Grieving the Spirit

Ephesians 4:30
"And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God [do not offend or vex or sadden Him], by Whom you were sealed (marked, branded as God's own, secured) for the day of redemption (of final deliverance through Christ from evil and the consequences of sin)."

Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God.  We've all heard that verse and talked about it or heard a sermon preached about it.  What grieves the Spirit of God?  You might want to read the whole chapter to figure it all out, but in part, the answer is in verse 31, "Let all bitterness and indignation and wrath (passion, rage, bad temper) and resentment (anger, animosity) and quarreling (brawling, clamor, contention) and slander (evil-speaking, abusive or blasphemous language) be banished from you, with all malice (spite, ill will, or baseness of any kind)."

As my prayer partners and I prayed this morning, I was asked a question about how I felt about a situation in which we were all involved where there was lots of verse 31 going on.  At first, I said I was just tired.  I didn't have an opinion because it just made me tired.  Then as I examined that thought, I realized it wasn't just tiredness...I was grieving.  Taking that thought even further, I realized I was grieving because the Spirit of God was grieving.

We had an interesting conversation with God after that.  We asked Him if we could come alongside Him and grieve with Him--to carry His burden.  We told Him that if we could come fill his freezer with casseroles (what we good Baptist women do when someone is grieving!), we would.  We just sat quietly with Him.

If the Holy Spirit of God is grieving, won't we grieve?  I mean...His Spirit lives within us.  I guess I'd just never given it consideration before...or had just chosen to let Him grieve alone.