A crushed spirit…

Spurgeon describes a crushed spirit happens when someone is under a deep and terrible sense of sin. He says that no one can bear it when guilt comes clearly home and God is seen as just and perfectly holy. The crushing comes when a person realizes that He who is infinite love and almighty grace has been provoked and angered, and the One who is supposed to be our best friend has become our most terrible foe.

A man’s spirit will endure sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear? (Proverbs 18:14)

Spurgeon hopes that his readers do not understand what this means, but knows that some do. This kind of crushing is unbearable and like hell on earth. No one can avoid feeling crushed when the sense of being close to God is gone and that abiding presence is replaced by the pain of deep conviction.

What brings this deep conviction? Spurgeon says it can happen because of fierce temptation. If Satan tempts me to doubt, sin, blasphemy, even to “curse God and die” as he tried with Job, my spirit can be crushed if I fall under that terrible power. I will sense that God’s face is hidden if my choice is to not walk away from such temptation but give into it. Then, in the absence of my God’s sustaining presence, I am crushed.

Spurgeon speaks of those who get wild and untrue ideas, happily sailing above others, looking down on anyone who does not think the same way. Then, when their balloon bursts, they come down from that height and realize their error. They condemn themselves and become distressed and miserable. Their spirit is crushed and the only cure is to return to a humble walk with God.

As I read this preacher’s thoughts, and examine how God deals with me, I agree that a crushed spirit may happen, and that it is unbearable. I am also glad that this can be avoided, and if not, there is restoration in Jesus. Those who are willing to stay near Him and consider themselves always poor, needy and helpless sinners will always find everything they need in Jesus Christ. He gives strength against temptation and sin. He also restores sinners should we fail to stand the tests.

I’ve been there and know that I cannot bear a crushed spirit. But He did it for me, then declared, “It is finished” and now lives in me to give me everything I need.

An undeserved mercy

People who have been disappointed in love, ambition, loss and the sins of others can take their grief too far, as if we have a right to have our way in all things all the time. Today’s devotional reading says we need to be careful -- for if the Lord were to deal with us according to our sins, we would have something to bear far worse than any present disappointment.

For Christians, we are not to allow anything, including deep disappointment, to destroy our peace. I’ve noticed so often when my heart is crushed, there is a good deal of sin mingled with the sorrow, and a great deal of pride and even creature-worship and idolatry mixed in there too. If I make an idol and God loves me, I can be certain that He will break my idols.

A man’s spirit will endure sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear? (Proverbs 18:14)

This verse asks a rhetorical question, but there is an answer for it; Christ bears the crushed spirit. He bears our pain and suffering, but also bore all the sin and selfishness that is mixed with it.

Yesterday I listened to a lecture about His suffering on the Cross. The professor said that before Jesus could say, “It is finished” He had to experience everything that sinners deserve. For that reason, the speaker believes that Jesus experienced that biblical “descent into hell” before He died.

Hell has been said to be everything that God is not. Human language is no doubt inadequate to describe this. The Bible uses metaphors, but fire and brimstone are not sufficient. The lecturer tried to describe what it would be like for One who had perfect communion with God to be abandoned because of His Father’s wrath on the sin He bore as our substitute. His description erased all my wonder at why Jesus cried, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” For Jesus and for our sake, this was hell.

My disappointments are nothing. All my sin and pride that is behind thinking that my life should always be perfect was born by the sinless one. In bearing that sin, plus all sin for all time, He experienced death and hell instead of me. What can be said about that? Only that no matter how I weep, repent, or try to live a godly life, it could never be enough. Not only that, I should never be surprised by suffering, nor think that my fate is the worst thing or my pain is more than I can bear. Compared to Jesus, all of it is nothing. Truly, my salvation is by grace, an undeserved mercy.

Maintain a healthy spirit

A martyred Christian from China, Watchman Nee, wrote several books and developed an understanding of the triune nature of man as body, soul, and spirit. In his thinking, the soul is our self-consciousness and our spirit is our ability to know the depth of sin and to know and communicate with God. While many would say this is too much separation and there is not enough in the Bible to verify all his ideas, some of what he said about the human spirit strikes home.

As I read the Bible, I notice verses that speak of the spirit being “dead in sin” in the lives of those who do not believe in Christ. When faith brings salvation, that spirit is made alive.

One verse also says that the “Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit… discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12)

Nee’s idea of soul is our capacity to choose, our intellect, and our emotions. In light of the above verse from Hebrews, having discernment between those faculties (which have been marred by sin) and the faculties of the spirit seem very important.

Another verse also gives support to Nee’s ideas. He believed God saves the whole person, beginning with a renewed spirit that is made that way by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit. In salvation, that which was dead to God is made alive. Then our lives are to be governed by the Holy Spirit speaking to and working through our spirit, spreading forth life of Christ to our minds, choices and emotions. This explains some of this prayer of Paul’s…

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 5:23)

Today’s devotional verse is about the power of that sanctified spirit to endure whatever the world throws at us. When the spirit is renewed and operating by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, then we can persevere…

A man’s spirit will endure sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear? (Proverbs 18:14)

The Hebrew word for crushed could also be translated as: smitten, afflicted, broken, stricken, or wounded. This is not about a spirit that is dead in sin (that of an unsaved person) but someone who has the life of Christ in them, but something has happened to pummel that life and put it down, inoperable and unable to endure the hardships of life.

That said, besides being alive in the Spirit, God makes me responsible to keep my spirit sharp and well-fed. I’m to do this by reading His Word. I’m also to be sanctified (set apart for God) by keeping myself focused on serving Him and not myself. I am to confess known sin and be nourished by fellowship with other Christians. My spirit is kept healthy by obeying God’s commands. Other verses tell me to “guard my heart, for it is the well-spring of life.” All of this describes how to keep my spirit from being crushed so that I can endure the tough stuff.

I’ve also noticed that this is true for the daily grind also. God gives me the Holy Spirit that my spirit may be kept in tune and wisely responding to the ordinary trials for even those require sanctification, wholeness and purity of heart.