Don’t Let Self-Depreciation Quench The Holy Spirit!

Word-Of-The-Day: ‘(16) Rejoice always, (17) pray continually, (18) give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (19) Do not quench the Spirit.’ (1 Thessalonians 5:16-19)  

I can be self-depreciating and very critical of myself.  Way back in the ‘day’, I had gone out and fixed an extremely critical system to our national interests in minutes of arriving, and then figured I probably screwed up because I left my primary location to go fix this system (even though the customer was the one who sent me out).  Later I’m handed a bonus and congratulated for an outstanding effort, and I still feel like I should have done something more. 

There are many situations like this one, where I have been lauded for my accomplishments, but most of my accomplishments have this ‘tarnish’ that I put on it; someone can point out something I’ve done well, and I can point out how it really was screwed up. I’m certain some psychologist would state that I have some condition that causes this with a 20+ letter name ending in ‘phobia’ or ‘psychosis’, but since I refuse to go to some quack that thinks they can figure this (or me) out in an hour, I’ll never know – and really don’t care to know as I’ve lived with this all of my life.  (I’ve been with me for 60 years and I can’t figure me out. Neither can my wife of 41 years.)

While I can be extremely self-critical, I do not allow this to quench the Holy Spirit!  We are either in the midst of ‘the good’ (those times of happiness or great accomplishment) or of ‘the suck’ (those times where we are in bad situations or great discomfort).  Now as mentioned, I can find the dark lining within the silver cloud; I expect and find the flaws in that silver cloud.  Now I can fortunately do the opposite as well, finding the silver lining within the dark cloud. (I guess this makes me ‘balanced’ – who knew?)  

In either case, God is always in control.  I embrace ‘the suck’ as what it is; the place where God has placed me in a given time for me to be in this exact situation.  The same can be said of ‘the good’.   Whether good or bad, the situation we are currently in is where God has us.  The Lord wants us to Spiritually be the same and consistent in these situations; rejoice in the Lord, pray to Him for the blessings and for His direction and wisdom, and always give Him thanks. 

What thanks can we give Him in a time of ‘suck’?  We can thank Him that He is with us, that even though conditions are against us, or others may have abandoned us, the Lord is still with us and can use us for His glory.    Don’t let being self-critical overlook what the Lord has done through you or around you.  We can find fault in ourselves or others, but God’s plan is perfect, and His actions are perfect!