Go to God with Your Emotions
God is God, and he is good.
Psalm 100:5 says “For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever….” Our circumstances and feelings don’t change who he is. Circumstances and feelings might try and tell us about God but we need to make sure we see God for who he really is in Scripture and through Jesus.
And yet we are embodied, emotion filled beings—that’s how we were created. Emotions aren’t bad; don’t just put on a bold face and check out emotionally, but don’t be dominated by your emotions either.
When Lazarus died, Jesus knew more truth and had more hope than anyone in that situation and yet what does he do? He weeps. God the Son, isn’t impulsive and emotionally driven, and yet he also doesn’t check out emotionally. Pain as invisible—as it can be sometimes—is still real, and God calls us to go to him and be real with him, no matter the circumstance, no matter what the situation is.
When you’re in a difficult circumstance, don’t allow that situation to dictate to you God’s character. Don’t let the hard things in life question if God is for you and if he loves you. As Romans 8:28 says,
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
No matter what your tendency is, whether it’s to be led by your emotions or to be emotionally detached the answer is still the same.
Take your emotions, or your lack of emotions, and surrender them and your entire being to Jesus knowing that God is good—even in the midst of hard circumstances.
Prayer
Pray with me.
Father, you have said in Isaiah 55:8–9 that your thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are our ways your ways, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are your ways higher than our ways and your thoughts higher than our thoughts.
Help us to know who you are not based on our feelings or circumstances but based on the truth of your Word. Forgive us for not trusting you, for allowing other voices to be louder in our minds than yours. We come to you and confess our individual sins to you now in the silence of our hearts.
Psalm 32:5:
I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.
By Jesus’ death and the blood he shed on our behalf we are able to have our sins forgiven and have a relationship with you. We thank you that no matter our circumstances we can declare, “Blessed be the name of the Lord, the one who deserves all worship and honor and glory…” Or, Psalm 73:26, "My flesh and my heart may fail, but you God are the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Amen.