The Holy Spirit and Our 'Not-enoughness'

First: a quote from my forthcoming book, Fully Beloved: “The details of my story—any story about love and loss—may look different from yours, but we all come from families with complicated attachments. The love others offer us can be, by turns, exhilarating and confusing. We do well to be honest about that, for we worry about love, wonder over it. We long for it and often grasp for it. … Sometimes even joyfully intimate relationships suffer flat stretches. Experiences like these might be opening you up to something more, something deeper and better—just as they have for me.”

Second: I’ve turned in the book’s final round of edits! Next: a couple rounds of proofreading, and we are making plans for the book’s roll-out in March. Here’s a story and reflection growing out of all that’s been going on:

Out for a morning run on the greenway near our house, I found myself thinking I needed to pick up the pace on the book I’ve been writing. The work seemed to be going well—at least the hours at a desk weren’t making me want to throw my laptop out a window. But I felt that normal, nagging sense of “not-enoughness” we often feel when taking on big endeavors. I needed more than internal pep talks or high-octane caffeine. And I felt the weight of the manuscript deadline, a date the publisher had already graciously extended once. This was not, I knew, something to achieve with mere determination and cleverness.

With one part urgency and another part expectancy, I felt moved to pray. This time, instead of praying to the Father or to Jesus—or just crying, “Help!”—I turned to the Spirit. I breathed, “Come, Holy Spirit.” I knew such a prayer was biblical; it certainly felt appropriate and timely.

Instantly I felt a lightness. I seemed lifted along as I jogged.

I got back to the house and found a text waiting for me from my friend Kevin Miller: “Tim, I am praying for you this morning that you will be given the wind of the Spirit at your back as you write.”

I felt renewed energy to keep at the writing. Who knows how God in the Spirit was already answering my prayer?

All kinds of situations lead us to turn to God for help. I think of the psalm writer who said, “O my God, do not be far from me; make haste to help me.” (32:21-22) I’m not among those who say we should only thank God and never ask. Far from it. We need God’s help in all kinds of moments. God not only expects us to turn to him, he wants us to. God likes to hear us talk and isn’t bothered by our asking. The Spirit is happy for us to invite him into the mix.

And I think here of one of the Bible’s favorite terms for the Spirit: helper. Advocate. This is God coming close—not with impersonal, vague assurances; not assistance dispensed from afar, but something far more personalized: something related to the lives we live and the challenges we face. So, with the book now turned in (and final edits done) I still ask: At our backs or coming from above, what could encourage us more than God showing up to help? Right where we live? I’m liking this picture of the Spirit himself infusing what we attempt with boundless resources.

What areas are you facing that could use divine help? The gift of the Holy Spirit’s energy and inspiration? Maybe it’s gotten pretty tough.

The psalmist pled, “Give ear to my words, O Lord. Give heed to my sighing” (5:1). When I shared that verse with a friend facing depression, addiction, and family stress, he texted back, “I’ve never noticed that word sighing in the Psalms.” It comforted him to know he could bring his struggles honestly to God in prayer. He could freely ask or even just sigh in God’s hearing.

Where might you need such help? How might you bring those challenges to prayer? A word like Help! can chase after a racing, runaway fear and slow it down—even reconnect it to God’s promise. We ask for the Holy Spirit to come and make a difference or renew our resolve. We give the Spirit room, then, to move and strengthen. To make us able to do what we could not by ourselves accomplish.

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