Personification is a normal literary device. Wisdom cries out in the streets in Proverbs, sin crouches at the door in Genesis. Can’t the Spirit be grieved in the same figurative way?

Personification is real, and this is the best form of the objection. The difference is consistency and scope. Wisdom is personified in one poetic genre. The Spirit speaks, decides, forbids, is lied to, distributes gifts as he wills, intercedes, and is named alongside the Father and Son in baptism and blessing, across narrative, letter, and liturgy by different authors. Personification is occasional and marked as poetry; the New Testament’s treatment of the Spirit is pervasive and unmarked. At some point a consistent pattern of personal action across genres is not a figure of speech.