The Doldrums

Sunday 6/15/2014 5:55 AM

One of my favorite images comes from the song How He Loves by The David Crowder Band.  The lyrics say that God loves like a hurricane.  I have never been in a hurricane but I have seen video showing its overwhelming power.  There have been times in my life when I have been overwhelmed by the love of God, so much so that I thought I might drown.  Those times have usually come at a time of transition from one stage of my life to another.  A hurricane force wind can easily move an object from one place to another, even things that seem immovable, so it seems like an appropriate metaphor.

In the maritime world the opposite of the strongest wind is no wind at all, a condition sailors refer to as the doldrums.  When there is no wind at all a sailboat can make no progress, sitting listlessly on the surface of the water and only moving at the mercy of the prevailing current, if there is one.

The theme for my devotions this week is the triune God and today my reading focused on the Holy Spirit.  In his conversation with Nicodemus in John 3, Jesus told him that he must be born again.  Nicodemus was rightly confused at the analogy and Jesus goes on to explain how the Spirit of God gives birth to one’s spirit.  He likens the Holy Spirit to a wind and says, “The wind blows wherever it pleases.  You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.  So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”  The Celtic community called the Holy Spirit the Wild Goose because of the unpredictability of its movement.

I want my spiritual life to have movement.  I want to sense some sort of change occurring in my relationship with God and the feeling of making some sort of progress on the road toward Christlikeness.  I want the Spirit to move like a gentle trade wind, guiding me safely and consistently along a predictable path.  However, sometimes he loves like a hurricane, moving me in directions I could never have guessed with unanticipated speed.  At other times, like now, I seem to be stuck in the doldrums, sitting idly and biding time.  I don’t like the feeling I have when I’m in the doldrums but I shouldn’t be surprised when it happens because Jesus said everyone born of the Spirit would be ignorant of the movement of the Spirit in their life.  I guess I need to embrace the doldrums.