And the redeemed of the Lord will return and come to Zion with joyful shouting, and everlasting joy will be on their heads. They will obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away. Isaiah 35:10, 51:11
I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying; my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my countrymen, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons and daughters, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the Law, the temple service, and the promises; whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen. Romans 9:1-5
And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain— for He says,
“At a favorable time I listened to you,
And on a day of salvation I helped you.”
Behold, now is “a favorable time,” behold, now is “a day of salvation”— giving no reason for taking offense in anything, so that the ministry will not be discredited, but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in difficulties, in beatings, in imprisonments, in mob attacks, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger, in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, in the word of truth, and in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left, by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; regarded as deceivers and yet true; as unknown and yet well known, as dying and yet behold, we are alive; as punished and yet not put to death, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing and yet possessing all things. 2 Corinthians 6:1-10
For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death. For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you: what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment of wrong! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter. 2 Corinthians 7:10-11
God has made us in His Image. We have many of His attributes and emotional capabilities. We are also a spiritual being … which is much a mystery currently to us in this physical realm. Sorrow and grief are some of the most difficult emotions to deal with. Emotions are not something that we should have as our lead. Emotions I believe are set within our soul and they can affect our physical body as well. But we should be led by our spirit and will in compliance to the direction and instruction of the Holy Spirit. We are to surrender all our emotions to Him; all our anxiety, worry, sorrow, and even anger. Just as we are to submit all our thoughts ‘captive’ to Him, we also should bring all our emotions to Him as well, and surrender them to the ‘foot of His cross’. Who else can comfort our hearts as He can? We should not allow our emotions to distract us from His calling and instructions. When deep emotion envelopes your soul … can you still ‘hear’ Him?
Father … oh how we need YOU! Father YOUR love is our soul’s anchor. Jesus … YOU are our joy and source of all gladness! Holy Spirit … help us! Teach us how to deal with all these difficult emotions, and remind us of YOUR promises!