Comfortable With The Supernatural

On Tuesday, while half-awake, half-asleep just before I woke, I had a dream. Central to it was the phrase “comfortable with the supernatural” and there was some situation that perfectly illustrated it. Maybe it was some biblical incident. Maybe it was something else. When I woke properly, I could remember the phrase, but I couldn’t remember the situation.

So, was that God or not? Was it guidance for today or as it just the bizarreness of being away with the fairies? If it was God, how come I could remember half of it but not the other half? Should I actually follow that lead or was God wanting something else for today? If it wasn’t God then I am heading in the wrong direction and cannot expect God to do anything.

Rightly or wrongly, I decided it was God speaking. I had a sense of conviction about it at the time and, as I thought about it and explored what it might mean, it seemed like it might have been God.

I don’t think the situation in my dream was Pentecost but let’s talk about Pentecost anyway. Seven weeks after the resurrection, Jesus had gone back to heaven; the disciples were on their own, but Jesus had told them to wait for the Holy Spirit. On that particular day, they were together in a house when, suddenly, they heard the sound of a violent wind and they saw tongues of fire which separated and settled on each of them. They were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues.

There were masses of people, from all over the known world, in Jerusalem for the festival of Pentecost. They were attracted by the wind and the fire. They were bewildered because each one heard the disciples speaking in his own language. How could this be? What does it mean?

Some mocked saying the disciples had had too much wine. Peter stood up and preached. Let’s read some of what he said. Notice how much of what he said was about the supernatural.

READ Acts 2:14b-24, 32-33, 36-41

How might we have reacted if we had been among the disciples, or in that crowd that day? Here’s some reactions I could imagine. In fact, some of these might have been my reaction.

I might have been utterly freaked out with the wind and the fire. Whoa, this is scary! I don’t know what is happening. I’m out of here!

Or I might have taken a sceptical, “biblical” approach. When Elijah was in the cave and saw God passing by, the Bible explicitly says that God was not in the wind and God was not in the fire (1 Kn 19:11-12). Clearly, this is not of God. It is demonic. Furthermore, biblically, fire is associated with hell.

Or I might have said, “Just a minute, there some trickery going on here. I suspect they have got little gas cylinders hidden under all that loose clothing. They cannot fool me.”

Or I might have just joined with those who said they were drunk.

But, let’s say I suspected this was God. Would I have spoken in tongues? Would I have trusted what was going on? They were not forced to join in. 1 Corinthians 14:32 says the spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. The Holy Spirit does not force us. Might I have been afraid of looking like a complete idiot – babbling away in gibberish? And, what if I was saying something I didn’t want to say? I would rather be in control of what I was saying, thank you.

I might have said, “Hold it! We’ve been here before and it was a disaster. Remember that time we tried to heal the boy with the demon and nothing happened. That was humiliating. I’m not putting myself in that situation again.”

If I had been Peter, would I have had the courage to stand up and speak? Would I have had the confidence that I understood what God was doing so as to explain it? Would I have trusted the Holy Spirit to give me the words to say?

This was a potentially hostile crowd. They were Jews and they had gathered for a Jewish festival; how would they respond to this Christian thing – especially so soon after Jesus had been arrested and the authorities were very nervous.

When the people cried out, “What shall we do?” would I have known the answer?

I know all of those objections and fears – the fear of looking silly, the fear that God will let me down, the fear of the unknown, the fear of trusting God, the fear that I won’t know what to do – but there is not a hint in this passage that the disciples had any doubts or any fears. They had been waiting for the Holy Spirit. They had been praying for this day. They were hungry for this. They probably did not know how God would turn up, what would happen but when it did happen, they trusted God. They were comfortable with the supernatural. They were willing to let God be God, and let God do what He wanted to do. They were willing to do whatever God asked of them, trusting that God knew what He was doing. They were excited about it and keen to be part of it. God was in their midst and that was how they wanted it.

Are we comfortable with the supernatural? When we think of the Holy Spirit, do we think, “I don’t want to look silly; I am afraid of what God might do; I have been hurt by this in the past…?”

I am not saying we should be gullible and just go along with everything. We do need to test the spirits. Some of the bad experiences we might have had in the past were the result of people doing things that were not of God. Maybe well-intentioned, good-hearted people who went a little too far – got a bit carried away. We do have to be discerning but when it is God, are we OK with letting God be God?

Some of the things that stand in the way of being open to the Holy Spirit might be firstly scepticism, doubts, unbelief, and secondly our preference for safety and comfort, our unwillingness to take a risk or let things disturb our lives. That desire for safety and comfort leads us to want to stay in control of our lives rather than give control to God.

Does any of that sound familiar?

However, we run the risk of saving our lives but actually losing them. The real adventure, the real satisfaction, the real blessings, the promised abundant life are found when we follow Jesus. Would we rather have a safe church or a church where God was doing things?

Before we answer that, there is one truth we need to remember: God is good!

God is good. God is not going to hurt us. He is never going to promise one thing and then do the opposite. God is always loving. God always wants the best for us.

Romans 8:28-30

28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

In all things God works for the good of those who love Him. His desire is that we become like Jesus. His plan for us is that we be justified and glorified. That is an amazing plan.

Why were the disciples, on the day of Pentecost, hungry for the Holy Spirit and ready to be led and empowered by the Holy Spirit? They had walked for 3 years with Jesus and they knew that God was good. They had seen the supernatural and they knew God always does good things. They had seen people healed and delivered of demons and come to faith in Jesus and find new freedom and forgiveness and joy. They trusted God. They wanted more of that. Even though there were the risks of looking silly or being arrested, they chose to be right in there where God was working.

In the next chapter (Acts 3), Peter and John were going into the temple when they saw a lame man begging. Peter stopped and said to him, “I do not have silver or gold to give you but I will give you what I do have. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk!” The supernatural was now part of their lives. They went beyond the obvious and natural response of money to the supernatural. Miracles had become natural for them.

Yes, there was a risk; what if nothing happened? Then they would look silly! But I suspect they already knew. I suspect the Holy Spirit had prompted them to say those words to that man. And they responded to the prompting because if God was prompting them, then there was a reason. They trusted that, if God was in this and they responded, God would act.

The man was healed and started celebrating in a very noisy fashion. That drew a crowd. Peter preached about Jesus and many people were converted. No! It doesn’t say that. It doesn’t say that anyone was converted. The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees interrupted, very disturbed that the apostles were talking about Jesus and saying that he had been raised from the dead. Peter and John were arrested. Oh no, had God let them down?

They healed the man because God prompted them to do it. They trusted God. If they were arrested, they would trust God in that as well. God knew what He was doing. God is good. What if they were imprisoned or even executed? God would use that for good as well. And if they died? Jesus had said that those who have faith in Him would have eternal life in heaven with Jesus. God is good.

All through the book of Acts we see the Holy Spirit at work and, every single time, what He does is good. The picture we get is that the early believers were very comfortable with the supernatural. They prayed to be filled with the Holy Spirit. They prayed for signs and wonders. They wanted to be part of what God was doing, because they knew that God was good.

I might have got it wrong; I was in a confused state, but I sensed that God’s phrase for today was “comfortable with the supernatural”? Comfortable because we know that God is good. If that is what God is saying, how does it make you feel? If that is what God is saying, what do you want to say back to Him?

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