Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Feelings

Faith Train

I once had a conversation with The Hubster about our emotions. I asked him when the last time was he felt an emotion. He thought and thought...and finally said it was about three weeks before. I was completely floored, and told him that I had suffered at least five emotions in that conversation alone! He was perplexed by this and asked me, "How do you handle all of that going on inside of you?"

"Exactly!"I exclaimed.

In the story of Isaac's death, the blessing of a father was at stake. Esau was the oldest son, and tradition held that he would receive his father's blessing and inheritance. Isaac, who was blind, asked Esau bring him his favorite meal before he conveyed the award. Rebekah, Isaac's wife, had other plans for the inheritance. She wanted her favorite son, Jacob, to receive it, so she conspired to trick the elder patriarch. 

Genesis 27:21-23 (KJV)
²¹ And Isaac said unto Jacob, Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau or not.
²² And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.
²³ And he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau's hands: so he blessed him.


Isaac made a decision to give his blessing based on how he felt, not on facts. The facts were simple. This person didn't sound like Esau, his oldest son, and he didn't smell like him, either. Because Isaac's vision was dimmed with age, he couldn't clearly see who he was talking to.

My feelings change...often, so I don't want to make a decision based on how I feel. Checking out the Word of God first, and the truth it contains, will allow me to make a better choice. An evangelist at church, Chuck Bigler, likened this plan to a train, "Facts first, then faith. Our feelings will follow."

Simple obedience...my feelings will come later.

I don't have to be a slave to my emotions. I make the decisions on what my body does. I have the power to think and reason a problem out. When I take time to find out what the Bible says on a particular subject and pray over the problem at hand, it gives me a peaceful perspective.

Let emotions remain in the caboose...where they belong.

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Congratulations to Ginny Marie, winner of the 30 Days of Encouragement with Female in Motion Giveaway! I'm looking forward to spending time with her and making sure she knows how special she is to God and me.

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Female in Motion Exercise Update: I am doing physical therapy twice a week (Monday and Wednesday mornings) and PT exercises three times per day. Michelle is adding one or two movements each session, and I'm very slowly getting more movement and balance out of my legs. Thanks for all the prayers!

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Notable Quote:

"We must stress that the basis for our faith is neither experience nor emotion but the truth as God has given it in verbalized, prepositional form in the Scripture and which we first of all apprehend with our minds."--Francis Schaeffer, American theologian