“The LORD is my shepherd; I have all that I need. He lets me rest in green meadows, he leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name.”Psalm 23:1-3
A “Higher Power” is something greater than ourselves. It’s a term used in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith. AA was inspired by another Christian organization called the Oxford Group, which was founded in 1921. Frank Buchman, Lutheran minister and the founder of the Oxford Group, believed that surrendering one’s life to God was the only way to peace and reconciliation of our wrongdoings. He emphasized a relationship with Jesus Christ rather than any works we could do to merit salvation. The Oxford Group believed in four absolutes taken from scripture:
- Love–1 Corinthians 13:4-7: “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.”
- Purity–Psalm 51:10: “Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me.”
- Honesty–Proverbs 10:9: “People with integrity walk safely, but those who follow crooked paths will be exposed.”
- Unselfishness–Galatians 5:24: “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.”
These four virtues were carried over into AA several years later by Bill Wilson. Wilson suffered from alcoholism and was hospitalized several times for the treatment of alcoholism before he reached the age of 39. He wrote this of his depression and spiritual awakening while lying in a hospital bed:
“My depression deepened unbearably and finally it seemed to me as though I were at the bottom of the pit. I still gagged badly on the notion of a Power greater than myself, but finally, just for the moment, the last vestige of my proud obstinacy was crushed. All at once I found myself crying out, ‘If there is a God, let Him show Himself! I am ready to do anything, anything!’ Suddenly the room lit up with a great white light. I was caught up in an ecstasy that there are no words to describe. It seemed to me, in the mind’s eye, that I was on a mountain and that a wind not of air but of spirit was blowing. And then it burst upon me that I was a free man. Slowly the ecstasy subsided. I lay on the bed, but now for a time I was in another world, a new world of consciousness. All about me and through me there was a wonderful feeling of Presence, and I thought to myself, ‘So this is the God of the preachers!’ A great peace stole over me, and I thought, ‘No matter how wrong things seem to be, they are still all right. Things are all right with God and His world.”[1]
[1] Alcoholics Anonymous and Bill Wilson, Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age: A Brief History, (Alcoholics Anonymous World Services 1957), 64