Showing how to manage our emotions in these tumultuous times using vivid examples from scripture.
Crucify Him
Talk about emotions in general. So many stressful events lately. The state of our country is in the most volatile condition that I can remember and it has been sustained since early 2020. War in Europe, supply chain issues, a recession with millions of jobs unfilled, inflation so fast the Fed is raising interest rates at a huge clip. But the rates are just going back to what used to be normal, only it doesn’t feel normal because they’ve been so low for so long. It’s just strange. Then we add in the overwhelming push to destroy any semblance of the nuclear family and the volatility seems insurmountable. The idea that a pronoun can get you into trouble makes it impossible to communicate. Instability leads to emotional problems, as we see with so many mass shootings, drug overdoses, people on long-term unemployment, and horrific crimes. The world is incredibly mixed up these days and I’ve just scratched the surface.
Think about our own lives. Last week’s prayer list was the longest in memory. And it was almost all about people here or our immediate families. It was wonderful to be able to share on that level and have a group that is comfortable doing that. Tonya has been going through her own trials and then the loss of her husband who just returned to her life two years ago. A roller coaster like that is hard for anyone to navigate. The problems I’m going through with my parents are emotionally draining. I had lunch with one of my sisters and brother-in-law a couple weeks ago and we had no idea how to pray. Things had gotten so complicated, so convoluted, and my dad’s behavior so bad that we were just numb. We didn’t know what to think. We didn’t know what to do. At many points we didn’t know what to pray for. Our situation is unique but most of us in this meeting are going through sustained emotional trauma, just in different forms.
Now, the usual response here is to just ask for God’s will to be done. Obviously God’s will is going to be done. All the days of our lives were recorded in the Book of Life before we were born. But we don’t get to read that book, at least not now. What I want to show today is that it’s OK for us to ask for specific things. We were made to have feelings, perspectives, emotions, reactions, a sense of justice, and we feel sorrow. We are made in the image of Yahweh and He has those things, too. But for the first example, let me just get it out of the way that it’s OK for us to pray for something that’s contrary to the Creator’s will.
Slide 2 And He came out and proceeded as was His custom to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples also followed Him. When He arrived at the place, He said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and began to pray, saying, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.” Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him. And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground. When He rose from prayer, He came to the disciples and found them sleeping from sorrow, and said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not enter into temptation.” (Luk 22:39-46)
He was in agony because He knew what was about to happen and did not want to have to go through with it. He knew He was about to be betrayed by one of His closest friends, His talmidim. He didn’t want that to spread to the others. As I read this, He is asking for Yahweh to take the trial away, but not to take it away because He asked. Remember, Yeshua had (and has) incredible sway with His Father. Yahweh could have taken the cup away against His plan to save His Son the agony. Yeshua was saying with “not my will but yours” that Yahweh only take the cup away if it was His original intent. This is not without merit because Yahweh did substitute a ram for Isaac. For His sacrifice to be a sacrifice, He had to have the ability to choose a different path.
Yeshua was sweating like blood. He was in a traumatic state. He was about to be physically abused, betrayed by His countrymen, and slowly executed. He was about to become completely alone and helpless in a world that hated Him and He didn’t want to have to do it. He knew that was Yahweh’s will but He didn’t want to do it and He asked not to do it. Since it was Yahweh’s will, He still went through with it. And praise God that He did.
Another example of where emotional responses are appropriate.
Slide 3 “However, we know where this man is from; but whenever the Messiah may come, no one knows where He is from.” Then Yeshua cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, “You both know Me and know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know. I know Him, because I am from Him, and He sent Me.” (Joh 7:27-29)
He was frustrated with them. They were claiming the Messiah is just going to “pop up” and the fact they knew where Yeshua was from disqualified Him from being the Messiah. They were making a ludicrous argument. They were purposely “not getting it” so he “cried out”. But also keep in mind that He definitely did conceal His identity and His purpose. They weren’t getting it but they were also not supposed to get it. This line of thinking can get pretty tangled up, but the point is that Yeshua was clearly frustrated with these guys, who knew the Bible and were purposely being dense, and that’s a normal reaction. We each have our own level of patience on this front, and that level changes over time. And we each have people who refuse to see the truth when it is plain as day. The other day I was kind of debating a lady online who was saying the Day of the Lord is the Sabbath. It’s not, it’s actually the Day of Trumpets. The gal even threw scriptures at me proving the Day of the Lord is not the Sabbath, but she was reading them to say it is the Sabbath. She is a Sabbath keeper but obviously ignorant of the Holy Days. I didn’t get frustrated but just shook my head. In years gone by. I would still be locked in battle with the sister, LOL! While I’m not saying we have a license to get frustrated, and it should be very rare, the idea that we can’t become frustrated is not scriptural or even reasonable, as is show by the Messiah Himself.
Slide 4 Although Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died, his eye was not dim, nor his vigor abated. So the sons of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses came to an end. (Deu 34:7-8)
Moses was not decrepit when he died. His death was prophesied because he struck the rock twice. Everybody knew Moses was not going to enter the land and they know he was not going to live forever. But it was still OK to mourn his loss. OK for everybody, not just his immediate family. The same holds true for the death of the Messiah, perhaps even more. We are commanded to remember His death until He comes again. That includes understanding the gravity, the emotional toll, of His betrayal. It also includes the joy of those who stayed faithful. I’m particularly enamored with the ladies who continued to do what needed to be done even while in deep mourning. And it includes the joy of His resurrection and ascension. All of these emotions are part of us being created in Yahweh’s image. We just have to be careful to manage our emotions, also as He does.
Slide 5 Therefore, laying aside falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE of you WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, for we are members of one another. BE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity. (Eph 4:25-27)
Paul gives us the balance here while quoting the Psalms. Be angry, and I’ll extend to sad, frustrated, and a host of other emotions, but don’t let those emotions take you over. Our society is geared toward making emotional decisions. Marketing campaigns can focus on stats and features but also on emotion, like won’t your life be so much better if you buy this? We bought a new truck a few years ago. Diana and I did not care about the color of the truck at all. We wanted it to have some specific features for a specific price. When we got to the lot, they kept asking us about color. They brought out two beautiful trucks and let us drive them. When we got back to the lot, I said “there’s no way either of those two trucks cost what we want to pay” and that when they told us the trucks were far more costly than we wanted to pay. They were using emotion, our liking of the fancy vehicles, to get us to pay a lot more money than we wanted to. So we walked. The same is true for many advertisement on TV today. They show pills that are supposed to make you feel younger, but they never say the pill will really make you feel younger or be healthier, and they show pictures of older people playing with kids, walking dogs, or living the good life. The intent is to get you to feel good about the product and buy it, all based on emotion instead of facts. This is bad and we all know when we make emotional decisions we often live to regret them. Let’s look at the worst emotional decisions in the history of emotional decisions:
Slide 6 Therefore when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out, and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover; it was about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Behold, your King!” So they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.” So he then handed Him over to them to be crucified. (Joh 19:13-16)
They crucified the Messiah, and innocent man, because they had been spun up into a fit of rage. To the point of even rejecting the line of David, which meant rejecting Yahweh completely. The sin here is off the chart. And in Acts 2, many repented of it.
Slide 7 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” (Rev 21:3-4)
There is a point in history where these emotions won’t be a thing anymore. Whether they won’t be around because bad things won’t happen anymore or because of some other change remains to be seen. But keep in mind that our feelings and our emotions matter a lot today. We need to keep them in check so they do not drive us to do things we shouldn’t do, but we also need to embrace them and understand they are normal. It’s also normal to pray for things that we don’t get. Yahweh’s will will always be done, but He also wants to hear from us about our hearts.