The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe
“Feel. Real?”
In a number of sporting activities, the adage “Feel is not real” applies. What one may perceive himself to do in throwing a ball, swinging a club, or moving the body may not reflect the actual motion and action.
The adage does not apply to the Christian life. Feel is very real in our experience, and can have either beneficial or negative impact. However, what we feel may not always accurately represent the truth. The Lord Jesus Christ spoke indirectly to this in His command, “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment” (John 7:24). The Psalmist also vividly illustrates in a statement and question seemingly in conflict...
“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1).
“Why standest thou afar off, O Lord? Why hidest Thou Thyself in times of trouble?” (Psalm 10:1).
Why did David so strongly affirm God’s “very present help in trouble” on one hand, only to question the Lord’s presence on another? The answer lies in truth and experience. The affirmation reflected fact and reality. God is indeed a very present help in trouble. The question, conversely, reflected how David felt emotionally, perceived mentally, and perhaps even sensed physically. These responses were real. He did, in fact, feel at times as if God was far away in times of trouble. However, the responses were not true. God abides as a very present in trouble, regardless of mental, emotional, and physical experience. Trusting the Lord meant that David had to acknowledge the contrary impulses and notions of his flesh, which were real enough as to gravely impact his walk with God. However, a greater reality - God and His truth - called the Psalmist to “the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith” (I John 5:4).
The realities of truth and experience continually call us to the victory of faith. Feel is real. It has its effect. We must never allow it, however, to serve as the truth by which we live. Thankfully, emotions and sensations do often flow in accordance with the Holy Spirit’s leading in believers. Never, however, are they to be accounted as truth in its essence. We “judge not according to appearance” by judging according to the “Thus saith the Lord” of the Scriptures. Who is God and what has He said in His Word? This is truth in its essence. He is truth. His Word is truth. Herein we we make our stand in reality, the reality that acknowledges feel as real, but never as the heart and essence of Truth.
“I am… the truth.”
(John 14:6)
“Sanctify them through Thy truth. Thy Word is truth.”
(John 17:17)
Weekly Memory Verse
Sanctify them through Thy truth. Thy Word is truth.
(John 17:17)
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