Jumping Won’t Bring the Dove Back

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” — Psalm 51:10
 
What do you do when you can’t sense God moving anymore?
 
When Jesus was baptized, John saw the Spirit of God descend on Him like a dove. Now I don’t know if you’re familiar with doves, but it doesn’t take much to make them fly away. A little movement here or there, and they’re gone.
 
The Holy Spirit is the sensitive one of the Trinity. If you’re a believer, He lives in you, and He’ll never leave you. You got the full load the moment you were saved. But you can grieve Him so that you lose the sense of His presence, power, and leading.
 
And here’s what many of us do when that happens. We try to work Him up. When I was growing up in a liturgical church, we didn’t stand much except when the offering hymn came, so you could get to your wallet! Now everybody stands when we sing. Some folks think that if we really want the Spirit to move, we’ve got to lift our hands. Others think, “Man, we’d better start jumping.”
 
But He doesn’t come down because we worship harder. If we’ve grieved Him, jumping higher won’t bring the dove back.
 
David didn’t try to sing his way back into God’s presence after his sin with Bathsheba. He asked God for a clean heart. That’s the way back. We don’t need more of the Spirit. We need to stop offending the Spirit we already have.
 
Lifting your hands in worship is a wonderful thing. But it was never meant to replace repentance.
 
So before you walk into worship this Sunday, get quiet and ask the Lord, “Is there anything in me that has grieved You?” Whatever He brings up, confess it right then. Then go lift your hands with a clean heart.