Telecommunication cable on seabed with fish and rocks to illustrate the transforming consequences of unseen power. By Negro Elkha/stock.adobe.com
There are over 870,000 miles of telecommunication cables on the seafloor, covering every ocean on the planet. Laid end to end, they would span the diameter of the Sun. They are responsible for the transfer of 99 percent of all digital data. However, they are only about the width of a house pipe.
How does the internet run on such slim cables without disastrous outages?
The answer involves an army of stand-by repair ships. They deploy a grappling hook to lift and snip the cable, pulling one loose end up to the surface and reeling it in across the bow using large motorized drums. The damaged section is repaired and then attached to a buoy. The process is repeated on the other end of the cable, then the two ends are spliced together under a microscope and returned to the water.
In other words, people. People we will never meet are constantly repairing cables we will never see to enable the digital communications we experience each day, this website article included.
There is a parable here for our culture and for our souls.
“The wind blows where it wishes”
Much of life is lived by the consequences of events rather than at their source. For example, construction crews are currently building a house down the street in our neighborhood. The other day, I watched carpenters driving nails into wall studs the occupants will never see. The owners will depend on the expertise of these unseen professionals and their unseen work.
I then went for a walk around a pond near our home, resting for a bit on a bench overlooking the water. There I heard the sound of squirrels overhead in the trees. I could not see them, but I could see the leaves falling to the ground as a result of their movement. I could also see ripples on the pond but not the insects causing them.
The examples go on: those who evacuated recent hurricanes did not see the storms, but many will spend years responding to their consequences. I was under anesthesia when my surgeon operated on my back a couple of years ago, but I will live the rest of my life with the results of his excellent work.
So it is with the Spirit. According to Jesus, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8).
When you know the Spirit is at work
Like a carpenter building a house, the best way to know where the Holy Spirit is at work is to see the results of his work. Only the Spirit can convict us of sins (John 16:8). Only he can bring about the “new birth” in our lives (John 3:5) when he makes us his temple (1 Corinthians 3:16). Only he can transform human hearts into the character of Christ (Romans 8:29).
So, when you see people being convicted of their sins and saved from them, when you see the “fruit of the Spirit” on display and manifesting the personality of Jesus (Galatians 5:22–23), you can know that the Spirit is at work.
Conversely, since Satan comes “only to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10), when you see theft and murder and destruction, you can know that he is at work. You may not see the criminal who burglarized your home, but you can see the devastation left behind. We can see lives ravaged by sins Satan tempted them to commit.
Here’s the good news: in a culture dominated by the devil’s deceptions and destruction, lives built by the Spirit and thus manifesting his “fruit” are obvious and attractive. In a world that confuses lust for love, the “love” of the Spirit is transforming. In a day that substitutes temporal happiness for abiding joy, the “joy” of the Spirit is enticing. In a time when wars dominate the headlines and conflicts embroil our communities, the “peace” of the Spirit is engaging. And so it is with all the consequences of the Spirit at work in us.
The key is to ask God to do in us what he is already doing in the world.
Worship in the fiery furnace
As St. Augustine noted, when we pray the Model Prayer (Matthew 6:9–13), we are not asking God to change his reality but ours.
- He is already holy—we pray that his name may be “hallowed” in us.
- His kingdom is already coming and his will is being done—we pray that he will be our king and that we will be empowered to do his will in our lives.
- He provides for his creation—we pray for our “daily bread.”
- He forgives all who confess their sins—we pray that he will forgive ours.
- He delivers from evil—we pray that he will deliver us.
Will you pray the Model Prayer today and mean what you pray? If you do, the consequences of God’s unseen power in your life will be manifested to a world desperate for such hope.
I’ll close with an example.
The “Song of the Three Young Men” appears after Daniel 3:27 in some versions of the Bible. It is a psalm of worship to God offered by Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace. Whether its words were part of the original text or not, they show us that we can praise our Lord even in the midst of our fiercest trials:
We praise you, O Lord, the God of our ancestors.
May your glorious, holy name
be held in honor and reverence forever.
May hymns be sung to your glory forever
and may your holy presence be praised in that temple,
where you sit on your heavenly throne above the winged creatures
and look down to the world of the dead.
May you be praised and honored forever.
May you be praised as you sit on your royal throne.
May hymns be sung to your glory forever.
May you be praised in the dome of the heavens.
May hymns be sung to your glory forever (vv. 29–34, GNT).
Who will see such faith manifested in your life today?
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