Feelings are complicated! Especially for the female gender. I’ve heard our brains described as a massive ball of wire fueled by emotion. Who wants a brain like that?
I wrote a post about 7½ years ago entitled, “Feelings…Nothing More Than Feelings” and it highlighted some of the negative ways we can engage our emotions. The message was essentially, “Don’t let your fluctuating emotions dictate the kind of day you have – or what you believe about God.” It’s still good advice.
Running a close second are those times when what we feel runs absolutely contrary to what the Bible says.
To illustrate:
- “I feel so alone.” God says, “I will never leave you or forsake you.”
- “I feel worthless.” God says, “You are fearfully and wonderfully made.”
- “Nobody truly cares about me.” God says, “I have loved you with an everlasting love.”
I think you get the picture.
Those are examples of where we shouldn’t give full credence to our emotions because they can run counter to what God wants us to know.
This past week I had an “emotional” encounter with God that caused me to question whether I had been patently unfair to emotions.
So, I’m here to give equal weight to the argument that emotions are essential to living a fully satisfying Christian life.
First of all, God did create us with emotions. They’re part of the “fearfully and wonderfully made” I just mentioned. So, they don’t merit the bad rap that they often get when we struggle with their complexity.
I want to share with you the uplifting, God-centered role that emotions can and should play in our lives.
When I was a new believer back in my teens, I started to notice that whenever I felt God’s presence – whether in prayer time, worship, or conversation with others – I would often tear up.
In my simple mind, I felt that those tears were evidence that the Holy Spirit was working in those moments of my life. And they likely were. But, at the risk of sounding legalistic, they almost became a litmus test. I didn’t try to create or force those tears, but I certainly felt a spiritual connection in those moments.
Fast forward many decades of walking with God and I can put a little more meat on those emotional bones.
First of all, almost everything can be used for pure or impure motives. That’s just the world we live in today. Blessings like family, career, finances, hobbies, etc., can become idols when they begin to take precedence over God in our lives.
Emotions can fall into that category. God created. Humans misused.
I’ve been writing in a prayer journal since mid-summer, and it has prompted me to begin my prayer time simply being quiet before God, listening for what he wants me to know. He has never failed to impart some wisdom during that quiet time, every single day.
Sometimes it’s a lesson he wants me to learn, sometimes an aspect of his character he wants me to understand more fully, and sometimes it’s an “aha” moment that makes me smile.
A few days ago, that moment involved a deeper comprehension of how God connects with us emotionally.
After months of consistent, daily, godly insights, I found myself tearfully grateful to God for deepening my faith during these quiet moments.
What did I feel? An overwhelming sense of love, joy, peace, and gratitude to a God who longs to connect with his children on a deep emotional level. Yes, an emotional level!
Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water! Emotions in the proper context and godly framework are beautiful and a gift from above.
He longs to connect with us on a deep, satisfying, God-honoring level. Wrap your head around that!
The God who created the universe in all its majesty and wonder, the God who created you, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, King David and the Apostle Paul wants to commune and fellowship with you.
I will tuck that truth away in my heart and bring it out anytime I need to be reminded of how much God loves me, despite my failings and my shortcomings.
Let’s all stop giving emotions a bad rap and recognize them as an integral part of God’s creation!
You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Psalm 16:11
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