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Feelings are not always wrong, but sometimes they can lead us astray
if we do not balance them with God's word.
I imagine that we have all done something we felt was right and
later found out that it was wrong. If you are like me, you have
driven on a strange road feeling confident that you were going the
right way but found yourself lost.
Feelings cannot always differentiate between the truth and a lie.
After Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery they took his coat
and dipped it in blood to make it look like he had been killed.
Then, they took the coat to their father. Claiming to have found
the coat, they asked their father if it was Joseph's. Jacob felt
that Joseph must have been killed by a wild beast (Gen. 37:12-33).
Jacob's feelings deceived him and his sons did not tell him the
truth.
Later, there was a famine in the land and Joseph's brothers went
to Egypt to buy food. Eventually Joseph revealed himself to his
brothers. Joseph's brothers had to go home and tell Jacob that Joseph
was still alive. Jacob did not believe them - he probably felt that
they were telling a lie or had been deceived. After his sons showed
him the gifts from Joseph, Jacob finally believed that his son was
still alive (Gen. 45:26-28).
Feelings can also lead us to commit sin.
In the second year of Saul's reign he ran into trouble with the
Philistines. His son had attacked the garrison at Geba. When the
Philistines heard about it, they assembled a great army of thirty
thousand chariots, six thousand horsemen, and a multitude of soldiers.
Saul and the people feared the Philistines and many of the people
hid in caves, thickets, rocks, holes, and pits.
God, through Samuel, had commanded Saul to go to Gilgal and wait
seven days for Samuel. On the seventh day, Saul felt that Samuel
was not coming. So, he offered a sacrifice to God instead of waiting
for Samuel to come and offer the sacrifice.
Samuel arrived when Saul had offered the sacrifice. Samuel asked
Saul, "What have you done?" Saul explained the circumstances and
said: "Therefore I felt compelled and offered a burnt offering"
(1 Sam. 13:12). Then Samuel said to Saul: "You have done foolishly.
You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He
commanded you." (1 Sam. 13:13).
There are many examples in the Bible about feelings. All feelings
are not bad nor do they lead to sin. But, feelings must be kept
in check with the word of God. Feelings alone cannot distinguish
between the truth and a lie. And feelings can lead us to sin.
Christians must obey God's will. After that, feelings have a proper
place in our lives. But we must give primacy to God's will.
Jesus said: "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter
the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in
heaven."
Do you feel compelled? Are you compelled to do the will of God?
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