This past winter I went with some friends to see “Spider-man: No Way Home”. It was a roller coaster of emotions… and by that I mean, I cried through half of it.
Okay, I wept.
The whole movie was just sad, though the storyline proved to be perfect for the franchise. Spoilers Ahead. I mean, c’mon, you can’t expect me to keep my composure after they kill off Aunt May and have Peter Parker’s identity erased from the world (and more importantly, MJ and Ned’s!). That’s not how it works.
Needless to say, I am an emotional lady. My family knows it, my friends know it- literally anyone who has come into contact with me knows it. It is what it is.
For the longest time, I thought this was a weakness of sorts- a flaw in my personality. It’s only recently that I’v discovered that emotions (no matter how many I have) are not bad, but that emotions are actually good! Crazy, right?
This summer I have been teaching our kid’s ministry at church from a curriculum that dives into emotions. I know that might seem a bit odd, but let me tell you, it's been just as influential on me as it has the kiddos.
We have been learning how, being as we are made in the image of God, we were created to feel. We have emotions. That may look differently for all of us: some of us may be more in touch with our emotions- but that doesn’t mean we are broken.
Emotions are a God-given gift; we just have to learn how to use them. For instance, when we discussed jealousy we talked about how we can either choose to let our jealousy of others make us envious and bitter, or we can choose to allow jealousy to remind us to be grateful for what we already have. We can be angry and choose to be violent and/or mean to others, or we can choose joy that is found in Jesus! We can choose to honor God by not sinning in our emotions.
So, overall, I have learned the value of emotions, but even more so than that, I have learned how our emotions can play a huge role in our spiritual disciplines.
Stay with me here.
Emotions are connectors. Once again, emotions prompt a response, and this response can either be full of sin or full of worship.
Our emotions can be a part of our daily worship, we just have to channel them correctly. When I say emotions, this means any and all, the “good” and the “bad”, the happy and the sad.
One of my favorite spiritual disciplines is one that we don’t speak enough about: lamenting. We can replace feelings of sadness or frustration with gratefulness, but lamenting does this in a fashion that we would probably feel wrong about.
What I mean by lamenting is this: to passionately express your feelings of grief or sorrow. All throughout the Psalms we are met by David’s lamenting.
One of my favorite examples over David’s lamenting comes from Psalm 38: 9-12:
“All my longings lie open before you, Lord; my sighing is not hidden from you. My heart
pounds, my strength fails me; even the light has gone from my eyes. My friends and companions avoid me because of my wounds; my neighbors stay far away. Those who want to kill me set their traps, those who would harm me talk of my ruin; all day long they scheme and lie.”
David goes before the Lord, sharing his hurts and griefs, but grieving is not the end of the journey. Grief points to hope, and that hope is only found in the security of the Father.
In the conclusion of Psalm 38, David writes the following: “Lord, do not forsake me; do not be far from me, my God. Come quickly to help me, my Lord and my Savior.” He does not end his grief with continuous complaining, but with His need for the Savior.
This is how we use the emotions that God gave us! Remember, Jesus showed emotions too.
I encourage you, brothers and sisters, to take time to share your griefs with the Lord today, whatever they may be. It’s not wrong. Allow them to point you to a more trusting and faithful relationship with the Lord.
Songs for reflection, prayer, and singing:
“Satisfied in You” - The Sing Team
“In Christ Alone” - The Gettys
“Psalm 13” - Shane & Shane
“Never Once” - Matt Redman
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