Faith and Emotions

Let’s start by defining what faith and emotions are. Hebrews 11:1 tells us, now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. What does that mean? Faith means trusting in God when it looks and/or feels like God is not with us. Now let’s define emotions. Emotions are defined as, a natural instinctive state of mind deriving from one's circumstances, mood, or relationships with others. What does that mean? Our circumstances tell us how to feel. Often, it’s hard to switch to faith when we have been sitting in our emotions.

I’m reminded of several stories in the bible when I think of faith and emotions; however, the story I want to use for this moment is the story of Queen Esther. Queen Esther was grieved because she had heard of Haman’s plot. So, to backtrack a little. King Ahasuerus had set Haman above all the princes. With that said you could imagine that Haman had access to the king and the king’s ear. Queen Esther heard of Haman plot to destroy the Jews, which were her people. Queen Esther decided that she needed to do something instead of just sitting in her grieve. She decided to activate her faith! Queen Esther got word to all the Jews to fast with her and she begin to activate her faith in God. Long story short, Queen Esther activated her faith and God covered and protected her and the Jews. Haman’s plot did not move forward. (I encourage you to read the entire book of Esther.) I’m reminded of that story because sometimes in life there will be circumstances that will cause us to grieve or be angry or be sad and it is important to know when to activate our faith if we want to see our circumstances changed. Just like Queen Esther, she decided not to just sit in her grief (emotion) and allow Haman’s plot to destroy her people. She decided to have faith in God and do what she could in the natural and believe God for His protection of her people. There are so many details of this story that I am not able to discuss and wish I was able to really dig into it, but I believe the most important thing for the purpose of this context is to understand that our emotions are real and valid in certain circumstances, but the goal is to not just sit in those emotions. Have faith that God will be able to change your circumstances regardless of how it looks or how you feel. Growing up in foster care for 12 years of my life I never imagined that I would have the life that I have now, but at some point, in my life I started having faith that God would be able to change my circumstances and that is exactly what He did. God is ready to help you, but He is waiting on you to have faith in Him.

This is just another way that we can become the light we were created to be by having faith in God and not being persuaded by our circumstances. As I finish this, I want to leave you with 2 scriptures. 2 Corinthians 5:7 says, For we walk by faith, not by sight. John 16:33 tells us, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” These scriptures are telling us that when the hardships come, do not worry, God is there waiting for us to have faith in Him. Trust in Him and not your circumstances.