Think Again!

114 • Think Again: Transformation That Yields a Return on God’s Investment

Neil Anderson said, “Your emotions are to your soul what your physical feelings are to your body. Nobody in his or her right mind enjoys pain. If you didn’t feel pain, you would be in danger of serous injury and infection. If you didn’t feel anger, sorrow or joy, your soul would be in trouble. Emotions are God’s indicators to let you know what is going on inside. They are neither good nor bad; they are amoral, just part of your humanity. Just as you respond to the warnings of physical pain, so you need to learn to respond to your emotional indicators.” 62 Encouragement from the Word Throughout the Bible God encourages us to pour out our feelings to him. He is not shocked to hear our complaints, challenges, joys, and fears. The prophets and psalm writers express the rawest of emotions. As the Author of Scripture, the Spirit’s inclusion of these examples demonstrate that he is not only tolerant of our emotions, but encourages us to express our deepest feelings. I once did a quick study of the prophets and Psalms to find out how many passages began with expressions of grief or complaint, but concluded with praise to God. I found over thirty examples that followed the pattern: starting off emotionally scattered, but finishing with a mind fixed on God’s truth. One clear example is from Habakkuk, “O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you ‘Violence!’ and you will not save? Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted” (Hab. 1.1-4). By the end of the book, God has taken Habakkuk through a process that led him to see clearly beyond his initial feelings: “Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the