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Feelings...Nothing More Than Just Feelings

Englebert Humperdinck made the song popular, but the author of Psalm 43 made it a statement of spiritual truth.

Feelings are nothing more than just feelings. Yet, there are so many people whose actions are based solely on feelings. And their feelings are dictated by external circumstances. If things are going great (i.e. good job, stable family life, etc.), then they are helpful and happy-go-lucky. But if there is a bit of turmoil, their joie de vivre dies:

The flowers have died
There is no morning dew
The crickets know no love songs
And I feel so blue...

And if left unchecked, those depressive feelings can be debilitating.

In fact, I am experiencing that right now. The last (I mean, the absolute LAST) thing I want to be doing right now is blogging...let alone about Christianity. The truth is I feel like a fraud. Like the person who types these tough bits of Christian encouragement is some other woman... I like her and hope to be her some day, but right now I don't feel like her.

My feelings are betraying me. But I cannot let the way that I feel dictate who I am. And neither should you. Instead, like the psalmist (who some theologians believe was a noble hostage), we need to get ahold of ourselves and shake off negative feelings. We may not always feel saved...in truth, we may not always feel God, but He is there and our salvation is sure (if we put our trust in Christ).

In those moments of deepest despair, when your prayers seem to hit the ceiling and fall back to the ground, when you reach out for God, but can't seem to feel him, I challenge you (like I'm challenging myself) to offer an inconvenient praise. A praise that comes not from emotion, but from a place of deepest assurance that even when we don't feel God, He is there.

Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God (Ps. 43:5 KJV).

Yet praise Him!

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