of John’s activities, declaring the word of God, and also planting trees and plants, going right back to the opening words of Genesis? The speaking God and the hovering Spirit.

ii] Then to move to another buzz word, ‘theology.’ In creation and above creation, we are told there was the Spirit of God, and there was nothing else and nobody else at all! It was the sun that was worshipped in Egypt and also in Babylon as the top god. The heavenly bodies were big, important deities controlling human destinies. That’s still how they’re considered by millions of people in the world today. Every morning people will turn in the newspapers to read the horoscopes of their star-signs. In many an open plan office the secretaries read out to one another the messages the stars are giving them for that day and they laugh and joke, and think it foolish, but the next day they do the same. Heavenly bodies are still thought to be controlling our daily destinies, but the first chapter of the Bible lists the stars almost as a divine afterthought; “He also made the stars” (Gen. 1:16). The God of the Bible is in control of the world. There is no reason for any Christian being influenced by astrology.

Again another god in Canaanite mythology was the sea and its depths. It was considered to be a powerful god called Yamm, but here in Genesis the sea is the creation of God and the Spirit of God is hovering over it, and there is nothing else. Also the Canaanites had a god for the earth, and that was Baal the son of El who provided fertility for the soil. But the opening chapter of the Bible declares the living God made it all. The sun, moon, stars, ocean depths and the earth itself are all the effect of God commanding these things to be made; they are the handiwork of the Creator God. It was by the Holy Spirit that Jehovah spoke the universe into existence and brought about the light, order and the fulness which surrounds us. The Spirit of God is the Lord and giver of life, and when, “through the woods and forest glades we wander and hear the birds sing softly in the trees” then it is to the Spirit of God our souls sing, “My God, how great Thou art.” In other words, if we long for deeper experiences of God’s Spirit then one way which they’ll come to us will be through a deeper understanding of the God of the Old Testament and the whole of his creation, and taking that very seriously. What Christian farmer has not had a time when he’s had to stop driving his tractor and pause for some moments at the glory of the creation he’s seeing all around him and simply worship the Lord? The prophet Isaiah heard the seraphim crying out to one another, “The whole earth is full of his glory” (Isa. 6:3). In other words, we have to defy the dogmatic naturalism that is all around us, the view promoted by the media and state education that teaches that the material realm is all there is. What growing hatred there is for the Christian conviction that behind the physical world there is a divine mind, the mind of Father, Son and Spirit. This world is not just a self-sustaining bio-system. Nature is not simply ‘just there.’ God is actively involved sustaining everything by his Spirit. The fulness of his glory is clearly seen in the things God has made. We cry with the psalmist, “May the glory of the Lord endure for ever; may the Lord rejoice in his works” (Psalm 104:31). So the Spirit is active in the world around us.

2. THE SPIRIT OF GOD WAS THERE AT THE CREATION OF MAN.

The uniqueness of what you are as a human being is expressed in the Genesis narrative in three ways, firstly, in your being made in God’s image and likeness: “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Gen. 1:26&27). The special nature of man is also found in the mandate man is given to subdue the earth and rule it, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground” (Gen. 1:28).  That mandate is uniquely man’s. Thirdly man’s uniqueness is also found in the nature of man’s creation; “the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” (Gen. 2:7). With no other creature is God so intimate, virtually embracing man, his breath entering the nostrils of man.

So every person is made by God and for God. We catechize the little children; “Who made me? God made me. What else did God make? God make all things. Why did God make all things? For his own glory.” You belong to God by right of creation; his Spirit is at work in you all, in your conscience and in creating in you a sense of God. Job acknowledges, “The Spirit of God has made me: the breath of the Almighty has given me life” (Job 33:4). He says again, “It is the spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding” (Job 32:8). Again Job says, “As long as I have life within me, the breath of God in my nostrils, my lips will not speak wickedness . . .” (Job 27:3&4). That mighty book of Job basically comes out of the fact that the man Job and his four companions all had the Spirit of God. Through his influence they could weigh up the sufferings of Job and measure his life and ask why. All great literature depends upon that fact that all men are influenced by the Spirit of God, though non-savingly. That’s why no animals can ever produce works of art.

Yet there is no avoidance of the horror story of Genesis 3 and the fall of man. We who were made in the image of God, to whom God had come so near and breathed into our nostrils the breath of life so that we knew and loved God, we men rebelled; we who were made by the Spirit of God defied God; we did things our own way; we rejected the kind words of the one who had given us the kiss of life, and so we came under the sentence of death. A new relationship between man and the Spirit of God began in which the Spirit of God was contending with man, restraining his sin, striving to convict him of his need of the grace of God. But man is warned that the Lord will not always be graciously restraining man. God speaks, “My Spirit will not contend with man for ever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years” (Gen. 6:3). How long are you going to live? How long? You do not know. I will tell you that it will be as long as God’s Spirit gives you life. All human life is energized by the Spirit of God. We live and move and have our being in God.  Only while the Spirit remains striving with us will we live. When you have filled up your iniquities you too will die, and when God withdraws his Spirit we are mere dust. The writer of Ecclesiastes says, “the dust returns to the ground it came from and the spirit returns to God who gave it” (Eccles. 12:7). So here is the Spirit in creation, and the Spirit working in all men and women.

3. THE SPIRIT OF GOD WAS THERE GIFTING OLD TESTAMENT PEOPLE.

Very often in the Old Testament you will read about the Spirit of God coming upon someone. As a result of that they receive a God-given ability, a charisma, a competence, a strength to do certain things for God or his people. A fascinating example of this is the first instance in the Bible where you read of people described as being ‘filled with the Spirit of God.’ The two men to whom this happened were named Bezalel and Oholiab. So what happened when they were filled with the Spirit? Did they prophesy? No. Did they speak in tongues? No. You will hardly believe what I am going to read to you but if we want to know the fulness of the Spirit in our congregation then you must make a place in your theological world for what we find here. You will read the answer to my question as to what happened after the Spirit of God filled them in the book of Exodus chapter 35 and the thirtieth verse until the end of the chapter. The Spirit enabled them to become craftsmen. Let us examine that gifting work first of all:

i] The Spirit in the Craftsmen. The filling of the Spirit enabled Bezalel and Oholiab to become . . . craftsmen! They were workers in metal and wood and precious stones, and in all kinds of artistic design, men able to teach apprentices the same skills. Let us read these verses . . .

“Then Moses said to the Israelites, ‘See, the LORD has chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts - to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood and to engage in all kinds of artistic craftsmanship. And he has given both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach others. He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as craftsmen, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weavers - all of them master craftsmen and designers. So Bezalel, Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the LORD has given skill and ability to know how to carry out all the work of constructing the sanctuary are to do the work just as the LORD has commanded” (Ex. 35:30-36:1).

Chris Wright’s comment is worth repeating; “Putting these things together like this gives great dignity to such skills. I love the fact that on this first occasion when the Spirit of God, who had been so active in all the wonderful crafts­manship of creation itself, is said to fill a human being, it is to enable that person to exercise the same kind of delegated skills. There is something so wonderfully creative (and therefore God-like) in what this passage describes: craftsmanship, artis­tic design, embroidery with rich colours, carving wood and stone. I fondly wish I had some of these skills and greatly admire the work of artists who do. We should take seriously that these things are said to be marks of the filling with God's Spirit. Of course, Bezalel and Oholiab were so filled for the pur­pose of working on the tabernacle - the holy tent of God's pres­ence among his people. But I don't think we need to limit the action of God's Spirit in this gifting only to 'sacred' purposes” (Christopher J.H. Wright, Knowing the Holy Spirit through the Old Testament, Monarch Books, 2006, pp.38&39). But I do not accept that great artists are displaying by their compositions, books and painting anything of the saving grace of God; common grace, yes, but not the redemption that is applied by the Spirit. The fruit of his work is shown in grace and Christ-likeness.

At least one of our members was filled with the same Spirit of God who was in Bezalel and Oholiab, this Spirit who was also present in the creation at the beginning. Ron Loosley has been a deacon for almost fifty years and he worked on the plans for the Manse renovation, and again in transforming the downstairs room and removing the pillars, and again building the ramp to the front door of the church, and in transforming Plas Lluest so that it could be a Christian home for people with learning difficulties, and in drawing the blueprints and design of the Christian book shop. He saved the church tens of thousands of pounds, but it was the beautiful skill with which he did this work that made his work so memorable. We have one of his blueprints of the book shop permanently on the wall of our kitchen. What is the explanation of the blessing Ron has been to the church over these years? The same Spirit who came upon Bezalel and Oholiab also filled him, and the congregation rejoice in the goodness and loveliness of all that Ron has so wonderfully designed and executed. There are also others like him in our congregation whose fulness of the Spirit is seen in consistent practical endeavour. Again . . .

ii] The Spirit in the Judges. A refrain is found throughout the book that chronicles their achievements. Their task was to sort out disputes between people, give judgments on local problems, lead people into battle against their oppressors or summon the tribes of Israel to act against a sudden threat. They did all this by the strength of the Spirit of God coming upon them. We are told of these ‘comings’ in many places in the book of Judges. Let me draw your attention to the one which will cast light on them all. It is the one dealing with Gideon in Judges chapter six and verse 34; “Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon.” If we read those words carelessly, we might conclude that Gideon stood up abruptly and took action, that he suddenly shook off his lethargy and defeatism and a desire for battle welled up in him, causing him to seize his weapons. If that had been the case we would have been reading a story entitled “The Deeds of Gideon,” even if it were the Spirit that first set him aflame. But what we actually read in these beautiful words is something differ­ent.

The Hebrew word that we find there is the same one that is used when a man puts on his jacket. Now, we all know that fact, that when it’s time to go off to work, many people put on their work clothes. The doctor has his white coat, the shop assistant has her department store dress, the flight attendant has her uniform, the labourer has his overalls, the blacksmith has his leather apron. Yet no one is as foolish as to ascribe the work he is about to do to his work clothes. The act of putting on work clothes doesn’t signify that one’s uniform is about to get to work; rather, it indicates the moment at which the workman himself, wearing those clothes, begins working. The patient does not look to a white coat to heal him; yet when he sees that the doc­tor has put on that white coat, he knows that he means to get to work. Well, what we actually read in Judges 6 and verse 34 is that the Spirit of the LORD clothed himself with Gideon. God’s Spirit put on Gideon like a coat. That is to say, Gideon was to the Spirit what overalls are to the worker. Gideon is only a set of work clothes. The one doing the work is the Spirit, and so we see that it is not Gideon who springs into action, but the Spirit. The Lord arises to do battle. What we get here, then, is not the story of the great deeds of a certain person but a report about the mighty deeds of the Lord. So whenever you read the phrase of the Spirit coming upon a judge in their book then you must think that God always arises and vindicates his name among his people.

iii] The Spirit in the Kings. Saul is the last of the judges and the first of the kings and he is a mixture of them both. We are told of the Spirit of the Lord coming upon him in power (I Sam. 11:6). Later the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul (I Sam. 16:4), and in its place a very different spirit afflicted the king, a spirit of dark moods and depression, a spirit of murderous jealousy. So the Spirit can come and give a charisma of ability, leadership and courage, but the Spirit can be grieved and quenched and will be withdrawn from those who defiantly persist in their folly. In the New Testament John tells us to test the spirits (I Jn. 4:1); check whether they are from God for many spirits have gone out into the world. Jesus tells us that men may have the gifts of prophesying and work miracles but in the great day be told by him, “Depart from me. I never knew you.” The gifts of the Spirit are evidently temporary and non-saving.

iv] The Spirit in Moses. I come to Moses last of all, after having looked at the judges and the kings, because the gifting ministry of the Spirit is more fully described in his dealings with Moses. Examining the Spirit in Moses’ life makes a good conclusion to this study, and the fact of the Spirit preparing and using Moses is recognized by such a later prophet as Isaiah. Looking back to the wilderness wanderings Isaiah comments that the children of Israel “rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit” (Isaiah 63:10). We are told that their leader, Moses, was “a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth” (Nums 12:3). It is a staggering testimony to the modesty and meekness of the founder of the nation, one of the greatest leaders of human history. Moses had not always been like that; as a young man he had killed an Egyptian officer whom he caught whipping an Israelite. For this he was chastened by having to spend forty years looking after his father-in-law’s sheep in the wilderness. Then he was called at the burning bush to redeem Israel from slavery and lead them into the promised land. It was not for any natural gifts that he was chosen by God but because of what the Spirit of God had done in him over the wilderness decades and would continue to do throughout his life.

The Spirit of God served Moses in a remarkable way. We are told in Numbers chapter eleven and verses 16 and 17, “The LORD said to Moses: ‘Bring me seventy of Israel's elders who are known to you as leaders and officials among the people. Make them come to the Tent of Meeting, that they may stand there with you. I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take of the Spirit that is on you and put the Spirit on them. They will help you carry the burden of the people so that you will not have to carry it alone.’”  Moses’ greatness showed itself in his dependence upon the Spirit and in his willingness to accept God’s Spirit in others. Moses could trust these seventy men. They weren’t potential rivals to his leadership. He recognized their abilities as gifts that the Spirit had given to them. He could share leadership with them. Moses knew that the more people who were gifted by God for leadership in the church the better for the life of the people of God. Let us turn again to Numbers eleven and see a wonderful example of the humility that the Spirit of God produced in Moses.

“So Moses went out and told the people what the LORD had said. He brought together seventy of their elders and made them stand round the Tent. Then the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke with him, and he took of the Spirit that was on him and put the Spirit on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but they did not do so again. However, two men, whose names were Eldad and Medad, had remained in the camp. They were listed among the elders, but did not go out to the Tent. Yet the Spirit also rested on them, and they prophesied in the camp. A young man ran and told Moses, ‘Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.’ Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses’ assistant since youth, spoke up and said, ‘Moses, my lord, stop them!’ But Moses replied, ‘Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the LORD’s people were prophets and that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!’ Then Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp” (Nums. 11:24-29). The Spirit in Moses has made him utterly secure in his relationship with God. He could exercise power and leadership without jealousy – Moses had no need to stand on his authority or status or prerogatives. He could wield power with humility because he held power without jealousy. Of course Moses’ longing that the Lord would put his Spirit on all his people was fulfilled in the pouring out of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, and has been experienced in the church ever since. The Lord has put his Spirit on us all; no Christian without the indwelling and fruit and gifts of the Spirit.

Moses probably had the most critical, rebellious, awkward, ungrateful, unrea­sonable congregation of grumpy people that any leader or pastor has ever have. How did he cope with them? By the indwelling Spirit of God. Let no minister ever grumble about the problems some members give him until he has read the book of Numbers and see what Moses had to endure. He coped by grace and so can you.

Again, consider some of the things Moses had to deal with in those narratives in the book of Numbers, administrative overload, catering problems, charismatic outbursts, family feuds and disapproval of his own marriage, a refusal to follow the vision God had given through him, rejection of his authority to speak for God, attacks from outside the community, sexual immorality within the community. How did Moses cope with them? By the same Spirit of God. He could say, “I can do all things by the Spirit who strengthens me.”

Doesn’t it remind you of the Lord Jesus? How did he remain committed to his disciples, one betrayng him to his death, another denying him with swear words, and all the rest running off and abandoning him. Yet he remained dedicated to them and in his prayer affirmed to his Father that he had lost none of them except Judas. The Spirit of God had come upon him at the beginning of his ministry for his ministry. That is why he displayed such patience. Or think of the apostle Paul dealing with the church at Corinth which had given him endless problems, and yet he writes to them that he was their bond-slave for Jesus’ sake. “What is Paul?” he asked them. “ . . . a mere servant” he told them. What drives your work? What are your ambitions? To serve God and his people? “Yes . . .” But is that utter foot-washing dedication to these people, “the real, gritty, grainy people whom God has entrusted to you”? [Chris Wright].

“The paradox of the power of Moses, then, is this. The greatest evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit in him was precisely the absence of those things that are commonly linked with great and powerful people: pride in one’s own self-sufficiency; jealous defence of one’s own prerogatives; driving ambition for one’s own legacy. This is the power of the Holy Spirit in a human life. This is power with humility.

“The church needs leaders. And leaders need power, if they are ever to get anything done (or, more properly, if God is ever to get anything done through them). But the kind of power they need is not the kind of power by which the world gener­ally assesses leadership. 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty’ (Zechariah 4:6). Pray for those whom God has called into positions of leader­ship among his people, including yourself if appropriate, that there will be much greater evidence of the empowering Spirit of God, and much less evidence of the ambiguous and danger­ous power of our fallen human weaknesses. May we be filled with the power of God's Spirit, in the likeness of Moses, and of Jesus” (Christopher J.H. Wright, Knowing the Holy Spirit through the Old Testament, Monarch Books, 2006, pp. 60&61).

25th May 2008  GEOFF THOMAS