For every believer, there is the threat of being toppled by strong emotions. Life’s challenges engender a variety of emotional reactions. These can derail any believer. Anger, guilt, sadness, anxiety, rejection are the culprits. But these emotions don’t have to distance us from God, they can pave the way into deeper levels of relationship.
The Biblical Model
The Biblical model of processing emotions has three major tenants:
1. Describing: Describing your emotion and situation in detail.
2. Requesting: Making petitions throughout.
3. Remembering: Looking to God and remembering his nature
Where might you recognise this model of processing emotions? Look no further than the Psalms. In the days of the early Jews, the Psalms were used as a hymnbook for public worship. They were sung and prayed. They weren’t merely read. The Psalms informed devotion to God back then and they have the same function today.
Describing
There is a desperate need for emotional honesty in the life of a believer. Sadly, many feel as though they cannot truly express the full extent of their emotions to God. Doing so would be disrespectful.
But this mentality only leads to stuffing down our emotions. When our emotions are not adequately dealt with, our praise feels tainted. We feel a slight blockage. We can’t praise him with our whole heart.
God wants us to be honest with him. Jesus didn’t tear the veil so that we would hold back in our relationship with God. Look at how dramatic the Psalmist is in the following verses:
“I am set apart with the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom you remember no more, who are cut off from your care.” (Psalm chapter 88, verse 5)
“I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted within me.” (Psalm chapter 22, verse 14)
“Will the Lord reject forever? Will he never show his favour again?” (Psalm chapter 77, verse 7)
It is crucial to be honest. I believe more followers of Jesus need the permission to be emotionally honest. To even be dramatic. Because feelings are dramatic.
But a disclaimer needs to be made. When the emotional honesty drifts off into attacking God’s good character, it has drifted off into sin.
We are allowed to doubt, to express frustration about God’s timing, to question why you aren’t seeing God’s goodness like you’d expect. But even in times of lamenting and expressing deep pain, it should all be done in view of God’s good character and promise. This is the balance we have to strike. Never attacking, yet remaining emotionally honest.
Requests
The Bible says, “You do not have because you do not ask God” (James chapter 4, verse 2). Petitions are crucial in unleashing God’s hand over our lives. Let us ask God for strength in time of weakness, for forgiveness when racked by guilt, for courage in times of anxiety, for hope in times of sadness. When our life is a mess let us petition God to rescue us. When we are at rock bottom let us petition God to redeem our life from the pit.
“Look on my suffering and deliver me, for I have not forgotten your law.” (Psalm chapter 119, verse 153)
“Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.” (Psalm chapter 51, verse 7)
Remembrance
“Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day”. (Deuteronomy chapter 8, verse 11)
When Moses says to not forget, when he says to remember the Lord your God, he is referring to something deeper than mental recall. Remembering God, in a Biblical sense of the word, can refer to reordering our priorities. It can refer to meditating on truth so strongly it affects our actions.
In Psalm 77, the Psalmist feels forgotten and rejected. But his remembrance of the Exodus is so powerful that it quells the heavy emotion inside of him.
“The waters saw you, God, the waters saw you and writhed; the very depths were convulsed…Your path led through the sea, your way through the mighty waters, though your footprints were not seen. You led your people like a flock by the hands of Moses and Aaron.” (Psalm chapter 77, verse 16, 19-20)
Remembering God’s nature
For whatever the trouble, there is an aspect of God’s nature to gaze at. If it is a chronic sickness, we should remember God as healer, comforter, the resurrection. If it is anxiety, we should remember God as a stronghold, a rock and refuge. If we are enslaved by sin, we should remember God as a redeemer.
As we contemplate this nature, as we claim this nature over our lives in faith, we feel the strong emotions subside.
“The Lord is the Stronghold of my life – of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm chapter 27, verse 1)
“But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high.” (Psalm chapter 3, verse 3)
Growth
As someone who has dealt with emotions poorly, I know the ruin they can cause in people’s lives. Fortunately, God has been teaching me to use the Psalms to process my emotion. As I have engaged in all three of these tenants, I have felt strong emotions in me tamed. I know this is God’s will for each of us. To be emotionally healthy.
Learning to engage in Biblical catharsis will cause you to take leaps of growth. We don’t have to be shaken by trials, we can stand firm and even leap forward. With the Psalms as our aid, we can become unshakable and mature.
Roden Meares enjoys playing basketball, reading comics and going to the gym. He has a passion for evangelising and helping others in their faith through writing.
Roden’s previous articles can be viewed at https://www.pressserviceinternational.org/roden-meares.html