David’s heartfelt plea
After sinning greatly and later coming to his senses, David did not ask for many things—not even his throne. He asked for one rare thing:
Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
This makes me wonder: how vital is the Holy Ghost in our walk with God? If even David believed he could not function without Him, how much more can a present-day believer?
The Emptiness Without the Holy Spirit
Have you ever seen an island without water, so deserted that there is not even vegetation or life on it? This is how empty our souls feel when the Holy Spirit is not there. We are easily swayed by anything—be it whatever is trending on social media. We are like a blind man groping in the darkness, with no idea where he is going. Like sheep without a shepherd.
Unfortunately, many are living this way in real life, all around you. Just look at the non-believers closely and consider how different you have become ever since the Holy Spirit became an active Person in your life. From battling addictions, lusts, selfish ambitions, and bitterness to the person you are right now—assuming you have been walking with the Holy Spirit for a while. How blessed are you that you were forgiven even before you were born? How much more love can you expect from the One who did not spare His own Son for your sake?
This is why there is a visible difference in the soul of a person filled with the Holy Spirit and one who is not. The latter walks without even knowing where they are going, chasing whatever promises to give them something in return, moving from lane to lane, hoping the next one will be when they finally make it. Do they?
Some may, but only from a secular perspective. Most, however, end up as nobodies and continue to live even though they have already died.
The Spirit: Our Well of Life
The Spirit is the well of life. As Jesus ascended, He left us His Representative—the Holy Spirit, the best of all lovers. He is your Friend even when your partner has abandoned you; your Strength even on the days you feel like life is a mess; your Light when you do not know what comes next.
Those who manage to get to know Him finally understand why David could accept losing everything (after he sinned) but could not bear the thought of the Holy Spirit leaving him. For apart from the Holy Ghost, what else was left to have?
The only thing he ever truly had was the Holy Spirit—not the kingdom, not the fame, not the valor. All that was achieved by the power of the Holy Spirit working within him, not by his own might or knowledge. This is all you ever have as a Christian: the Holy Ghost. Whatever you achieve afterward is by His might. So if He leaves, how much more can you do by yourself?
Consider Samson, the most feared and strongest man of his era. But what happened after he continually defiled himself and disobeyed the voice of the Holy Spirit? What happened after the Spirit of God left him?
And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” So he awoke from his sleep, and said, “I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!” But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him.
Then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters, and he became a grinder in the prison.
The woman referred to at the start of this verse is Delilah, after Samson revealed the secret of his strength to her. On trying to flee from the Philistines, Samson did not know that the Spirit of God had already departed from him. His strength had already departed from him, and he became just as ordinary as everyone else.
He ended up losing his eyes and eventually killed himself along with other Philistines later on. That is how hollow life feels when the Holy Spirit departs. Most scary of all, He does not announce when He is leaving. If He warns you enough times and you fail to listen, it is only a matter of time. You only realize much later, when things are no longer adding up nor going as smoothly as before.
It makes me wonder: is your life in accordance with the will of the Spirit? Or are you one of those who say, “Once saved, grace is abundant forever”?
You are correct by implication, but what good is it to clean a pig if it only keeps going back to the very vomit from which it has been washed? Will you continue cleansing it every single time it returns?
The temple of the Holy Spirit
The Spirit is a gift. Every Christian freely receives Him upon being saved. However, the Holy Spirit does not stay where He is not welcome. That is why Paul warned the church at Corinth so strongly:
Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
Now, if your body is defiled, can a holy God really reside there? And how much worse can life become when He leaves?
What Truly Makes Us Different
So let us not be like the world. For what makes us different—what makes you different—is not how much tithe you give, or how many people you help, or how much hard work you put in to be successful. It is the Spirit of God that makes you unique as a believer. For all we have came from above, and back to Him shall it all go. Now, what is really left if even He departs from you?
