Feelings
are a blessing from God. They often transpire from of our actions and
in situations in our lives. That doesn't mean our faith is dependent on
our feelings or personal experiences. When we feel like we are filled
with passion, we have a tendency to believe that God is near and that we
are overflowing with the Holy Spirit. But when we walking through
spiritually dark times, when it feels like there is no voice there to
speak to us, and God's presence is nowhere to be found, we feel like we
have lost all our faith and our spiritual walk is frozen in place.
"God’s
presence is not the same as the feeling of God’s presence and He may be doing
most for us when we think He is doing least."
- C.S.
Lewis
I tell you the truth, our faith is strongest and the Holy Spirit is working hardest in us when we still stand firm and believe in times when we cannot hear God's voice. When a son of Korah, in Psalm 42, watched his father and most of his family all get swallowed up alive into the realm of the dead, and ridiculed by the Israelite community (v3), is still able to call God his living water, his rock, his savior, his faith was at its strongest. Even when he reminisced the times when he was an esteemed Levite (v4), praising and dancing in front of the ark, and his soul is now downcast, he still puts all hope in his God (v11).
“Do not be deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger than when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy's will, looks round upon a universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.” - CS Lewis
John Piper had an illustration about how our faith should be. He argues that our faith in the Lord is not determined by how much happiness we obtain from Him, but that even when you smash your car and watch your little girl fly through the windshield and hit the pavement dead, even after the most horrific events and through the deepest pain, we are able to say "He is enough," that is faith.
I can't help but remember the story of Horatio Spafford when I hear this illustration. On November 22, 1873, he lost his four daughters in a tragic ship collision and almost lost his wife as well. On his journey to the site of the crash, he wrote the hymn "It is Well with My Soul", a song that speaks so true of his feelings at the time, but also the state of his soul and the power of the gospel within him. You can find the whole story here.
“My feelings are not God. God is God. My feelings do not define truth. God’s word defines truth. My feelings are echoes and responses to what my mind perceives. And sometimes - many times - my feelings are out of sync with the truth. When that happens - and it happens every day in some measure - I try not to bend the truth to justify my imperfect feelings, but rather, I plead with God: Purify my perceptions of your truth and transform my feelings so that they are in sync with the truth.” - John Piper
I want to remind my brothers and sisters that even when all your feelings and personal experiences are stripped from you (or put against you), the gospel will still be, in some shape or form, whole in your life. It may look a little bare. It may not look like the incarnation of the gospel that you relate to the best. But it is still whole.
"'God is enough. He is good. He will take care of us. He will satisfy us. He will get us through this. He is our treasure. Whom have I in Heaven but you and on Earth there is nothing that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart and my little girl may fail, but you are the strength of my heart and my portion forever.' That makes God look glorious!" - John Piper
"...being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." - Paul
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