I think the short answer to that question is that we fear the supernatural.
We fear having to confront the possibility that God actually does something.
I don’t know how many times I’ve been in a church prayer meeting where people pray for someone who is sick or in the hospital, etc. We all pray that God would “heal” them. We all pray that God would guide the hands of the doctors, etc. We are comfortable with those kinds of prayers. And we are comfortable to attribute to God the success of the surgery: He answered our prayers–He guided that surgeon’s hands!
The problem with the gifts of the Spirit, or anything else that is supernatural, is that it removes a comfortable, ambiguous faith in God. For example, when surgery is successful, some attribute the success to the doctor, but we “believers” attribute it to God. Those who believe in God see the situation differently than those who don’t. Yet, nothing circumstantially can be attributed as a miracle. The surgery was anticipated by doctors to be successful. The matter is convoluted more, however, when the surgery has 50/50 chance of success. If the person comes through, we say it’s because of a miracle of God! Was it? For a believer, yes. For a non-believer, no. After all, things turn out favorably 50% of the time. If they don’t pull through, however, we believers still affirm God was working there just the same.
In other words, with all of these things, it’s all very muddy. To what extent was God actively involved in the process? It is very hard to tell, and we are comfortable in such ambiguity. Whether God was working in the situation is a matter of personal interpretation. It makes us believers comfortable to believe God was involved when He couldn’t be seen.
But what about believing God to do something more demonstrative?
Many Christians believe that praying for such things is inappropriate. God should remain in the shadows. He should be a matter of interpretation. The idea of God revealing specific information to someone, or healing someone instantaneously, or causing someone to speak in a language they do not understand…now we get nervous. “God doesn’t work that way. Of course, He can do whatever He wants, but He typically remains in the shadows.”
I’m not going to argue whether that’s true or not. But what I will say is that’s how we prefer God to operate. We don’t really want God to make himself obvious. It’s better if He remain a matter of personal interpretation. Once someone says, “God told me last night…”, I get uncomfortable. I don’t expect God to tell people things. Rather, I expect that God simply requires us to trust that He is real and that He is working in the background, even though we can’t hear Him speaking.
The gifts of the Spirit make God too real. They force us to deal with a God who makes Himself known, who communicates directly with us, who performs miracles. Most of us are not ready for this type of a God. We are too concerned with following a religion focused on good, ethical, and moral human behavior. A living God turns the focus onto the behavior of God. Now it’s focused on what He is doing, not on what we are doing.
C.S. Lewis once said:
An “impersonal God”– well and good. A subjective God of beauty, truth and goodness, inside our own heads — better still. A formless life-force surging through us, a vast power which we can tap — best of all. But God Himself, alive, pulling at the other end of the cord, perhaps, approaching an infinite speed, the hunter, king, husband — that is quite another matter. There comes a moment when the children who have been playing at burglars hush suddenly: was that a real footstep in the hall? There comes a moment when people who have been dabbling in religion (“Man’s search for God!”) suddenly draw back. Supposing we really found Him? We never meant it to come to that! Worse still, supposing He had found us?
God is still doing things today? He is still speaking? He is still revealing Himself? As long as He reveals himself in people’s hearts, that’s fine. But keep it in your heart. Don’t let Him out. That’s all we ask, please.
5 responses to “Why Do We Fear The Gifts Of The Spirit?”
I really appreciate the raw honesty here. I have often found myself (or at least perceived that I found myself) on the receiving end of this discomfort. Even though I grew up in the Charismatic movement where we did see supernatural manifestations, especially in prophecies, today I am extremely reluctant to share anything that I believe God has told me to the Christians in my life, and if I do share it I present it as something I came up with even if I would rather say that God flat out told me. I guess I sense their discomfort though I have not been able to articulate it like this, and certainly would never accuse anyone else of preferring a God who remains in the shadows. I think I would like to be more honest where if I believe God has spoken to me I just say so. I wouldn’t want people to assume that means they can’t question what I say. I also would still submit myself and any word I received from God to discernment–also an uncomfortable process. But it would be nice to be up front about where I believe the information or inspiration is coming from.
On the flip side, what you say is also true about me. On one hand, I believe that without a God who really does intervene in human affairs, who really does speak and act in unexpected and blatant ways, there isn’t much point to much of what we do as Christians–it’s holding to a form of God while denying His power. On the other hand, the idea of God truly taking center stage and showing His power absolutely terrifies me in a similar way that the thought of actually handing over control of my life to Jesus (though I do it anyway) is frightening to me. I think when it comes to God’s visible power the place I’m at now is something like “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.”
Thanks for sharing, Nanda. I do think that if someone claims to hear something from God, it is only fair that the message be critiqued as to whether it’s from God or not. I agree that can be a scary process, especially for the person who shared the message. It can be equally uncomfortable for those critiquing…if we find the message to be lacking, will this person just accuse us of rejecting God’s message? Will their feelings be hurt? However, if we seriously believe God can speak through us, how important it is that discern what is His voice and what isn’t. Sometimes, we are convinced God is speaking, and in reality, it’s only our soap-boxes or just illusions. This is another reason people avoid gifts of the Spirit–it can be very messy.
It can be messy. I’ve seen it get downright ugly. I completely understand the hesitation to even go there.
Submitting to discernment is uncomfortable because quite frankly, submitting to anyone outside of ourselves is hard on our pride. That’s what makes it difficult to submit to Jesus in the first place. I think people will be more likely to take the risk of sharing a prophecy or offering discernment of someone else’s prophecy when there is deep trust both in God and in the other people. I don’t think it was coincidence that before the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples in the upper room, not only had they spent much time and had many experiences together in Jesus’ company, they had also been earnestly seeking God together in prayer for a solid ten days.
I think as uncomfortable as the discernment process can be, when it’s all said and done I would prefer to hear the message that while God does indeed speak through people this way, my particular “word from God” is, as you put it, lacking. I think that is better than hearing “God wouldn’t speak to you like that in the first place.”
I think people telling a “prophet” that his message is lacking can do it in a constructive and encouraging way. The point is to help the “prophet” be better at receiving and transmitting God’s messages. In that sense it’s no different from any other form of constructive criticism.
I absolutely agree that submitting to discernment is critical. Our reaction to discernment can also be enlightening. The prophet doesn’t always get it right. Those offering discernment don’t always get it right either. But God’s grace covers all of it and we really can trust Him. Easier said than done.
This is definitely worth exploring and pursuing. Count me in 🙂
I like it when people share stories about miraculous things that God has orchestrated in their lives. I think we all have those stories, but we tend to keep them in our hearts instead of sharing them. Perhaps if we all shared our experiences without fear of censure we would find that God working and speaking in concrete and miraculous ways is really not so uncommon.
One time God spoke to me (and I did not hear this in an audible voice–I have never been privileged with that experience–but I believe it was God beyond a shadow of a doubt) was when He brought the two of us together. I had only recently met you and we were maybe, at best, acquaintances. I was sitting in my parents’ kitchen with my mom and I told her, “You know, if Tim Falk asked me to marry him, I would say yes.” I was as surprised to hear the words come out of my mouth as I’m sure she was to hear them! It was really cool, and I hope to have more experiences like that in my lifetime.
Audra, I love hearing that story every time you tell it. That brings up a good point. It actually is easier to share about times we heard God in the past, especially when the message has been so clearly confirmed as it was in your story through you and Tim actually getting married! Maybe that is where we should begin–by making a point to be more open about those stories in our lives where we can be sure today that God either did something for us or told us something. Then we’ll have built up a certain level of comfort and trust which will make it easier to also share about the ways we are experiencing God working in our lives right now.