“Do not cast me from your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me,” David prayed after Nathan exposed his sin with Bathsheba.

David understood what was at stake. He had watched Saul’s terrifying decline – Saul, who received the Spirit, became a new man, joined the prophets, but resisted and grieved the Spirit until the Spirit left him. In place of the Spirit, the Lord sent an evil spirit to torment Saul, and it drove Saul mad.

David did not want to be another Saul: “Do not cast me from your presence; and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.”

Do you lie? Are you controlled by anger? Do you steal? Do you honor your parents? Are you hiding something from them? Do you speak cruel words to your husband or wife or children? Are you filled with bitterness? Is your life one fight after another? If you indulge these sins, you are grieving the Spirit. Unless you repent, He will leave.

When you lose the Spirit, you lose everything. By the Spirit, the love of God dwells in our hearts. By the Spirit we have righteousness, peace and joy, and a share in God’s kingdom. The Spirit of power gives hope, and the Holy Spirit sanctifies us as temples. The Spirit enables us to confess Christ as Lord, and the Spirit is the one who mingles us in communion with the Father and with one another. The Spirit is the downpayment of our inheritance, and if we lose Him we lose it all.

On this Pentecost Sunday, repent of everything that grieves the Spirit, and make David’s prayer your Pentecost plea: “Do not cast me from your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me.”