Fit To Rule

“There’s good stuff in that tea; drink it before it gets cold!”

Tony had just handed me a steaming mug this morning, and I was so grateful. My throat was sore, and my nose was just starting to run. But this is Tony, so I had to ask.

“What’s in it?”

“Good stuff to make you feel better.”

Those could be the sum total of the number of words Tony will say in a day, so I listened.

But I also never know what’s in the concoction. Dried herbs? Certainly. Some kind of hot spice? Yep. Ice cubes with the fermented juice of some combination? Probably. It could be boiled roots, flower petals, peels or just about anything if Tony makes it.

I had just taken a tablespoon or two of his “tonic wine,” and had a cordial glass of elderberry syrup, but what was in this stuff?

I sniffed the steam and it seemed to help just from the sniff. The tea was a light orange color, and smelled like a mixture of Tang and Sprite. I nodded gratefully and went to sip my tea, and he went back to whatever he was doing.

But when I tasted, it was bitter. I looked around and wished for some honey, but I knew that he had given me what he believed would really help. Bitter things are so good for our bodies. I remembered that God told the Israelites to eat bitter herbs with their meat, then later I read an article about how greens like spinach and kale protect us from the harms caused by charred meat. So bitter is good. It protects our life.

I took another sip. It wasn’t so bad. I could do this.

So I continued to sip the tea, and began reading to distract myself. The next time I noticed the mug, it was half-empty, and had gone cold. It was was truly distasteful when cold (which was probably why he told me to drink it quickly), so I refilled my mug with steaming water, and went back to my book.

The thought occurred to me that if I let this one go cold, I would have to refill it again, and drink all of that. Each time the “goodness” Tony put into it would become more diluted, and the volume I had to drink would increase.

It wasn’t that the “goodness” would be less effective if I diluted it; instead, I knew that as the tea got thinner, I would believe less and less in it. Eventually, I would get tired of drinking what was mostly water, and I might just throw it out and get something that had more flavor.

So I went ahead and finished it, and he was right. I felt better. My sore throat went mostly away, my runny nose and coughing stopped, and I could breathe well.

As I looked down at my empty cup, I thought about how soft-spoken Tony is, and how he won’t argue if I say I don’t want something. He may have worked for hours, but if I refuse, he will just take it away, and I won’t hear anything more about it.

Only later I will realize that he had worked for hours to reduce something, boiling it down. Or had waited for the right moment at dawn to harvest something, then had steeped it and mixed it and, well, you get the idea. He never argues or explains, he just takes it away. And the true harm is when I miss out on something either delicious or very helpful for whatever is bothering me.

(And I’m sure there is harm in the rejection for Tony! And the result of that is he will stop trying to help.)

But as I thought of Tony and how he is so amazingly helpful; how he works so hard to support whatever is going on, yet is so soft-spoken, I thought of the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

God never forces us. He could, of course. And one day, our possibility of choice will be over, and God will purify his people and destroy the evil in His world. But for now, He wants to know that we want Him.

He has planned for us from before the foundation of the world. He knew we would mess up in the beginning, and prepared a way, through Jesus, to bring us home to Him. He pays attention to the slightest details of our existence, even noticing the hairs that slip from our heads. He does all this, and all He asks is that we respond to Him. He draws us with His loving kindness.

The beauty of this world is a love letter from God. When the rain comes to water our garden, He sends it. When the sun comes out to warm us, that’s from Him, too. The rainbow He sends is a promise of his mercy after the storm, and He is wherever we are.

The voice of His Holy Spirit is a “still, small voice.” He whispers and nudges and hints. He guides us, but doesn’t control us unless we ask Him to take charge. I have asked the Holy Spirit to speak through me, and things pour out my mouth that I would never say, but that are just perfect for the situation.

Our job is to be on the alert, and listen for that voice. And when it speaks, we need to obey.

The Spirit often leads us to someone who needs help. His voice is that one that says, “Stop and see if the woman in the stalled car is all right.” The other voice that responds, “That’s far too dangerous! You don’t know anything about that situation!” is the voice that opposes the Spirit, and tries to get us to focus on ourselves.

That’s one way to know for sure that we are hearing the Spirit, or understanding the Spirit. Deceiving spirits will make us focus on ourselves or our own safety or our own benefit. In my experience, the Holy Spirit leads us to serve others, often in a way that humbles us or makes us uncomfortable.

But there are times the Holy Spirit will interrupt my good Samaritan vibe with, “Don’t stop.” He will caution us of danger. But the caution of the Spirit is also a “still, small voice,” not one that makes us frantic with worry. We are never to be afraid, but only to go somewhere else.

Have you heard the stories of people who planned to fly on 911, but didn’t because (something)? There are lots of those stories. And it was not to avoid death, because lots of people who loved and served God died on that day. But it’s because those who were rerouted had more work to do here on earth. That is the work of the Spirit. He guards us, comforts us, and helps us do God’s will.

When we surrender to the Lord, we need to let him drive. He is not our co-pilot! He is the soft voice in the back of the limo, telling us where to go. And just as that voice from the back of the limo won’t tell you what street to take, neither will God’s Spirit.

Many times, He will give us a destination, and we have to figure out how to get there. And if we get stuck, He is still there to help get us unstuck. But I think He wants to see what we will do. If God had wanted a robot, he certainly could have made one. He gave us a will so that we can use it. He is training us, with a soft voice.

So for me today, the command to “drink your tea before it gets cold,” represents the way we should trust that still, small voice and obey it right way. It’s for our own good, you know. God doesn’t need us to do anything. He is including us. We are privileged children of the King of Kings. We are being taught to obey the One who loves us, so that one day, we will be fit to rule.