The Mood Of Angels

A professor once noted that feelings are not always the best portrayal of a person's spirit. In order to understand the person as a self, one had to understand their "mood".

Moods are peculiar things.

It is often the case that a person who is in a certain mood talks about their mood as if they had no control over it. Often people blame their unhappy mood on their circumstances or on someone else. People in good moods will rarely take credit for it -perhaps thanking someone else for something good they had done.

This strikes me as very suspicious. I question any claim that a circumstance has really affected someone's mood. Unless I know a person very well, I find it hard -perhaps impossible- to predict what mood they will be in at a given scenario.

DisneyLand is often described as 'the happiest place on earth'. This may well be true, but I am very certain that not everyone at DisneyLand is happy. Often times the unhappy children at DisneyLand are the unhappiest children I have ever noticed. Certainly the park has the power to provide amusement, entertainment -and many people there do have high spirits- but does it have the ability to give someone -anyone- a good mood?

As a young person I did a lot of reflecting on myself in Church, often times on my own sour attitude. I would tell myself that if I just had several of the donut holes they provided after the service, then I would be able to find a good mood. Often times I would recall eating the donut holes and noting that my mood had not actually changed ... and that I was now thinking of something else that bothered me. Or, when I was rarely in a good mood, I questioned whether it had anything to do with the donut holes at all.

A difficult thing to consider -when one is in an unhappy mood- is the possibility that one has some measure of control over it. The hardest thing to believe is that one is soley responsible for it, and that God takes it into account.

The Bible does not tell us much about angels, and those who talk very much about them end up saying all kinds of things about topics they do not know anything about. I do sometimes wonder to myself, though, if angels have moods, and -if they do- what can we learn from them?

Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it.

Then it says, `I will return to my house from which I came'; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order.

Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation.
Matthew 12:43-45

This passage is conspicuous to my question because Jesus seems to be making a very psychological observation about demons: that they have unclean spirits, that they are led by their unclean state to restlessly looking for a distraction -not for a residence, for they have no designs to commit, but for a host.

We observe the same preference of the demons who encountered Jesus when he visited the Garasenes. The unclean spirits (calling themselves 'Legion') requested to be sent into the bodies of the swine. This request says something about their preference and about their mood.

I often see similar behavior between men and women who choose to live together without entering into a marriage commitment. A number of parallels may be drawn between the two, but for now I will note that often times when these relationships end (as they so often do) both the man and the women prefer (request?) to be sent into another relationship.

Another observation I see with this restless mood of the unclean spirits is that it is not some external sorrow that drives them onward. No, it is an inner sorrow. The authorities do not whip these unhappy people forward, they are merely permitted to scavange the dry lands of despair before finding their next distraction.

So far I have mentioned the element of the distraction when one has a bad mood. Who is the one who distracts? Not the authority, or some external circumstance. The unclean spirit is the one who distracts his own self. And what are they seeking to be distracted from? From their unhappy mood, their unhappy spirit.

Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
James 4:7

The apostle James tells us that when we submit to the authority of God over us the devil will flee from us. No one needs to force the devil to leave, the devil simply prefers to keep his distance from such a person.

It is worth noting that Saul was able to find relief from the unclean spirit that visited him by hiring a young shepherd boy to play the harp for him.

I am unable to say which tune exactly the young shepherd boy played, but I do know that the young boy, David, spent much of his times composing and playing worship and spiritual songs. One wonders if perhaps it was the very element of devotion that inclined the unclean spirit to leave.

And, again, it is worth noting that there is no mention of God compelling the unclean spirit to leave. From what I read in the text, my best interpretation is that the unclean spirit simply preferred not to be in the company of those who were praising God.

Another aspect of this story is the way the simple shepherd boy played the notes that inclined the unclean spirit to leave. One wonders, 'If losing one's melancholy were as simple a thing that even a child could do it, then why are there so many unhappy people?'.

Indeed the pharmecutical industry tells us that its complex chemicals (after billions of dollars in research) are able to undo the woes that hang over our hearts. And people pay a lot of money to go on vacations. Some people, perhaps like Saul, spend a lot of money on music too. Some people end their own lives, and others go on as if their lives ended long ago ...

Have people overlooked something as simple as becoming like a little child? Or is this something they simply prefer not to do?

We are told much about the followers of Satan and the crooked deeds of the unrighteous, and we are also told much about the clean spirits and the true followers of God.

When God chooses to do something that will bring happiness to many people He sends His own angels as messengers. The angels who worship the Lord are the ones who are full of gladness and thanksgiving. News of good tidings do not interfere with their mood or their spirit.

The book of Jude tells us the archangel Michael entered into a disagreement with the devil. The writer makes a very subtle distinction in noting the way the angel responds to the devil:

But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!"
Jude 1:9

If Michael had responded with a severe judgment, it would be hard to not think of the angel as being in something of a bitter mood. Or desperate. Although bitterness may summon (or pretend to summon) the severity and focus of seriousness, the clean spirit of the angels that worship God is full of blessedness. And this blessedness far surpasses the genuineness of any bitterness.

The story is not mentioned in Jude to tell us something interesting about angels. The story is told to provide us an example of how we are to live: not as the bitter and restless pagans in the world, but like the angels in heaven who rejoice in all happiness.

And a leper came to Him and bowed down before Him, and said, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean."
Matthew 8:2

The Bible tells us that God does not spare the angels who have turned against Him. The miraculous, and truly wonderful thing about the providence of God is that He has the power to give a clean spirit to us when we turn to Him. To this extent David prayed, 'Restore to unto me the joy of my salvation, and renew a right spirit within me.'

It is important for those who are sorrowed by the burden of an anguished heart to all God to set a new spirit within them. The opportunity which is extended to them -to all of us everyday- is to allow the blessed spirit of God (the spirit of makarios, happiness) into their lives.

Let everyone who has ears hear the message God has prepared for them.