Pentecost

In our C.S. Lewis reading group we have been looking at The Screwtape Letters and at the end of Letter 8 there is this great line spoken by the Devil's undersecretary, Screwtape, reflecting on the challenges of tempting a human away from the faith. He says, "(Hell's) cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy's (God's) will, looks around upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have fanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys." I have read and reread those lines while preparing my Pentecost sermon and it's gotten me to thinking how the Spirit's power is intended to empower our obedience. We don't have the power to obey God's commands. We don't have the power to obediently walk the path he intends for us. But the Spirit does. We are inclined to want the power for our purposes, but God intends it for our obedience to his will and way of life. Only the Spirit can keep us on course while the evidences of God's presence seem scarce. Sometimes our mere "staying the course" is enough evidence that the Spirit is at hand.