We live in a culture that puts a lot of emphasis on feelings. Honoring our feelings, being overly sensitive to people’s feelings, making sure others validate our own feelings and even claiming our feelings as our own personal “truth”. Some of this is okay as God did create us with emotions and He wants us to feel happy, sad, angry and so on. This is what makes us human. Jesus also had strong emotions and feelings, as he was just as human as we are. This is good and necessary and yet I often find that I can spend a lot of time dwelling on my feelings.
As I was spending alone time in the shower the other day (Yes, that’s about the only alone time I get these days), I thought, “God is who He is despite my feelings”. I don’t have to feel like God is good to know that He is good. I don’t have to feel God’s presence to know that He is ever-present. I don’t have to feel like God is working in my life to know that He is actually working. He just is! And how do I know this to be true despite my feelings? I read it in His word! Are there times where I can so clearly feel Him working and hear Him speaking to me? Absolutely! There are also times where I don’t feel Him and His voice seems quiet. That may be how I feel, but is that true to who He is? No, absolutely not! My feelings don’t change Him and my feelings don’t determine whether He is actually working in my life or not. Is it beneficial for me to dwell on God not feeling near to me? No! It is beneficial for me to take hold of the truth in His word and claim it over my life. A couple of verses come to mind that point to the truth of God’s ever-present nature:
“And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20)
“Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.” (Psalms 139:7-10)
As I have been thinking about this more, I’ve realized that as a believer, I need to be counter-cultural when it comes to my feelings. I need to be so rooted in who God is that it doesn’t matter what I am going through in this life or how hard it feels; I can stand on who I know He is, and have full confidence and faith in who He says He is! I also need to be able to pour biblical truth over my sisters in Christ who may also be completely lost in their feelings and forgetting that God is who He says He is!
Just because I feel a certain way, does that always make it true or right? Absolutely not! The Bible says, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)
So how do we keep our feelings in check? What we dwell on translates into how we feel, so we must be aware of what we are putting into our minds. If I think about how someone else has so much more than I do, then as a result I will feel discontent and dissatisfied. Does that mean that I don’t have enough and need more just because I feel dissatisfied? No. If I think about how there are so many people that don’t have as much as I do, then I will feel thankful for what I do have, and there will be a desire within me to help and give to those who are less fortunate. Philippians 4:8 says, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.”
We must guard ourselves when it comes to our feelings. We serve an unchanging, immovable, ever-present God and we must immerse ourselves in His truth rather than our feelings.
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