Letting the Holy Spirit drive and direct our lives
Isaiah 35:1-10
The
desert and the parched land will exult; the steppe will rejoice and bloom. They
will bloom with abundant flowers, and rejoice with joyful song. The glory of
Lebanon will be given to them, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; They will see
the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God. Strengthen the hands that are
feeble, make firm the knees that are weak, Say to those whose hearts are
frightened: Be strong, fear not! Here is your God, he comes with vindication;
With divine recompense he comes to save you.
Have you
ever had to encourage someone going through an especially hard time, try to
lift their spirits? Perhaps the person just learned they have cancer and feels
devastated; they can almost see the specter of death. Or, maybe a friend has
just lost a job – which happens sometimes too regularly in Fort Smith. One of
the worst tragedies is divorce and the deep sense of failure and guilt it
brings. Maybe someone has lost a loved one – family or friend – in an accident
or sudden death. What words or what wisdom could console a person feeling such
a shock? It doesn’t really seem like anything sounds good enough.
A good
friend of mine lost her sister to cancer. It was a grueling experience feeling
hope at times with different treatments, but ultimately dealing with death. But
through it all, she grew stronger in her faith, and now she is convinced that
God has a plan for everyone’s life, even when they die early. She often reminds
me (a priest) of that fact when we talk, saying, “God has a plan, John.” It’s
amazing how consoling those words can sound to my ears. I’ve put that advice
into my own language, and I like to say, “The Holy Spirit is still driving the
bus,” that is, he’s driving the bus of our lives, and the bus of the
universe.
This is the
point of Isaiah’s prophesy in the first reading today, namely, “God has a
plan.” Isaiah prophesied around 742 B.C. to 701 B.C, and maybe even all the way
to 687 B.C. when according to tradition, King Manasseh had Isaiah executed by
having him sawed in two. But this was one of the worst periods of Jewish
history, with the Assyrian’s capturing the Northern Kingdom of Israel and
deporting the people into slavery. And Babylon was waiting in the wings to
destroy Judah in the South and haul the rest of Israel into slavery and
captivity, the famous “Babylonian Captivity.” And what is Isaiah’s message to
the people in this terrible time? Basically, he gave them my friend’s advice:
“God has a plan.” He writes: “Say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be
strong, fear not! Here is your God, he comes with vindication, with divine
recompense he comes to save you.” In other words, yes, you may have to suffer
greatly, but God has a plan in all this: the Holy Spirit is still driving the
bus. The people did not lose hope, even when they lost everything else.
My friends,
the day may come – no, the day WILL come – when we have to face our own crosses
and failures and sufferings. What will you do on that day; how will you
respond? Some people lose their faith in such moments, feeling as if God has
abandoned them, or worse, feeling as if God is punishing them. But I believe
something else is going on, that is, God is helping us be more holy, to know
and to love his Son, Jesus even more. After all, when have you prayed the
hardest: when all was well, or when everything was going you-know-where in a
hand-basket? But my point is in all such moments the good and the bad, God has
a plan for your life. Nothing that happens is outside of his loving embrace and
control, that’s called providence.
I don’t know
if you watch Seinfeld. But in one episode, Kramer (the guy with the wild hair)
is recounting a wild ride he took on the city bus, and he exclaims, “Jerry, the
bus was outta control!” Well, for a Christian, the Holy Spirit is driving the
bus, and it is never out of control.
Praised be
Jesus Christ!
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